The Home Theater Blog

The Great Home Theater Review Contest

2009-10-23T20:50:00Z

There's a new contest running at HTmarket.com, the Home Theater Marketplace. Here's how to enter:

Sign up for an account at HTmarket.com to open a new account. It's free to sign up.
Review products that are displayed on Htmarket.com: only product(s) you ownor have owned are eligible! You did not have to buy the product fromus. Reviews must meet the HTmarket editorial guidelines, as shown on your accountpage.
Now thru Friday, November 6, 2009!

Grand Prize: You'll automatically be entered in adrawing for the grand prize by posting one review. Two names will bedrawn. Each person will receive 1 of two Berkline 090 power recline home theater seats, with Buttkickers!

There are also 10 other prizes that are based on who theTop 10 Reviewers on HTmarket.com are. The Top 10 Reviewers are decided by whohas reviewed the most products. If you upload your own photo of theproduct, the review counts double. The review must be approved by the HTmarket team. Reviews are counted by reviewing different products, so pleasedo not review the same product twice, as this will not count. Top 10 prizes include an Epson 6100 Home Theater Projector, a Personalized DVD Intro, and a Radius Poster Frame, to name a few.

The Great Home Theater Review Contest is currently running, and ends November 9th. Head over to HTmarket.com to enter!

Home Theater Guide

2009-09-30T15:51:00Z

Whether you're creating a new home theater or just looking to improve upon your current one, it's a good idea to go over the fundamentals and consider new ideas. There's many aspects of a home theater that merit careful consideration, from choosing projectors or home theater seating to creating that perfect atmosphere you're looking for.

To help you learn the fundamentals and better plan your theater, HTmarket.com has put together a resource which collects a ton of useful information in one place. Check out their handy Home Theater Guide. You're sure to learn something, and you might get some cool ideas for your theater while you're there!

HTmarket Rewards and Customer Reviews

2009-09-10T17:56:00Z

HTmarket.com, the internet's largest Home Theater store, has begun a customer rewards program called HT Rewards
, as well as a new customer review system. It's simple: customers earn 1 point for every $1 purchased, and 5 points for every customer review. These points can be redeemed for gift certificates and select home theater products. To start earning points, just sign up for an account!

There's other benifits to opening an HTmarket.com customer account, as well. You can store billing and shipping details for a fast checkout, track and view orders online, re- order items you've ordered before, save and share your favorite products, and even recieve exclusive discount coupons.

Whether you're new to HTmarket or a seasoned home theater shopper, you should definitely head over to Htmarket.com and start enjoying the benefits and rewards of an HTmarket customer account.

Top 10 Home Theater Add Ons

2009-07-27T15:58:00Z
HTmarket.com presents the top ten home theater add ons which are great additions to existing theaters.

1. Home Theater Seating: Replace old furniture to make your theater look more like a cinema.
2. Popcorn Machines: The smell and taste of popcorn is an inexpensive option to add sizzle to any theater.
3. Posters and Frames: Authentic movie posters in changeable frames are a great way to add the theater elements to the home theater.
4. Reels and Reel Clocks: A simple clock reel adds to the theater.
5. Acoustic Panels: Drastically improve appearance and sound quality at one time with acoustic panels.
6. Signs and Marquees: Distinguish the entrance to your theater with chase lights.
7. Velour Ropes and Posts: Low cost add on to add some class to your home theater.
8. Velour Drapes: Great way to trim out screen and make it look more like a real theater.
9. Personalized Items: DVD intros to peronalized signs putting your name on your theater is a great way to bring it home.
10. Lighting, Wall Sconces and Stars: Adding star ceilings and other lighting helps set the right mood in the theater.

CGEmarket.com

2009-04-08T15:50:00Z
Marketware Technologies, Inc., parent company of HTmarket.com, has built out a new web site for commercial buyers called CGEmarket.com Corporate, Government and Education Marketplace.

CGEmarket.com is a natural extension of the buying power of HTmarket.com.

