Whether you’re looking for that sophisticated, polished look, or you just want to create a home theater that is unified in style, there are some guidelines that you must keep in mind when doing things yourself. The DIY approach is popular with home theater enthusiasts because it gives you complete customization and control over the outcome. So if you’re ready to get your hands a bit dirty, grab your tools, home theater equipment and your imagination, and read on.

The level of hands-on depth you want to embrace while putting together your home theater is completely up to you. Some people prefer to conceptually design the layout and get a professional to do the actual installations and setup. Others take on small tasks themselves: you might decide that mounting your flat panel display is something you can handle, or maybe you want to play with your home theater speaker layout yourself to find that “sweet spot”. If you decide that a whole-room renovation is up your alley, or just a few adjustments, read on for some home theater installation tips and tricks to get you through the rough patches of DIY home theater construction.

Planning is key. Plan out you whole vision before you even pick up a screwdriver. Gather your devices and store them safely before you begin – you don’t want to be halfway through and realize you didn’t leave room for your gaming console or your AV receiver. And planning goes beyond just the handy-man attitude: you should plan out the decor, from the color of the trim to the style and size of seating, in advance as well. This is a “whole-vision” project, and you want to see results that are smooth and coherent.

Something that often gets lost in the shuffle of a home theater installation are the cables and cords. In order to save yourself time and money, thoroughly check your devices and gather the cables they need before you begin your project. Need the latest HDMI 1.4 for your home theater? Get it sooner rather than later. By ordering these cables in advance online, you’ll save yourself the trip, and the expense, of picking them up at inflated prices at the local hardware store.

Check your room for power outlets. Try to place your main equipment near these outlets, or, if your layout doesn’t permit this, be sure to purchase extra-long power cords.

Lighting is as important as the placement of your devices, when all is said and done. If you have your AV rack nicely nestled in a merlot-stained cabinet to bring out the beauty of your Classical TV Frame from HD Envy, that’s great. But if you can’t tell the Blu-Ray player from the PS3, you’re going to run into problems. Many people choose to install wall sconces or ceiling lighting to brighten the whole room, and add dimmer functions for those nights that they want a little romantic lighting. Be sure to sketch in your lighting placement and wires before you begin your DIY project.

By planning everything, writing down directions or sketching out visuals, you will save yourself potentially expensive and time-consuming reworking. You don’t want to have to spend hours fixing the placement of your speakers because you didn’t leave enough room for your soundbar, or be faced with the prospect of constant reshuffling until everything haphazardly fits. A home theater DIY installation can be a satisfying and rewarding experience, but without the planning stage you might end up with more of a mess than when you began.

So now you understand how speakers work, and the difference between stereo and home theater speakers. You’re committed to achieving the best possible movie sound, and you know you need a good center speaker with limited off-axis vertical response and two rear speakers to provide the reflecting sound. This is the start of your surround sound system. Next, you should get to know the other speakers you’ll need, and how to set them up to achieve the most accurate sound reproduction for your next home theater experience.

Possibly the most important element that a good home theater speaker system will achieve is total sound immersion. This is basically that experience of being in the film. You don’t want to have to crane your neck every time a loud, low thud occurs to see where it’s coming from. The speakers in front, behind, above and to your sides should blend seamlessly with your visual experience.

How do you get this smooth audio reproduction in your own home theater? First, be prepared for a bit of tweaking. The acoustics of every room vary, so your setup might need several trial and error attempts before it hits perfection. But when it does, you’ll realize what all the fuss is about.

Dialog is a driving audio force in many movies. You want your center speaker to be close enough to your flat panel display so that the dialog feels cemented to the actors in front of you. In a 5.1 surround sound recording, more likely than not the dialog is hard mixed, attached, to the center speaker. This is the driver of most dialog, and as such you need to experiment until it is positioned so that you can hear the dialog coming straight at you.

