Elite Home Theater Seating Blog

The Importance of Seat Selection

June 25th, 2012

Home theater seating is an important feature in home theater design. Comfort and the viewing angle are of the utmost importance when selecting your seating choice. Theater seating is made of high quality materials with fine and precise craftsmanship. Comfort and durability are key elements to a home theater seat design.

Home theater seating brings the experience of a movie theater right in to your home. A difference in movie theater seating compared to home theater seating is comfort.  Most modern movie theaters have wider isles yet the comfort factor has not changed. Next time you are watching a movie in a theater, try to take a quick look to see how many people re-adjust their seating positions during the movie. For those people who are tall, sitting in a theater for too long can result in mass discomfort.  It is the exact same situation when you fly coach on a plane.  These seats are not made for comfort at all.

For home theater seating, comfort plays a large role.  Sitting for a long duration of time should be comfortable and the need to re-adjust your sitting position is not needed when you have the right seating.  One goal to aim for would be the “sleep factor”. If you’re like me and end up falling asleep on your couch more than your own bed than the “sleep factor” is vital.  A good chair would be the one where you can fall asleep and be comfortable after you wake up.  We spend our days working hard and we deserve a relaxing chair to relax in when we’re at home.  

A chair that is durable and easy to clean plays an important part in the decision making process during purchase. With young children in your family, you want to be able to clean up after them with relative ease.  We have three distinctive fabric styles to keep your theater looking brand new and prestine:

1) Silk Leather: This is exclusive to Elite HTS.  A luxurious leather that is as soft as silk and at the same time as durable as leather. 
2) Valentino Leather: Another Italian leather that is durable and soft while remaining luxurious
3) CineSuede: This is a high end, spill resistant fabric that is also very soft while creating a warm and cozy theater environment

More than likely, we all eat and drink while watching tv and in a home theater setting, a table is not within reach. To eliminate any issues, cup holders in your seat are essential.  This allows you to have a beverage close by without having to get up out of your seat and you won’t miss any scenes, plays, goals, or whatever else it is your watching.  You can also get accessories like a swivel tray and storage components. Another feature of home theater seating are reclining chairs.  The comfort of a reclining chair gives you the added bonus to watch your tv screen from a different distance based on what position you recline in. Once that footrest is up and you’re all cozy, you may just lose all track of time. 

As you can see, it is very important to choose the seat of your choice carefully.  Comfort is such an important aspect and cannot be overlooked or taken for granted.  Regardless of the size of your home theater, you can find what best suits your needs without compromising any of the above mentioned.

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Posted in Home Theater Seating |



Home Theater, A Great Movie, & the Kids = A Good Combination

June 22nd, 2012

Do you remember the days when your weekends consisted of running home from work and getting ready for a night out with your friends just thinking how much fun you’re going to have at the night club of your choice?  You couldn’t wait to wear your favourite dress shirt (or dress for you ladies), have a few drinks and dance your night away.   The night consisted of a lot of laughs, a lot of transactions from the clubs ATM (those crazy service charges!!), a lot of bad one liners from the bar stars, and more than likely you all ended up at a Denny’s or a McDonalds drive thru.  Back then a cheeseburger and a milkshake at 4:00 a.m. was pure heaven. There were the not so good nights as well. How many of you had those nights where you got back home without any idea what you just did? You try to figure out where all your money went and some times you even wondered where all your friends went. Then you wonder, “how did I end up sharing a cab with some random person who looked like they just walked out of one of those Saw movies?  

Now fast forward to present day where all of your friends and yourself included, have kids and all you look forward to on the weekends is coming home and having a nice relaxing night with your family (and friends if you call them over).  What a difference a few years can make.  Your dress shirt and dress from your club days is now a t-shirt that has a print of your kids dance class on it and that dress is now a pair of comfy track pants, (or yoga pants for you trendy moms).  From screaming loud conversations at a night club to screaming kids running around, sometimes you need something to get them to relax and not be so loud.  We have a guaranteed way for you to get your kids to relax and what’s better than a movie?  A great movie can calm down any child or group of children and this option does not consist of hiring a babysitter for the night.  It’s a win win situation.

