So you’re looking for a new home, planning your décor, looking at furniture to make your house reflect your personality – and if you’re a movie buff this means having an amazing space in which to settle down for some serious viewing. Media rooms have become popular with widescreen TVs, home speaker systems and gaming consoles all available at affordable prices. And as cloud-based, voice-activated technology brings all this to life, the future of cinema is no doubt in the home. With some great TV and audio equipment, careful lighting and a few pieces of wow-factor furniture, here’s how your home cinema dream could become a reality…
A (home) space mission 
Cinemas have played such an important role in our entertainment for many decades. We visit the silver screen to be immersed in a different world or narrative to our own, to sit back, relax and be entertained. Now, the magic of the cinema experience can be brought into the comfort of your own home, with a bespoke home cinema.
Creating a cinema room from start to finish sounds like a tough and complex process, but Finite Solutions has a few points to consider to get the ball rolling.
One of the first things to consider is where the cinema will be situated within your home and whether this will be a dedicated home cinema space or not. Some homeowners choose to transform unused spaces such as attics or basements into a dedicated home cinema room, or start over and build an extension. On the other hand, some simply revamp their living room or other existing spaces as they need it to fulfil multiple functions. It is important as the purpose of the room may dictate the different elements that require installation.
When choosing a space for your home theatre, the room size must also be taken into consideration, to create the right distance between the seating and screen. If you require tiered seating, the ceiling needs to be high enough to accommodate.
Meanwhile, there are a number of things to consider regarding the seating, with comfort and viewing angle being the most important. For the perfect home cinema experience, your seating needs to be comfortable and offer a full view of the screen. An angle of 40 degrees is recommended for achieving the ideal tiered seating experience, with anything lower than 30 degrees limiting your peripheral vision.
Finite Solutions is an award-winning smart home partner that also specialises in bespoke home cinemas. They offer consultancy, design, demonstration, installation and post-completion services to help you arrange your space effectively.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking to create a home cinema in a bedroom, how about a pop-up TV that’s hidden in a bespoke storage box that goes at the end of your bed? You can fit a relatively big screen in and it’s a solution for those who don’t have room for a full home cinema set-up. Simon Orrell, bespoke furniture maker, has created this vintage-style chest in horsehair with leather strapping and brass fittings which includes a pop-up 40-inch Panasonic TV. The price is £9,200 inc VAT and the TV was fitted by Tillman Domotics.
Lighting
When it comes to a home cinema, lighting controls are incredibly important. You’ll want to opt for dimmable LEDs if you can, as these can be dimmed and brightened to create the perfect atmosphere to match your film. You could also go one step further and invest in RGB colour changing LED tapes. This way, you can even match the colour of your room to your film. So, why not go with a blue colour scheme for an underwater movie, or pink for a romantic film? If you go for a smart home controller, you can even change your lighting using just your phone!
When designing your home cinema, think about layering your lighting. White LED puck spotlights are usually used under cabinets, but they can also be mounted onto walls and ceilings as a main light source, and in alcoves and shelving as accent lighting. Plus, because they’re not recessed, you won’t need to cut any complicated holes into your surfaces.
If you’ve got interesting architecture, like coved ceilings, LED strip lights can look great around the perimeters. These are really easy to install and can be stuck onto any surface, but they can look super effective because of their sleek and modern look. They can also be installed under seats and along the floor to light a path for those mid-movie toilet breaks. Try ultraleds.co.uk for home cinema lighting.
Sounds like a plan
Visual and lighting controls are important, but sound is also crucial to the experience. It’s important to research surround sound systems that will perform at home cinema levels. Depending on where your home or cinema is located, you may need to invest in some soundproofing to enjoy your home cinema experience without disturbing the neighbourhood.
James Parker, Head of TV Product Management at Samsung Electronics UK, says that people are purchasing larger screens and consuming more content at home in better quality than ever before thanks to streaming services.
He added: “For Samsung, the next trend in soundbar audio technology is a move towards a more cinematic experience, particularly in the home.
“As it is now possible to stream content in Ultra HD and Dolby Atmos, consumers can create phenomenal audio-visual experiences at home by pairing award winning soundbars like the HW-Q90R with cutting edge TVs. Large screens offer an immersive experience in the home and need a befitting audio experience. The Q-Series cinematic soundbars include features like object-based audio, simply add a Soundbar rather than a complicated hi-fi system as the perfect partner to offer an exceptional sound experience.”
A vision of beauty 
As well as creating an atmospheric sound system, the screen quality has to be the best it can be. “Samsung prides itself on being a brand that continually pushes boundaries, especially within the TV category, James added. “Recent reviews have acknowledged the superiority and advancement of QLED technology, and we are proud to offer the broadest range of options to ensure that there is a TV that suits almost every customer requirement. Depending on how demanding the viewer and their conditions are, Samsung QLED TVs deliver a host of features to allow for the best viewing conditions whether day or night.
“We are also continuously developing our soundbars to improve the audio performance and have partnered with Harmon Kardon to take our audio experience to the next level. However, equally important to us is making the products easier to use and interact with. From our perspective, it’s no good making the best sounding product on the market if it is too complicated to use. This ideology has driven our AV innovations. Our soundbars offer a range of functions, including playing TV audio, streaming music and can be controlled wirelessly alongside all your connected Samsung products through the SmartThings app. When connecting a Samsung soundbar to a Samsung TV it automatically detects the system, allows for a simple one-click set up and even optimises the audio based on whatever you’re watching, from music to movies and everything in-between. These soundbars offer connectivity options for all customers whether that’s HDMI, Bluetooth audio, or voice activated commands using Works with Alexa.
“Samsung is the only brand to think about the total TV experience and the multitude of ways in which a TV may live in the home. From making the TV disappear into the background, turning into art when off, or becoming an iconic design statement in the home, Samsung is putting the consumer at the heart of its TV portfolio. For us, the TV is definitely more than just a screen. For example, if a customer wants to place their TV next to a window, Samsung’s Anti-Reflective Ultra Black Technology minimises reflections on the screen to the lowest level possible.*
“With current market trends showing that consumers are purchasing bigger screen sizes more than ever before, 4K technology allows consumers to go large, safe in the knowledge that the detail won’t be sacrificed to size. Essentially, 4K TVs have enabled consumers to go bigger and better in both size and picture quality and immerse themselves in the huge variety of content available from the comfort of their sofa and Smart QLED TV. Samsung took this one step further this year with the award-winning QLED 8K TV, featuring true 8K resolution and AI upscaling for those after the very best picture quality available on the market.
“For those looking for something on a grander scale there’s a 98” QLED 8K or, Samsung’s next-generation ‘The Wall’, which has been hailed as the future of displays. At a huge 219-inches, with picture quality that surpasses any technology currently on the market, this is a piece of technology bound to impress.
“To further offer consumers a cohesive TV and Soundbar experience, this year we have developed a suitably awesome Q-Series soundbar that matches perfectly to our QLED TV models, offering the ultimate home cinema experience for all. Our aim is to deliver the best consumer experience possible, whether that involves watching TV and movies, gaming or simply playing music. By engineering products with fantastic sound (and picture) quality, that complement each other visually and physically, we can achieve this.”
So now you've got the inspiration, all you need is to find a new home to put your media room in!
*On the QLED Q80R, Q85R, Q90R, Q950R
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