# HT lighting



## chas (Jan 28, 2007)

In a dedicated light controlled home theater room using front projection, should there be low-level lighting that remains on during viewing? If so, what types of lights are normally used for such a purpose?


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## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

I use FP and keep the lights at different levels. I have a multi-purpose room, so the projector and screen were sized to at least be watchable with full lighting in the room.

I bought a Leviton dimmer with IR remote and can dim the lights or turn them all the way off.

If the screen is a sizable portion of your viewing angle, you can darken the room completely. For safety, some people like rope lights marking the walkway to the door.

If the screen is farther away from many people (unlikely in a home environment, but it happens), keeping a small amount of ambient light helps reduce eye fatigue. Again, not a common problem with FP (like it was with smaller direct view sets).

Wall sconce lighting is great because it is all ambient. Overheads can wash onto the screen easier or put glare in your field of vision. I have an overhead in my room to the back (so we can see the equipment or read if we're just watching TV), but we had to remove the bulb one fixture to the front of the room because it washed out the screen and had glare, even at very dim levels.

I hope this helps some.


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## chas (Jan 28, 2007)

Thanks...very helpful. The sconces and IR dimmer sound great.

How about a couple of these low on each sidewall:

http://www.pegasusassociates.com/NightLightLEDLouverHoriz.jsp


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

I have the sconces and dimmers as well. I have the front lights set on one dimmer with the rear lights on another dimmer. My room is dedicated so the lights go out completely when viewing, but my daughter and her friends will sometimes leave the rear sconces dimmed low during viewing. It will most likely be a matter of your personal taste.


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## John Simpson (May 10, 2007)

I prefer a completely dark room, but I have read that a small amount of ambient light can reduce eyestrain.

For a dedicated home theatre, I would say that indirect lighting is a must -- there's very little need for direct lighting, and if it is there it should be dimmable (dimmable? my new word for the day :neener.

Soffits lend themselves to indirect lighting, and look fabulous.


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## Tedd (Feb 2, 2007)

I prefer a dark room also. 

Have you considered a Lutron Grafic Eye and you can set scenes?


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## chas (Jan 28, 2007)

The Lutron looks great, but is probably beyond my simple little theater budget...though I do like the idea of remote controlled dimming.

It certainly seems that light level is very subjective...and some form of dimmable (if I can borrow John's word) source is going to be a must. The rest of my basement has recessed lighting on dimmers so I'll probably go with maybe four of those and possibly a couple sconces.


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## MatrixDweller (Jul 24, 2007)

The Lutron Maestro is not too expensive ($40 US). Grafik Eye starts get pretty expensive. Another option is X10, but that can get expensive too.

I have a Lutron Grafik Eye 2 Zone dimmer. It has a lot more features and possible add-ons than the Maestro and allows independent dimming of the 2 zones. If you were to use 2 Maestro's the remote would control both dimmers simultaneously.


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## Tedd (Feb 2, 2007)

If your lighting is simple, then a maestro is fine. If you have three zones of lights, then you need to ask yourself if all the extra functionality is worth the additional cost of a GE 3103 bought on ebay (at about $80+ extra dollars over the cost of three Maestros).


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

http://www.cinemaquestinc.com/ideal_lumesb.htm


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## Guest (Jan 9, 2008)

Just to let you know, the link to Pegasus has changed, it is now:
www.pegasusassociates.com/NightLightLEDLouverHoriz.html


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## YW84U (Apr 29, 2007)

Pegasus said:


> Just to let you know, the link to Pegasus has changed, it is now:
> www.pegasusassociates.com/NightLightLEDLouverHoriz.html


I'm running 4 of those, and I find they are perfect for stair lighting. I leave them on 24/7, as they run cool and cost maybe $0.20 year to operated (LED):










My HT is completely dark when viewing, with screen cans, recessed and sconces on dimmers controlled by IR / Harmony 880. I'll sometimes have only the sconces partially on when watching TV / talking with people during shows, but 99% of the time I leave all lights off. Everyone's preference as to lighting on/off will differ, though :bigsmile:


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## MatrixDweller (Jul 24, 2007)

How bright are the steps lights when all the lights are out? 
Do you have them on a switch or dimmer? 
Are they dimmable?
Where did you find the black finish model?


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

In commercial theatres, all the lights are out when the movie starts..except for Exit signs, which I find most annoying..
My dedicated light controlled theatre is the same...minus the exit signs:bigsmile:
All I want to see is the lighted image on the screen..but it does come down to personal choice..


