A home theater can be a significant investment. A large screen, the audio system, lighting, control, and seating can all add up. Granted, your home theater doesn’t have to be just for movie watching. It can be the place for Netflix binges, sports, gathering together to watch presidential candidates debate, and more.

However, sometimes all this content doesn’t take full advantage of everything your Marietta home theater installation can do. If you've invested in multichannel Dolby Atmos sound and the latest projector or 4K TV with HDR, you want to take advantage of it! Yet many streaming and cable TV offerings don’t use these features. Some movie and show soundtracks don’t use the surround audio channels much, and many are not mastered for the high-contrast imagery that HDR can display. 

You might be surprised at what we’ll suggest. Try video games!  Even if you’re not a gamer, you might be blown away by the storylines, cinematic presentation, and incredible use of sound that comes with the best of today’s titles. 

SEE ALSO: Do You Enjoy Netflix in Your Home Theater?

Netflix is one of those internet institutions that is now ingrained in popular culture, and not just in the U.S. Younger viewers may not even realize that the company started as the internet alternative to Blockbuster video rentals, shipping physical discs conveniently to your home and doing away with the dreaded late fees.

These days, of course, Netflix is the 800-pound gorilla of internet video streaming, with a seemingly endless array of titles to watch. Moreover, they have become a force in Hollywood, financing many original movies and shows that can be viewed by audiences more massive than ever before, and garnering multiple Golden Globe and Oscar wins.

If you have a media room or home theater installation in your Atlanta, GA home, chances are you have a few Netflix favorites. It doesn’t hurt that Netflix has also been ahead of the curve in adopting the most advanced audio and video technologies in their original content like 4K, Dolby Atmos surround sound, and Dolby Vision that make great use of the latest AV equipment. And if you love Netflix, you'll love it even more with the newest feature Sony includes in its latest TVs and projectors. Read on to learn more.

Does your home theater suffer from the “black bar syndrome?” Fortunately, it’s a curable video malady. We are joking here a little, but let us explain.

Without a doubt, if you watch movies at all, you have noticed the black bars that often appear on the top and bottom of the screen. The reason for this is that the majority of flat panel and most projector screens are in 16:9 format, which refers to the ratio of the screen width to its height. Over 70% of Hollywood films made for theatrical release are shot in widescreen format, which is a 2.4:1 aspect ratio. This format, sometimes referred to as anamorphic, is wider than it is high. To fit the film on your screen without skewing it (distorting the image by making it taller), you get the black bars to fill the unused space on your screen. 

What is the problem with that? If you have a 120-inch screen, for example, in your Atlanta theater or media room, you are not getting 120 inches of picture. And if you’ve recently invested in a superb Sony projector with native 4K resolution, you are effectively getting 3K instead of 4K.

3K is not what you bargained for, especially if you like to watch cinematic films. Fortunately, as we mentioned, there is a cure. Special lenses from Panamorph, compatible with Sony projectors and all of the best theater screen brands, can cure the black bar syndrome.

Read on to see how Panamorph lenses help get the most from your Sony 4K projector image.

Unfortunately for the Atlanta area, our humid southern climate is a breeding ground for those pesky biting insects dubbed no-see-ums. Also called Biting Midges they are the ones that bite, but you can't see them to avoid it.

What does this have to do with home audio? Stick with us for the analogy here. We have many customers that love great music and top-notch sound quality. For them, we carry an excellent array of speakers like Bowers & Wilkins, the Klipsch Heritage line, and more. Many of these customers love the look of speakers and make them an integral part of their room’s décor. Indeed, some of these speakers are quite large and are meant to be prominently displayed.

Other customers love great audio but don't want speakers – no matter how exquisitely finished – as part of the room furnishings. Of course, architectural speakers have been around for many years with in-ceiling and in-wall models that offer great sound with no intrusions on floor space. Typically, those speakers have paintable grills to match a wall or ceiling finish to be very unobtrusive.

And then there are customers whose interior design demands even more stealth from a home audio installation, because even painted grills are too much. These customers prefer the speaker to virtually disappear. We’ll call these speakers no-see-ums, because you may not see them, but you will definitely hear the sound quality.

