Home Theater For Dummies, 2/e

A low-tech way to understand a high-tech system!

Create the home entertainment center that fits your home and your tastes

Gadget fans, a home theater setup is the stuff your dreams are made of. This book keeps the dream from becoming a nightmare! Here's how to select, set up, and optimize a system, translate the salesperson's geek-speak, connect all the parts throughout your home, and even do cool stuff like accessing your system from your laptop computer.

Discover how to

• Choose the right space for your system
• Select and connect source devices
• Understand speakers, TV types, and remotes
• Create a whole-home network
• Access your system away from home

 

 

Table of Contents

Introduction.

Part I: Welcome to the World of Home Theater.

Chapter 1: The Zen of Home Theater.

Chapter 2: Defining Your Home-Theatered Home.

Chapter 3: The ABCs of Home Theater Audio.

Chapter 4: Getting the Big (Video) Picture.

Part II: What Are You Going to Watch?: Source Devices.

Chapter 5: Treating Your Ears to Music.

Chapter 6: Feeding Video into Your Theater.

Chapter 7: Feeding Your Home Theater from Outside Your Home.

Chapter 8: Introducing the Home Theater PC.

Chapter 9: Gaming Galore.

Chapter 10: Accessing Digital Content at Home and Over the Internet.

Part III: Watching and Listening: Display and Control Devices.

Chapter 11: The Heart of a Home Theater: The A/V Receiver.

Chapter 12: Speaker of the House.

Chapter 13: Understanding Your Display Options.

Chapter 14: Comparing Display Technologies.

Chapter 15: Remote Controlling Your Home Theater.

Part IV: Putting It All Together.

Chapter 16: Home Theater Cable Basics.

Chapter 17: Hooking Up Your A/V System.

Chapter 18: Plugging into a Whole-Home Entertainment Network.

Part V: Letting Your Home Theater Be All It Can Be.

Chapter 19: Tweaking Your A/V System.

Chapter 20: Customizing Your Home Theater Environment.

Chapter 21: Moving Up to the High End.

Part VI: The Part of Tens.

Chapter 22: Ten (or So) Accessories for Your Home Theater.

Chapter 23: Ten Great Sources for More Information.

Index.