MAXIMUM THEATER!

Power up your entertainment with the full home cinema experience

- NEIL MOHR

THE MOVIE THEATER is dead, long live the movie theater! Cultural shifts usually happen pretty slowly, but recent concern about being in enclosed spaces during a pandemic has certainly accelerated the shift towards home streaming.

Home theater installations have always been something enthusiastic PC users would try to tackle—expensive kit, miles of cables, drilling holes through drywall—these are all activities we imagine tick the average reader’s boxes.

A home theater project is about bringing together a host of disparate parts and technologies to offer that special movie experience. Of course, you could stream the same content to your cell phone, but where’s the fun in that?

No, this project will be about recreating the comfort, the lighting, the big-screen, and big surround-sound experience of the movie theater. Part of that is about measuring up and planning what size of screen your room can accommodate, working out how to route cables and power, then the sort of digital infrastructure you will need to deliver this conveniently and seamlessly.

No one wants a PC buzzing away in the corner of their lounge, nor do they want bundles of cables trailed around the room. So let’s dare to dream about the ideal home theater, explore what you’ll need, what the potential issues are, and how to plan and tackle creating a Maximum PC installation. –NEIL MOHR