Easily the most exciting category in all things home tech, there is nothing like sitting comfortably at home with friends and family, and firing up the theater system, which has been described as the New American Hearthside. The impact of a great movie or sporting event can be breathtaking. We consider the emotional and financial return on investment very high.

Dedicated theaters are defined as Audio Video systems which include formal theater seating, a high- resolution projector, a screen and at least 5.1 channels of audio. Maxsystems theaters and screening rooms can rival many local movie houses. Several are used in the entertainment industry as reference theaters in which business decisions are made.  Dedicated theaters  operate best in low light, so shade and light control is also an important part. Signal sources can be as simple as Blu-ray DVD and High Definition cable or satellite programming and can include DVD/media servers. Typically, the size of the room determines seating capacity and screen size, which determines level of brightness from the projector. Theaters can range widely in overall price: from entry level for a small room all the way up to true Entertainment Industry Reference Standard Screening Rooms.

Theaters can also be adapted into multi-purpose rooms with more casual seating and other forms of video such as flatpanel displays. In this type of environment with more casual viewing, theaters or A/V entertainment systems are not as critical regarding lighting requirements. Typically, these types of systems can be adapted for video gaming and multi-image displays.