Home Audio Video Forums

Discussions about products and services used in home cinema rooms

Home Cinema Buying & Building

Discussing buying, building and setting up your home entertainment room

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Digital TV & Video Players & Recorders

Discussions about satellite and cable TV, all video players and recorders including Blu-ray and Android TV boxes

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Projectors, Screens & Video Processors

Discussions about video projectors, projection screens and video processors.

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AV Receivers & Amplifiers

Discussions about integrated home cinema receivers and amplifiers

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AV Pre-Amp/Processors & Power Amps

Discussions about home cinema processors and power amplifiers

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Home Cinema Speakers

Discussions about home cinema speakers and subwoofers

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Soundbars, Soundplates & Soundbases

Discussions about soundbars, soundplates and soundbases

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Shows & Events

Discussions about audio visual, hifi and technology shows and events

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About Home AV

Home Audio Video forums are for discussions about all the electronic devices and accessories used for video and audio reproduction in the home or on your person.

Televisions

The most basic home entertainment system typically consists of a TV using a built-in tuner to receive digital TV channels. Televisions with smart TV functionality provide more features like access to online video streaming services like Netflix. We explain what a smart TV is and why you might need one.
We also have a list of the best televisions of 2014.

Players

The hot topic on AVForums at the moment is Android TV boxes. These are small, inexpensive media streamers which can be used to get lots of content, like Netflix and Amazon Prime to instantly turn your TV into a Smart TV. Click to read more about Android TV boxes.
Many people use a set-top box (STB) or set-top unit (STU) which, connected to an incoming cable feed, an aerial or dish, receives digital TV services. In the UK, these services will be, for example, Freeview, Freesat, YouView, Sky or Virgin Media.
Some set-top boxes have PVR (personal video recorder) features which allow the pausing and recording of live TV, scheduled program recording and video on demand.
These features are also built in to some of the newest TVs, though you have to plug in an external USB hard drive to store the recordings. Smart TV PVR Features Explained.
There are also dedicated PVR machines and we've included them in our list of all the best PVRs of 2014.

Many people have additional source devices such as a Blu-ray player for DVD, CD and Blu-ray playback. Here is our list of the best Blu-ray players of 2014. Blu-ray players often have the ability to stream content from Netflix and Amazon Instant Video, but there are also dedicated streaming players and sticks which do the same. For further reading, see our article about the best video streaming services.

There are lots of other products which people use with their home entertainment systems such as Hi-Fi products and games consoles.

Speakers and Soundbars

The problem with modern televisions, more particularly the ultra-thin LED and OLED TVs is that the quality of their ultra-thin speakers is compromised. A recent trend has been the use of soundbars to provide a pseudo-surround sound experience from one (long) box conveniently located under the TV. Why use a Soundbar or Speakerbase rather than your TV's speakers?

For an authentic cinema experience at home, a surround sound speaker package is always the preferred option amongst enthusiasts.
The ‘standard’ surround sound speaker package, known as a 5.1 package consists of five (left, centre, right and two surround) speakers plus a subwoofer.
There are other popular speaker configurations such as that with an additional two rear channels (7.1) or an additional subwoofer (5.2).
The introduction of new surround sound formats Dolby Atmos, Auro-3D and DTS:X add height channels which require overhead or up-firing speakers to reproduce sounds from above. For more information have a look at our articles Dolby Atmos, Auro-3D and DTS: X - What are they? and DTS:X is finally launched. Also you might like to see our list of the best speaker packages of 2014.

Receivers (Amplifiers)

Of course if you decide to have a speaker package, you will need an AV Receiver (amplifier) to process the audio signal from your source box (e.g. set-top box, Blu-ray player or games console) and amplify it to power whatever configuration of speakers you have.
AV Receivers are designed to be the hub of a home entertainment system. Everything plugs in to them. All the source boxes plug in to the inputs. The TV and/or video projector plus the speakers plug in to the outputs. You select which source input (e.g. TV, Blu-ray or games console) you want to use by pressing the appropriate button on the receiver’s remote control, and the receiver sends that signal to your TV/Projector and speakers. Check out our list of the best AV receivers of 2014.
Many modern receivers include self-setup functions which use a supplied microphone to listen to how the audio is affected by your speakers and your room. Your receiver makes adjustments to its audio output to optimise itself.
If you would like to see the anatomy of an AV Receiver, we have a video of the unboxing of the Denon AVR-X3100 AV receiver which should help you understand the basics.
Connecting everything together can be a confusing task for the newcomer so we have written a comprehensive article explaining HDTV connections.

Projectors

Some people use a video projector to reproduce the cinema experience at home. Generally the projected picture is much larger than a TV picture and is usually excellent quality, particularly if you can control the amount of ambient light in the room.
Most people have a projection screen which drops down in front of their TV, or is permanently located in a dedicated home cinema room. Projecting on to the screen is the video projector which needs to be located a certain distance away from the screen. When needed, the projector can be brought into the room and placed on to a table in front of the seats or on to shelf at the rear of the room. Sometimes the projector will be permanently located on a shelf or bolted to the ceiling. This is the best option for permanently and discreetly routing the cables connecting the projector to the rest of the equipment.
It might be useful to have a look at our list of the best projectors of 2014.

Cables, remote controls, mounting brackets, cabinets, seating, lighting and environmental control are also important elements of an AV home entertainment system and we have discussions and resources to help people make the right choices in all aspects of choosing these items and also how to set up and optimise their whole home entertainment experience.

Home Audio Video Forums

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