When my three daughters and I visited a wealthy friend, my girls were bowled over by her home-cinema room. Ok, so my friend has bags of cash, but installing a home cinema is not as costly as I imagined; nor do you need a dedicated room.

There are four main types of screen: those for projectors, plasma, liquid-crystal display (LCD) and the traditional cathode-ray tube (CRT) television sets, which are fast becoming obsolete. Consider your budget but also how good and how big a picture you need, if you want to be able to watch in daylight and if you have a room to devote to it.

Arguably, projectors provide the best quality. Decent models start at £800 but can cost thousands. They can provide stunning pictures, with a typical screen width of 5ft-9ft. But you do need a darkened room, installation can be complicated and costly bulbs will need replacing.

“We love to watch movies and we love having a big screen at home,” says ecology PhD student Polina Levontin. She and her husband, Grant Galbraith, a risk analyst, turned the reception room of their north London home into a dedicated cinema room.

Their Panasonic AE700 projector cost £1,250; the Logitech Z-5500 PC speakers, about £280 for all six, run off a computer using free Zoom Player software. The screen is a £12 Ikea windowblind.

“Most people would buy a separate DVD player but we prefer our computer,” says Galbraith. “It allows us more control of the picture.”

If you have deep pockets, consider a purpose-built projection screen (Toshiba’s 75in — measured diagonally — wall-mountable screen, drop-down SR-LWE5001, costs £394).

Plasma-screens cost from £1,200 to £4,000, and are usually 42in-50in. Their flat screens fit into smaller rooms, suit almost any decor and can be watched in daylight.

LCD screens, equally flat and stylish, are often cheaper than plasma ones, from £800 to £3,000, for diagonal lengths of 14in to more than 40in.

“Many people look at plasmas or LCDs as the best option as they don’t require a dedicated room or complete darkness to watch in comfort,” says Martin Munt, who is setting up a home-cinema business, Wave Interior Entertainment Design, in Radlett, Hertfordshire. He has swapped his large projector screen for a 43in plasma model, partly so that his wife, Karen, can watch during the day.

A decent home cinema requires a surround-sound system, consisting of five standard speakers and a sub-woofer. As with home stereo equipment, prices range from a few hundred pounds to thousands.

But with technology moving so quickly, is it worth buying right now? Sky is due to launch its own high- definition (HD) television service, the BBC has HD broadcasts test-planned for this year on cable and satellite and the next generation of DVDs and games will be HD. HD TV provides a sharper, clearer image, but you need an HD-compatible television set and a source of HD pictures.

“As long as you buy something that has an HD-ready stamp, you should be fine. It’s people who bought a screen that wasn’t HD-ready a couple of years ago who will have difficulties,” says Robin Courtenay, marketing chair of Cedia UK, the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association.

“If you wait to buy, you’ll carry on waiting, because technology is constantly moving,” Munt says. “And if you don’t decide to take the plunge you’ll never get on the road with it.”

Several clever options are available to help make the plunge easier. The latest generation of mirror televisions from Philips are LCD screens when switched on and mirrors when switched off, priced from about £1,800 and designed to blend into the decor.

Similarly, the elegant Roche-Bobois Vanity home cinema, priced from £7,692, can turn any room into a cinema. The electronically controlled cinema screen pulls down over a cherry-veneer shelving unit.

Appearance is one aspect of choice; technical details are another. If you find home-cinema jargon baffling, members of the British Audio-Visual Dealers Association can advise you on systems to suit your budget.

HIGH DEFINITION

• High definition, or HD-ready, is a Europe-wide industry standard that ensures a screen can properly receive and display high-definition pictures when connected to an HD source such as cable, satellite or the next generation of DVD players
  
• Within the next five years all paid-for television services will probably be HD
  
• Buying an HD-ready television ensures that you will be able to connect to future HD sources such as cable, satellite, new DVD players and new games consoles. It also guarantees that, unlike some LCD and plasma models currently in the shops, it will be less than 18 months old

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