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Isn’t your screen is just a flat surface? Why spend money on something as basic as a screen when a cloth or a blank wall will do just fine? The answer is No & No!

The screen is usually made of material that is designed to reflect light back to you, whereas a wall has imperfect finish and a rugged coarseness, which although not easily visible to the naked eye can scatter the light all over the room and destroys the image quality and contrast. Also, it is not adept at dealing with Hot spotting (the term for a bright light to be shown on some parts and noticeably lesser light on other parts of the surface), side angle viewing or off axis viewing (where the display is not at an angle to facilitate best visual performance).

Now that we’ve decided that buying a screen makes sense, let’s look at the fine details that make up your dream home theater experience.

Fixed or Retractable: Fixed screens offer a better surface for viewing, in addition to being slightly less expensive and easier to install than retractable screens. Retractable screens (where the screen can roll up when not needed) can offer flexibility to the room for other events or purposes, in addition to being supremely cool (Imagine rolling down 120 inches of screen with your remote control, bet your friends hate you for that!)

Size & Distance: A screen size between 90-120” should accommodate most viewing needs, in addition to nicely fitting in normal sized rooms. A wall that is more than 8 feet in height, along with being 10-12 feet wide should be able to house most screens.

Due to the extremely image rich nature of today’s content (your 1080P can house over 2 million pixels), it is also important to maintain a minimum distance to the screen to enjoy the picture as a whole. The minimum recommended distance would vary according to the dimensions of the room, the screen size and other factors. Best option is to let a Home theatre expert set this up for you to have the most optimal experience.

Aspect Ratio: The aspect ratios (proportion between the width and height) are not standard across media, for example an IMAX format uses 1.43:1, and most cinemas now use 2.40:1, while TV programs stick with 4:3. If you primary intend to watch TV (Sports/Videogames), then we would recommend a 4:3, for movies the default aspect is the 2.40:1.

Other Things to remember

• Make sure your screen is acoustically transparent (i.e. the main speakers can be placed behind the screen, like in cinema theatres)
• Most people choose White as the color of the screen, but if you can also opt for Grey or Black depending on the amount of light present in your room. If you plan a normal room with lot of natural lights, black screens can be better than plain white screens to view pictures.

Follow Thasmai Automation’s ongoing series on Home theatres in our blog, check www.thasmai.net for more updates. Visit our dream Home theater experience zones in Bangalore to get a first hand feel.

The most visible aspect of your Home Theatre is the mode of display. What you opt to use your Home Theatre for determines the display; if you plan to connect your DTH or watch regular television you could use Plasma or LED TVs, whereas if you opt to watch movies, you are better served using a projection system and a screen. In a dark setting of your theatre, a projector/screen is known to offer more immersive experience with the largest screen dimensions.

Size: The largest HDTVs/LED TVs are about 50-90” in dimensions, whereas the screen output for a regular projector can be 120-180”, an image almost 3 times as big as your HD television offers. Ultimately, you want the largest possible viewing image for your dream theatre, and a projector trumps all other options here.

Cost: For comparable dimensions, HDTVs are usually much more expensive than a projector/Screen combo. Since a projector can be moved to any room you want to view your content, it saves you the cost of purchasing multiple TVs for more than one room

Space & Aesthetics: A projector can be mounted on a small table, or from the ceiling where it can be retreated when required. The screen can also be fixed, curved or retractable (foldable) so you can opt to keep both these invisible when you want the room for other events. The Projector/Screen can also be shifted to other rooms/outside for special events or parties. A TV on the other hand is bulky, and not easily movable once installed in a room.

Clarity: Projectors offer big screen imaging, with excellent picture quality (measured in high resolution and high contrast ratios) which TVs cannot match at similar price points.

In the next articles, we will attempt to explain what you should look for while buying a projection system.

Follow Thasmai Automation’s ongoing series on Home theatres in our blog, check www.thasmai.net for more updates.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Thasmai will attempt to explain all the functional and aesthetic components of a dream Home theater set up.

If you don’t have the patience to wade through each of the articles, do drop by any of our Home theater set ups in Bangalore to get a much more visceral experience of what could be your dream home theater, in your house!

Home theatre – the words conjure up an expensive setup, cumbersome cables and a messy operation. Why bother splurging lakhs of Rupees when you can watch a movie in a theatre for a few thousand rupees. Well, here are X reasons why Home theatres are the better option

The overall Experience: Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that the audio/video quality of Home theatres has long bypassed that of your nearby cinema. The overall sound quality and visual experience of a well calibrated Home theatre is significantly superior to a commercial theatre. Also, cinema halls are designed for space and area and not quality.

Audio: Dolby Atmos systems on 7.2 speakers (and in some cases 9.2) offer a privileged & stupendous acoustic experience that you have to listen to experience. Also, formats like Blu-Ray and HD1080 have now ensured that the viewing quality of your discs is superior to that of the cinema.

You’re the Boss: You get to decide which movie you want to play, what show times there are, how often you want to take a break while the movie waits on you! Did your kids like a scene and want it played back, sure! You all want to dance to a peppy number, who’s there to stop you?! You want to have dinner while watching the movie, or have a pizza party for friends, you make the call!

