One of the most commonly used terms in our industry is home theater. But what does it really mean? A dedicated home theater is a room with the sole purpose of providing an outstanding viewing and listening experience. This is a mini-theater in a home — one of the ultimate home amenities. A dedicated home theater is a room with a large screen, a great audio system, comfortable seating and often other fun features like theater lighting, a wet bar or a popcorn maker.

Most families today prefer a media room to a home theater. A multipurpose media room provides the best of both worlds — the stunning visuals and exciting audio of a theater in a home’s family room or living area. Media rooms can use flat-screen displays or a screen and projector combination for viewing. Speakers and sub-woofers are discreetly placed, and the same speakers are usually used for both surround sound and the distributed audio system. Components are hidden in cabinetry or housed in an out-of-sight equipment rack. Many media rooms make use of lighting and shade control to darken the room for viewing.

Some homeowners choose to hide a media room’s A/V equipment when it’s not being used. Flat screens can be hidden behind media mirrors or art work, or kept in cabinets from which they’re raised and lowered by a lift. Projectors and screens can be housed in the ceiling and drop down for use.

ACT works with homeowners to choose the best solutions based on client preferences and usage, the space to be used and budget.

Most families have multiple TVs throughout their homes. Some homeowners want a media room or theater in addition to other “regular” TVs, and some clients skip a media room or plan to add it later. Homeowners with more than one TV in their home already have the most basic form of distributed video — cable or satellite service. The signal from a cable or satellite provider is distributed throughout the home, and every TV can show its own selection of content. The distributed video systems ACT provides its clients enable them to share cable or satellite TV boxes, Blu-ray or DVD players, media servers, and streaming devices like Apple TV®.