| Part 1 | Before You Buy: Bone Up on the Basics | 1 |
| 1 | It's More Than Just a Big TV: Home Theater Basics | 3 |
| What Makes a Home Theater? | 4 |
| What Does a Home Theater Cost? | 5 |
| How Home Theater Works | 6 |
| For Your Eyes Only--Video Displays | 8 |
| Hear This: Surround-Sound Systems | 8 |
| Playing Movies (and Other Programs): Video Sources | 9 |
| 2 | What to Buy: Figuring Out What You Have, What You Need, and What You Want | 11 |
| New TV, or Not New TV? That Is the Question | 11 |
| Keep Your VCR, or Throw It Away? | 12 |
| New Audio System--or the Same Old Song? | 13 |
| Old Speakers for a New System | 14 |
| Shiny, Shiny Discs | 14 |
| The Other Stuff in Your System | 15 |
| Check It Off: Your Home Theater Shopping List | 16 |
| 3 | How to Shop: Get the Best Stuff--at the Best Price | 19 |
| Before You Buy: Get Smart! | 19 |
| Where to Shop | 21 |
| How to Shop | 23 |
| Part 2 | Picture Perfect: Television Today | 27 |
| 4 | Pick a Picture: Choose the Right TV for Your System | 29 |
| Not Your Father's Zenith: New Tech TV | 29 |
| Size Matters: Choosing the Right Size Screen | 34 |
| Round, Flat, Front, or Rear: Four Different Types of TV to Choose From | 35 |
| Which Should You Choose? | 37 |
| Why Is That Set so Expensive? | 38 |
| 5 | The Boob Tube: Direct View Television | 41 |
| Direct View Basics | 42 |
| The Price Is Right | 42 |
| Get Branded | 42 |
| Smart Shopping: What to Look for | 43 |
| 6 | Bigger Is Better: Projection Television | 47 |
| Affordable Big Screens: Rear Projection Television | 47 |
| Really Big Big Screens: Front Projection Television | 49 |
| Front or Rear--Which Should You Buy? | 52 |
| Shop Smart: What to Look For | 53 |
| 7 | Thin Is In: Flat-Screen Plasma Television | 55 |
| It's a Gas: How a Plasma Display Works | 55 |
| How Good Is the Picture? | 57 |
| Why Would You Want a Plasma Display? | 57 |
| Smart Shopping: What to Look For | 58 |
| 8 | The Next Generation: Digital and High-Definition TV | 59 |
| Defining Digital | 60 |
| Decoding the Different Digital Formats | 62 |
| Why Would You Want HDTV? | 64 |
| Almost HDTV: Digital-Ready Televisions | 64 |
| Coming to Your Town Soon: The HDTV Broadcast Rollout | 65 |
| Should You Buy ... or Wait? | 66 |
| Shop Smart: What to Look For | 68 |
| Part 3 | Looking Good: Video Sources for Your System | 71 |
| 9 | A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words: Choose the Right Video Sources | 73 |
| Going Digital: The Latest Video Technology | 74 |
| The Picture Makers: Video Sources for Your Home Theater System | 75 |
| Garbage In, Garbage Out: Searching for the Best Picture and Sound | 81 |
| Which Should You Choose? | 82 |
| 10 | Digital Pictures on a Disc: DVD Players | 85 |
| Great Picture--and Great Sound | 86 |
| What DVD Is--and How It Works | 87 |
| Think Different: Different Options Available on DVD | 90 |
| Make Your DVD Player Do Double Duty | 93 |
| Different Types of DVD Machines | 94 |
| All Those Different Outputs: How Do I Hook This Up? | 98 |
| Smart Shopping: What to Look For | 99 |
| 11 | Tale of the Tape: Video Recorders | 103 |
| VHS: Poor Quality, Hard to Use--and Everybody Has One | 104 |
| Better Sound, Same Picture: VHS HiFi | 104 |
| It's Super, Man: A Better VHS | 105 |
| DVHS: Video Recording for the Digital Age | 105 |
| Wait! There's More: Camcorders and Other Formats | 105 |
| Shop Smart: What to Look For | 107 |
| 12 | A Better VCR: Digital Video Recorders | 109 |
| A Computer in Your Living Room: How Personal Digital Video Recorders Work | 109 |
| Take Two: Looking at the Different Types of DVRs | 110 |
| Fancy Recording, and Then Some: All You Can Do with a DVR | 111 |
| Easy as Pie: Hooking Up a DVR | 112 |
| Smart Shopping: What to Look For | 113 |
| 13 | The World on a Dish: Digital Satellite Systems | 115 |