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## Bent (May 24, 2006)

I don't have a F-P setup, but I do have a 3 zone 2 separate banks of sconces, (a pair at the front and a pair on the side, and some O.H. pots) controlled by three seperate Leviton DHC addressable dimmers that allow manual control, as well as automated control with my Ocelot automation controller. The Ocelot is a programmable logic controller that is programmed with simple If-THEN-ELSE logic. Think of the opposite of a learning remote control - the Ocelot is a learning IR receiver, you teach it IR commands like you do for a learning remote and then it will initiate commands in response to those IR signals. 
My Ocelot does all of my IR Macros, rather than sitting and pointing my remote at the component rack for up to 5 seconds at a time while it chugs thru it's stored macros, the Ocelot "see's" a single IR command and does the same thing... Which eases the burdon of my remote - I can do a macro without maintaining communication between my remote and the AV rack area.
It also initiates scene lighting to the addressable dimmers, so a "Movie" scene will automatically dime the front sconces to 15%, the side sconces to 5%, and the O.H. pot lights to 0%... You get the idea - all triggered by recognition of a "learned" signal from my remote. I also have a "Music" lighting scene, a "Guest" lighting scene, a "TV" lighting scene, a "On" lighting scene (brings all lights up to 100%), as well as an "Off" scene that dims both sconce zones to 0%, drops the O.H. lights to 50% then counts 15 seconds (allows us to leave the room) and then drops the O.H lights again to 0%.
I also have individual dimming of all three zones via the Ocelot and my MX-500 remote in 10% steps from full on to full off.

I've set the Ocelot to control my outside garage carriage lights based on sunrise/sunset times determined by my latitude/longitude (The Ocelot calculates this per day as these change as each day goes by, you tell it the lat./long. of your location when you set it up).


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## YW84U (Apr 29, 2007)

MatrixDweller said:


> How bright are the steps lights when all the lights are out?
> Do you have them on a switch or dimmer?
> Are they dimmable?
> Where did you find the black finish model?


Hard to 'quantify' how bright they are - if you are in the theater or walking in the dark/near dark, they throw a fair amount of light. If you're coming from a very bright room, it takes a bit for your eyes to adjust and they don't seem as bright . I find that for my room (which is dark 99% of the time), they are perfect for illuminating the stairwell but not to the point where you notice any ambient light when watching the screen. I do have them on a switch, however found no need to dim them so I have not tried that. You can see the 'bluish-white' light on the steps in the photo - taken with all lights on. I placed them so that the light would bisect each stair tread and provide a bit better coverage.

I found the satin black model in my garage next to a spray-can of Mar-Hyde Black from Bondo :bigsmile: The white didn't work well with my color scheme, and that paint (automotive trim) sticks extremely well.


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## atledreier (Mar 2, 2007)

I like the lutron, as opposed to many other dimmer units it will allow the light to go very very low without going out completely. Most other I have tried have a significant 'switch off threshold'. The lutron let me have lights with barely a glow, if I so want, and the transition between scenes and moods can be so smooth that you don't even realize. My transition time from 'seating' to 'movie' is one minute. The 'seating mood is lit so that there's plenty of light for people to see where they are going, but not glaring. When people are starting to get seated i start the transition, and most people don't even realize the lights have come off until after the movie..  It's great! that's a 4-zone graphik eye, btw. Best unit I ever had!


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## Bent (May 24, 2006)

My leviton Dimmers can also be reliably dimmed to "barely" noticable, from above the threshold or from below (zero percent) - but they don't have a ramp feature built into themselves, ramping has to be implemented by the Ocelot.


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## Lobotomy^ (Nov 19, 2007)

I prefer some lighting in HT while watching movies and full lighting when watching tv or playing game. Though my HT isn't fully ready yet and some lights above sofa is still missing.

Here is my HT, as it is now. Still working on it.









Lights are not as bright as it seems in picture, my camera just isn't sensitive enough.


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

Even if you prefer only dimmed lighting, I also suggest having some recessed cans that you can use as “task lighting,” so you can get the room nice and bright when needed. It’s not much fun trying to change out a piece of gear, make a DVD selection, or vacuum up cracker crumbs in a dimly-lit room. 

Regards,
Wayne


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## Guest (Jan 12, 2008)

If you have a completely sealed room then I suggest you have some dimmed lighting during the movie...... Even real theaters are not completely black. Whether it's indirect or cans or step lights, something is perferrable. You could always turn them off if you want to but at least you would have built the capability to have them on into your theater.

I have a 6 zone grafik eye that I'm going to use. I'll have a couple different zones of cans in the ceiling and soffits, as well as a zone for the ceiling tray lights and another for the step lights. I might even get stupid and put in a lighted exit sign and dim that as well... since I have more zones than I really need.

There are less expensive ways to go as others have mentioned. I have some other lutron dimmers in my living room that would work fine as long as you just need to set dimmed levels. They have the fade to off ability but it's really not meant to be a slow, slow fade... it's pretty much that they will quickly fade to off after a set time.... but they work great for just dimming and they don't hum. They are sold at any of the big box stores.


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