A 5.1 surround sound system is the standard for most DVDs and HDTV broadcasts. The ideal spot to sit is directly in front of your center speaker at 0 degrees – your ears level with the speaker’s drivers. You should place the front left and right speakers about 22 to 30 degrees on either side of the center speaker, as seen from this spot on your couch. Your left and right side speakers should be mounted two or more feet above ear level, if possible, and be angled between 90 and 110 degrees toward you. These are rough guidelines, and you should try listening to all types of audio (Dolby, DTS, SACD, etc.) that you will be listening to, in order to get the most out of your setup.

7.1 surround sound is truly a surround sound setup, as it uses the rear speakers that are so important in establishing your location. The two rear speakers should be placed about 135 to 150 degrees towards the center of the room (which should be directly in line with the center speaker’s drivers). The other aspects of the speaker setup are similar to 5.1. Keep in mind that your rear speakers should never be directly behind you, or a 180 degree angle, because our brains will sometimes process this sound to be coming from in front of us.

So now that you have the basics of the two most popular types of home theater setup, try it out! Listen for all the details in your favorite movie, and adjust your speakers based on what you hear. You are going to be the one listening to and enjoying all of the great movie sounds, so be sure that you are enjoying your audio experience to its fullest the next time you pop in your favorite disc.

Lauren is a contributing writer for the HD Envy blog. If you’ve ever wondered how to frame a flat screen TV, HD Envy has your solution. In order to frame a flat screen TV, you just have to visit HD Envy’s website to get started. Just contact HD Envy and ask them how they can let you custom frame a flat screen TV using any color or style of your choosing. And the next time your neighbors come for a visit, they’ll be asking how to frame a flat screen TV too.

With a crystal clear 1080p Full HD image projecting from your flat panel TV, you want a sound quality to match, right? It would be terrible if you were enjoying Iron Man’s dramatic flight into the atmosphere above Santa Monica while only hearing the faint muffled sound of his jets (or at least you assume it is his jets because of the image – it could be a lawn motor or a scooter as far as your ears know). Theater-quality sound is half of the experience. Without it, you are left with a dull impression of the movie, and you are rarely pulled in to the extent that you forget where you are and actually live the experiences on screen. Movie audio is so important, in fact, that there is an entire branch of audio equipment dedicated to providing the most accurate reproduction of sounds for a home theater setup.

First, a little background knowledge on what makes a speaker sound best. The position of the listener is a key feature of great sound. Your head should be directly in front of, and at the same height as, the speaker’s driver. This is known as the “on-axis” position. If you move to the left, right, up or down from this position, you will be “off-axis” and the sound will not be as clear.

When comparing stereo speakers with home theater speakers, you will often find that stereo speakers have a better off-axis sound than home theater speakers. This is because audio from a CD or other music source sound great when it is combined with left and right channels, and reflects off the walls and ceilings. With a stereo setup, the best sounding position will be in the center of the setup, but of-axis seating will sound great too.

Home theater speakers are a bit different. The vertical off-axis response, that is, the range of sound that occurs above and below the center position, of a center speaker in a home theater setup will be very limited. This is to prevent reverberation of sound off the ceiling and the floor. This is done to allow the rear speakers, which are often absent from, or include a more limited range than, a stereo speaker setup, to do their job. In a good home theater speaker system, you should include two rear speakers that act as “false reflections”. Sound from an actor’s voice in a large, cavernous room will take longer to bounce off the back wall and hit your ears if you were really standing beside that actor while the film was being created. Directors want to give you the feeling that you are really immersed in their world by tweaking the reflecting sounds so that they are slightly delayed as they bounce back to your ear – this can only be done with rear speakers, not with the reflections from a front speaker.

Home theater speaker systems are designed to provide an accurate reproduction of audio from a movie. The center speaker and rear speakers are the most important elements in this configuration, as they drive the bulk of the sound. The next installment of our series on home theater sound will examine how to set up your speakers to get the most out of on- and off-axis listening, and to get the most faithful reproduction of movie sound possible.

Lauren is a contributing writer for the HD Envy blog. HD Envy specializes in providing LCD and Plasma TV wall frame solutions for your home theater. If you are looking for a unique and creative way to display your TV, the LCD or Plasma TV wall frame products at HD Envy could be for you. You can get a custom made Plasma TV wall frame for your family room, designed to match any color or style that you prefer. HD Envy’s engineering experts have created an easily mountable Plasma TV wall frame solution so you can frame your flat panel TV with ease.

