Why You Need A Media Room
Entertainment Can Take Many Forms, and a Media Room Can Entertain Many People!
Movies. Television shows. Music. You love them all, and you want to be able to experience them in the best quality – and the best environment – possible.
For years, people assumed that meant one thing: you had to set up a dedicated home theater in your house. You needed a specific space that you could go to in order to relive those incredible action sequences in your favorite movie, or listen to those exceptional tracks from your favorite album, in stunning detail. If your home didn’t have the space to support such an environment, alas – you were out of luck.
Or at least, that’s how people thought for many years.
In truth, most people don’t – or can’t – have a dedicated theater space in their home. But that’s okay, because as people’s tastes have evolved, the very concept of a ‘home theater’ has evolved right along with them.
It’s still possible to have a room in your house that has the biggest and most visually impressive television. One that has all of the stereo equipment you’ve ever wanted. And that allows you to do everything from marathon gaming sessions to unwinding and watching an episode of your favorite sitcom at the end of the day.
However, it’s not called a home theater at all. It’s called a media room, and if you haven’t already started thinking about adding one to your own home, now would be an excellent time to start.
What to Look for in a Media Room: Breaking Things Down
Practically speaking, a media room can be created using an existing space in your home without anything in the way of structural modifications. You can take your existing family room, for example, and convert it simply by paying attention to the audio and video qualities that you’re after.
Because they’re not restrictive in terms of location, they can be installed in whatever space makes the most sense given the way you like to live your life. They can also still be just as immersive in terms of allowing you to enjoy all of the content you love without distraction, while still offering a space that you can use for other purposes.
As media rooms are intended for more activities than just watching movies, they offer a wide range of benefits that you’d be hard-pressed to find elsewhere. Flexible seating is chief among them – moveable chairs can be arranged to face your screen or in more of a traditional “living room” pattern to make space for conversations at parties.
How To Get The Best of Both Worlds
Despite this, the screen size of your television or projector can still create that immersive experience you’re after. Even 77+ inch televisions have come down in price dramatically over the years, and they can be mounted on just about any wall in your home. Audio/video equipment can be hidden so that it doesn’t become an eye-sore, all while still allowing you to experience all of the content that you cherish. It truly is a “best of both worlds” scenario in every sense of the term.
Speaking of content, thanks to the streaming world that we’re now living in, you can experience virtually everything you want in a media room with a minimal equipment footprint being required. Movies, television shows, games, you name it – virtually all of it can be streamed from the cloud. So rather than setting up a dedicated home theater complete with Blu-ray and 4K UHD players, gaming systems and more, most of this can be delivered by way of streaming boxes like the Apple TV, a Roku, the Nvidia Shield, and more.
All of this combines to form a perfect storm in the best possible way. You still get the exact cinematic experience that you’re after, but you do so by way of a space that can still be used for whatever you need it for. It evolves as your needs do, which really is the most important benefit of all.
What does Your Media Room Need?
High Quality Screen
Appropriate Seating
Full Service Mini Bar
Board Games
Surround Sound Speakers
Organization Features
Soundproofing
The Differences Between a Media Room and a Home Theater
If you had to distill the differences between a media room and a home theater into a single word, that word would undoubtedly be “flexibility.” A home theater, as the name suggests, is designed to replicate the cinema experience as closely as possible in the comfort of your own home. That’s terrific if you only ever plan on watching movies there – but it leaves little room for just about anything else.
You probably wouldn’t want to host a party at your local cinema (unless you’re 12 years old). You wouldn’t want to gather friends together to watch that upcoming sporting event. You wouldn’t want to play your favorite video game for hours on end. None of it would be practical in that type of environment.
But with a media room, you can do all of this and more – all while still enjoying the stunning detail that today’s biggest television sets (not to mention short throw projectors and similar equipment) have to offer.
Likewise, most people agree that sound is more than half of the home cinema experience – and there’s nothing stopping the audio quality in a media room from matching or even exceeding that of a dedicated home theater. Provided that you invest in the right equipment, and assuming that your space has been equipped with the right acoustic treatment and similar features, once your favorite movie begins you’ll never be able to tell the difference between the local theater up the street, a home theater, and a media room as far as the sound part of the equation is concerned.
Make This Room A Hub Of Entertainment
All told, the major difference between a dedicated home theater and a media room is simply that the latter becomes a dedicated hub for all of your audio/video equipment….along with other elements of your life at the same time. Gone are the days when you needed a specific room with a massive screen and actual theater seating.
Technology – especially in terms of projectors and televisions – has advanced to the point where the gap between the cinema experience and what you’re capable of creating in the home is closing every single day. Instead of sectioning off a room in your home that can only be used for one purpose, why not create an environment that can offer everything you need it to be, regardless of what you need, at a moment’s notice?
One that still has incredible AV components, but that also has regular furniture to support the way that you actually live your life. One that blends performance, convenience, and elegance to create something that a dedicated home theater room could never achieve.
That’s precisely what a media room can be, and it’s a big part of the reason why it’s a concept that has become so popular over the last few years in particular.
If you’d like to find out more information about the major benefits of installing a media room in your own home, or if you’d just like to discuss your specific needs with someone in a bit more detail, please don’t delay – contact Play Home Technology today.