At CGEmarket.com, you can find the following product categories, perfect for your business needs:

Poster Frames

Sign Stand

Pedestal Signs
Banner Stands

Easels
Trophy Case

Literature Display

Reception Desks

Conference Tables

Printer Stands

Book Carts

Utility Carts

Mailroom Furniture

Monitor Mounts

Ceiling Mounts
Projector Ceiling Mount

TV Cart

Lecterns
Church Furniture

Cork Board

Tack Board
Dry Erase Board

Letter Board

Drafting Furniture

Berkline Quick Ship Home Theater Seats

2009-03-13T15:14:00Z
If you're looking to pick up some home theater seating, you've no doubt considered getting high-quality seating from Berkline. After all, a Berkline seat is possibly the finest home theater chair available. If a comfortable and luxurious home theater is what you want, it's worth mentioning that at HTmarket you can get Berkline seats for less, and in less time, than you may have thought possible.

HTmarket's Quick Ship Home Theater Seating selection contains several Berkline home theater seats, all for a much lower cost than you may expect. These quick ship seats are a low-cost alternative to special order Berkline items. What's more, they leave the warehouse 2 to 5 days after ordering, and they arrive within 2 weeks! It's the fastest and cheapest way to get comfy Berkline seats delivered, and they're the same high quality seats you'd expect from Berkline. If you're in the market for home theater seats, you owe it to yourself to check out the Berkline quick ship items at HTmarket.com!

Home Theater Packages

2009-03-10T21:46:00Z
If you're setting up a new home theater, you can't go wrong with the home theater packages on HTmarket.com. They've assembled a collection of bundles, each containing a high-quality Elite projector screen, Peerless Vector Pro II ceiling projector mount, Audioquest HDMI to HDMI cable and your choice of a home theater projector. That's pretty much everything you need to make a home TV room into a true home theater- except, of course, for the home theater seating (though HTmarket carries that, too!).

If you're not thrilled with the options you see in any of their home theater packages, they'll change options or even work with you to create a custom home theater package, bundled to meet your specifications. Just call 1-888-764-9273, and make sure to mention the home theater package deals. It's an effortless way to instantly upgrade your room into a genuine home theater!

Great Gift Ideas from HTmarket.com!

2008-12-01T21:54:00Z

Looking for gift ideas this holiday season? HTmarket.com, your home theater marketplace, has got your back! Check out these great gifts that are bound to please everyone on your "nice" list.

BoomChair Wi-FX Video Game Chair- There's video game chairs, and then there's the BoomChair Wi-FX. The "Wi" in Wi-FX means wireless, as in wireless connectivity! It also sports two 3" two-way speakers and a 4" subwoofer built right in, bringing the sounds of games, iPod or MP3 player music, or DVD movies to a whole new intensity. Throw in adjustable volume, bass, and treble, padded mesh comfort zones, and an adjustable headrest and you're looking at one of the best video game chairs in the universe.

Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 6500ub Projector- Imagine the look on that special someone's face when they unwrap this home theater projector. The Epson 6500ub is a powerful machine, built with the latest generation 3LCD optical engine and featuring a a 75,000:1 contrast ratio at up to 1600 lumens. It's also ideal for viewing fast-action movies and TV shows, thanks to the High-Speed Auto Iris. These are new items shipping out next week, so order now and be the first to give one this year!

Berkline Tangiers Home Theater Seats- Watch the ball drop in comfort and style this New Years' with a set of home theater seats from Berkline. These quick-ship home theater seats feature luxurious black leather, optional PowerRecline, generously sized cupholders and incredible comfort.

René Pierre Zinc Foosball Table- Every family gathering is better with Foosball! The Zinc Foosball Table by René Pierre has unbreakable players, two handle options, shock absorbers and a central ball return. It's also one of the most stylish foosball tables you've ever seen- take a look!

Outdoor Décor- New on HTmarket.com, our selection of Outdoor Décor make great gifts for mom, dad, or anyone who wants to spruce up the garden, pool, or patio. There's clocks, signs (from heartfelt to humorous), solar tiki lights and water fountains, just to name a few. With such a wide variety, you're sure to find something that suits the recipient's tastes!

Still stumped? Check out our Gift Certificates and Gift Ideas page for more great gift ideas!

New TV Stands at HTmarket.com

2008-09-26T16:17:00Z
New TV stands have arrived at HTmarket.com! We've added several new television stands to our catalog, making this the perfect time to update your home theater, media room, living room or den. These stands support televisions up to 65", and many sport features such as integrated Cable Management Systems, tempered glass, flat panel mounting and component ventilation.

