Families Create Home Movie Theaters

Sept. 16, 2006 — -- There was a time when more people actually left their homes and went to the movie theater with their family and friends to watch a film.

But with movies coming out on DVD more quickly than ever and the quality of home entertainment systems improving so much, many American families are simply saying goodbye to their traditional living rooms and creating their own "media rooms."

Peter Schlessel said he created one in his house so his kids would want to hang out at home. With the room's big screen and drop-down curtains, the family's lifestyle is about movies, sports and games.

"We don't want to be like our parents and have a formal living room," Schlessel said. "That didn't seem to fit our lifestyle."

All Price Ranges

The Schlessels gear carries a price tag of more than $50,000, about mid-range, but families can build budget media rooms for less than $5,000.

"You can start with something [costing] as little as $200 for a surround sound system all the way up to -- sky's the limit," said Best Buy's Fred Shahadi.

If money is not an issue, families can try what Marc and Sharon Hagle did in their Winter Park, Fla., home.

The Hagles' media room "just offers a lot of comfort," Marc Hagle said. "We can just settle down into the chairs and cuddle in -- in either one or both -- and it's just a luxury."

The room includes an 84-square-foot projection screen that also retracts to reveal a rear projection flat screen and two plasma screens.

With an $80,000 digital surround system as powerful as a small movie theater's, push-button-controlled curtains and fireplace, a full bar and enough computer memory to hold all the movies and music you could ever want, the room could be considered the "Rolls Royce" of media rooms.

With a VCR system, two satellite dish systems and two cable TV systems, it's the perfect place to watch a football game or an awards show with family and friends.

Rooms Can Offer Extra Value

While families may be in the market for a more modestly priced media room, the Hagles, who are also real estate developers, say the money you spend will come back to you in more ways than one.

"If you just watch the trends in the home building industry, there's no doubt that that when we sell the house that we are going to get premiums for the house," Hagle said. "We're going to get our money back many times over because we had these features built into it."

Media rooms have become so popular that many home builders say they can't sell new homes without them.

How to Build Your Own

Buy a quality television.

For a basic media room, one of the first places to start is with a TV. There is no way to really future-proof your purchases, but your best bet is to go with an HDTV. You can get a Samsung 30-inch widescreen flat tube HDTV for about $900. If you want better picture quality the price goes up for rear-projection HDTVs.

Purchase a surround sound system and a receiver.

The other thing you want a good surround sound system and receiver. Once you have a good receiver in place, other components can be built into it when you can afford it, like DVD players, Tivos, satellite TV or cable.

Ask the experts.

Best Buy, Sony Cierge and other private companies will come into your home and consult you on what you need. They all work within your budget.

If you can only spend a few thousand dollars, they are likely to tell you to invest in a TV and surround sound system to start, and build from there.

Best Buy's home consultation is about $150, but if you decide to go with what they recommend and use them for the installation, they waive the fee.

Sony Cierge is a membership-based service that starts at $1,500, which includes the consultation.