Whether you have a home theater or a living room or media room that you use to watch TV, play games or just hang out, there are always some ways to update your viewing experience. Lighting is often one of the most overlooked methods of updating a TV or media room. When adding different types of smart lighting, You can add a sense of atmosphere, make your room cozier, or change the mood simply by changing your color scheme.
Why Add Home Theater Lighting?
There are many options when choosing smart lighting for your home theater or media room. To narrow down your choices, the first thing to do is take a good look at your room. Is the room too light or too 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 cause eye pain and headaches, so adding lighting can make TV viewing more comfortable and enjoyable.
What Type of Home Theater Lighting Do You Need?
To create the perfect home theater, you must layer your lighting. This means you'll be adding several different types of lights so you can choose how bright or dark your room will be. The goal is to have a room with lights that reach every corner in case 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 color or a cozy glow.
Color or white smart lights?
The two types of smart bulbs or smart lights that you can add to a home theater are color changing lights or white lights. White lights are a lot like regular light bulbs in that they are just white. You can darken or lighten them, but don't change the color. Color changing smart lights can change to any color you can imagine. Depending on the type of smart bulb you choose, your lights can change to millions of colors.
Whether you choose color changing or smart white lights, you'll find they have lots of great features that make it easy to control your media room lighting. Some connect to yours so you can use voice commands to wake them up or dim them. Others work through services like IFTTT, so you can set rules for turning off and on or changing colors.
3 steps to improve the lighting in your TV room
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 theater. Here's a look at some options you can choose from.
1. Home theater ambient lighting
Ambient lighting, also known as bias lighting, is the light that compensates for the brightness of your TV. This type of smart lighting needs to be placed behind your TV screen so it doesn't shine into your eyes or directly onto the screen. You'll want to place these lights along the edges of your TV so that every corner is covered. You can also place this type of lighting on the edges of your TV stand.
The most popular type of mood lighting are LED strips. You can choose LED lighting kits with double-sided tape that fits securely around the back edges of your TV. Some types of LED smart light strips can change color depending on what you're watching or what style you like, and they can be controlled via an app or remote so you can set different tones or color modes. There are even smart light strips that sync with your TV and change color or flash along with the action on the screen.
2. Overhead lighting in a media room
Some home theaters have overhead lights, and others have lights in the center or in multiple locations throughout the room. If you have a standard lamp installed and turn on this type of light when watching TV, you may see a reflection or shadow on the screen. While some people simply avoid turning on overhead lights while watching movies, sports or TV shows, having these lights can help with eye strain by compensating for the brightness of your TV. To make these lights easy to use, all you need to add are smart bulbs.
Smart bulbs are installed in most of ceiling lamps standard, including pan fixtures. With smart bulbs, you don't need to connect a dimmer switch to dim or control your lights. Once you've added the bulb, you can use the compatible app to adjust the brightness from light to dark or change colors depending on what you're watching. You can even set them on a schedule to turn on or change colors 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 theater is light bulbs. Bulbs are available in all shapes and sizes, and you can use your own bulbs with a smart bulb, add some light bars or smart LED luminaires or choose interior panel lights to illuminate a section of your wall.
When placing lamps, the best rule of thumb is to place one on each side or behind the sofa. They emit a soft glow that can help reduce eye strain, and with a smart lamp or bulb, you can control the color and brightness through an app. Light panels also add a warm glow and are mounted on the wall like art. They come in different shapes so you can configure your indoor panel lights in your favorite configuration or add more panel lights if you want to expand your smart wall lighting.
Set Up the Perfect Media Room Lighting This Weekend
It's so easy to enhance your home theater with smart lighting. All it takes is half an hour of your time and you can add some smart bulbs, smart lights, LED light strips or panel lights. Once you've got everything installed, you'll see how useful it is to have lighting in your media room or TV room. You can adjust and control your lighting every time you change channels, setting a new color or mood for everything you watch.