You call your friends over with their children for a fun night together.  The parents can have “grown up” conversations while all the kids can play together and watch a movie in your home theater.  What movies can help a group of, lets say, fifteen kids who are in the same age range?  Here are five of our picks and in no particular order:  

1. Toy Story has always been popular with kids, we think it’s the piggy bank that steals the show
2. Finding Nemo is a great  movie, even though the opening scene is a downer, the movie is funny
3. Babe captivates kids all the time.  Personally, we thought Gordy was great too
4. Wallace & Gromit in The Wrong Trousers even the title is funny
5. Home Alone, even if it’s not Christmas time, this movie is a sure hit 

There are some essentials to having a home theater, not only for yourself but also for your kids. One of the most important aspects of child-friendly home theater seating would be leather seats. You know they’re going to spill every little drop of every thing you give them, from juice to popcorn, it’s best not to have cloth seats so the clean-up stage is always easy. Don’t forget, kids love to draw and they’ll draw on anything. From your seating to themselves and the adventurous kids will draw on other kids so try to keep all drawing tools away. If you do give them crayons or markers, leather seating comes in practical once again (and some handy wipes would be great too).

We also recommend to keep all the electronics out of reach. Put your flat screen TV up high enough so they don’t damage it. You know one of the little girls will go running to try and hug one of the characters like Babe so keep those TV’s at least four feet off the ground. You don’t want to have a sippy cup inside your subwoofer, (well we hope you don’t want it in there). If you don’t keep your speakers at a level they cannot reach. Yes the subwoofer has to be on the ground so keep it out of reach, if it’s in an enclosed area, even better. All the chords and wires are hidden so that isn’t a concern and as long as you have patience to handle a large group of kids, you are all set. A home theater can be a great way to have your friends over and reminisce about those crazy single days while keeping your kids entertained at the same time. A great home theater, along with great movies, will give you even better stories to share, stories that will surpass those stories of nights out in your single days.

Just one more important factor to consider. Please keep away from zombie movies as the little guy in the picture above seems to be adapting to the genre with pure delight. The cat though, not so much!

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Posted in Life |



A Home Theater Classic: A Look Back (or Forward??) @ Back To The Future

June 20th, 2012

The Back To The Future trilogy has to be one of the most beloved movies ever made. Regardless of which one of the three is on tv, even if you’ve seen it a hundred times, it still draws you in and you end up watching it till it’s over. Marty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox is one of the best movie characters ever created  and let’s not forget the Doc, Emmett Brown played by Christopher Lloyd. His charming character makes the viewer laugh repeatedly throughout all of the three movies. Each character has their own importance to each movie and just like The General Lee from the Dukes Of Hazzard, the Delorean that doubled as a time machine, was a pivotal member of the cast. Any home theater enthusiast will tell you how much they enjoy watching any of the movies from this trilogy. These movies have all the elements we love in a home theater enviornment: fast cars, special effects, humour, interesting plots, and most important, a great cast that makes the experience of watching these movies  so exciting. We are going to give you a glimpse into the trilogy with all the extra footage and perks you get from viewing this in the comfort of your own home theater.  

The first Back To The Future movie was an instant hit when it was released in 1985. The setting depicts how it was for a teenager in that decade without the campy mocking that movies make nowadays. Marty lives at home, uses a skateboard to go to school with his back pack slung over one shoulder (this is still the way to do it, regardless if the remake of 21 Jumpstreet tells you otherwise). One of his closest friends is Emmett Brown, aka The Doc who invents a time machine out of a Delorean, (which is powered by plutonium that he stole from Libian terrorists).  Marty and Doc are found by these terrorists and while they shoot the Doc, Marty flees away in the Delorean and ends up in 1955.  While in 1955, Marty accidentally bumps into his father, who at that time was just a teenager.  Marty mistakenly interfers with how his mother and father would meet and ends up trying to fix it all before it’s too late.  Marty finds the Doc and explains everything which enables Doc to help Marty get back home.  Of course without plutonium, Marty won’t be able to get back unless a huge power surge is generated, luckily the lightening that hits the clock tower can send him back.  After getting his parents together, singing and playing a mean guitar to the Chuck Berry classic, Johnny B. Goode, Marty gets back in time to get back to the future of 1985.  

