With a home theater system, we can bring magic and excitement to our family’s video entertainment experience. To create a truly immersive home theater environment in our home, I not only planned the right system for our family room but also chose the perfect type of system everyone of us really wanted, the TV and audio electronics. I also made it a point to check out the many available entertainment sources and what we can expect from each one, so I was able to make a suitable choice for our use.

I chose the suitable minimum equipment for our use, and these included a broadband internet connection, the biggest HDTV (or Ultra HDTV, if you prefer) our budget could manage, and a surround system. I configured the speakers properly by finding the optimum locations for them in the family room. Thanks to how audio contributes to 50 percent of our cinema experience, I chose a premium quality surround sound system that can create a complete audio environment around everyone. A good 5.1-channel system is good enough for full surround sound experience. The 5.1-channel format can include a DVD and Blu-ray media player, broadcast TV, plenty of streaming sources, along with a number of Super Audio CDs. I would have gone for the 7.1-channel configuration, which boasts improved directionality of sound effects while adding to the impressive audio ambience of 3D plus some premium streaming sources and Blu-ray Disc that also sound great with a 5.1, but the 9.1 configuration totally blew me away. The 9.1-channel system totally sold me with its added front height speakers that have enabled the whole family to optimize Dolby Pro Logic® IIz, which derives height information from the signal.

I chose a home theater receiver that can really handle all the audio and video for our system. This is where the streaming set-top boxes, consoles and other inputs are currently plugged into while being able to send video to the TV and audio to the speakers. With our home theater receiver, we have a more organized home entertainment system as one device connects all our gear and manages it. I also invested in a soundbar, but this is entirely an optional item. This device provides an affordable and space-saving means of adding great sound to any home theater system. In addition, there are some sound bars that are amplified and powered, eliminating the need for a receiver. I also picked up some longer spare cable for all the devices in the system and these include speaker, component video, HDMI, and Ethernet cables. I added a few new power strips so everything is nicely organized.