-Contributed by TechLiving Magazine

by Mike McGann

10 Stupid Things Smart People Do When Setting Up a Home Theater.

Home theater isn't like what you see on TV; tons of good-looking men and women dying to view a scary-real-life picture in a plush, high-tech room.

Unfortunately, in the rush to reach home theater nirvana, a lot of people make mistakes that can leave them somewhere between mildly disappointed and wanting to toss the whole mess out a window. Look, we know you're smart, but we also know that for some people, a part of the brain just shuts off when thinking about buying and setting up electronics, reducing them to technology "Rainmen" - "Definitely must have surround sound, must have surround sound; I'm an excellent installer, an excellent installer." If you want a good performing system, regardless of price range, it pays to figure out what you want, what you can afford, what you're capable of doing yourself and what has worked for other people. While reading reviews in magazines might be helpful, a better bet might be visiting home theater forums, where you can learn from other's mistakes and successes with various products. We've compiled a list of some of the biggest mistakes (and how to avoid them) to give you the best shot at ending up with a home theater system you can really enjoy.

1. In Over Your Head

While a lot of people can set up a home theater system, it's not for everyone and can be deceptively difficult. Sometimes, the best decision you can make is to write a check and let someone else do it.

"Some customers assume that they can set up their own home theater system without the help of a qualified dealer. Before they know it, the 'do-it-yourselfers' are in over their head. The system doesn't work correctly and never will. The cost to get it fixed is greater than it would have been if they had called a qualified dealer in the first place," says Terry Menacker, president of Overture Home Theater, a retailer/installer of custom home electronics located in Wilmington, Del. Menacker is admittedly biased against do it yourselfers. "Even worse is that many customers don't know they're in over their head and live with a system that isn't working up to it's potential."

As a rule of thumb, if you're the type of person that always needs computer help, you might want to reach for the checkbook.

2. What Am I Buying?

Imagine buying a two-seater sports car and then figuring out it's lousy at hauling home repair stuff from

the local Lowe's. This is the kind of mistake people who buy home theater systems make all the time. Music aficionados end up with great movie systems that are so-so for music, and movie fans get systems that are killer for music, but uninspiring when replaying Saving Private Ryan. Not all home theater is created equally. The things that make one mind-blowing for movies not be so great for playing video games or listening to two-channel music. With a little forethought, you can design a system that suits your needs and preferences.

For example, a front-projection video display would be perfect for the real home theater; it performs at its best in a darkened room - great for a dedicated theater room, but maybe not so great in a bright family room where it will be mostly used to watch football games or the nightly news. Also, those tiny speakers that sound so fabulous in your bedroom might not sound so good in a giant living room with a cathedral ceiling. So before you run off to the store, figure out what you want your system to do, how you plan to use it, and where.

3. Picture Confusion

Since home theater comes baked in with a lot of complicated jargon, it's good to know the basic terms and setups. One thing that seems to trip people up a lot these days may seem like complicated math, but it's just 4x3 and 16x9.

"One of the most common things people do is they complain about 'those black bars at the top and bottom of the picture. I want a TV that doesn't do that'," says Steve Feinstein, product development manager for Atlantic Technology. "No matter how many times you explain about 16:9 versus 4:3 picture formatting, widescreen versus standard TV, etc., all you get back is a glazed-eye stare, and then they say, again, "Yeah, but I don't want any of those black bars.' It's hopeless."

Well, maybe not hopeless, but clearly confusing. In short, 4x3 is the same old shape TVs came in back in the 1950s and the way the vast majority of TV is broadcast today. A 16x9 is wider and is the basic format of high-definition TV and anamorphic "enhanced for widescreen" DVDs. With either kind of display, you'll probably have to live with black bars at some point, either top and bottom on a 4x3 when watching letterboxed TV shows (like ER) and movies or on the left and right of 16x9 when watching CNN. Ultimately, all programming will move to the wider format, although it may take a decade or so, which means more black bars if you buy a 4x3 set and progressively less if you go for 16x9.

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