Home Theaters

In Friday’s post, a giant 110-inch projection screen was featured. Panasonic is apparently trying to keep up with projection size with its high-def televisions. Check out this massive 103-inch plasma.

So how much does it cost for nine-feet of crystal clear 1080p picture quality? Sadly, more than I make in a year. Prices should fall quickly, but for now, the ticket price is $70,000.

Suffice to say, this gargantuan gets three green envy buttons.

I come across some pretty awesome home theaters in my search for uncovering the best products, at the best prices. While I try to restrict my posts to things normal people like us can actually buy, every now and then I feel the need to fantasize about what if…

Since I can’t help my envious nature, I decided to dedicate Friday’s posts to the most magnificent hedonistic home theaters I can find. Maybe if we see the things we don’t have and want them bad enough, some day, err, never mind. Let’s just get started with a look at the first Ultimate Envy home theater.

Some of the absolute best home theaters I have seen are featured at Electronic House, a web magazine that focuses on inspiring technological transformations. They recently released their awards for home of the year, and all I can really say is WOW.

First up is this 12,000 square foot Dallas, Texas home, complete with one of the coolest home theaters I’ve seen to date.

Simple, yet sophisticated, it features a 110-inch viewing screen to capture the Runco 1080p DLP projector’s impeccable picture quality.

One can only imagine watching the latest Hollywood blockbuster under the moon and stars of the beautifully-crafted vaulted ceiling. Polished wood poles give this theater even more cinema authenticity.

Be to sure to check out the slideshow of the rest of this breathtaking house on the Electric House site.

home theaters

No matter how much time and effort you put into building a home theater, it isn’t going to please everyone (not that it matters, they are in your home theater for a reason), but attempting to please each member of your family is an admirable effort.

To help you complete this near-impossible mission, Elite does its part in the area of theater seating. Their website allows you to build your own theater seat by choosing your favorite materials, colors, arm and back styles, cup holder qualities, foam density and layout. Through this process (assuming everyone picks the same material and colors), everyone in the family can have their very own seat customized to their liking that will fit perfectly with your home theater setup.

Judging from the amount of combinations possible through their website, I’m pretty sure there is a chair for everyone. You’ll need to contact them directly about price and distribution options as I could find very little outside information, so do your due diligence here.

For giving consumers control over their theater seating and doing it with style, the Elite product line gets two green envy buttons.

home theater, seating, elite, custom

With the DVD format war in high swing, buying any high-def player is a risk in itself. Of course, there are certain people that take pride in being ahead of the technological curve that don’t care if the latest gadgets are busts or blockbusters, as long as they were in on it first.

For this crowd, Toshiba’s second generation HD DVD offering is sure to catch quite a bit of attention. The HD-XA2 provides excellent image quality for both HD DVD’s and DVD’s, booms audio in Dolby TrueHD sound, loads brilliant high-def imagery with ease and even makes your standard DVD’s look better.

Regardless of how good the player actually is, there are some big drawbacks that will scare away most prospective buyers, namely its hefty cost, potential to its battle with Blu-Ray and be a relic far before its time and its clunky 80’s style remote control.

Those that have taken a chance despite these risks seem to be very satisfied and enthusiastic about its capabilities and have no problem justifying its $600-$800 price tag. I’m not sure about you, but that’s a bit too rich for my blood considering its chances of being top dog in a few years, but I sure do want one. Window shopping for prices turned up a considerably lower price at Amazon than anywhere else on the net.

For improved loading speeds of superior quality (HD and SD) video and being riskier than hunting with the VP, this HD DVD player gets two green envy buttons.

hd dvd, toshiba, dvd player

Today, the following movies will be released for rent or sale:

*Because I Said So (Widescreen Edition) - 5.2/10 with 2,656 votes cast; starring Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore and Gabriel Macht

-Plot Synopsis: A meddling mother tries to set her daughter up with the right man so her kid won’t follow in her footsteps.

*Big (Extended Edition) - 7.2/10 with 27,328 votes cast; starring Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins and Robert Loggia

-Plot Synopsis: When a boy wishes to be big at a magic wish machine, he wakes up the next morning and finds himself in an adult body literally overnight.

*Breaking and Entering - 6.5/10 with 1,636 votes cast; starring Jude Law, Juliette Binoche and Robin Wright Penn

-Plot Synopsis: A landscape architect’s dealings with a young thief cause him to re-evaluate his life.


*Catch & Release - 5.7/10 with 1,626 votes cast; starring Jennifer Garner, Kevin Smith and Timothy Olyphant

-Plot Synopsis: A woman struggles to accept the death of her fiancé and the secrets he kept from her as she rebuilds her life.


*Music and Lyrics (Widescreen Edition) 6.8/10 out of 8,485 votes cast; starring Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore and Brad Garrett

-Plot Synopsis: A washed up singer is given a couple days to compose a chart-topping hit for an aspiring teen sensation, and sparks with an offbeat younger woman with a flair for words in the process.

