For a home theater in my basement, should I place sconce lighting on either side of my projector screen?
Posted by admin in Home Entertainment Q&AJun 28th, 2009 | 4 responses
ahimsa101 asked:
I'm setting up a home theater in my basement (just finished framing). I plan to put 2 sconces on both side walls. But I was wondering if I should put a sconce on each side of the projector screen itself? Is having some dimmed light next to the screen good for viewing or is it better to keep the screen area as dark as possible?
I'm setting up a home theater in my basement (just finished framing). I plan to put 2 sconces on both side walls. But I was wondering if I should put a sconce on each side of the projector screen itself? Is having some dimmed light next to the screen good for viewing or is it better to keep the screen area as dark as possible?
Thanks - Sam.
4 Responses to “For a home theater in my basement, should I place sconce lighting on either side of my projector screen?”
Leave a Reply
It can wash out the image depending how close and bright they are. Ideally you need a dark room. It depends on the projector and screen though. Try a lamp to test it first. Good luck.
dont do it. use that space for in wall speakers or a bigger screen some day. even if you have the lights on a dimmer it wont matter. Just stick with the ones on the side walls.
Like the other answerer said, you can put the lights anywhere…just avoid having light shining right on the screen. It is best to have “mood light” in the back of the room if needed.
Just make sure there is not one switch that turns all the lights in the room on at once. Dimmers are good too – stick with incandescent lights in a home theater – avoid fluorescent bulbs.
Think of how the lighting in a movie theater is set up.
The best area for illumination is behind the screen. There are special “behind the screen” lamps made for this; they have the right color temperature. However, you can use any lamp as long as it’s not too bright.
You should not have open light sources that can be seen when looking at the screen.
If you can’t put anything behind the screen, then a lamp in the room behind the viewers and as far from the screen as possible (and with a low light level) is ok.