How to Create the Best Home Cinema System

Creating the perfect home cinema doesn’t need to be daunting. It's possible to create a cinematic viewing experience that can rival the real thing in the comfort of your own home. From choosing the right type of TV and sound system, to designing the perfect set-up, our home cinema tech guide will give you all the guidance you need to bring entertainment and films to life in your own home.

What is a home cinema system?

With a home cinema system, you’ll have everything you need for enjoying your favourite blockbusters and boxsets. You can enjoy cosy nights in as a family, or invite your friends over to watch the latest Netflix releases or sport matches on TV. It usually means watching content on a big screen using the latest home cinema technology. Typically, it will include a large TV or big screen projector, epic sound system and comfortable seating.

What size TV is best for home cinema?

There are no hard and fast rules about how big your TV should be and it will be somewhat dictated by the size of your room, but ideally the bigger the better. Aim to maximise the size of your TV screen, while still being able to watch it for extended periods comfortably.

Samsung's big screen TVs are available up to an incredible 98 inches and with award-winning 8K technology, images have never looked sharper. The near bezel-less screens maximise your viewing to give you a completely immersive cinema experience. Samsung's Neo QLED TVs also feature game-changing Mini LED technology so you can enjoy all your favourite shows, games and lifestyle choices with deeper blacks, brighter colours and unrivalled image clarity. You can find more advice about choosing the right size TV for your home cinema setup in our guide.

If you are looking to supersize your screen you could also consider opting for a Smart projector. The 120" The Premiere 4K Laser Projector and 130"The Premiere 4K Smart Triple Laser Projector utilise cutting edge technology to deliver incredible clarity, colour vibrancy and cinema-like picture quality. They are the perfect home cinema projectors, letting you view your favourite shows on an impressive 120-130 inches screen while still compact enough to fit into minimal spaces.

What TV is best for home cinema?

When it comes to the best TV for your home cinema, it’s got to be the spectacular QN900C Neo QLED 8K. Available in 65”, 75” and 85”, this incredible TV delivers images with jaw-dropping precision and punch. The incredible levels of brightness¹ showcase the full range of colours in today’s high dynamic range pictures thanks to the tightly packed pixels found in the 8K display. The AI-driven 8K upscaling can even convert 4K quality images to 8K, contributing to lifelike pictures that are reflective of those seen at the cinema. The stunning Infinity Screen brings you the world’s first edge-to-edge viewing experience, and since it’s nearly bezel-less nothing gets in the way.

It’s not just the picture quality that makes the QN900C Neo QLED stand out from the crowd; the uncompromising, best-in-class surround sound also takes your audio experience to a whole new level of immersion. Packed with twelve multi-directional speakers and Dolby Atmos technology you’ll hear the action happening all around you, just as the director intended. Pair it with the Q990C Q-Symphony Cinematic Dolby Atmox Soundbar and you’ve got a home cinema system that rivals the real thing.

If you’re looking for something slightly smaller for your home cinema system, we recommend the 65" S95C OLED 4K HDR Smart TV. Thanks to the combination of Quantum Dot and OLED technology, bright colours are rich and vibrant and pixel-perfect blacks appear in outstanding contrast next to the white pixels. The detail and clarity produced by the 4K OLED display means you can watch it from pretty much any angle, without the picture quality diminishing. With the addition of HDR, 144Hz³ and a variable refresh rate, this TV is perfect for enjoying all your entertainment.

Which projector is best for home theatre?

Samsung’s The Premiere 4K UHD Smart Triple laser projector is the world’s first HDR10+ certified projector. With a whopping 2800 lumens of brightness and 130 inches wide screen you are launched right into the action. Designed with built-in subwoofers and unique acoustic beam technology, the superb sound quality perfectly complements the stunning image clarity. Additionally, thanks to the built-in smart apps, you can watch films and entertainment just as the director intended.

This next generation Samsung projector delivers ultra-short throw projections, which means it can display a 130-inch image from less than 25 cm away. In fact, with Samsung's The Premiere LSP9T 4K Ultra-short throw projector you can position it just 11.3 cm from a wall and still achieve an incredible 100-inch 4K projection; allowing for big screen viewing without the risk of anyone walking in front of the projector and ruining the show. The Premiere is incredibly easy to install in your home cinema. Simply plug in, turn on and adjust the distance to the screen to choose your screen size. We recommend projecting your projector onto a tab-tension Ambient Light Reflecting (ALR) screen to create the best home cinema experience.

