PICTURE THIS You can’t bring your dog into any real movie-theater, if you can even vaguely remember such things.
Photo: John W. TomacA SURVEY OF sidelined moviegoers by analytics firm Entertainment Data Oracle this month found that a majority would be willing to return to cinemas soon—provided some safety measures were in place. Nearly 70% wanted theater owners to mandate masks—popcorn munching be damned—and more than 80% asked for thorough cleanings between showings, rather than an annual hose-down once floors achieve duct-tape levels of stickiness.
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Not so fast. The success of April’s “Trolls World Tour,” a kids’ film that brought in nearly $100 million when released for on-demand home viewing, has made movie studios realize that starved audiences might be willing to pay a premium to watch first-run films in their living rooms.
If you’re a mere film geek, however, you might be asking yourself: Can I turn my duplex into a high-tech cineplex sophisticated enough to let me forgo the risky theater experience for months? Forever?
“ Can you turn your duplex into a passable cineplex? Absolutely. ”
Absolutely. First, forget hanging a projector from the ceiling. Instead, clear a spot on the credenza for the ultra-short-throw Optoma CinemaX P1, which needs only 6 inches of space between it and the wall to produce a crisp 85-inch picture; scoot it back further and your image expands up to 120 inches corner to corner, with a resolution that’s effectively 4K—or about four times better than your piddly HD TV.
It’s not just the picture that’s beautiful; the all-in-one projector is a handsome black slab with bronze accents. Its fabric grill covers a built-in suite of speakers that render dialogue with impressive detail and give Michael Bay-level explosions enough oomph to scare the dog.
If you want to scare the neighbors, too, or just create an immersive sonic experience for yourself, consider adding the new 820 watt JBL Bar 9.1. It pumps out nine channels of audio, plus a subwoofer, and comes with magnetically detachable speakers to post up around your living room. The Bar 9.1. is also equipped with Dolby Atmos—a 3-D audio system that surrounds you with pinpoint placement of sound. Watch a heist flick and you might hear a police ’copter buzz overhead. In a cinema, this effect is achieved with an array of speakers that can number in the hundreds. With the JBL 9.1 , it’s recreated with upward pointing speakers that bounce noises off the ceiling.
For streaming content, you’ll likely connect an Apple TV or Roku to the projector and call it a day. But there’s one device that’s considered essential in more ambitious home/yacht/private-jet theaters: the Kaleidescape Strato S. This premium movie player, starting at $5,995, lets you download films sporting lossless audio and 4K Ultra HD resolution, which is as close as one can get to a cineplex quality image at home—and leagues better than anything you can stream. Though sold through pro theater dealers found via Kaleidescape’s website, it can also be purchased at Magnolia home theater showrooms in Best Buy stores. Set up is no more complicated than configuring an Apple TV.
Despite all the high-tech devices available, many home theater enthusiasts argue that the most essential piece of gear is decidedly analog. “Of all the money I spent on my room, the $2,000 of acoustic panels is the thing that made the biggest difference,” said Jaremy Pyle, a software development manager with a home theater he values at $65,000.
These aren’t the smushy egg crates tacked to the walls of a high school band room. GIK Acoustics of Atlanta (gikacoustics.com) offers chic hexagonal panels of fabric-covered, sound-absorbing foam, or it can craft panels with printed fabric you can hang over the sofa to deaden sound.
Your projected image can be similarly improved with an analog fix: a screen made for ultra short throw projectors. Optoma makes one that’s 101 inches ($499, optoma.com), while Screen Innovations’s Zero Edge Pro ($5,279, screeninnovations.com) scales up to 120 inches. Both use a textured surface engineered to accept light from the projector without reflecting ambient light coming from other directions, reducing glare in bright rooms.
Throw in a high-volume snack machine like Cuisinart’s Classic-Style Popcorn Maker ($100, cuisinart.com) and a pair of leather home theater recliners (from $4,295, potterybarn.com) and you’ll have a setup guaranteed to beat your local cinema experience. All you have to do now is swab the floors with Mountain Dew and dim the lights.
CINEMA PARADISO / TECH TO TURN A BEACH HOUSE INTO AN ART HOUSE
The Projector
Optoma CinemaX P1, $3,799, bhphotovideo.com
The Player
Kaleidescape Strato S, from $5,995, kaleidescape.com
The Sound System
JBL 9.1 with Dolby Atmos, $999, jbl.com
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