For a big screen home theater, we recommend the 65 inch LCD TV and a powerful sound system for maximum Wow effect. You can get LCD, or you can save some money and get plasma. But plasma requires a darker room for the best picture. So the question is, how do I get my home theater room to be nice and dark like the movie theater?
You can buy room darkening drapes that work well from Walmart. A consumer reviewer said “I have these room darkening drapes in my room because my husband works nights frequently and he needs complete darkness. I also use these in my kids rooms so they’ll sleep when it’s daylight outside (and not wake at 6am…lol).”
The store brand for these is Eclipse brand. There are several types of the Eclipse, and each package says the drapes are room darkening, but results vary. The more decorative drapes do not work as well in keeping the light out. The Eclipse thermaweave (in dark blue and olive green) work great and block the light. “The eclipse thermaweave curtains DO block the 99% of the light as they state. Now the way we do it is we buy one panel per window, then we put thumb tacks all around the curtain and tack it up around the outside of the window. We use our curtains that match our bedroom suit that we use over these curtains because they aren’t very decorative looking. But I can fully say we have zero light that comes into any of our bedrooms when you tack it up.”
So if your big screen is a plasma set, you can use room darkening drapes and get a great picture.
Also you might want darker paint on the walls, to help keep the light dimmer.