For those of you just getting the hang of HDMI 1.3, the news of a new HDMI technology, HDMI 1.4, might initially come as an annoyance more than anything. HDMI 1.3 cables have already simplified your home theater setup, so why bother with upgrading to the latest version? Well, the feature that has every audio and video enthusiast excited over this new development is simple: HDMI 1.4 can transmit Internet data.

On the most basic level, this means that each and every one of your devices, from game consoles to set top boxes, needs only a single HDMI 1.4 cable connected to a device that is equipped with Internet connection. No more Cat 5 cables or Wi-Fi connections for every device that you want to hook into the great information highway. If you have, say, a TV that can access the Internet via Wi-Fi or Ethernet, every device that is connected to that TV via HDMI 1.4 will also be connected to the Internet (assuming the device has the proper hardware for this connection).

The technical term for this new capability is the HDMI Enternet Channel, or HEC. Your devices must have certain characteristics to take advantage of this technology. They must all be able to “talk” to each other, and they must all be able to accept HDMI 1.4 cables. The new HEC technology transmits not just video data, but all types of data via the Internet connection. This means that you can transfer photos or other media directly from your TV to a DVD burner, or store them on your hard drive with no additional cable hookups.

While the HEC technology is the most exciting aspect of the new HDMI 1.4, there are several other additions that make this cable unique. It includes Audio Return Channel (ARC) technology, which allows those using the audio tuner inside their TV to ditch extra analog stereo cables and use HDMI 1.4 to transmit the sound from the tuner to their receiver. It also has the ability to transmit most of the 3D data that is currently available. While this is not yet widespread, it appears that the industry is slowly making a shift towards more 3D video for home theater use, and once all of the devices and discs catch up, HDMI 1.4 will come in handy.

Your home theater setup could shed quite a few cables with this new configuration. This will be a welcome addition for anyone just starting to collect the devices and components for their new home theater, but it might be a bit of a financial burden for those who already have their home theater established. HDMI 1.4 has several exciting new features, and if you’re interested in creating a web-enabled hub as part of your home theater, your options have just been simplified.

Lauren is a contributing writer to the HD Envy blog. The picture frame TV mount options at HD Envy will provide your home theater with a boost of sophisticated style. You can choose between the pre-made picture frame TV mount solutions, or work with design and engineer experts at HD Envy to produce your own custom picture frame TV mount. Whether you are looking for a picture TV frame mount made from oak, ash, leather, ceramic or plastic, HD Envy is there. If you want to have an original, unique and stylish home theater, consider the picture frame TV mount options at HD Envy.

Don’t sacrifice safety for style. Your home theater should be a unique expression of your interior design taste, but don’t let the trends dictate your style or make you forget about safety.

As the trends move towards thinner HDTVs, they also move toward thinner entertainment centers to hold them. Our TVs are also getting bigger, and that means they are getting heavier too. And despite the growing number of children who are tech-savvy, not enough is being done to keep them safe in our expanding, and increasingly precarious, home theaters.

In 2007, which was the last year that full statistics were available, there were nearly 17,000 children rushed to the emergency room because heavy or unstable furniture fell on them. And the study that released these numbers claims that since 1990, these types of injuries have increased by 41% – half of which were from falling TVs alone. Three quarters of those harmed by heavy or unstable furniture were children under six, who simply don’t have the knowledge that furniture should not be climbed on. (Read a report on this study here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30686493/

Our flat panel TVs are beautiful things – sleek, thin, stylish. But they are also extremely heavy (often weighing over 100 pounds) and have a narrow center of gravity, making them more prone to toppling over than older, chunkier TVs. A balance must be struck between safety and style – you don’t have to sacrifice your brand new HDTV to keep your home safe, but you do need to be aware that it can be a hazard.