The first sequel takes Marty and Doc into the future of 2010 to help save Marty’s kids.  What turns out is not what was expected as Marty buys a sports almanac and it falls into the hands of Biff, the same menace from the original movie.  Marty and Doc then go back to 1985 to see everything has changed, they realize that Biff used the time machine and went to 1955 to give his younger self the almanac.  With all the money he made from betting on sports, Biff changed Hill Valley and Marty needed to go back to 1955 to retreive the almanac and restore a sense of normalancy to Hill Valley.  How the plot intertwines with the original movie is fantasic with scenes recreated to be from the first installment of the trilogy.  In the end , Marty gets the almanac and saves Hill Valley. For the third movie which is mostly a western, Marty travels to 1885 to save Doc from “Mad Dog” Tannen.  While there, Doc falls in love with Clara Clayton.  The movie has it’s great moments where Marty gets into trouble in a saloon, meets Billy the Kid, and in the end, is able to get back to 1985.  

The trilogy Blu Ray comes with some great features to be shared in your home theater.  This comes in widescreen (1.85:1) and is in DTS-HD 5.1 surround sound which sounds amazing.  The original movie has eight deleted scenes as well as director commentary.  There are documentaries, “In The Beginning, “Time To Go”, and “Keeping Time”.  There are lots of behind the scenes footage and a ten minute Q&A with Michael J. Fox.  Let’s not forget the theme song for this movie was “Power of Love” by Huey Lewis and The News and that is also on here and you can watch the music video right here.

Part two also has deleted scenes (seven).  There are more documentaries, “Tales of the Future” and “Time Flies”.  Thee is also “The Physics of Back To The Future with Dr. Michico Kaku”, a scientist that explains time travel. There are more behind the scenes footaage as well as theatrical trailers, photo galleries, making of the Delorean, and other special bonus footage.  Part 3 also comes with delete scenes, documentaries “Tales from the Future”, “Third Time’s the Charm”, and “Test of Time”.  Behind the scenes footage, outtakes, theatrical trailers,  and photo galleries are also included.

These movies are  one of the most enjoyable experiences anyone can have while watching a movie in their own home theater and they are great for any age as well.  If you have children or if you don’t, it will delight anybody in your family.   Being 23-27 years old,  they still stand strong against any movie that has been released over the years.  We highly recommend the Back To The Future trilogy to everyone.  If you haven’t seen it, you will be pleasantly surprised by how great these movies are.  Below, we have links to all three movie trailers and we hope you decide to watch these in your own home theater soon.

Enjoy the show!

Part 1 (original theatrical trailer)
Part 2 (original theatrical trailer)
Part 3 (original theatrical trailer)
Back To The Future (trailer for part 1 rereleased in theatres 2010)

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Posted in Movies |



Is Your Home Theater A Dedicated Gaming Room?

June 18th, 2012

Gamers in action Video games have become a big part of popular culture.  Sales in 2011 were between $16.3-$16.6 billion. Gone are the days that the player would jump over barrels in Donkey Kong or shoot robbers in Elevator Action. Gamers of this present day have state of the art gaming systems like Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and Wii. Gamers can play alone or play online amoungts numerous players. Gamers have come a long way since the first Atari game Pong was released and more than ever, gaming rooms are a new trend.  Gaming has a rabid fanbase, similar to that of movie fanatics. There are dedicated rooms to nothing but gaming. With the ever growing popularity of gaming, there’s no wonder why home theater’s have crossed over to home gaming theater rooms.

Spiro Razatos of Los Angeles was showcased on the Home & Garden Channel (HGTV) in January of 2011. Spiro has a $1 million game room that comes equipped with a total of twenty four gaming stations, two arcade driving games and a few classic non-video games, (foosball, air hockey, poker & pool table). In the back of his game room is a state of the art, home theater room. His JBL sound system, retailing over $100,000 added to the extravagence of the room. You can watch a clip of his spectacular room here.  Now I’m sure many people cannot afford a $1 million home theater gaming room and for those who cannot, there are so many great ways to make your home theater gaming room perfect to your liking.

Decor is very important to any room in your home.  The living room, kitchen, bedrooms, and home theater rooms all represent the home owner and for a video gaming room, there is no difference. Decorating your room must be done to show you are a gaming  enthusiast.  First and foremost, you need a TV and comfortable furniture. Gamers can play for hours and hours so it’s important to have a comfortable seat.  Any of our lines of chairs would be a great addition to any gaming room.  You will also need shelving to proudly display your collection. This shows just how much you love the art of gaming.  Another important part of any gaming room would be a few posters (nicely framed of course) of your favourite games.  For some it could be Call Of Duty or Final Fantasy Xlll or for those sports enthusiasts gamers, you could decorate your walls with the latest NFL or NHL game posters.

