by Roger Turner
The seats are stained, smelly and uncomfortable. You can’t sit close to the screen without craning your neck up – and when you sit a few rows back, there’s always someone in front of you blocking the view. Given the lack of comfort, many people ultimately decide that it’s much more enjoyable to avoid the unpleasantness of the traditional theatre experience and watch movies at home.
If comfort is your main priority when you watch movies, this is the article for you. Maybe you’ve just decided to become a home theatre hobbyist and are still in the initial stages of planning your viewing area – or perhaps you already have a home theatre and are looking for ways to improve it. Either way, it’s likely that making the viewing environment as comfortable as it can be is one of your top priorities.
Here’s how to make your home theatre more comfortable.
Take Care of Your Guests’ Needs
One of the most important aspects of any home theatre is ensuring that your guests’ needs are taken care of. When guests come over to watch movies with you, they’re certain to get hungry and thirsty. The easiest way to take care of these needs is by making sure that people can help themselves. Consider getting a snack shelf and a mini fridge for your home theatre and keep them both stocked with a variety of foods and drinks. Don’t forget that not everyone in your group will want to spend the evening consuming candy and sugary soda, so it’s important to have plenty of sugar-free options available.
If you have a large movie viewing group, it’s likely that some of the people will be smokers. You definitely don’t want people smoking in your home theatre, but you also don’t want to ask your guests to spend half of the evening outside. Consider having some vaping supplies available for those people, so they can enjoy the evening in comfort. Vape juice won’t leave lingering odours in your home theatre, and vaping in the viewing area isn’t likely to annoy your other guests the way smoking would.
Control the Lighting in the Viewing Environment
When you think about home theatre comfort, the comfort of your guests’ bodies is probably the first thing that comes to mind. We’ll talk about that in a moment, but it’s also important to consider other aspects of comfort such as avoiding eyestrain. People can experience eyestrain and headaches when watching movies for extended periods under less than ideal lighting conditions.
To ensure that your home theatre has proper lighting, the first thing that you should do is keep the screen free of glare. If your home theatre has windows, it’s a very good idea to install blackout curtains unless you only plan to watch movies during the evening. Blackout curtains are the types of curtains that you find in hotel rooms – they’re constructed from multiple layers of fabric to ensure that light can’t pass through.
If you’ve done a good job of preventing unwanted light in your home theatre, that’s going to create some new problems. The first problem is that people might have difficulty finding their way around when they want to get refreshments or use the restroom. Ambient floor lighting can solve this issue and can help to prevent people from bumping into things.
You may also want to consider installing bias lighting behind your screen. Bias lighting puts a halo of gentle light around the outline of the screen. The dim light increases the screen’s apparent contrast and helps to relieve the eyestrain that can result from looking at a bright image against a black background.
Maintain a Consistent Temperature
If you’re planning to construct your home theatre in a dedicated room within your home, you should choose a room with ample ventilation. That’s partially because small rooms can get hot very quickly when they’re packed with people. You also may not want your home theatre to smell like popcorn and soda permanently. You’ll probably want to set your home’s air conditioner to a lower temperature when your home theatre is in use, but you may also want to have some blankets available for guests who get cold easily.
Make Your Home Theatre Accessible
One of the important aspects of home theatre design is ensuring that all of your guests can see what’s on the screen – but you should also consider the possibility that some of the people in your group may have less than perfect hearing. So that those people can fully enjoy the experience, you should ensure that your projection system has the ability to display captions. Alternatively, you can consider having wireless headsets available for those who need them.
You can also consider configuring your home theatre for maximum accessibility by turning captions on permanently. It might surprise you to know that many of your guests may actually prefer this option. Captions aren’t just for those with hearing difficulties. According to a study conducted in 2019, more than 80 percent of Netflix users watch content with captions enabled at least a portion of the time. A study of UK TV viewers in 2006 showed that 7.5 million Britons watched television with subtitles even though 80 percent of them had no hearing issues.
Configure Your Seating for Maximum Comfort
The last – and perhaps most important – aspect of home theatre comfort is the seating. You’re already very aware of the fact that comfortable seating is always a great enhancement to the film viewing experience. If your city happens to have a high-end theatre, it’s likely that upgraded seating is one of the theatre’s primary selling points. Comfortable chairs and couches are also great enhancements for any home theatre – but that’s only one aspect of ensuring the comfort of your guests.
When you choose the seats for your home theatre, you shouldn’t just buy the options that look most comfortable. You should also consider durability, because the seats are certain to see plenty of use. It’s a good idea to select seats made from stain-resistant materials. You should also think about accessories like drink holders because your guests will be more comfortable if they don’t have to hold their refreshments throughout the entire evening.
Viewing angle is also an important aspect of home theatre comfort. The screen shouldn’t be so high that people are forced to crane their necks up in order to see it. Ideally, the bottom of the screen should be elevated from the floor by about 2-4 feet. It’s a good idea to test your screen before installing it permanently to ensure that you can view the entire picture while looking straight ahead. In addition, if your home theatre has more than one row of seats, you should consider installing risers to ensure that people in the back rows can see without difficulty.
