Howard Hughes once spent four months in his home

These days, one need not have the wealth of Hughes, William Randolph Hearst, or Tony Soprano to follow in their footsteps and build a residential shrine of audio visual innovations. These days, audio visual services are more available and cost-effective than ever. So what goes into having a great home theater? Visuals: This is the wow-factor of any home theater, the signature piece and residents have a variety of options. They can start with determining if they want HDTV, SDTV, or 3D TV. From there, they can opt for liquid crystal display television (also known as LCD), plasma TV or a video projector and screen, among other things. This says nothing of the size of the display. The general rule of thumb is, the larger the viewing area, the greater this screen size can be. Sound: Don't just focus on a picture perfect screen. An ideal home theater needs to also include a decent sound setup. At the most basic level, a home theater system consists of two speakers. More common is a 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound system. Those who want it can opt for as many as 11 speakers with extra subwoofers tacked on. Those who want to can play Phil Spector and truly create a wall of sound in their home theaters. Integration: This ensures that everything works together and might also entail whole house automation. It can also incorporate a home security system and other things. Comfort: Why have killer sound and a jumbo screen and sit on egg crates? For any good home theater, the surroundings are as important as the technical specs. Otherwise, watching a movie there can become an ordeal. Just ask Hughes, and that's true whether the home theater is little more than a glorified living room with an LCD screen or an in-home cineplex. A decent budget: The old adage is that a customer gets what they pay for. A simple home theater system can be had, installation and all, for a few thousand dollars, just in the way that used car lots practically pay for clunkers to be sold. Getting the right home theater system and installation for one's needs, though, can sometimes run tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.