One simple, effective and arguable even more stylish way to secure your LCD or plasma TV is to use a wall mount as opposed to that euro-styled entertainment center. The entertainment center might look pretty sleek, a glossy piano black to match your TV, but it is no doubt a thin, low-sitting unit that is expected to hold the weight of your thin, top-heavy TV, balanced precariously on an equally thin stand. With a wall mount, your TV will not only be out of reach of little, exploring hands, but it will also have a unique style that is unmatched by any entertainment center.

You can use a wall mount TV frame to infuse your home theater with supreme style. And as an added bonus, it is more stable and safe than an entertainment center, if professionally installed. HD Envy offers a variety of wall mount TV frame choices, from artistic wood frames to classy leather frames to fully customizable frames for the most unique look possible.

There is no reason why you should fear that your TV is not secure. By using a wall mount, and preferably one that conforms to the VESA guidelines, your HDTV will be securely attached to your wall – and will enjoy all the benefits of mobility with the tilting, rotating arm of most wall mounts. The HD Envy wall mount TV frame that you use to polish the look uses a bracket system that conforms with industry guidelines, so you are secure in your knowledge that your TV is safely mounted to the wall while you’re watching the latest Disney feature with your kids.

Lauren is a contributing author for the HD Envy blog. At HD Envy, you’ll find a wide selection of stylish, safe and affordable wall mount TV Frame options for your home theater. You can customize the color, size and details of the frame in order to perfectly match your home theater. And because each wall mount TV frame is crafted by engineers using industry guidelines and is based on styles found in contemporary setting all around the world, you will get a product that is long-lasting, unique and secure.

With the advanced display technologies of today, it’s more important than ever that all elements of your home theater are working together in harmony. You know that you won’t get the best image from your Blu-Ray player if it’s not connected with the best cables. But did you know that without the proper calibration, your brand new HDTV might not be living up to its full potential?

Even some in-store displays appear washed out, muted, or overly saturated with color. You walk away shaking your head, thinking that whatever TV that was, it definitely wasn’t premium high-def. However, a simple problem could be at the root of the lackluster performance: it was not professionally calibrated.

Many people will argue that anyone, even those who are uninitiated into the league of the videophile, can calibrate a TV. However, as new features are piled on, such as different modes for different devices and a nearly infinite number of color, level, saturation and other options, many of the tweaks and features will be hidden or too technical for most of us to fully grasp without a few hours spent snuggled in bed with our TV manual.

Calibration is basically a balance between a TV’s color gamut and grayscale, and its minimum and maximum brightness and gamma. The optimized TV will conform to the standards set by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), which tries to match consumer TV calibration with the images that the video cameras filming the media intended.

Calibration isn’t simply increasing or decreasing values on your TV’s menu until things look “ok” to you. Of course, you can do that, but if you’ve invested in a home theater equipped with surround sound, multimedia devices and a flat screen TV wall frame surrounding your HDTV, you want to get the highest video performance possible. Proper calibration rests on the backbone of so much scientific and engineering knowledge, that it is usually best to let the professionals handle it.

The image on your HDTV depends in large part on the ambient light and other factors of your home theater environment. A professional will understand environmental factors in addition to the capabilities of your particular TV and will maximize the picture quality so you are presented with an image that give you the least eye fatigue and the most true-to-the-filmmaker’s-ideal quality that your TV is able to produce.

A professional will understand several things about your TV and your viewing needs. First, he or she understands the fine tuning necessary for many of the color and other options, and knows when, and how, they interact. For instance, changing the gamma affects levels and grayscale, which need to be readjusted every time even the minutest change in gamma occurs. A professional will also have the tools that a proper calibration requires. A color meter is used for every aspect of calibration except levels, and test patterns will be available to ensure that viewing is optimized for all types of media.

Check with the online community whether your TV model is best viewed after a professional calibration, and chances are, you’ll find people happy to tell you that a professional is a good idea. If you want to go it alone, be an intrepid DIYer, go ahead – but in order to save yourself headaches and to get the perfect picture based on plain and simple visual science, go with the professional touch.