Each television stand brings its own style to compliment your room, ranging from classic mahogany to contemporary steel. But don't settle for a mere description- these high-end items have to be seen to be truly appreciated. Go on and take a look; the perfect TV stand is waiting at HTmarket.com!

Message from Owner

2008-09-22T19:10:00Z
Hi, My name is Alan Hutchinson, Owner and President of HTmarket.com the home theater marketplace. I founded HTmarket.com in the year 2000 and my vision was to create an all encompassing web site that had everything someone would need to create and design a home theater.

I had personally designed my first theater in 1997 using internet web sites like ebay and others to put together a home theater. It was a painstaking endeavor as many of the vendors I worked with did not even know what a home theater is much less did they know how to provide advice on the products I needed. I did all the research on my own and it took hours upon hours. My first theater featured a used barco projector that weighed about 250lbs and took two people to lift. The product took about 6 hours to converge tiny little lines on top of each other with no user guide. The products have come along way for home theater.... today companies like Epson design home theater projectors that weigh less than 20lbs and their projectors are plug and play.

My goal was to develop a web site that would allow people like myself an easy way to find answers and products that could make a home theater dream a reality. The other reality is in today's times people don't have extra time to shop, design and tinker around with things. I developed htmarket.com to be a convenient one stop shop and a good place to call for advice on how to do things right the first time.

Now 8 years later as look back and I look at what I had envisioned I can say with out a doubt that me and my team at htmarket.com have created an all encompassing web site for home theater. The site did not just pop up overnight it took about 8 years to say we have everything that is home theater. We have 7000 pages on our web site. My vision for the next 8 years is to help more people make home theater dreams become realities. The reality is that very few people have a true "home movie theater" in their home. They may have a plasma tv or an lcd tv but they really don't have a movie theater like experience set up yet, so in essence we have just scratched the surface. The trend is going towards the bigger screen sizes. We see projector screens being ordered in larger sizes now than ever before. It used to be 92 inch diagonal projection screen was the norm now I would say 110" is normal.

The great thing about building a home theater in your home that all members of the family utilize it from your children to you. In years past, people would build game rooms with ping pong and pool tables now we see home owners build a home theater first and than possibly add a game room later. The main reason is that home owners use their home theaters more often so it's a better investment of time and money.

The great thing about home theater is that it's totally customizable from choosing home theater seating to choosing your own home theater decor like the color and style of your movie poster frames and the size of your popcorn machine. We believe home theater is not just about the speakers and the home theater system but it's about the home theater accessories. Take a tour of the some the home theater photos on our web site.

We welcome your suggestions and your phone calls. At HTmarket.com we can help you design your whole home theater for free. We have helped design 1000's of theaters. We won't sell you on products but we will provide a home theater solution for you that fits your budget, your room and your taste. Give us a call or email us you won't be disappointed.

Elite Screens Summer Promotion

2008-08-27T14:21:00Z
There's a new Elite Screens promotion running at HTmarket.com, and it's impressive!

Basically, the deal is this: Buy a CineTension 2, Home2, EZ-Frame or VMAX2 series projector screen, and they'll throw in free speakers. And these aren't some junky little speakers- we're talking SolaraSound speakers, worth up to $489!

As if that wasn't enough, we're also giving you $30 off as part of the deal.

By now, you can see how sweet this promo is. Elite Screens are already an excellent value for such quality stuff, and the free speakers just make them a ridiculously good deal. If you're in the market for a projector screen (or a speaker, for that matter), check out the full details at the promotion page.

New Product Additions to HTMarket.com

2008-08-19T19:52:00Z

There's a lot of new stuff worth checking out at HTmarket.com, the online home theater marketplace! As a lot of you have found out firsthand, their selection of home theater projectors and home theater lighting is pretty much unrivaled. Well, they're upping the ante yet again with cool new items for your home theater from all over. For example, take a look at just a few of the new items:

The Deco Poster Frame is a straightforward, sharp-looking frame, perfect for movie posters (or any posters). With three finishes to choose from, it's a great fit for absolutely any home theater décor (or any room where you'd like to hang a poster in a stylish movie poster frame!).

The Custom Spotlight Laser Cut Theatrical Sconce (whew!) is a steel, gloss black-finished sconce which is engraved with the message of your choice. It could say "Wayne Family Theater," "Bruce's Home Theater," or even "BEWARE OF LEOPARD". The message is laser-cut through the steel, so the light shines right through! These sconces will make your theater truly one of a kind. Especially if you go with the leopard idea.

