Thanks to the boom of home theater over the last 15 years, families across America are enjoying an unprecedented movie experience at home. While many of us gear geeks out there gripe over issues with new display technologies and various trends in audio and video, it’s good to step back and look at the big picture. Quite simply, many people are in a state of “home theater bliss” and that’s a great thing.

The Big Screen
There's nothing quite like powering up your new big-screen TV for the first time. The impact of a large screen with HDTV or Progressive-Scan picture quality from a DVD is nothing short of spectacular.  For those who are experiencing this at home for the first time, the result is usually a smile that stretches ear-to-ear because from that point on, movies will never be the same.

Just five years ago for $2,000-$2,500 you could get a standard-definition, 36-inch, 4:3 TV, or a very cheaply made rear-projection TV in the 50-inch range. To get a widescreen HDTV back then, you had to pay about $3,500 just to get started in the 46-55 inch models.

While those expensive high-quality rear-projection HDTVs cost a pretty penny, they still wipe the floor with the new digitally driven displays such as DLP or LCD RPTVs due to CRT technology’s capability to show the full color spectrum and excellent black-level. CRTs limitation was price and light output. DLP and LCD TV can easily be seen in bright room if your home theater suffers from such light control issues.

With CRT RPTVs you definitely got what you paid for since more money bought higher-class tube technology along with greater reliability/quality, which varied among manufacturers. With the new digitally driven TVs, the digital imaging chip(s) are made by a few suppliers, from which all the manufacturers buy from and insert into their TVs. This makes the technology quality of the imaging device way more consistent among the different brands. That’s not to say there are not differences among DLP/LCD driven RPTVs, just that now the imaging device is more consistent and reliable.

The result is that now you can get an HDTV rear-projection TV in the 46-55 inch range from $2,500 on up. That’s a full $1,000 cheaper than before. With Plasma displays price drops, you can now get a 42-inch Plasma TV starting at $2,000 with DVD resolution and $3000+ for HDTV resolution models.

Your money buys more screen than it did just 5 years ago, and in the lower-end, it buys you much greater resolution with HDTV capability or DVD resolution displays that dramatically increase the capability of your home theater.

Projectors
Projectors five years ago still cost a lot to get a good quality image. Now you can get into a projector that has widescreen DVD resolution from $1,000-$1,500 that offers great image quality at sizes up to 80-90 inches. For $3,000+ you can get an HDTV projector that offers screen sizes 120+ inches.  For those who are interested in using a projector to bring the biggest screen possible, it couldn’t be a better time.

With how cheap projectors are, they're still the most maintenance prone devices, and just because projectors have come down in price doesn’t mean screens have. Sure you could project onto a wall, but you won’t get near the image quality that your projector is capable of without a good screen, which starts at $600 for a decent one and easily costs a grand or two to get a great screen.

Audio
With how much cheaper TV technology has become, consumers could assume that the same price reductions have occurred with the audio side of home theater, but they would be mistaken to think so. Speakers and audio components still rely on the core technologies used over the last 40 years, which have been incrementally improved since.

As speaker manufactures improve speaker designs, you still pay for what you get. You will pay more today than just five years ago for the same speakers since no new breakthough technologies have come in and ushered in a paradigm-shift like digital display technologies have in the TV world. Waiting on your speaker purchase will only cost you more.

There are a few manufacturers that offer great sound quality among their entire lineup such as Paradigm and B&W, of which regardless of your budget, you should be able to find something in their lineup that will be sure to please.

The Internet has been the only real cost cutting measure on the audio side of things. Outlaw Audio offers home theater equipment at amazing prices due to Internet only distribution. There are a few speaker makers out there doing the same thing, but with higher-end speakers it helps to get a known brand that’s going to be around in 10-20+ years so you can get replacement drivers if needed as speakers can last 20-30+ years before repairs or replacement is needed.

DVD Players
It couldn’t be a better time to buy a DVD player. Just five years ago a progressive-scan player started at $750. With the use of standard internal circuitry, the prices have dramatically come down, and you can now get a progressive-scan DVD player for as little as $80.

Now if you’re looking to use your DVD player for CD player duty these cheap DVD players won’t perform great at all. That’s because in order to produce good analog audio it still takes higher quality internal circuitry to produce better sound. That why audiophile grade DVD players easily start at $500-$600, and can easily go much higher.

The iPod
While many ultra-audiophiles will shun the notion that an iPod playing MP4s can replace a CD collection, the simple truth is that the convenience of having all you’re music available (and the ease at which playlists can be made) makes for a far better environment for everyone except the ultra-audiophile snob.

While I’m a mid-end audiophile myself, I recognize that an iPod driving MP4s sounds damn close if not the same as CD quality. Of course it all depends on the recording quality of the original CD, if the original CD wasn’t mastered well, the MP4 will not sound any better.

The iPod changes music listening for anyone who uses one, and I listen at least 100 times more than I used to while still being able to enjoy the nuances of audio nirvana that the snob in me loves to listen for.

Summary
With all the different options and features of home theater equipment these days, it couldn’t be a better time for home theater enthusiasts and those just getting started. Once you’re through all the technical items, setup, and calibration, it’s great to just sit back, relax, and enjoy a good movie with friends and family.

Enjoy!