Lauren is a contributing author for the HD Envy Blog. HD Envy is a company that provides high-quality flat screen TV wall frame options for consumers interested in adding style and a unique touch to their home theaters. Each flat screen TV wall frame is engineered for easy installation and long-lasting durability. The stock designs for the flat screen TV wall frame products at HD Envy are inspired by some of the most famous casinos and hotels in the world. You can customize your flat screen TV wall frame too, in order to get a look that is uniquely you.

Having a fully-equipped home theater is a wonderful thing. You’ve got the Blu-Ray player for movies, a couple of game systems, a premium CD player and a cable box all neatly hooked up to your mounted flat panel TV with surrounding TV wall frame. You’re ready to sink back into your favorite reclining chair and enjoy the high-definition sights and sounds… but you can’t seem to find the remote to turn on the Blu-Ray player. It must’ve fallen back behind the TV. After searching for it you come across three complex-looking remotes, but you can’t remember if they are for your TV, CD player and Blu-Ray player or if they are from the previous set up you had in the room before the upgrade. Despite repeated attempts to click on at least one device, the remotes prove unassailable – one is working for the TV, but the others appear to have dead connections. A nice, relaxing evening is then spent on figuring out what the remotes are actually for, and how to turn on your Blu-Ray player without its matching remote.

Sound familiar? With all of the new devices on the market, you’d think convenience would be one of the first things to improve. Without a universal remote, however, you will often find yourself missing out on all the features of your devices. You want to have a home theater that is neat, organized and is your portal to a full HD entertainment experience – the headache of searching for remotes and figuring out which one is which can really detract from an otherwise lovely evening spent in the oasis that should be your home theater.

Universal remotes are a great solution when you find yourself inundated with too many remotes, devices and connections in your home theater. Not all remotes are created equal however, and which one you choose will depend on the devices you own and your entertainment needs.

First on the checklist is functionality. You want a universal remote that does everything you would do with a factory-included remote. If you don’t see yourself adjusting the picture and tweaking the sound every time you sit down, you can opt for a simpler remote: one that controls your devices on the basic level, with a power-on option and not much else. However, if you are the meticulous audiophile who needs to optimize every viewing experience, look for the remote with all the bells and whistles. By remembering what you actually need when shopping for a universal remote, you’ll save yourself money and time in the long run.

Related to the functionality of the remote are the optional functions it offers. You can find a universal remote that will delve deep into the adjustment options of all of your devices, so if you need this level of control, get a remote with many optional functions. Be sure to understand what your devices feature before purchasing the remote, so you don’t end up with a high-end, expensive remote that has many optional features that simply don’t work with your home theater devices.
Depending on your level of experience with tech, or on the experience of those you know will be using the remote, you might want to consider a remote that has larger buttons and a simpler interface. This can be especially good for the elderly or visually impaired. And if you aren’t confident that you’ll be able to tackle the sometimes time-consuming process of programming the remote, look for one that has a list of compatible devices and make sure your brands are listed. Although remotes usually have a manual input option, this is often frustrating and hit-or-miss to the uninitiated.

Universal remotes are a great way to organize and simplify your home theater setup. Be sure to fully assess your needs and the needs of other users before you purchase, and you’ll come home from the electronics store with a powerful device that will make your next evening care-free.

Lauren is a contributing writer for the HD Envy Blog. HD Envy is dedicated to producing a TV wall frame to meet your needs and add unique sophistication to your home theater. The TV wall frame that is right for you can be found in their pre-fabricated models, or you can get a fully customized TV wall frame based on your current décor. With premium engineering and attention to detail, every TV wall frame at HD Envy is a work of art.

The consumer electronics industry is one of variety: that’s what makes it so great. You have nearly unlimited options when it comes to size, portability, features, style… but one thing you don’t want to choose between is mounting options. It’s an unnecessary headache. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a standard set of guidelines that could be followed so you could confidently purchase your TV, knowing you could mount it with stuff you bought at the hardware store?

As it stands, many HDTV companies require that you purchase their mount along with their TVs. If you buy a X-Brand TV, you know you’ve got to buy that matching X-Brand mount. And this can be quite costly. The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) was created to tackle just these types of problems: problems of universal compatibility. They set standards that manufacturers can choose to follow in order to maintain stability and compatibility in the video electronics industry.