Speaking of cutting things with lasers, they've also got Theatrical Laser Cut Home Theater Décor. Designs include movie tickets, clapboards, comedy/tragedy masks, popcorn, variously sized stars and, of course, a classic movie projector shape. They're available in seven colorful finishes, too.

Whether you're just setting up a home theater or simply spicing up your existing home theater, you should really head to HTmarket and check out all the new items, as they were designed specifically with home theaters in mind!

My Design Seats

2008-07-15T21:35:00Z

HTMarket.com is now carrying My Design Home Theater Seating. That's no small thing, as My Design makes some of the best custom home theater seating in the business. They've been around since 1956, back when the only way to get a home theater was to buy the main street cinema, so they know their stuff!

The My Design seats use the T-Max home theater seating system, designed to accommodate any room size or shape, and there's 16 (!) styles to choose from. The My Design seats have manual or power recline, three different cupholder materials (including stainless steel), and they're buttkicker-ready.

The best part, in my opinion, is the C.O.M. (Customer's Own Material) covering option. You can have them build these seats using fabric you provide! Obviously, this is intended to give you the opportunity to create an absolutely perfect and customized set of seats to compliment the decor in your home theater. When I first heard of it, though, I instantly thought of tiger-print luxury recliners. I wonder what the most unusual material they've ever been sent is...

As if that weren't enough, their warrantees are outstanding. On leather, there's a 5-year warrantee on splitting and natural scars, as well as cracking, tackiness, peeling, tearing and premature fading. On fabric, there's a 1-year warrantee on seam failure, fabric separation and nap loss. And on the frame, springs, and mechanisms, there's a limited lifetime warrantee, with a 2-year warrantee on motor mechanisms. Whew.

If you want custom home theater seats made your way, these My Design seats are definitely the way to go, I think. The C.O.M. option is outstanding on its own, to say nothing of the quality, the warrantees or the designs themselves! Head to HTMarket.com and check out the Annular series, and tell me if those aren't some cool looking home theater seats.

HTmarket's new personal shopper service

2008-06-04T21:33:00Z

So you want to set up a home theater but you're not quite sure how to put it all together. Or maybe you just don't have the time to pick it all out yourself, or you simply want the benefit of someone else's experience weighing in. It looks like HTmarket.com, the online theater marketplace, may be just what you need! They're taking advantage of the fact that they have a very knowledgable and experienced staff, and launching a new Personal Web Shopper program for anyone to use, free of charge. It's totally unique, and very useful to the aspiring home theater owner!

This new service is probably the best way yet to get a tailor-made home theater that's totally you, without the remorse of having purchased the wrong items or being stuck with something you thought you would need, but don't. And with over ten thousand items in their catalog, you can bet that the home theater you get will be pretty specific to your wants and needs!

Basically, you give HTmarket.com a ring at (888) 764-9273, and they assign you your very own shopper. You describe the home theater you're looking to put together (or whatever it is you're looking to do), and they take lots of notes. The Web Shopper then uses your specifications to assemble the perfect setup. They go over all the products involved with you, and help you design your room and pick what fits. With this service, you'll stay within budget, you'll meet your deadlines, and you won't have to worry about a thing.

It's like having Alfred take care of everything for your Batcave. A professional home theater shopping staff at your command... I know it's been a while since anyone gave me that kind of service. The whole thing is complimentary, too, and they don't work on commission; there's no pressure, no obligation, no puppydog eyes. And at the end of it all, the theater you get is YOUR theater, not some generic theater arrangement you have to settle for out of convenience. It's a truly personalized experience.

If you're putting together a home theater, I can't think of any reason not to see what their Personal Web Shoppers can do. The advantages to the service are pretty obvious, and there are no disadvantages. I recommend giving them a call!

I want a popcorn machine!

2008-06-04T18:42:00Z

I was looking at popcorn machines over at HTmarket.com, and it got me thinking… I could really use one of these. I daresay I need one.

