Many people today are taking a room in their home and turning it into a home theater. A good home theater is a major commitment, and given the cost of electronics and furniture, for most homes this may be the most expensive room in the whole house.

Because the room is a completely visual environment, lighting is one of the most critical elements. With good lighting, you can enjoy sharp images on the screen while safely moving to get popcorn or a glass of wine. Bad lighting, however, will wash out images and make a $15,000 projector perform like an $800 office supply store special.

From a performance standpoint, the best video rooms are a thoughtful blend of projector, screen, room and lighting, and the challenge is to provide an overall design that performs extremely well when the lights are low. Let's start with the screen. It's important to make your screen size just right for the room, because an oversize screen reduces the contrast of the image as well as accentuating pixelization. Choose a smaller screen for a sharper image - the result, you will find, is sort of like sitting in the center of the theater, rather than in the front row, where the screen is way too large for your field of view.

Next, you need to ensure a relatively dark room with very little ambient light. Forget daylight or windows, or install black out shades. The reason is contrast; it is the ratio of screen image white to screen image black. Black is actually not black, but rather, a low level of light depending on both the room's ambient light and the inter-reflected image light that bounces off the walls and ceiling of the room. Make sure that the room itself is not causing lighting and image contrast problems. Use mostly dark wall finishes, especially around the screen. Don't hesitate to paint the room, including the ceiling, a dark color, because if you don't, light from the screen's own image will be reflected off the ceiling and will wash out the image. It's OK to use saturated colors like red or blue as long as the color is deep and low in reflectance. Avoid finishes with shine or sheen, like gloss paints. The most critical surfaces are the ceiling and walls in the front of the room, and the wall in the back of the room.

Finally, you need to take into account the fact that the room, like video, should be dynamic. When you enter the room, the room décor and architecture is very important. Then through the use of dimming and systems integration, the lights fade, and the room's function and comfort become the dominant issues.

Lighting for the room tends to be divided between functional lighting, which ensures the ability to move about and see critical tasks, and decorative lighting, that is chosen more for the appearance and character of the lighting fixture and effects. Decorative lighting should be turned off during the program, so it can be anything whose style and appearance are a proper match for the décor. There are literally thousands of choices of wall sconces, pendants, and chandeliers that fit the bill. (Not sure a crystal chandelier would be recommended, because the crystal facets could actually cause disconcerting reflections from the screen, but that's up to you.)