In order to set a standard for mounting HDTVs, VESA created guidelines known as the Flat Display Mounting Interface (FDMI). This interface is a hardware setup that manufacturers of both TVs and mounting options can follow in order to make life easier on the consumer, and give them the peace of mind that comes with standardized components.

The VESA FDMI outlines the placement of screws on the back of flat panel TVs. There are several varieties of screw patterns and distances between screws that TV manufacturers can choose from in order to best fit their particular TV. Along with this are standard guidelines for cable exits.

As the major players in the LCD HDTV industry step up their production and increase their competition, more and more will be choosing to go with VESA-approved FDMI arrangements. They will want to appeal to the consumer by offering standardized mounting options, and gain the edge up on, or keep up with, their competition. They can let consumers know they are VESA-compliant by adding a hexagonal logo to their compatible TV displays.

So, now that you know what to look for in a VESA-compatible TV, what about the mounts themselves? You need the two pieces of the puzzle in order to get the TV up on the wall and looking fabulous. In this market, only one manufacturer that makes TV wall frames for your flat panel TVs that comply with VESA standards. And that company is, of course, HD Envy.

HD Envy has patent pending designs in all of their custom and pre-fabricated TV screen frames that comply with VESA mounting standards. Other companies use straps and Velcro and shims, completely disregarding the industry’s standards. Not to mention adding to your headache when mounting your brand new HDTV.

You don’t want to be fumbling with all the mounting parts, your TV, articulating wall mount, TV wall frame, and realize that they don’t fit together when you get them up on the wall. HD Envy has used their innovative engineering to ensure that life is not only stylish, sophisticated and unique after you’ve installed one of their LCD TV frames, but it is also hassle-free.

Lauren is a contributor to the HD Envy blog. HD Envy is dedicated to providing customers with a unique and fashionable TV wall frame for their flat panel TVs. Using designs that have been seen in casinos, hotels and corporate lobbies worldwide, the TV wall frames at HD Envy are high-quality and original. Whether you get a custom design or choose from the selection of popular TV wall frames online, HD Envy is your one-stop source for your flat panel TV framing needs.

Imagine slipping into your hot tub with a group of friends and clicking on a beautiful, flat-panel HDTV to watch the latest action flick. Or having a bunch of the guys over to your outdoor patio bar and huddling around the game on that big screen you installed behind the counter. A TV outdoors can be a great way to entertain guests and give yourself a nice relaxing evening while being closer to nature, but there are many things that need to be considered before you go ahead and run those cables through your walls and out to the patio.

First, know your weather. Think hard about the environmental factors that will affect the area you want to install your TV in. Are there high winds? Lots of rain or humidity? How hot does it get? How cold? Ask yourself these questions to make sure you have a good grasp of what you have to protect your TV from when you start the installation process.

The main factor that will make or break your TV placement is location. Ideally, you want to put the TV somewhere that is sheltered as best as possible. Having a roof above your TV location is great, but be sure to observe wind patterns – if there’s high wind and some rain, will this get in under the roof through the front of the patio and potentially ruin your TV? If so, make note of it in order to create the right cabinet for your needs.

Speaking of cabinets, this should be a crucial part of your plan for an outdoor TV, especially those not designed for outdoor use. A TV needs to be sheltered from the elements. There are cabinets on the market that you can buy, or if you’re a real “do-it-yourself-er” you can get some supplies at the local hardware store and get cracking. The cabinet that you choose should be constructed with your particular situation in mind. Including a fan, to reduce the chance of overheating and dust particles in your TV is usually a good idea. And some people prefer a plexiglass front so they can leave the cabinet doors closed while watching TV to protect it even more – but be sure that all edges of the cabinet are water-proof tight.

There are plenty of outdoor TV manufacturers out there that have created TVs designed specifically for use on a patio or by a body of water. SunBright.com offers LCD TVs that can withstand extreme temperatures, dirt, rain, humidity, insects… you name it. These TVs may cost a pretty penny, but the comfort of knowing that your new TV won’t even be phased if the kids do a cannonball into the pool and get a little back spray on that 52-inch LCD, might be worth the investment.