| Eye on the Sky: How Digital Satellite Systems Work | 115 |
| DIRECTV and EchoStar: Twin Sons of Different Mothers | 117 |
| The Longest Distance Between Two Points: Getting Local Stations from the Satellite | 118 |
| Mounting and Pointing: How to Install a Digital Satellite System | 119 |
| Today's Best Source for Digital Television: Upgrading Your Dish for HDTV Broadcasts | 121 |
| Shop Smart: What to Look For | 121 |
| Part 4 | Sound Off: Audio Receivers, Players, and Other Components | 123 |
| 14 | Sound Is All Around: Understanding Surround Sound | 125 |
| Surround-Sound Basics: What You Need, and What Goes Where | 126 |
| More Than One Way to Surround: Understanding the Different Surround-Sound Formats | 127 |
| Choosing a Surround-Sound Format | 134 |
| 15 | More Power, More Inputs: Amplifiers and Receivers | 137 |
| Making Music: Essential Audio Components | 138 |
| Everything in One Box: Audio/Video Receivers | 139 |
| Specs and Features: Why One Receiver Is Better Than Another | 140 |
| Shop Smart: What to Look For | 145 |
| 16 | Woofers and Tweeters and Horns, Oh My: Speaker Systems | 147 |
| Sound in a Box: A Speaker Primer | 147 |
| What Goes Where: Planning Your Home Theater Speaker Layout | 151 |
| Do You Really Need New Speakers for Home Theater? | 156 |
| Shop Smart: What to Look For | 157 |
| 17 | Sound at the Speed of Light: CD Players and Recorders | 159 |
| CD Players | 159 |
| CD Changers | 160 |
| CD Recorders | 161 |
| Playing CDs in DVD Players | 162 |
| Better CDs: DVD-Audio and SACD | 162 |
| Shop Smart: What to Look For | 164 |
| 18 | Make Your Own Kind of Music: Audio Recorders | 165 |
| The Old Standby: Cassette Recorders | 165 |
| Sony's Digital Standard: MiniDisc Recorders | 167 |
| The Best Way to Record from a CD--CD Recorders | 167 |
| Record from the Internet: MP3 Recorders | 167 |
| Part 5 | Everything But the Popcorn: Building Your Home Theater | 171 |
| 19 | Get Ready: Prepare Your Room for Home Theater | 173 |
| Space, the Final Frontier: Creating the Ideal Home Theater Room | 174 |
| Here, There, and Everywhere: Positioning Your System | 176 |
| Plugged In and Ready to Go: Assembling All the Connections | 177 |
| 20 | Quick and Easy Systems: Home Theater in a Box | 179 |
| One Box, Lotsa Stuff | 179 |
| Smart Shopping: What to Look For | 181 |
| Make a Match: Home Theater Speaker Systems | 182 |
| 21 | Plug It In: Which Cable Goes Where | 183 |
| You Say Component, I Say Composite: A Connection Primer | 184 |
| 22 | Take Charge: Controlling Your System | 197 |
| Point and Click: Understanding the Different Types of Remotes | 197 |
| Get Control of Your Remotes: Choosing the Right Remote for Your System | 207 |
| 23 | What to Do When It Doesn't Work: Troubleshooting System Problems | 209 |
| He's Dead, Jim: Pondering Power Problems | 210 |
| I Can't Hear You: Solving Sound Problems | 212 |
| Out of Sight: Verifying Video Problems | 216 |
| Calling for Help | 219 |
| 24 | Home Beautiful: Installing a Custom System | 221 |
| Flaunt It or Hide It: Where Do You Put Your Stuff? | 221 |
| Getting Fancy: More Sophisticated Installations | 226 |
| When the Job's Just Too Big to Do Yourself: Thinking About Custom Installers | 229 |
| Find a Firm: How to Choose a Custom Installer | 230 |
| Learn from a Pro: An Interview with an Award-Winning Custom Installer | 232 |
| 25 | How Much Can You Afford: Putting Together the Perfect System for Your Budget | 239 |
| Under $1,000: Home Theater on a Shoestring | 239 |
| Under $2,500: The Budget System | 240 |
| Under $5,000: Improving Performance | 242 |
| Under $10,000: Bigger and Better | 243 |
| Under $25,000: High Definition | 245 |
| Unlimited Budget: Unlimited Performance | 248 |
| Appendixes | |
| A | Glossary | 251 |
| B | Home Theater Resources | 259 |
| Index | 263 |
Format: Paperback, 304 pages