When I was a younger guy, I worked in a four-screen movie theater called the Glen Theater, as an usher and concessions booth worker. And lemme tell ya, was pretty much the best job a 16-year-old guy could have. The work was easy, and came in very short, very intense bursts, punctuated by hours of playing cards and talking about movies. We were allowed to see free movies anytime we liked, with no limit. We got free popcorn and soda, and the occasional bag of candy. I also had a crush on half the girls who worked there…

Anyway, Thoreau had his Walden, Lyra had her Oxford, I had the Glen. Everything about it was perfect, even the imperfect parts.
A big part of the job was keeping the popcorn machine running. It was an 8 oz. kettle machine, with an automatic oil pump. It was truly ancient- probably older than I am. Nevertheless, it worked flawlessly.

That smell was everywhere. It was completely and permanently infused into my work shirt- I only had one, after all, and I worked almost every day- and no amount of washing could cause the shirt to lose that characteristic popcorn essence. Not that I ever wanted it to, of course; I could be anywhere, and as long as I smelled that popcorn smell, I was in a good mood. Pavlov would be proud. Remarkably, over a decade later, it still works that way! I can't imagine walking into a theater without smelling fresh, kettle-popped popcorn, and the minute I step through the doors, any theater feels like home.

Microwave popcorn is nowhere close, in my opinion. I've mentioned that I'm going to have a home theater of my own someday, and I still intend to do so. When I do, mark my words: it will not be complete until I have a real popcorn machine, popping away, filling my brain with memories via those marvelous popcorn sounds and smells.

To Serve and Project

2008-05-14T14:04:00Z

Choosing a Projector!

For some people, "big" means REALLY BIG. I'll be the first to admit it: I'm one of those people. I like my monsters big. I like my explosions big. My favorite natural phenomena are stars, oceans, and mountains, in that order. My ideal pizza is one the delivery guy can't fit through the door.
I refer to the Giant Squid as "Medium Squid".
It turns out, I'm not alone. Lots of home theater owners aren't willing to settle for the mere largeness of a plasma screen. For these, my comrades in bigness, I submit the following guide to the biggest thing in any home theater: projectors!

Know Your Projector Types

There's three types of home theater projector: LCD, DLP, and 3LCD.

LCD (liquid crystal display) projectors work a bit like an LCD TV screen, passing light through an LCD chip, creating a vibrant, sharp image. Since it's really creating a composite from three differently colored beams, this image is subject to color breakup (the "rainbow effect") around the edges, as well as the "screen door effect" of seeing individual, separated pixels at times. These are best suited to dimly-lit rooms, auditoriums, and boardrooms.

DLP projectors (short for Digital Light Processing) use a single digital chip, effectively projecting a digital screen through a single beam. Great for HD video, with high contrast ratios, and not much pixellation. These are ideal for home theaters.

3LCD projectors function similarly to LCD projectors. It shines a single beam of light through three LCD panels, and the light is then recombined through a prism into a single beam, which comes out of a single lens. Because the colors are recombined and projected as a single, bright image (they call this "accurate color registration"), you get the vibrancy of LCD without the rainbow effect.

Projector Qualities
There's a few qualities you'll see in projector specs that it's good to pay attention to.

Projector Resolution: This is the sharpness and clarity of the picture. It's measured by the number of pixels, and is often expressed as the number of vertical pixels used (720p = 1280 x 720 pixels, 1080i = 1920 x 1080, etc). More pixels, more resolution, sharper image!

Throw Distance: This is how big an image a projector can create from any given distance. Most manufacturer websites have throw distance calculators, which are very useful to anyone setting up a home theater and shopping for a screen.

Keystone Correction: This is a feature that lets you adjust the image to account for the angle between the projector and the screen. It "skews" the image accordingly, resulting in a perfect projection image from an odd angle.

Contrast Ratio: The difference between the lightest white and the darkest black the projector can manage. A higher contrast ratio is always a good thing.

Lumens: The measure of a projector's illumination. This is an official measurement established by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). More lumens mean a brighter image. Who doesn't want a brighter image?

So Which One?

There's a lot of projectors out there, all with different stats and prices. Choosing the right one, as usual, comes down to your own situation, depending on how much you care to spend and the room it's intended for. You might care more about keystone correction than resolution, or be more concerned with cost than lumens. Hopefully, this little breakdown will be of some help!

Plasma vs. LCD: FIGHT!