Read on for more about two no-see-um speaker lines for your home audio installation in Dunwoody.

Most everyone wants an immersive big-screen experience in their media room or home theater. The only issue? Not everyone has the space for a full-fledged theater installation. In some areas, mounting a projector in the ceiling or a back wall is not a practical solution.

You might ask - why not go with a large flat-screen display? Many people do, and there are many that Georgia Home Theater can recommend from brand partners like Sony. But, some people want that projected large screen experience without giving up space, and the truly large, over 100-inch flat panels can get very expensive.

There is a solution, and it’s called the ultra-short-throw projector. It’s a projector than can sit mere inches from your wall and project an image up to ten feet across diagonally. The best part is that it only requires a slim wall-mounted screen, and it sits on your typical media credenza or cabinet.

What’s more, the latest models feature the newest 4K and HDR technology for an eye-popping picture, and sometimes also include full smart TV functionality for an all-in-one solution with the convenience of a TV and the cinematic impact of a projector.

One of Georgia Home Theater’s favorite models in this category is the Epson LS500, and it may just be the answer for the media space in your Smyrna home. Read on to see if this is the easy big-screen home theater installation solution you’ve been waiting for.

You have undoubtedly had a collection of favorite movies at some point in your life. Depending on when you started your collection, those movies may have been on VHS tapes, DVDs, or Blu-ray discs. Of course, today, you can have digital collections be stored on a computer or in the cloud through a digital service.

We all know VHS tapes are long obsolete, and DVDs are stuck with video resolution from the 20^th century. Blu-ray discs are still viable, and the best quality format is UltraHD (4K) Blu-ray. With the convenience of streaming from Netflix, Amazon Video, and a host of other services, people are accustomed to the satisfaction of searching for content and watching immediately.

Physical media like UltraHD Blu-ray has always had the advantage of the best playback quality. The 4K video and uncompressed audio are unencumbered by the compression necessary to stuff the many bits required for a high-quality video into the network pipe that flows into your home. Even an HD Blu-ray rivals or often exceeds the quality of a 4K stream over the internet, both in audio and video performance.

Are we telling you to stop streaming and to buy a disc player? No, but we are saying that if you have a high-end home theater, you will want a high level of performance; there is another option for your Buckhead home – a Kaleidescape movie server. Read on to see why it’s the perfect addition to your home theater installation.

Subwoofers are a necessity for a proper home theater. Movie soundtracks are full of deep bass rumble from crashes, explosions, and ominous musical passages in soundtracks. With surround sound, many installations don't use full-range speakers for those positions, and the subwoofer provides the low-end punch for the soundtrack. 

There’s no true problem with subwoofers besides the fact they are almost universally large, bulky boxes. Since we often recommend dual subwoofers for the best bass response in a home theater or media room, that makes for two large, bulky boxes. Some theaters and media rooms can't comfortably accommodate the large subwoofer box into the décor, however, no one wants a theater without the bass to handle today's immersive movie soundtracks.

The solution to this dilemma has been the architectural subwoofer. While built-in subwoofers have been around for years, there have seen recent technical improvements in driver design, amplification, and room correction that rival the performance of their bulkier, freestanding brethren.

That brings us to this month’s product overview: the JL Audio Fathom IWS subwoofer line. This subwoofer series is specifically designed to deliver the type of performance JL Audio is known for, while easily fitting into standard wall construction.

Read on to learn how JL Audio architectural subwoofers can provide the bass without the box in your Sandy Springs home theater installation.

Sony is a pioneer in consumer electronics, with a long list of inventions and technology firsts. While they have more competition today than ever from Korean and Chinese electronics giants, the company is still out in front, continuing to invest in research and development to make something more than me-too products. Sony's founder, Akio Morita, once said, "curiosity is the key to creativity;" the company is still driven by the curiosity to invent new things today.

As with all of their products, Sony brings their creativity, innovation, and design expertise to projectors. Sony launched the first 4K home projector in 2011 when 4K TVs were still nascent. Today the Sony 4K projector line is bigger and better than ever.

