It might be the long lines at the theater, the $4.00 for a small bag of popcorn, or the cutting-edge technology that's now so readily available to the home market. Whatever the reason, the home theater market today is booming like the soundtrack to Star Wars! Want proof? A Google search for home theater reveals over three million results. Yikes!

It's simply undeniable: More and more people prefer watching their favorite movies, television shows, and videos from the comfort of their own sofas and couches. What's also undeniable is the inexperience of most people who choose to install or upgrade their home theaters.

Until now, the knowledge, technique, and experiences of those who've encountered similar conditions to yours could only be accessed through laborious web searches, stacks of magazines, and water cooler conversations. Home Theater Hacks from O'Reilly is the perfect remedy for this group.

A smart collection of insider tips and tricks, Home Theater Hacks covers home theater installation from start to finish, purchase to experience. Just imagine: no frustrating trial-and-error process and better yet, no expensive appointments with installation experts. Home Theater Hacks prevents both by imparting down-and-dirty technique not found anywhere else.

The book begins with a quick glossary of terms so you can speak the lingo when you go shopping, and then dives right into hush-hush, insider tricks. It's all covered where to find the right audio and video components, how to deal with speakers and wiring, understanding cable connectivity, mastering remote controls, how to fully grasp TiVo, and so much more. And to top it off, each of these insider tips is presented in a concise yet delightfully entertaining style. Bringing the Jurassic Park dinosaurs into your living room has never been so easy!

A seasoned veteran with numerous O'Reilly titles under his belt, author Brett McLaughlin leaves no stone unturned in helping you customize your home theater experience to your own personal environment.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 7 Ratings

Good book, but some weaknesses - 2006-04-15
Reviewer Rating:
This is a good choice to learn about home theater, and the author has a number of great ideas to get you started. I recommend the book, but I was disappointed with several aspects. 1) It seemed to be aimed more to the high-end user; no information about home-theater-in-a-box or virtual surround sound was given. I can imagine the author's opinions on these subjects, but he should have at least addressed them. 2) Some information is rapidly becoming outdated, especially in the video processing and connectivity sections. This book should probably be updated once a year. 3) Too much unnecessary detail in some areas. For example, a large section on antenna construction should be shortened, since most people probably use either cable or satellite anyway. And while the long section on user service codes is good, most of it will be out of date by the time the book is published. 4) Too much emphasis on projection displays, and not enough detail on flat panels (e.g., mounting issues, care/maintenance issues). 5) I would like to see more information about wiring strategies: different ways to hide wiring, the status of wireless speakers, etc.

A must read before working on your home theater - 2005-03-16
Reviewer Rating:
Home Theater Hacks is the perfect book for anyone in the planning, building, or improvement phase of their home theater. This book really covers everything that has to do with a home theater: from selecting the right components, to component configuration, to cabling, to making your theater look awesome. This book is a must read before you start your home theater.

The book begins with a very thorough and impressive discussion of how and where to buy home theater components. The author discusses receivers (both audio and video), DVD players, TVs (both HD and standard), as well as the ins and outs of buying online versus at a local store. This discussion naturally leads to a very large section on "configuration", which includes such things as how to install and configure a terrestrial television antenna, how to match your subwoofer to your room, and everything you ever wanted to know about cables. I particularly enjoyed the author's discussion of the modern myth of expensive cabling. He provides a very good explanation of what "good enough" means (you wouldn't put gold water pipes in your home, why spend $100 on a gold cable?).

As mentioned, this is a very interesting and useful book for anyone planning or currently working on a home theater. It dispelled a lot of myths I had heard in the past, and provides clear explanations as to why many of these myths are false. Additionally, I found that the book provided sound advice in the purchase and configuration of home theater components.

One of the Best Books on Home Theater - 2007-02-20
Reviewer Rating:
Saw this at my local bookstore and checked with Amazon.com and was happy to purchase it online for a substantial discount here. This book is great for anyone beginning to setup their own home theater and for those that really like to get into the meat of this hobby. The pages are easy to read with good, clear black and white photos spread throughout.

What this book offers are those uncommon tips and tricks that big name electronics stores don't want you to know about. This book alone will save me hundreds of dollars from all the information provided inside. It's doesn't have too much techno-babble but it won't feel like a crash course booklet leaving you wanting more. Intelligently laid out and highly recommended.

Excellent Home Theater Basics explained. - 2006-02-01
Reviewer Rating:
This book covers it all. Very well written and easy to understand. He covers everything from TV's to recievers, amps and speakers. A must for any home theater enthusiest.

Fairly highly technical for those with big bux to spend - 2008-09-12
Reviewer Rating:
I was excited to get this book since while being fairly technical (mechanical engineering), I really did not know that much about home theatre. It's a very in depth collection of general, specific and ecclectic tips and tools from which the novice will glean about 20% useful information. Those more experienced A/V hobbyists will relish in this comprehensive industrial-strength expose of information that ranges from the practical to the sublime. Like many other technical subjects, this book let's you take your home theatre system as far as you pocketbook is deep, but does offer practical advice as to how to get the best bang for your buck. But be prepared to understand a lot of technical mumbo-gumbo that the mainstream installer would probably fair better using the services of a pro. If you found your self wanting from "Home Theatres for Dummies", this book is for you.
The best advice the book had to offer for me was to visit your local big box A/V retailer and talk shop with them, something I was reticent to do without some intellectual backup. This book makes that visit less challenging, you can walk in the door and communicate and understand things better, and get a chance to see and hear what the book is talking about. As with many books in this field, info is a little dated (true with the Dummies edition too). Certain advances in technical quality that the book warns of (e.g., burn-in on plasmas) have been on the large part addressed by the manufacturers in the three years since this book was published. It's a good text for those prepared to do their homework. Considering the cost of the book versus what you could spend finding this stuff out the hard way, it's a very small investment (<0.1-1%). That is to say, you'll save this much buying your first cable.

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