2008-05-12T13:47:00Z

If you're shopping for a big screen TV, there's advice all over the place on which to get. My blog is no exception! This is coming purely from a home theater point of view. If you don’t care about colors, viewing angles, or size (say, if you plan to use it to watch Bloomberg Television), my conclusions might not be what you're looking for. However, if you want to watch Lord of the Rings and have your eyeballs melt… then read on!

What are LCD and Plasma Screens?

An LCD screen is made up of liquid crystal pixels pushed between glass plates. Current goes through the pixels, and a controlled picture is created. This is how a digital wristwatch works, basically, only with more colors and smaller pixels. It's important to note that the pixels are backlit- they don't light up on their own.

A plasma screen, on the other hand, uses millions of little cells filled with neon and xenon gas. When electricity zaps these cells, the gas turns into a plasma (hence the name). Each cell is coated in phosphors (red, green or blue), which fluoresces when the plasma gets charged. Think of a plasma screen as a sheet with millions of tiny, tiny fluorescent light bulbs, because that's basically what it is.

Plasma: None More Black

One big difference a lot of people find between LCD and plasma is the deepness of blacks. Plasma screens get a deep, true black, because it's made up of tiny lights. Turn the lights off, and you get the absence of light, which is as black as it gets! LCD screens have a constant backlight, however; LCD blackness is thus achieved by setting the pixel to block as much light as possible. There's always a little leakage, though, so you never get true black, especially at certain angles.

This viewing angle is another big issue with LCD screens. If you're looking at it from the wrong angle, the colors distort and the black gets even lighter. This has to do with the polarity-shifting mechanism of LCD technology. I'm told they're getting better at this, but it's still annoying, in my opinion. My new laptop is LCD, and while it's bright and crisp, the top and bottom of the screen are usually a little discolored compared to the middle, because I'm viewing the top and bottom at the wrong angle. I can turn the screen to fix this, but then the middle's at the wrong angle.

Plasma TVs are also usually bigger. Most LCDs top out at about 50", barring a couple new (and costly) 70-inch models, whereas larger plasmas are easy to find.

LCD: More Pixels, Less Juice

Why would anyone go with LCD TVs? Well, for one thing, they're cheaper than similarly-sized plasma models most of the time, and they're getting even cheaper by the day. LCDs also usually have a much higher resolution. More pixels can be better!

There's also the issue of burn-in. The phosphors used in plasma screens wear out over time (a long time- 30k to 60k hours). Ever seen an old arcade machine, where the title screen was still visible even when the picture changed? Same deal. It's usually not that bad these days, of course, since most pictures move around more than a Galaga high-score list, but any plasma screen's days are numbered. LCD screens die, too, but usually much later on in their lives, and there's no risk of ugly, mucky burn-in.

If you care about power consumption, and you should, it's worth noting that LCD uses far less power (as much as 30 percent less than plasma). That adds up to a lot of clams.

So, which one should I get?

If you're talking about a TV screen, and not a computer monitor, I'd suggest plasma. The viewing angle issue alone should seal the deal to anyone who plans to put the TV in a family's living room, and the lack of true black is, in my experience, not very cool.

LCDs tend to be lighter and cheaper, though, and are fine for a lot of smaller applications like computers. Cheaper does go a long way, too; that's extra money to spend on speakers, DVDs, or a whole lotta beer. Not to mention the lower power draw, which (in this age of utility bills gone mad) is a gift that keeps on giving!

Ten Ways to Recreate the Genuine Moviegoing Experience at Home

2008-05-07T20:01:00Z
You've got the curtains, the projector screen, the seats... yet it's not quite the same as a night out at the movies. Your home theater is better than going out to see a movie, sure, but is it an accurate reproduction of the genuine moviegoing experience? Well, having worked in a movie theater for years, I've come up with the following list of ideas to help you get the true multiplex experience in the comfort of your own home:

10. Turn on the hallway lights, and prop open the door to the home theater room.

9. Tune a radio to the most annoying talk radio station you can find. Use it to prop open the aforementioned door.

8. Invite a friend over to watch the movie with, and tell him the radio in step 9 is an advanced new radio that actually turns itself off if shushed at loudly, pointedly, and frequently.

7. Leave your soda, candy, and some wadded-up tissues in the cupholders after the movie. If you can still conceivably fit an actual cup in there, add more tissues.

