If you consider its history, it’s evident that the concept of having a theater in your own home is something that is at least 30 years old, resplendent with insane technological advancements through the years. Yet the basics of it seem to be quite a blur to a consumer, who really wants to just have a blast while watching his/her favorite flick. The types of components available are plenty; the brands can get really obscure and of course there are the hundred reviews that are in your face. So there you are, aware of just one thing: you are a movie buff, the type that watches the same flick 5 times, or maybe you just collect your favorites and watch them on a relaxing Sunday(or Monday, whenever you chill).The money is saved up or pouring and you decide to take the plunge and splurge on a swanky new HT system, gleefully hoping to see Rambo or Neo fire away in your living room, at volumes much louder than required.

But before you go shopping into the labyrinth, make sure to know what it is you are getting, not what brand - that is secondary. No brands will be named here; cheap and good deals will be covered in detail in the near future. Right now this article is for just getting a few basics of Home Theater, surround sound, disc formats and the other building blocks that you can use to properly build your zone; presented in quite a straightforward explanation, sign language where possible!

The Source of video
The first thing you need is a player, and even before that is the disc itself. The disc could be a DVD, VCD or DivX CD (If it is DivX then stop pirating and buy original DVDs!) DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) is still the most common format of video available for viewers. Film producers engage themselves in making a killer DVD more often than not, filled with extra features and special content related to the movie, so as to feed the viewer with more. Besides that, the newer formats which most of you might’ve heard of, is Blu-Ray and HD DVD. These two giants are having a war of their lifetime, each supported by some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry. Neither of them have officially come into India, so we don’t have to worry about them just yet. While talking about DVDs, one major thing must be explained, that is the resolution of the video.

Resolution is the seemingly intimidating specification that you see on TVs and discs alike: 480p, 1080i, True HD... ring a bell? Not to worry. Simply put, they are just the number of small dots it takes to make up the full video frame, thus the higher the better, your picture is clearer with more minute detail. HD stands for High definition, so that means higher number of small dots to make your picture. The ‘p’ and the ‘i’, as in 480p is basically nothing but the way each frame of video is coming on your screen, just remember ‘p’ is better than ‘i’.