How Much Do You Recreate The Theatrical Experience At Home?

[Professor Echo]

I mean, beyond trying to get the best picture and sound. I've read about people and their home theaters and how much they really try to replicate an evening at the theater, or at least what that meant before the proliferation of commercials, people talking on their cell phones, etc.

I'm curious how dedicated members here are with their home theaters.

For instance:

If you have it, do you hang up the poster for the movie you are going to watch?

Do you have "theater candy" on hand for the screening?

Do you watch trailers for movies before you start the feature? Short subjects like cartoons?

Do you pause to take bathroom breaks or sweat it out like you would have to in a theater?

If you are hosting, do you remind people to shut off their phones and shut their mouths?

Do you turn the lights all the way down?

Etc.

[Th0r4z1n3]

Depends on what kind of mood I'm in. I use XBMC (or whatever they renamed it to now), and the first thing I do when I get a new movie is rip it over to my HTPC, and it will automatically get all the pertinent information for the movie including the trailer.

If I'm in the mood to just watch a movie I can just click on it and watch it. If we're having movie night or entertaining guests I can click another button, and it will run trivia for a while, play related trailers for other movies in my library, play a PSA to tell people to STFU, and start the movie. It also has an intermission feature, but I've never bothered to set that up.

I also have a popcorn machine, as well as two smaller TVs hanging in portrait mode that randomly display movies posters to add to the theater effect. I don't have a dedicated theater room though, the room is technically my living room so I have to keep it as a "theater theme" rather than going balls out "theater experience" to keep it kosher with the wifey.

[The Great Owl]

When I'm watching a movie, all of the window blinds are closed and all of the lights are out. Aside from what I see on the television, my home is in total darkness when I'm watching a movie at night.

I've considered hiring a couple of teenagers who live down the street to sit right behind my chair so that they can kick my chair every few seconds, and I've also considered hiring a young mother who lives down the street to bring her baby into my living room and then refuse to take it out of the room when it starts crying, but I'd rather spend that cash on more Blu-rays.

I do not eat any candy while I'm watching a movie at home, but, then again, I don't eat any candy at the movie theater either. (Paleo Diet for the win, y'all.)

I do take bathroom breaks, but I pause the Blu-ray when I do so, so it's as though the bathroom breaks never happened.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I've considered paying a couple of teenagers who live down the street to sit right behind my chair so that they can kick my chair every few seconds, and I've also considered hiring a young mother who lives down the street to bring her baby into my living room and then refuse to take it out of the room when it starts crying, but I'd rather spend that cash on more Blu-rays.

That's the answer to a different question: Why do we HAVE home theaters?

[lpnaz480]

about 99%...just missing the popcorn machine

[Thomas Guycott]

Watching everything in total darkness does a lot to add to the theatrical experience at ahome.

[Moviefan2k4]

Aside from the obvious difference in picture and sound quality (not even Blu-Ray can copy a theater), there isn't much else of a separation for me. I keep the room semi-dark, eat if I want to, and enjoy the show.

[D2Girls]

if it's a movie im vested in then i tend to only watch at night time when its completely dark

[happydood]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

I was going add:

1) A few weeks ago a opened a sugary soda and poured it on the floor, let it dry
2) Left some popcorn there for 2 weeks,
3) Made sure to go to Goodwill for buy some broken chairs
4) Blew out my speakers so they buzz all the time
5) Pointed the projector 15 degrees offline and defocused it
6) Somewhere in the middle i have a random number generator that turns on all the lights and stops the Bluray player
7) Also a program that runs that makes sure a cell phone rings every 5 minutes or so and runs a recording of a generated 4 minute conversation in a grating voice.
8) Somewhere near the last spoken word, but before the credits roll all the lights come on, and my wife is instructed to come in with her clean up stuff and make as much noise as possible while standing b/w me and the screen then look at me like I'm bothering/inconveniencing her by watching the credits and post credits complete with eye rolls, muttered curses under her breath, and then as she leaves in a huff she gives me the finger while pulling $40 out of my wallet,


I thought about, but decided it was too cynical

I dunno. I think that was true in the 80's. Now I think it's clean, State-Of-The-Art everything that is completely ruined by flashing text screens and a general inability to sit still by anybody under 30.

Oh, and the threat of being shot is now a permanent reality.

You know, I like to think I've retained my punk-rock sensibility, but I'd much rather watch movies at home, unless it's a late night screening at a revival theater where people know how to act. I'm not a cranky middle-aged man because I've always watched old movies as well as new movies, but it kinda feels like people now watch new movies but haven't a clue about old movies.

I'm dying to have a dedicated theater in my own home someday, but for now i watch in the dark on a 42 inch screen with a decent sound system after the kids have gone to bed or right before and with them. Either way, it's dark enough that I'm simulating the theatrical experience fairly well.

Except I pass out about half-way through the movies I've seen before. See the above reference to two kids.

[gates70]

I try and replicate it as much as I can. I built a dedicated HT (gear in my signature) and have a popcorn machine and posters as you go down the stairs.

[Cevolution]

As much as I can within the limitations and restrictions I have. Lights always go off. I watch most trailers if there are any on the disc I am about to watch and haven't seen the movie. I own a popcorn machine and have a mini candy bar set up (which I don't keep full much anymore because I found myself eating too much junk). It's rare that I need to go to the toilet during a film, even when drinking alcohol when watching which is often, I'm not an old fella with a crappy bladder.

[dubious]

I sneak in candy, leave popcorn all over the floor, put my feet on the seats in front of me, and pour out my soda on the floor once my ice melts so I have something to piss in.