6. Drizzle a fine squiggle of maple syrup on the floor, and sprinkle lightly with a garnish of stale popcorn. Don't worry about attracting bugs; realism is the goal here, people!

5. Set your ringtone to "My Humps," order a wakeup call for twenty minutes from now, gently toss your phone over your shoulder, and let the movie magic begin.

4. Buy the brightest emergency exit sign you can. Two or three, if possible. As a bonus, this might also help you find your phone in the dark after following step 5. Let's be honest, there's only so much My Humps a person can take.

3. Don’t waste water cleaning those old gym socks. Wedge 'em between the seats, right next to your head. Save the environment and smell the ambiance!

2. Watching a noisy horror flick? Babies love those. Give mom the night off!

And finally,

1. Four words: Fart in a Can.

The Great Man Cave Home Theater Hunt

2008-05-05T14:33:00Z
There's a new contest over at HTmarket.com! Here's the press release:

CHICAGO, Illinois, May 5, 2008— The leading online home theater marketplace, HTmarket.com, is pleased to announce the first-ever Great Man Cave Home Theater Hunt. Starting on May 5th, brave home theater hunters can go to HTmarket.com, follow the clues, find the codes, and win great prizes to take back to their own Man Cave!

Since the dawn of time, mankind has hunted to equip his cave with the essentials of caveman comfort. It wasn't long before the most sought after prey of all became those of the genus Home-Theaterus Equippus, which included such beasts as home theater seating, projector screens, home theater speakers,and even elusive popcorn machines. It was held that the greatest of Man Caves should contain a home theater replete with many trophies of these hunts, so that a caveman could relax comfortable after a busy day of cave-painting and fire-questing!

Now you, too, can embark upon The Great Man Cave Home Theater Hunt and equip your Man Cave with everything a home theater requires! To play, quest over to HTmarket.com and search the product listings for cave paintings. Click on any cave painting you find, and you'll be given a clue. Following this clue will lead you to the page where the Man Cave Code is hidden. Enter this code, and you'll win a gift certificate valued from $25 to $500!

You can read more about the Great Man Cave Home Theater Hunt at the official contest page. Each Man Cave Code can only be used once, so be the first to follow the clues, find the code and win!

About HTmarket.Com:

Since going online in August of 2000, HTmarket.com has emerged as the premiere online home theater marketplace. Offering the finest home theater products and accessories available, from popcorn machines and home theater seating to projector screens and HD-DVD players, HTmarket.com specializes in bringing the compete theater experience into homes across the globe. With a steadily growing catalog featuring over 6,000 products and unsurpassed customer service, HTmarket.com has been given a Top Rated Yahoo Store score of 4.5 stars by their own customers.

HTmarket.com is located at 5100 N. Ravenswood Avenue, Suite 100,
Chicago, IL 60640. For direct orders, call 1-888-764-9273, fax 773-728-8162, or email sales1@HTmarket.com.

Massively Multiplayer... Golf?

2008-04-08T15:48:00Z
I've been thinking a bit about Golden Tee 2008 Live lately, and I think it's only a matter of time before most, if not all, arcade games are online and either directly multiplayer or tournament-based. Once you've tasted the vitality of online games, Golden Tee has proven to be a smash hit, apparently- it's still going strong in bars all over the place, there's a new edition and continuous tournaments for cash. As it happens, they've also branched out into Target Toss Bags, which is an online beanbag-tossing arcade game, as well as Silver Strike Bowling.

I'm kinda so-so about golf personally, and bean bags are cool and all, but Online Arcade Bowling? With that giant trackball and everything? I had no idea this was out there (guess I've been going to the wrong bars!). It is, and apparently it's a hit as well. There's a Silver Strike 2009 coming out toward the end of the month and it's gonna be something; I'll maybe find a unit and give it a proper review when it's released. And maybe I'll enter the tournament, too... I'm a pretty good bowler, so maybe some of that pin-smashing mojo will translate over to trackball form.

HTmarket.com carries a variety of custom arcade cabinets with LCD screens like GT2008, Target Toss, Silver Strike, and a compilation arcade machine called Global Arcade Classics (with such classics as Marble Madness, Joust, Mortal Kombat and my ol' friend Robotron: 2084). These cabinets are built with a unique, stable method, and they use parts which allow the end user to repair the cabinet and replace parts if needed. Probably a good thing if you don't live next door to an amusement device repair shop.