How to... improve your home cinema

A few simple tweaks can pay dividends when it comes to getting the best picture quality from your flatscreen TV or projector

Control your lighting

While the best modern projectors can be used in fairly bright rooms, the results are far from optimal. Ideally, projectors work best in a darkened room – and if you’re after the best results, proper lighting control and using blackout blinds, makes a big difference. If you’ve the luxury of a dedicated home cinema room, consider omitting windows altogether, painting the ceiling black, and finishing walls in matte, muted hues.

Optimise your cabling

Always use the best available video connection option for your sources. The hierachy of picture quality runs (bottom to top): composite, S-video, RGB Scart, component, DVI, then HDMI. If you find you’ve run out of suitable sockets for your sources, you can use video converters to turn one signal into another, or HDMI switching boxes – the latter can be handy with some early LCD TVS, which tend to be short of HDMI inputs.

Calibrate your screen

To make more precise adjustments, purchase a Dvd/blu-ray with THX approval (try Avatar). These discs feature a THX Optimiser section that will enable you to fine-tune your picture. For those with tablets and other portable devices, THX’S Optimiser app is available on both Anroid and IOS devices.

Invest in a kit rack

On the subject of kit racks, remember that a decent equipment rack will make a useful difference to both sound and vision quality in a good home cinema. A solid, stable stand can really give you a better picture: try it for yourself if you don’t believe us. Not only will it effectively isolate your source gear, it will also give your TV a boost. To get the most from any rack, ensure it is both stable and level – use a spirit level to achieve this

Buy a projector

For the most realistic cinema experience at home, we always recommend a display that swamps your peripheral vision with the scale of the image in front of you - namely, a projector. You’ll be amazed at just how impressive even a £1000 projector can be these days. The Award-winning Epson EH-TW5350 comes in at £600 and boasts impressive picture performance.