*The Painted Veil - 7.7/10 with 4,560 votes cast; starring Naomi Watts, Edward Norton and Liev Schreiber

-Plot Synopsis: This love story has Kitty meeting young, intelligent, shy and somewhat dull Dr. Walter Fane, whose forte is the study of infectious diseases.


*The Secret Life of Words - 7.5/10 with 1,690 votes cast; starring Sarah Polley, Tim Robbins and Eddie Marsan

-Plot Synopsis: An hearing impaired factory worker gives up her first holiday in years and instead travels out to an oil rig, where she cares for a man suffering from severe burns.

*The Tiger and the Snow 6.9/10 with 1,840 votes cast; starring Roberto Benigni, Jean Reno and Nicoletta Braschi

-Plot Synopsis: A love-struck Italian poet is stuck in Iraq at the onset of an American invasion.

because i said so, big, breaking and entering, catch and release, music and lyrics, the painted veil, the secret life of words, the tiger and the snow, dvd, new releases

Whether you are in the market for a 720p projector or a 1080p projector, Panasonic has released a great solution for your needs, bringing together excellent picture quality with input versatility and powerful preloaded functionality.

Delivering near-seamless video quality, the PT AX100 series has garnered raving reviews from just about everyone that has tested it. It’s also gotten high marks for its ease of use out of the box, a nice shift lever tool that easily focuses the lens and its incorporation of nearly all of Panasonic’s highly-acclaimed projection technologies.

Panasonic is poised to be the major player in home theater projectors, offering a complete projection solution for under $2,000 in many cases. A little trip around the net finds it as low as $1,700 (with an average 5 star rating) on Amazon and even lower with a rebate through Buydig and some vendors at eBay.

Its large size seems to be the most common complaint, in addition to the expense of replacement bulbs, the usual drawback of projectors.

Quality high-def projectors with 1080p functionality are normally twice as much. For this reason, the Panasonic PT-AX100U earns itself two green envy buttons.

panasonic, home theater, projectors

I’ve never seen so many bonuses thrown into the sale of a speaker system package. Often, when a model is past its prime or wasn’t very good in the first place, you will have some extras thrown at you as incentive to take it off their hands.

Aperion apparently takes a different approach to selling home speaker systems.

Not only is the Intimus 532 Concert system a superior sound system with all the features you’d expect for a first-class home theater audio system, the company itself goes above and beyond what I’ve seen from any of its competitors.

Beautiful in both black and wood finish, this satellite and subwoofer set is already well-priced at $1,399, but then Aperion throws in the triple whammy for good measure. Standing behind their products, one can expect the 30-day in-home trial, but when you get to the part about free shipping AND no sales tax, you almost have to ask yourself why you’d buy from anyone else.

For offering world-class sound with a deal that would make any aspiring entrepreneur proud, the Intimus 532 system earns three green envy buttons.

aperion, home theater, speakers, 3 geb

Since posting about MobMov, a company that specializes in portable drive-ins, I have been extremely curious about the whole subject. Living in California, there are about six prime months of weather where watching movies outside is a fun family idea.

MobMov offers an affordable package you can set up on your own and watch drive-in style flicks wherever you want. Taking a different approach, Harmon Interiors designed this “both sides of the screen” projector theater that is sure to be the envy of video lovers.

Anchored by a SharpVision XV-Z3000 Projector, the screen is viewable from inside the home, and offers a reversed image of the screen to viewers outside on the patio. Imagine a world where all walls were made like this.

Audio is handled through an awesome Bose BuiltInvisible speaker system, completely built into the walls and ceiling of the house. The possibilities with a set up like this are endless (unless you share a wall with your kids and you get stuck watching Jimmy Neutron all day).

Whether you have the room for a double-sided theater or not, the components themselves are surprisingly affordable. The average price around the internet was $2,499 for the projector, but I found it here and here for considerably less.

The Bose AV38 Media Center that controls all the action was available at eBay for under $1,500.

For making it possible to watch your favorite movie and take the garbage out at the same time, this set up gets three green envy buttons.

home theater, projectors, bose, media center, sharp, screen on both sides

As a person envious of some of the great home theaters out there, I often spend time surfing the net in search of the cream of the crop. Typically they are far, far, far out of my budget, but it’s always nice to daydream. I have seen many that are specifically themed for one movie, or that just pack in every single new gadget and awe their viewers with hardware alone. Personally, I prefer the home theater that is a retreat from the real world and makes you feel you are at your very own movie theater.

Today, I came across this theater that made my jaw drop. Sadly, it’s bigger than any two rooms in my home combined, so it’s not going to be in my future any time soon, but it is worth a look.

Comfortably seating eight adults, the fine leather captain chairs and the massive flat screen are what first caught my eye. Not to be outdone, the theater’s lighting is immaculate and the work station area is perfect for a candlelit dinner or for a children’s play area.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’d trade my living room and bedroom for this masterpiece.