When it comes to projectors for your Dunwoody home theater or media room, Georgia Home Theater recommends Sony.  Read on to learn more about the special features of Sony projectors that make them the right choice for you.

Dolby Atmos was introduced to much fanfare for home theaters in 2014. The new format was trumpeted as one of the biggest advances in multi-channel audio in years. Indeed, it brought a more immersive 3D sound to home theater. Consumer electronics partners jumped on the bandwagon early, and products like speakers, receivers, and UHD Blu-ray players started appearing in the market over the next two years.

While new technology is great, you need things that take advantage of it. For Dolby Atmos, the content was slow in coming. The first movie for home viewing released in Atmos on Blu-ray was Transformers, Age of Extinction. Video games like Star Wars: Battlefront followed as Dolby worked with content makers to make full use of the new format. While these titles were excellent showcases for the format, others were slow in coming.

Fast forward to 2019, and all that has changed dramatically. For one, there are over 4400 theaters in the U.S. with immersive Dolby Atmos sound, exposing millions of theatergoers to new levels in cinema audio. Almost every new AV receiver and surround processor now sports support for the format, with most supporting its competitor DTS:X as well. Apple recently announced Dolby Atmos support for the 4K Apple TV and is upgrading its iTunes movie rental offerings to Atmos as well. Amazon's latest streaming stick also supports the sound format. Speakers from respected brands like Bowers and Wilkins and Klipsch are available, both in surface mount or architectural styles designed expressly for delivering those three-dimensional height and positional overhead effects.

You may be thinking: What can I watch with a Dolby Atmos surround sound system in my Roswell or Metro Atlanta home’s media room? The answer is plenty - read on to learn more.

A home theater can be a significant investment. Like a bathroom or kitchen remodel, it can also be a big job. There's a lot that can go into a home theater. There's the screen, the projector, the speakers, the audio receiver, processor or amplifier, control capability, lighting, seating, décor, and more to think about.

Of course, your home theater area might be a setup designed around a living or family room, or it can be a full-boat dedicated home theater in an extra or purpose-built room in your house. Either way, the details must be sweated to make it into a theater experience that feels special. Those details involve the right size and scale for sound and picture, the acoustics, the methods of control, and perhaps how the home theater ties into other smart home features.

It might seem daunting, right? Georgia Home Theater is here to help. As our name implies, home theaters are a core competence at our company. To make it easier for customers to see and hear what a home theater setup can be like at your home, we have built one in our flagship theater demo area in our Marietta showroom.

Did you miss the Oscar-winning Bohemian Rhapsody at the theaters? We have set the film up as a demo in our showroom, as the musical soundtrack can really show off a high-end sound system. And the visuals are equally stunning. The demo theater features some of our best brands – Anthem, Bowers and Wilkins, Sony, and more. At our Marietta showroom, you’ll get a much better sense of what to expect from a professional home theater installation in your Alpharetta-area home.

Keep reading for a brief look at what you’ll experience in the showroom – and what you could have in your own theater.

When you think about home theater, your thoughts may turn to the big things that make it a home cinema experience. The screen, the projector, and the surround sound system provide the picture and sound that recreates the immersive experience.

The décor is important too. Whether your taste runs to recreating the classic décor of the Fox theater or to a modern and clean aesthetic, where the room transports you is an important part of the experience.

Then there are the little details that, when done well, just delight. Small details can also annoy if not done well. Do you have a car with poorly placed cupholders? Does a cup placed in one of them block your radio or HVAC control? That's an example of a detail that can irritate.

The same consideration can be given to home theater seating. Some of the big concerns are: Are the seats comfortable for a long movie? Does every position have a great view of the screen?

Then there are the small considerations. Where do I put my drink or snack? What if I need a little light in the dark? It is these small - but essential - aspects that we will cover in this short blog, and how home theater seating from Octane Seating makes the most of those considerations. Ready to review the little seating accessories that help make your Atlanta home theater the perfect entertainment space? Just keep reading.