DVD theater
Whether you do not have the time to go to movie theaters, consider them to be too expensive, or you dislike them for your own reasons, a DVD theater is the solution to your problems. A DVD theater will typically consist of a DVD player hooked to a surround sound system and a larger than average display.
Equipment
Some DVD theater systems even come equipped with the type of chairs you would find in a movie theater. Creating the right theater like atmosphere at home requires the right equipment. This is why the professional quality DVD theater for the home will include either 2 or 3 amplification units that will be placed to the left, right, the center of the movie screen. To complete the surround sound experience, a few smaller speakers, known as satellites, will be distributed in the auditorium based on the audio specification of that system. This provides the listener with a clear audio with front and rear left, right, and center directional sensitivity. These professional DVD theaters will use a projection screen instead of a television. The screen is what is known as widescreen, the format that is becoming increasingly popular among home theater owners as it closely mimics the real theater experience.
Speaker System
DVDs are recorded specially with individual sound tracks that contain directional data. The DVD player, depending on its model, can identify and separate this data into 2, 3, or 5 channels (or even more). The more the number of channels, the more precise the audio data on the DVD. DVD theaters used this data to send it to the right speaker or satellite. The most recent audio format in DVDs is 2.0 Dolby Stereo with 5.1 Surround Sound. The good thing is that you are not required to have so many speakers. Even if you have two the system will work though your experience will be of a lower quality. Most commonly, people go for two speakers and a central unit for surround sound. With a little more money you can get a sub-woofer for added bass and treble effects and a few satellites as well.
Screen
Whether you are buying a television or a projection screen, you must ensure that it supports the modern 16:9 wide screen aspect ration that is preferred by viewers worldwide. Squarish televisions will reduce your viewing area and ruin the video experience so make sure you get one of those televisions that are longer horizontally. If you want High Definition experience then your television must support it.
DVD Formats
Buying a DVD theater can be very confusing because of the number of options available. There are traditional formats and there are new formats competing with each other and completely incompatible. So which DVD theater should you buy?
The older DVDs run encoded video at a maximum resolution of 720x480 pixels whereas modern high-definition players can offer up to 1280x720 pixels, almost thrice the picture quality of regular DVD. And that is a technological limitation that might be overcome tomorrow for all you know. The high definition (HD) standard is set at 1920x1080 pixels. So if you buy a HD-DVD but have a regular television you are missing out on every advantage that DVD has to offer in terms of visual quality.
This additional resolution means bigger file sizes and that is where the newer DVD formats leap ahead. A regular DVD can store a maximum of 4.7GB data on it, 9GB if there is a dual-layer on the DVD. You just cannot fit a high-definition movie in such a small space. The new DVD formats have storage capacities between 30-50GB. This is made possible through the use of a short-wavelength laser that is blue-violet in color as opposed to the high-wavelength red colored laser used in regular the DVD. The short wavelength means the laser can read smaller surfaces thereby achieving a higher degree of compression and thereby increasing the disc storage capacity.