Whether you have a home theatre or you have a living room or media room you use to watch TV, game, and just hang out, there are always a few ways you can upgrade your viewing experience. Lighting is often one of the most overlooked methods of upgrading a TV or media room. By adding different types of smart lighting you can add a sense of atmosphere, make your room cozier, or change the mood by simply changing your colour scheme.
Why add home theatre lighting?
There are a lot of options when choosing smart lighting for your home theatre or media room. To narrow down your choices, the first thing to do is take a good look around your room. Is the room very bright or very dark? Is your TV screen the brightest spot in the entire room or do you have a lot of outside light? Having a bright screen in a dark room can lead to sore eyes and headaches, so adding lighting can make watching your TV more comfortable and enjoyable.
What kind of home theatre lighting do you need?
To create the perfect home theatre, you’ll want to layer your lighting. That means you’ll add several different types of lights so you can choose how light or dark your room will be. The goal is to have a room with lights that can reach every corner if you need to clean or use the space for something other than watching. When you’re watching movies or TV, you’ll have lights you can turn on to add colour or a cozy glow.
Colour or white smart lights?
The two types of smart bulbs or smart lights you can add to a home theatre are colour-changing lights or white lights. White lights are a lot like standard light bulbs in that they are only white. You can dim them or brighten them, but don’t change colour. Color-changing smart lights can change into any colour you can imagine. Depending on the type of smart bulb you choose your lights could change to millions of colours.
Whether you choose colour changing or white smart lights, you’ll find they have a lot of great features that make it easy to control your media room lighting. Some connect to your so you can use voice commands to turn them off on or dim them. Others work via services like IFTTT so you can set rules for them to turn off and on or change colour.
3 steps to layering your TV room lighting
From top to bottom, behind your TV screen or behind your couch, there are different types of smart lights you can add to your home theatre. Here’s a look at a few options you can choose.
1. Home theatre ambient lighting
Ambient lighting, also known as bias lighting, is light that offsets your TV’s brightness. This type of smart lighting needs to be placed behind your TV screen so it doesn’t shine in your eyes or shine directly on your screen. You’ll want to place these lights all along the edges of your TV so every corner is covered. You can also place this type of lighting along the edges of your TV stand.
The most popular type of ambient lighting is LED strip lights. You can choose LED lighting kits with double-sided tape that fits securely on the back edges of your TV. Some types of LED smart light strips can switch colours depending on what you’re watching or what style you like, and they can be controlled via an app or remote control so you can set different tones or colour moods. There are even smart light strips that sync with your TV and change colour or flash along with the action on the screen.
2. Overhead lighting in a media room
Some home theatres have overhead pot lights, and others have light fixtures in the center or several locations of the room. If you have a standard light bulb installed and you turn on this type of light when watching TV, you may see a glare or shadow on your screen. While some people just avoid turning on overhead lights while enjoying movies, sports, or TV shows, having these lights can help with eye strain by offsetting how bright your TV is. To make these lights user-friendly, all you need to add are smart bulbs.
Smart bulbs install in most standard ceiling light fixtures including pot lights. With smart bulbs, you don’t need to hardwire a dimmer switch to dim or control your lights. Once you’ve added the light bulb you can use the compatible app to adjust brightness from bright to dim or change the colours depending on what you’re watching. You can even set them on a schedule to turn on or change colours when it gets dark outside.
3. Using lamps in your TV room
The third layer of light you’ll want to add to your home theatre is lamps. Lamps are available in all shapes and sizes, and you can use your own lamps with a smart bulb, add a few light bars or LED smart light fixtures, or choose indoor panel lights to light up a section of your wall.
When you’re placing lamps, the best rule is to place one on either side or behind your couch. They cast a soft glow that can help reduce eye strain, and with a smart bulb or smart lamp you can control the colour and brightness via an app. Light panels also add a cozy glow, and they mount on your wall like art. They come in different shapes so you can set up your indoor panel lights in your favourite configuration or add more panel lights if you’d like to expand your smart wall lighting.
Set up the perfect media room lighting this weekend
It’s so easy to improve your home theatre with smart lighting. All it takes is a half hour of your time and you can add a few smart bulbs, smart lights, LED light strips, or panel lights. Once everything is installed you’ll see how helpful it is to have lighting in your media room or TV room. You can adjust and control your lighting whenever you turn the channel, setting a new colour or mood for everything you watch.
Upgrade your media room or TV room right now by shopping for smart lights at Best Buy.
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