Now you can install right in your own homes your very own home theater-it is basically setting up a combination of video and audio equipment, complete with all the sound and visual effects, making you feel as if you were actually sitting in a movie theater, but this time in your very own home, either in your own bedroom or family room. Your home theater is what you make of it, whatever you wish or prefer, as it can consist of a system from the very plain to the most elaborate.

Take for example your 32-inch television set. Complement this with a DVD (digital versatile disc) player and/or a HiFi VCR (video cassette recorder) with a stereo and speakers to become your home theater experience, with the sense surround audio tremendously intensified by your HDTV programming. HDTV is a progressive scan making your DVD player work to its optimum best by taking advantage of the surround sound receiver of HDTV broadcasting.

DVDs may not be available in a high-resolution format, but they display a progressive scan signal, maximizing the high definition capacities of HD-compatible televisions. Most DVD players are able to give off progressive scanning, giving the movie watcher a clear and flat image that exactly resembles the quality of a film similar to that seen in a movie theater.

A very important aspect in setting up your home theater, aside from getting the right theater components and the best connection and transmission, is the room where you will set it up?may be your lounge or a special room in your home. The home theater components must fit into the size and existing layout of the room.

Now you have to determine which home theater components, and their specifications you would need. Your HDTV or high definition television can either be flat panel (plasmas and LCD), projection technology (front and rear projector systems), and CRT (cathode ray tube) technology. If money and space do not pose as an issue, the best HDTV is the front projector system. Then the other thing to consider is what do you want your HDTV for? Is it for watching movies, watching TV, or playing games?

On the other hand, HDTV (high definition TV) programming has been gaining force. It comes in the form of cable, satellite and broadcast services. It is therefore important that you know which of these sources are available to you. The source of HDTV signals for your home theater must be within a 60-mile radius to the nearest transmitter, and your place must obstruction free for the signals to clearly come through. Most common and accessible are over-the-air broadcasts that can be received with a rooftop or aerial antenna. HDTV signals are also be transmitted by satellite-DirecTV (which offers the channels HBO, Showtime and HDNET) and Dish Network (which offers HBO, the Discovery channel, Showtime, a 24-hour pay-per-view channel, the national feed of CBS HD, and an HD demo channel). The other source of HDTV for home theater is Cable.