Privacy: Possibly the biggest annoyance factor in a crowded theatre is people jostling, speaking and generally causing a nuisance to your movie experience. Simply bypass all that having your own theatre, it’s like having your own jet instead of travelling coach.

It may actually be cheaper in the long term: If you’re like us and love movies, your 20-30 visits to the cinema yearly set you back by many thousands of rupees. Add to that the complementary costs of food, parking and popcorn, and you can see how over many years owning your own home theatre can actually work out to be cheaper for you. And healthier too (all those Carbonated drinks and lousy Sandwiches less!)

Do you need further convincing, book a home theatre demo in any of our branches to see the difference for yourself.

Now experience a smart home demo at a location closer to your home in Bangalore! Visit us today for exciting offers and discounts.

Check out Thasmai Audio’s new Home Theater brochure, you can now check out your dream home theater experience in 3 areas in Bangalore! Call us to book a demo with a movie of your choice.

This summer, Thasmai will launch 2 new showrooms and experience zones in South Bangalore (JP Nagar) and East Bangalore (KR Puram Flyover) for you to experience smart home living. For inquiries, write to [email protected] and our representatives will reach out to you!

Keep watching this space for more updates.

Develop a budget. Unless you have a limitless budget to draw from, you may need to start small. The initial systems you install may be dedicated units that control a single home system. The following popular categories for new automation systems can be installed on an individual basis and integrated later when you’re ready:

• Automation for your existing security system
• Automated door locks
• Light controls
• Smart programmable thermostat
• Remote garage door control
• Remote control electronics and appliances

Vendor Search- Locate a good installer in your area: No matter how avid a DIYer you are, it’s imperative that you find a qualified installer to program boxes and set up your system for you. Integrating systems together is particularly complicated, much more so than simply programming a universal remote.

In last few years, wireless systems like WLAN have become very common in home networking. In home automation systems, the use of wireless technologies gives several advantages over wired networks.

1) Lower installation costs: First and foremost, installation costs are significantly reduced since no cabling is necessary. Wired solutions require cabling, where material as well as the professional laying of cables (e.g. into walls) is cost prohibitive.

2) Easy deployment, installation, and coverage: Wireless nodes can be mounted almost anywhere. In adjacent or remote places, where cabling may not be feasible,

e.g., a garden house or the patio, connection to the home network is accomplished instantly by simply mounting nodes in the area. Hence, wireless technology also helps to enlarge the covered area.

3) System scalability and easy extension: Deploying a wireless network is especially advantageous when, due to new or changed requirements, extension of the network is necessary. In contrast to wired installations, additional nodes do not require additional cabling which makes extension rather trivial. This makes wireless installations a seminal investment.

4) Aesthetical benefits: As mentioned before, placement of wireless nodes is easy. Apart from covering a larger area, this attribute helps to full aesthetical requirements as well. Examples include representative buildings with all-glass architecture and historical buildings where design or conservatory reasons do not allow laying of cables.

5) Integration of mobile devices: With wireless networks, associating mobile devices such as PDAs and Smartphones with the automation system becomes possible everywhere and at any time, as a device’s exact physical location is no longer crucial for a connection (as long as the device is in reach of the network).

Challenges of Home automation

Home automation systems face four main challenges; these are high cost of ownership, inflexibility, poor manageability, and difficulty achieving security. The main objectives of that research is to design and to implement a cheap and open source home automation system that is capable of controlling and automating most of the house appliance through an easy manageable web interface to run and maintain the home automation system

The “smart home” concept arose in the early 1980’s when “smart building” concepts started to be used. In those years, smart homes were designed only for user convenience. “Smart homes” have smart technologies having remote or centrally controlled functions and services. In a smart home, the inhabitants’ wishes and needs concerning all or some part of equipment and functionality have priority.

In smart house systems, the internet is also used to ensure remote control. For years, the internet has been widely used for the processes such as surfing on the pages, searching information, chatting, downloading and installation. By the rapid developments of new technologies, monitoring, controlling services have been started to be served along with internet as an instrument providing interaction with machinery and devices. In smart house systems, comfort and security of houses have been enhanced, usage of energy and other resources were provided in a more rational way, and considerable savings have been achieved. In the beginning, the “smart home” idea was aimed to raise home comfort of people who are not disabled. Nowadays, it is also convenient to satisfy personal needs of older and disabled people, to help and support those people. This application area is very important and promising in the future. The concept of providing proper and full control on each device and electrical equipment as well as no requirement for processes, which required manual control before, are the reasons for being under concentration.

Smart homes can be dealt with four main aspects:

• The physical structure of the building
• The system (security, air conditioning, power control)
• Services (Internet, communication)
• Management (energy, illumination, irrigation)

The physical structure of the building is important in terms of heating and natural ventilation. This feature is implemented in the project phase of the building. Engineers carry out the calculation of correct use of insulation material and the positioning of the building for energy saving in the beginning phase of the project while drawing the project. The other three basic aspects can be applied on the foundation after the construction of the building and even for pre-made buildings.

In today’s modern era, automation is rapidly advanced while it becomes a part completing our homes and offices. Automation can be generally described as a process following pre-determined sequential steps with a very a little or without any human exertion.