Unsure whether a projector or TV is right for you? Check out our expert TV buying guide to help you choose the perfect device for your home cinema setup.

Find The Best Projector For Your Home Cinema Find The Best Projector For Your Home Cinema

Which speakers are best for home theatre?

For the best home cinema system opting for a sound system that plays detailed, realistic and precise audio around the whole room is a must. If you have a large cinema room, a full surround sound system such as the Q990C Q-Symphony Cinematic Dolby Atmos sound system is the perfect option. This awesome setup includes 22 speakers, Dolby Atmos and Q-Symphony technology, our most powerful subwoofer and two additional rear speakers. Samsung’s intelligent Q-Symphony technology syncs the soundbar and TV harmoniously to play sound simultaneously from both devices, creating authentic and immersive 3D sound from the comfort of your own home. There’s 11 front and surround channels, 1 subwoofer channel, and 4 up-firing channels, so you are completely absorbed by glorious 11.1.4ch surround sound wherever you’re sat.

What do you need for a home cinema room?

The perfect home cinema will completely captivate you in your viewing, transporting you into new worlds, times and places. To achieve this immersive experience, we recommend that your home cinema system includes the following:

1. A large screen TV or projector
2. An epic surround sound system
3. Home theatre seating
4. A mixture of hard and soft furnishings for optimal sound balance

How to make a cinema room

Once you have your home cinema technology sorted, you will want to arrange your room so that it’s optimised for the most immersive viewing experience. Here are our top tips for getting your home cinema room just right:

1. Choose the location of your home cinema room

There is no perfect size for a home cinema room, but it’s important to consider how you are going to use the space. Consider your cinema room's layout, taking into account factors such as screen size, viewing angles, the projection method, seat comfort, speaker placement, and acoustics. The room's size and shape will make a real difference to its success. Rectangular rooms with carpets make better cinema rooms than square rooms because they allow you more flexibility with seating positions and better acoustics.

2. Set up your TV or projector

Whether you’ve opted for a TV or a projector, deciding on its location within your cinema room is important. TVs can be heavier to manoeuvre compared to a projector but act as a great centraliser for all your sound devices. All TVs have a recommended distance and angle that you will need to consider for an optimum viewing setup. For a truly cinematic experience, a field of vision viewing angle of 40 degrees is recommended. Samsung’s short-throw range of projectors need to be positioned next to the wall that you wish to project on to.

3. Set up your surround sound system

Samsung TVs connect lots of different devices via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, reducing the need to run wires across your home cinema room. With Samsung SmartThings⁴, you can effortlessly make the connection with your home cinema speakers, so all you need to do is decide where to best place them in your cinema room. Typically, the soundbar and subwoofer is best situated under the TV while any rear speakers should be positioned in the back corners of the room or behind the seating area.

4. Install dimmable lighting

To ensure you have the best viewing experience in your home cinema room, you’ll want to be able to precisely control the level of light. Dimmable lighting is ideal because you can accurately set the brightness to create your own custom cinematic atmosphere. Lighting apps such as SmartThings⁴ allow you to easily control the lighting from your Samsung smartphone so you can get the ambience just right without having to leave the comfort of your sofa.

However, thanks to the boosted levels brightness, colour and detail on the latest Neo QLED TV range, you don’t have to worry about the lighting in your home cinema. The Quantum Mini LEDs lights are precisely controlled to create deep blacks and intense details in every aspect of the picture.

5. Bring together the finishing touches

Once you have perfectly positioned your cinema seating, remove any unnecessary furniture that might obstruct or distort the sound and get yourself comfy. You can program your lights to dim, the surround sound system to turn on, and the projector screen to come alive, simply using SmartThings⁴ and your Samsung smartphone so all that’s left to do is sit back, relax and enjoy the entertainment!

¹Samsung 2023 8K TV models are pre-set for energy saving. You may adjust brightness in the [menu/setting]. Higher brightness consumes more energy.
²Q-Symphony is compatible with selected Samsung TVs. Function requires HDMI, Optical or Wi-Fi connection to TV.
³Max 4K @144Hz. Supports VRR/4K@120Hz as specified in HDMI 2.1.
⁴Requires SmartThings app, Internet connection, and SmartThings enabled devices.

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