Before you even consider the purpose of your dedicated media room, either home theater or video games, it would be important to figure out if you want a muli-purpose room that can be a home theater room that doulbes as a gaming room or if you want the room to be specific.  An important aspect would be the seating structure. For home theater, you want stadium type seating and with a gaming room, you want the seating to be targeted towards the TV just like the home theater but you also want to think of how the seats will be positioned.  If you have a multi-player game (three and more), the seating has to be correct in order for all players to not have a disadvantage from the screen.  If one person is too far, they may feel like they’re at a disadvantage to win.

A home theater for gaming can be a fun room to have.  Just watch the clip of Spiro’s room and you’ll be convinced on how entertaining it can be.  

 

Posted in Home Theater Themes |



The Future of Home Theater: From HD to 3D to Holographic TV

June 15th, 2012

It wasn’t until the summer of 2007 that I noticed the difference in HDTV. While on vacation in New York City, a friend and I were out for the night and I couldn’t help but he amazed by the video quality of a TV in a small bar in the Hells Kitchen district. My view was forever changed because up till that point, I was fine with my rear projection RCA TV. I then realized how much better TV viewing is with this new technology at the time of high definition television.

Since HDTV was first available in the US during the Space Shuttle Discovery’s return mission back in the late 1990′s, HDTV became a sought after item. HDTV was released to the public in the early 2000′s where retailers were selling them at feverishly rates. At this same time, TV stations started expanding to a HD feed as well. Simultaneously, consumers had the option to purchase plasma screens, than shortly after LCD, and most recently, LED. For those of you that don’t remember the craze of plasma screen TV’s, here’s the Hitachi commercial from a few years ago.

3D technology has had a love/hate relationship since it first became popular in the 1980′s. Movie goers ran out to see Friday the 13th Part III, Jaws III, & A Nightmare On Elm Street Part V just to see the “magnificent 3D technology” only to walk away unhappy with the outcome. TV sitcoms, Married With Children & 3rd Rock From The Sun also had 3D episodes and just like the movies mentioned earlier, the viewer was not impressed. Even the rock band KISS had the “Psycho Circus 3D Tour 1998-1999″. Concert goers were given 3D glasses at the door to view the 3D screens used during te concert. The concept was good but once again, it was underwhelming. It took another decade for 3D technology to improve and this time, it went from movie theaters and to the home.

3D had a resurgence in movie theaters by 2008, from animated movies to horror movies, it looked as if 3D technology had reinvented itself and came back with a new life. It wasn’t too long after that 3D TV’s were being sold by retailers and the consumer embraced the new technology. In 2010, Samsung released the worlds first 3D LED HDTV, called the LG LX9500. Watch the commercial right here The concern with 3D HDTV’s has mostly had to do with the glasses that have to be worn in order to have the 3D technology actually work. Even though people have bought 3D HDTV’s, many don’t like to sit at home wearing glasses just to watch TV. The concept of 3D in the home is great but the act of wearing 3D glasses tends to overshadow it. Only two short years later, people are now looking forward to holographic TV’s and reports state that this technology is not that far off.

According to a BBC segment from 2011, holographic TV’s are in the near future. The same technology that we have seen in holographic images is also used in holographic TV’s, just more intricate. According to the BBC, holographic TV’s would be introduced in 2012 yet an article from PC World states that we still have till 2017 to have this technology. Japan has promised we will all have the first ever holographic World Cup tournament in 2022. Japan is stating that they can capture the World Cup matches all with 360 degrees while using approximately 200 HD cameras. Not only is this fascinating, what’s more fascinating is that they are saying we can go to our local stadium, sit down and watch a holographic game on the field, as if the game was occurring right in front of us. Not only can we view the game on a holographic tV at home but we can also watch a game in our local stadium as if it was live right in front of our eyes. Recently, long deceased rapper, Tupac Shakur ‘performed” on stage, holographically speaking that is. Now there are talks of taking this holographic image on tour around the world. Not only for Tupac but for other deceased celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, the king of pop Michael Jackson and the king himself, Elvis Presley.

