Oxfordshire Movie Magic

Movie magic in Oxfordshire

As part of the significant upgrade to the AV capabilities being undertaken by the new owner of this Oxfordshire manor house, Cyberhomes were asked to also renovate the media room.

Key elements

Lutron Homeworks QS lighting control
Savant Pro control and automation
4K Ultra HD projector with HDR
Dolby® Atmos® 9.1.2 immersive surround sound

The existing media room had a TV and a basic Bose surround sound system; and the homeowner was keen to convert this into a fully-fledged home cinema room. He knew he wanted the visuals to be 4K capable but wasn’t fully up to speed with the latest cinema audio available.

The biggest challenge (other than the exceedingly tight timescale) was the layout of the existing room. One side of the room has two windows whereas the other has three and there are a pair of double doors at the front of the room. In order to achieve an aesthetically-pleasing symmetrical layout we cleverly designed a simulated window (complete with artificial daylight lighting, curtains and motorised blinds) to give the effect of three windows on either side of the room.

We designed and built a framework within the room that housed the projection screen and front speakers and accommodated the doors. Faux columns were then constructed between the windows to discreetly house the surround speakers.

"Cyberhomes were excellent. They completed the job on time, with a very professional finish and great design touches. They were flexible and accommodating. I would definitely recommend them and will use them for any future projects."

Homeowner | Oxfordshire, UK

Customer

Homeowner

Location

Manor House, Oxfordshire, UK

Services

Case Study

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The Services Provided...

Home Cinema

To optimise picture quality, we sourced a Sony VPL-VW760ES projector capable of presenting 4K Ultra HD visuals onto a 3m wide Screen Research screen.

With the source equipment located in a rack outside of the room (to eliminate background noise), a fibre-optic HDMI linked the video matrix to the projector. Full ISF calibration of the projector was undertaken to ensure optimum brightness, colour accuracy and contrast.

The cinema room has access to a suite of 4K-capable video sources: Sky Q satellite TV, Apple TV for streaming films and TV content and an UltraHD Blu-ray disc player

Audio & Video

To make sure the room had the right acoustic performance, the purpose-built baffle wall at the front allowed us to incorporate extensive acoustic treatment behind the wall.

The acoustically-transparent screen permitted the front left, centre and right speakers to be installed in the perfect position behind the screen. For the windows we used acoustic curtains from Vescom that absorb sound whilst still allowing light to pass through them (ideal for when the room is being used as a general socialising/entertaining space in daylight).

We specified a Dolby® Atmos® 9.1.2 surround sound installation using an Anthem AVM 60 processor paired with Anthem MCA and AVM amplifiers. These are driving the array of eleven Triad Silver InWall and InCeiling speakers. Four subwoofers were installed, two Triad OnWall Silver Subs at the front and a further two at the rear of the room.

Home Automation

Lighting, Control and Automation

A Savant Pro control system was installed, which integrates control of the AV, lighting, heating and security. Our lighting designer specified three lighting methodologies; downlights, wall lights and LED striplights around the windows. The Lutron lighting control was also added to new motorised blackout blinds behind the curtains to allow films to be watched during the day.

A Lutron wallplate with custom-engraved buttons allows easy selection of the right lighting scene for uses such as ‘music’ or ‘film’ and Savant automatically powers up and selects the correct AV components. Pressing ‘Play’ when starting a movie will automatically dim the lights and close the blinds.

WiFi & Networking

Whole House Upgrade

In addition to the cinema room, Cyberhomes also installed a Ruckus managed Wi-Fi system to ensure there was good internet coverage throughout the home. We also connected Sky Q miniboxes to two new wall-mounted Sony televisions via the improved home network.