The only information I could find on this theater was that it had won an award (duh!) and was designed by Integrated Media Systems, a Sterling, Virginia company that can be reached at (703) 464-0736. If any of you can afford to build it, I’ll defintiely come

For not needing a reason to explain why, this theater gets three green envy buttons.

home theater, awards

If you are like me, one of the most enjoyable aspects of having a home theater is being able to enjoy a nice glass of wine with your movie instead of $6.00 tub of soda. I often have friends over to share a bottle when watching a new release as it seems to tie the whole experience together. While browsing for new home theater furniture, I recently came across this movie reel wine rack that I quickly added to my wish list.

A wonderful solution for displaying up to six bottles of your favorite wine in your home theater, this 16″ rack is a perfect gift for the wine loving home theatrician. Made of heavy gauge laser-cut metal and finished with a top quality black-epoxy paint, it will add yet another dash of ambiance to your theater and keep you in front of the action and out of the kitchen.

I discovered it at this website, where it was going for $245. After about fifteen minutes of searching other vendors, I was unable to find it anywhere else so I guess that’s the best price. If anyone can find a better one, I’d love to hear about it.

For bringing wine to the the home theater with class, this rack gets earns one green envy button.

home theater, furniture, wine rack

If you are looking for a top-notch HDMI-capable DVD player with 1080p for your home theater, Oppo has just the player for you. Created specifically for high-def tv’s and theater projectors, this is not your typical DVD player.

Through the use of advanced upconverting technology (performed directly by the DVD player), the Oppo DV-981HD excels at making standard definition DVDs look like high definition and outperforms most TV’s built-in upconversion capabilities, enabling you to enjoy your current DVD collection, as well as new HD releases for years to come.

Stunning life-like picture quality with vivid color and fine details are made possible through the player’s Emmy award winning DCDi video processing technology. Equally impressive is the player’s audio capability which supports high fidelity digital audio in Super Audio CD and DVD Audio formats and offers crystal clear sound. It also supports MP3 files, CDs, and HDCDs. The one feature this player truly lacks is a video component output, which makes the DV-981HD less versatile, but more attractive to video purists.

All in all, this Oppo release looks to be a winner, garnering an 8.3/10 rating on CNET and 4.5/5 on Amazon, where I also found the best price at $229 including free shipping.

For delivering such high quality that it doesn’t even consider offering a video component output, at an incredible price that any home theater enthusiast would be more than happy to pay, the Oppo DV-981HD earns three green envy buttons.

Today, the following movies will be released for rent or sale:

*Alpha Dog (Full Screen Edition) - 6.6/10 with 6,343 votes cast; starring Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake, Anton Yelchin and Bruce Willis

-Plot Synopsis: A drama based on the life of Jesse James Hollywood, a drug dealer who became one of the youngest men ever to be on the FBI’s most wanted list.

*Dreamgirls (Two-Disc Showstopper Edition) - 6.6/10 with 10,873 votes cast; starring Beyonce Knowles, Jamie Foxx, and Eddie Murphy

-Plot Synopsis: Based on the Broadway musical, a trio of black female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960’s.

*Fletch (The “Jane Doe” Edition) - 6.5/10 with 10,447 votes cast; starring Chevy Chase, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson and Geena Davis

-Plot Synopsis: Irwin “Fletch” Fletcher, Los Angeles journalist, really lives for his profession. As Jane Doe, he publishes articles that have caused several heads to roll in the past. Now, Fletch is at it again as a master of disguises.

*Happily N’ever After (Full Screen Edition) - 2.6/10 with 1,200 votes cast; Sarah Michelle Gellar, Sigourney Weaver, Freddie Prinze Jr. and George Carlin

-Plot Synopsis: An alliance of evil-doers looks to take over Fairy Tale Land. But when Ella realizes her stepmother is out to ruin her storybook existence, she takes a dramatic turn and blossoms into the leader of the resistance effort.

*The Hitcher (Widescreen Edition) - 5.1/10 with 3,100 votes cast; starring Sean Bean, Sophia Bush and Zachary Knighton

-Plot Synopsis: A collegiate couple hit the road in a 1970 Oldsmobile 442, en route to spring break, but their pleasure trip soon turns into a waking nightmare after encountering a mysterious hitchhiker.

*Little Children - 7.9/10 with 7,145 votes cast; starring Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson and Jennifer Connelly

-Plot Synopsis: Little Children centers on a group of young marrieds, whose lives intersect on the playgrounds, town pools and streets of their small community in surprising and potentially dangerous ways.

*The Sandlot 3 - Heading Home starring Luke Perry, Danny Nucci and Sarah Deakins

-Plot Synopsis: Sucessful, arrogant baseball superstar Tommy “Santa” Santorelli travels back in time to 1976 and relives his boyhood days on the sandlot baseball team, this time choosing friendship over glory and ultimately earning both.

*Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock? 5.6/10 out of 19 votes cast; starring Teri Horton, Ben Heller and Tod M. Volpe

-Plot Synopsis: A rollicking adventure that documents a 15-year war with the art world’s inner circle.

alpha dog, dreamgirls, fletch, happily n’ever after, the hitcher, little children, the sandlot 3, jackson pollock, dvd, new releases