Everyone has dreamed of carving out their very own home cinema. And now, perhaps perfectly timed somewhere at the intersection of technology and streaming, levelling up your movie night is easier than ever.
Home cinemas are no longer the dominion of the uber-rich, nor are they limited to mansions and resorts. Let’s be realistic, though. Unless you’ve got hundreds of thousands to throw at your DIY home cinema project, you’re never going to be able to completely recreate the sensory experience of watching the latest blockbuster in a full-size cinema.
But you can come as close as possible with a little investment and a lot of imagination. First, you’ll need the right gear, which is why your first port of call should be Samsung’s existing range of home theatre systems so you can pluck out the best tools for the job.
Whether it’s the mates or the missus, a home cinema instantly makes you the king of entertainment in your social circle. If you play your cards right and you’ve got that gear sorted, your home cinema is the hub, both for entertainment and your social life.
World Cup kicking off? Top Gun: Maverick just drop on Prime? The work you’ve put into building up that home cinema is going to pay dividends here, from the fine texturing and vibrant colours to the all-encompassing sound that’ll pummel you and your mates each and every time Tom Cruise fires up the jet.
Here’s what you need to know before you start your DIY home cinema project.
What You’ll Need To Consider For Your Home Theatre
First, you’ll need to think about comfort. Unless you’re working with a lot of space, it’s likely your home cinema is either your living room or an unused space like a guest room or study. Working with limited space ain’t the easiest, so think about how you can kit out your theatre with comfortable seating that’s still versatile enough to move around with different configurations. Fortunately, modular furniture is much more readily available so if you can find a quality sofa bed with ergonomic support that can be easily reshaped then you’ve got the first piece of your project locked in.
Next comes the gear, and as with any DIY project it’s all about the tools you choose. First, you need to consider the size of your feature wall deciding on what you’ll need. Is it completely flat or are there contours to consider? Is it big enough to justify a projector or are you better off wall-fixing a smart TV?
If a projector is what you want, go for The Freestyle, which retails in Australia for $999 RRP. This sophisticated gem is a portable beast when it comes to taking your home cinema experience to the next level.
As long as you’ve taken care of lighting, you can turn virtually any wall in your home into a movie screen to dial in that authentic cinematic experience with The Freestyle, which comes with features like auto-focus, auto-levelling and deeply immersive 360-degree sound with a built-in speaker.1 The advanced portable projector is also able to produce a screen anywhere between 30-inches and 100-inches, so you’ve got the flexibility necessary to really build up that home cinema you’ve always wanted.2
Plus, The Freestyle supports eARC for high-quality audio, so you can connect a Dolby Atmos soundbar like the ultra slim and stylish Samsung HW-S800B S-Series. Which in Australia, is priced at $699 RRP.
And make no mistake about it. You can’t have a home cinema without a soundbar and a connected subwoofer doing all the heavy lifting when it comes to surround sound audio. You want to be well and truly wrapped in the action in as many ways as possible.
The Samsung HW-S800B S-Series Soundbar comes with its own subwoofer to help round out that deliciously thick and resonate low-end to help those James Bond car chases, gunfights and explosions hit differently, while still using your connected TV or projector with the incredibly clever Samsung Q-Symphony to maximise motion tracking sound between internal and external speakers.3
The 3.1.2-channel soundbar also comes with the world’s first wireless true Dolby Atmos for advanced spatial sound so you can fill the room with character with overhead and direction sound for the ultimate immersive experience.4
If a TV suits your style better than a projector, look toward the Samsung OLED – a Smart 4K TV that’s both affordable and a top performer when it comes to Samsung’s latest TV lineup. With a 65-incher priced at $3,999 RRP, you’ve got an easy win for a small home cinema, working with limited space but still offering an immersive panel ready, willing and more than able to own movie night with rich blacks and rich, vivid colour reproduction driven by Samsung’s proprietary Quantum Dot Technology.
Another thing to consider in a home cinema is viewing angles, and luckily both The Freestyle and the Samsung OLED are up to the task. The former is, as mentioned above, flexible enough so you’ve got complete control over the size, plus the OLED supports ultra-wide viewing angles so no seat in the theatre feels like a compromise.
Got all that sorted? Cool. Now you’ve got to think about lighting. Men should be masters at setting the mood in any situation. His cinema is no exception, so to create a cinema-style ambience it pays to think of warm-toned lighting that can be dimmed at will. As such, you’ll want to invest in some LED strip lighting to give you complete control over the mood of the cinema and to help with contrast.
Finally, you’ll want to eliminate glare wherever possible. When it comes to your home cinema, natural light is your enemy. You want the setting to be as deep as those inky blacks on the Samsung OLED. If you’re serious about turning your space into a place of theatre then you’ll want optimal lighting control so think about installing floor-to-ceiling blackout curtains over windows and doors for a wrap-around effect.
And it’s not just natural light you need to think of. Darker walls, for example, can minimise screen reflection so if you’re planning on making your home cinema a permanent instalment – and you should, it’ll boost your home’s value considerably – then consider repainting walls with matte black tints or at least some deep blues.
Invest Big, Invest Smart
If you’ve followed the above, you’ve just nabbed the essentials of a home cinema for as little as $1,698 RRP (The Freestyle + Samsung S-Series Soundbar) or as much as $4,698 RRP (Samsung OLED + Samsung S-Series Soundbar). You’re looking at bumping that price up a bit more if you’re really going all out and reshuffling the space with new furniture, re-painting, smart lighting and black-out curtains. But it’s worth it.
According to Homewyse, a high-quality home cinema remodelling project could return as much as 77% to 91% of its initial cost for homeowners looking to resell their house. Upping that home resale value doesn’t necessarily involve just digging out your entire backyard for a swimming pool. Plus, a home cinema is much less of a risk than installing something that’s trickier for buyers to re-shape, like a swimming pool or a new bathroom.
This article is proudly presented in partnership with Samsung. Thank you for supporting the brands who support Boss Hunting.
1. Picture quality is dependant on environmental factors such as wall surface, room brightness, source quality and more. For best results, recommend projecting on a flat white or bright monotone wall in a dark room.
2. The Freestyle must be 79.5cm from the wall to project a 30″ image and 260.4cm from the wall to project a 100″ image.
3. Samsung Q-Symphony is compatible with all 2021 AU8000 and above and 2022 BU8000 and above Samsung TVs and 2020 Samsung QLED Q80T TV with Object Tracking Sound and above. Sound effect may vary depending on source content and environmental characteristics (including ceiling).
4. Source content must be Dolby Atmos® or DTS:X enabled for Dolby ATMOS® or DTS:X playback. Sound effect may vary depending on environmental characteristics (including ceiling). Samsung define “True Dolby Atmos” as featuring an upwards-firing directional speaker for three dimensional sound.