On the other end of the spectrum, you can always get the wires and cables all ready to go, but only bring the TV outdoors when you or your guests are going to be watching it. Rather than having it permanently reside in a cabinet, you just carry the TV out (perhaps with the help of some strong friends) when you want to watch, and bring it back indoors when the evening is done. This saves money, and although it might be a hassle, it is an option for those who don’t think they’ll want to use their TV outdoors too often.

Ultimately, there are many options designed for different purposes when considering installing a TV outdoors. The most important thing is surveying your location realistically and understanding the risks involved with setting up a TV outside – and how to best avoid them.

Lauren Dugan is a contributor to the HD Envy blog. HD Envy is a manufacturer of TV picture frame mount solutions for your home and business. Taking inspiration from picture frame TV mount products found in hotels, casinos and corporate lobbies, HD Envy has crafted a product that is stylish, sophisticated and unique. Your HDTV will look simply stunning when mounted with a picture frame TV mount, and your entire home theater experience will improve. The experts at HD Envy can help you custom design your picture frame TV mount, so visit HDEnvy.com today to get started.

All the new, digital image and audio processing today is fabulous for our movie and music experience, but it does require a little extra know-how. Cables and wires can be a confusing lot, especially if you’re new to the modern home theater world that requires multiple cables for the same purpose, or one cable for multiple purposes.

HDMI is a term you’ve probably encountered. It is the standard “holy grail” of video and audio high quality data transfer. But did you know that HDMI can be transmitted over Cat5 cables? Some home theater setups will necessitate this feature, and it is ideal in many cases.

First, some definitions. A Cat5 cable is also known as a UTP cable, which stands for Unshielded Twisted Pair. Basically, this cable creates a differential signal through balanced to unbalanced transformers, or Baluns. A huge benefit to this setup is eliminating ground loops, because a Balun transformer isolates the conduction path from the home theater equipment hooked up at the other end. A transformer also allows for extended length, sometimes allowing for HDMI signals to be transmitted 150 feet or more without loss in quality.

So, why is this system a good solution? First, Cat5 cables are small, smaller than coaxial, which makes them easier to run through the house or commercial building. Also, they tend to be cheaper, which can amount to hundreds of dollars of savings if you’re installing a large project. Terminating a Cat5 is comparatively simple as well. Overall, this solution is easier, cheaper and can run longer distances than many other possible solutions.

You might be asking why every home theater solution isn’t taking advantage of the great benefits of video over Cat5 cables. It’s not the best solution in all cases. The transformer is key to achieving a high-quality signal, and the best transformers (which produce the best picture in the end) often cost upwards of $500. And despite the great distance that a balun system is able to achieve, there is some quality degradation as distance increases. Many manufacturers will advertise that this solution can produce 1080i-grade images at 200 feet, but 1080p can only be achieved at 150 feet or less.

The actual Cat5 cables are sensitive to environmental factors. They cannot be too close to fluorescent lights or to high voltage lines, should not be passively split or run through a hub, and a single Cat5 cable can only carry either data or AV, not both. And finally, a Cat5 solution requires two separate runs of cable, one shielded and one unshielded, so it is not ideal for many retrofit situations.

If your are considering a project that requires a long distance, say 100 feet or more, the balun Cat5 solution is usually the best and cheapest option. There are both benefits and drawbacks to this AV system, so be sure to assess your home theater needs and limiting factors before you start wiring.

Lauren Dugan is a contributing author to the HD Envy blog. HD Envy is a leader in LCD TV Frame production. Whether you need a classy piece for your home theater or custom designs for your commercial establishment, the Flat Panel TV Picture Frame offerings at HD Envy will satisfy your needs. You can work with the TV framing experts to create the perfect mount for your wall, a TV Picture Frame that is uniquely you. And each flat panel TV picture frame is created with easy-to-install brackets to ensure you get your TV up and running as quickly as possible. The modern home theater will become truly innovative with the addition of a flat panel TV picture frame from HD Envy.