Home Theater For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)) (Paperback)

by Danny Briere (Author), Pat Hurley (Author) "When you hear the term home theater, you probably think of big screens, cool sound, DVDs, CDs, and lots of remote controls sitting around your..." (more)
Key Phrases: Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"...clear and concise...a good read throughout..." -- DVD Monthly, July 2003

"...exhaustive and uncomplicated..." (Camcorder User, August 2003)

"...clear and concise...a good read throughout..." (DVD Monthly, July 2003)

"...superb at demystifying the murky and often bewildering world of home cinema...written in plain English...worth the investment..." (Hi Fi Choice, July 2003)

"...exhaustive and uncomplicated..." -- Camcorder User, August 2003

"...superb at demystifying the murky and often bewildering world of home cinema...written in plain English...worth the investment..." -- Hi Fi Choice, July 2003

...clear and concise; a good read throughout... -- DVD Monthly, July 2003

...exhaustive and uncomplicated... -- Camcorder User, August 2003 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
A low-tech way to understand a high-tech system!

Create the home entertainment center that fits your home and your tastes

Gadget fans, a home theater setup is the stuff your dreams are made of. This book keeps the dream from becoming a nightmare! Here's how to select, set up, and optimize a system, translate the salesperson's geek-speak, connect all the parts throughout your home, and even do cool stuff like accessing your system from your laptop computer.

Discover how to
* Choose the right space for your system
* Select and connect source devices
* Understand speakers, TV types, and remotes
* Create a whole-home network
* Access your system away from home

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 2 edition (July 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471783250
• ISBN-13: 978-0471783251
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #422,354 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #57 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Engineering > Electrical & Electronics > Stereo & Audio Equipment
  #57 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Engineering > Electrical & Electronics > Electronics > Stereo & Audio Equipment

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

165 of 169 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't let the title fool you, this is a great book, June 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Home Theater for Dummies (Paperback)

I went out and got Home Theater for Everyone (Harley), Build Your Home Theater in a Weekend (Bruyn/Karabian), The Complete Idiot's Guide to Home Theater Systems (Miller), Use Your PC to Build An Incredible Home Theater System (Farkas and Govier), and Home Theater for Dummies (Briere and Hurley). (I've posted this review in each of the books).

There's a clear difference among these books, and approaches. In order, I would get these books:

1. (tie) Home Theater for Everyone; Home Theater for Dummies. This surprised me. I've heard a lot about Harley's book and it is great. It's getting dated though, and some stuff was simply way over my head for what I'm going to do with my home theater. But it's one of those books you have to read even if you don't understand a lot of it (and mind you, I've got seven computers in my house, a 100Meg LAN, multiple wireless systems, etc...I'm not scared of technical stuff.) It's not so much not understanding it, as much as it is that a lot of it while important to a magazine editor such as Harley, it's not something that you're going to use in putting in your home theater.

Home Theater for Dummies surprised me. I must say, I found it incredibly well researched, practical, and more homey and less academic than Harley's book. I think the title would keep a lot of the HT mags from reviewing it, thinking it beneath them. And the authors clearly know how to have fun (they have sections on how to create your own drive-in and another on bathroom theater.) They cover home theater PCs and Windows XP Media Center PCs, as well as wireless projectors -- so this is truly up to day at publication time because these are relatively new things. (Harley's book does not even mention HTPCs and gives relatively small coverage to personal video recorders (PVRs) which HT for Dummies covers well. I'd say just get this book, but no one would believe me.

3. User Your PC To Build An Incredible Home Theater System. This is a niche book for the techies that like to build their own PCs. Sort of like me :-) I found it knowledgeable and fun, but like I said, you would not buy this book to build a home theater.

4. The Complete Idiots Guide to Home Theater Systems. I liked this book's coverage of budgets and little facts in the book. However there was nothing on HTPCs, the pricing is already dated, and there was nothing in it not covered in Home Theater for Dummies. So if I have to choose between being a Dummy or an Idiot, I'd say I'm a Dummy.

5. Build Your Home Theater In A Weekend. This was basically a waste of money. It was a nice effort, but outclassed by the competition above. It's not worth a longer review.

If you are looking to put a home theater in your home, I'd recommend Harley and Briere/Hurley. Briere/Hurley also wrote Smart Homes for Dummies which they referenced in the HT book -- I'm getting that now, because it basically tells me how to extend my home theater all over the house. Since I spent a lot of money on my home theater, I'm betting, based on HT4Dummies, that their book is worth the $$$.

My two cents.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must read for newbie, June 8, 2005

By	Donald Frambach (Ventura, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Home Theater for Dummies (Paperback)

Three months ago, my wife suggested that we upgrade our 15 year old TV to a "home entertainment center". So off we go to the local store to look at options. Spoke to a couple of salesmen who were worse than useless. In frustration, I bought this book. After a quick and pleasant read, I felt that I had a reasonable understanding of the options one has when setting up a "home entertainment center." We now have a v-e-r-y nice component system that is a breeze to use.
It isn't difficult to specify and install a system. However, now that I've done it, I realize that most people make a number of unneccesary mistakes. If you know all about this stuff then don't buy the book. However, if you have questions like I did then buy the book and you'll find that you'll end up with a system far superior to the ones owned by most "know it alls".

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for novices, February 2, 2004

By	Iron John - See all my reviews

This review is from: Home Theater for Dummies (Paperback)

Wish I'd bought this when I first started researching home theaters. I was a novice, having purchased only a couple of 27" analog sets in the past 15 years. Rather than starting with a book like this, I researched mine the time consuming way: talking to knowledgable friends; wasting time with sales droids at electronic stores, reading home theater magazines. About two months later things reached critical mass and I could finally make an informed decision.

My advice: buy this book, read it, and afterwards *still* do what I did. Only save the sales droids for last (by then you'll know more than they do), and look but don't buy. Then go home and buy what you want at Amazon.