At one time, we simply watched TV at home and enjoyed it thoroughly. Now we have images popping out of the screen as if they were right in front of us and soon, we will be able to sit right inside a movie while sitting in the comfort of our own home. Technology has played a vital part in home theater viewing and right now, technology is going to take us so far that we have just yet begun to truly enjoy the experience.

Posted in Technology |



Sports Themed Home Theater Rooms

June 12th, 2012

With the NHL (National Hockey League) completing its season yesterday with the triumphant win by the Los Angeles Kings, we would like to share some unique and amazing sports themed home theater rooms. Before we begin, we would like to congratulate the LA Kings for winning the Stanley Cup. Their playoff run made history and they should be very proud of their accomplishment.

Sports home theater rooms are very unique and cater to the individual tastes of the home owner. In January 2012, Todd Jensen, a Calgary Flames fan (NHL team), transformed one of the rooms in his house into a perfect hockey themed room. Not only do you see sports memorabilia on the walls, there is a miniature jumbo-tron as well. Just this alone gives you the feeling that you’re in a sports arena watching a live game. With the fourteen foot high ceilings, the jumbo tron doubles as the storage area for the projector which faces the 120″ DaLite screen. The other three sides of the jumbo tron come equipped with 32″ flat screen Samsung TV’s. A 120″ screen, memorabilia, and a jumbo-tron all in one room. We have to say, Todd scored a hat-trick with this one!

Florida Gators Themed Home Theater Room

In Palm Beach, FL, one homeowner transformed a room into a shrine for the Florida Gators (sports teams for the University of Florida). This room caters to both the football and baseball teams. Along the walls you will find autographed balls, jerseys, and trophies. There are four displays with 7.2 channel surround sound and touch panel controls. This homeowner loves this room but the most important element in here is the Dallas Cowboys helmet worm by Emmitt Smith. From a garage to a shrine to the Florida Gators, this homeowner must be proud of his creation. Now that the homeowner has twin babies, he can’t make it out to games like he used to. However, he isn’t upset because now game days are in his own home theater room equipped with a wet bar that comes with an icemaker and two beverage centres.

This next room takes sports themed home theaters to another level…..literally! This Washington Redskins (NFL team), room has Astro-Turf flooring that make you feel like you’re looking at a football field. The best part of this room is the rotating 360 degree platform that gives game watchers a view of the entire room. The Redskins memorabilia includes jerseys and banners, adds an authentic touch to this football themed room. This design is a definite touchdown!

No matter what team or sport you like, any room can be transformed. Could you imagine watching the Euro Cop 2012 in a themed room that makes you feel like you’re sitting in the stadium? The possibilities are endless on what you could do for your room. From state of the art electronics, customized seating, and memorabilia to surround your walls, any idea for any team can be done.

Posted in Home Theater Themes |



Elite HTS Embraces the World of Social Media

June 8th, 2012

The Expanding World of Social Media

Elite HTS believes it’s important to stay connected with those important people who make our business a success. Not only do we like to be interactive with everyone, we also like to showcase what we find to be interesting in the world of home theater entertainment. We are all well aware of the importance of social media and we embrace it fully.

Twitter
We’ve had our twitter account for a little while and now we have made the decision to be in communication on there as much as possible. It really is fascinating to be able to interact with people in real time. If you have questions or want to know about what we’re working on next, send a tweet our way and we will be in contact right away. Follow us on twitter! @EliteHTS (click the highlighted link to the left)

Facebook
Our brand new Facebook page has now been set up and we are excited to a part of the Facebook community. Our page will showcase our products as well as themed rooms. Not just that but we will have interesting articles ranging from home theater to movie releases, interesting videos. and the latest technology in home theater entertainment. Come on down to our Facebook page. (click the highlighted link to the left)

Pinterest
Another brand new page we’ve started is with Pinterest. We’ve already been “pinning” and are happy to be able to share what we think are great pictures and articles for you to see and read. We hope you enjoy our Pinterest page, just click the highlighted text to the left to go directly to the page.

We pride ourselves on being up to date and current on all things associated with culture, not only in home theater entertainment, but also in society. We look forward to interacting with you all in a way we never have been able to before.

Posted in Uncategorized |