Many prospective
customers are uncertain about the processes involved in bringing
the movie experience home. These questions - and their answers
- address the most common issues we encounter. We encourage
e-mail or telephone inquiries if there is additional information
you require. Remember, custom theater environments are our
specialty!
Current digital products provide eye-popping,
toe-tapping, seat-rockin' sight'n sound! In the world of
big images, new ultra-bright LCD projectors, better screens
- and much better source material (DVD, Digital Satellite,
HDtv) have all joined to dramatically rachet up picture
quality... Digital audio, - AC-3, THX, DTS, better amps,
faster processors, newly engineered loudspeaker designs,
integrated lighting...whew...
Custom home theater means exactly that...MoveRoom.com
consultants visit your home for a site survey, interview
you regarding your habits, tastes, lifestyle and preferences,
and then recommend a design for you - just for you - that
is primarily dedicated to screening movies. It can be as
elaborate as an up-town cinema-scope film emporium complete
with authentic reclining theater chairs with cup holders
and a 10-foot screen that seats 20 of your best friends,
or as simple as a funky basement room with a 35-inch TV
that doubles as a game room when you are not in the mood
to watch a flick.
One of the benefits
of working with our company is our experience. We have designed
myriad theater environments that have been carved out of unused
bedrooms, basement storage areas, even from walk-in closets.
With the help of an MovieRooms.com consultant, you can be
assured that the perfect theater environment is just waiting
to be discovered in your home.
Not such an easy question
to answer in just a few sentences...but we just love a challenge,
so here goes; A typical theater room - one dedicated to viewing
movies - can run from a few thousand dollars, to tens of thousands.
The variables include, but are not limited to, the size of
the screen, how the image is displayed on the screen, the
square footage of the room, the lifestyle of the homeowners,
the type of movies likely to be routinely watched (for example,
The Bridges of Madison County does not demand as much from
the equipment as does Star Wars or Jurassic Park), how many
folks will be regularly watching, and finally, what kind of
decorating appointments are appropriate. An average price
for a knock-your-socks-off theater room with four authentic
chairs, a ten-foot screen and a killer AC-3 Digital Dolby
audio package can be designed, installed and up and running
for around $25,000. If you are not interested in the archectectural
touches, like the theater chairs and foot lights, then the
price can drop by as much as 20-30%. Out most typical theater
room sales range in the $10,000-$20,000 area, with our most
elaborate project easily topping the $100,000.00 mark.
MovieRooms.com consultants will be delighted to provide you
with a detailed proposal based on your specific needs...just
give us a call or drop an e-mail for more information.
Depending on whom
you ask, you might get a wide assortment of answers to this
question. To the system designers at MovieRooms.com, "surround
sound" usually means an audio system with five speakers
that frequently plays too loud, gives a listener some degree
of rear effects in an environment that bears little or no
resemblance to a theater. These systems typically have a picture-image
that is not correctly scaled to the sound, and often do not
play the film audio track with nice sharp, detailed sound.
Conversely, a home theater is just that...a theater environment
recreated in the comfort of your own abode. Remote controlled
lighting, large images and great-sounding Digital Dolby audio
are common characteristics...often the foundation, for a more
enjoyable movie experience than most local theaters. Usually
- but by no means always - these theater environments are
located in rooms dedicated to bringing the theater experience
home.
Dolby Prologic,
the surround sound format found on VHS video tapes and some
TV broadcasts differs from Digital Dolby in four key ways.
First, ProLogic surround sound is an analog technology. Just
as compact discs sound much better than an audio cassette,
Digital Dolby outperforms ProLogic for the same reasons; Better
dynamic range, channel separation, and signal to noise ratios.
Second, ProLogic uses mono rear effects signals, that is the
rear channel speakers each carry exactly the same sound at
exactly the same time. Digital Dolby uses two discrete rear
channels so you have what might be called stereo rear effects
for a much more enveloping and realistic surround effect.
Thirdly, ProLogic uses rear channel signals that do not reproduce
the extremes of the musical spectrum; operating from roughly
700 Hz to 7000 Hz ProLogic only employs midrange signals for
the rear effects. Conversely, Digital Dolby uses full frequency
range rear effects, providing a full 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz frequency
coverage, just like the front three channels. Lastly, Digital
Dolby has a dedicated low frequency effects (LFE) channel
expressly for use with a subwoofer. These four improvements
collectively are why Digital Dolby sound quality is dramatically
superior to ProLogic.
None, when Dolby Labs
first started developing Digital surround sound for the consumer
market, the project was known as "Audio Coding - 3"
because the goal was to provide three additional high-fidelity
channels to the three already in use in ProLogic. The resulting
system, with the addition of the low frequency effects (LFE)
channel is also known as Dolby Digital 5.1, representing the
five discrete channels plus the dedicated subwoofer output.
All three terms - Digital Dolby, AC-3 and Dolby Digital 5.1
are synonymous.
