The Evolving Home Entertainment Center

There's a good chance that the home entertainment center you have today is quite different from the one you had ten, five, or even a couple of years ago. The 80's and 90's styles are becoming more and more impractical now as wireless technologies and flat screen televisions have become mainstream.

As a kid, our home entertainment center was a simple cart that housed the TV and a VCR. Not very impressive, but it worked fine. I think it might have had a little storage shelf, but I have no idea what was put there. There was no such thing as a remote control so every time we wanted to change channels we had to make a little trip across the room to switch channels. Of course, there were only three channels so it's not like we had to change it that often. Thankfully, TVs grew up and so did the places people put them in.

When I got out on my own and got a TV it just lived on a simple table. That worked fine for a single guy. But marriage changes lots of things. Soon we "had to have" a better place to put the TV because my wife wanted to be able to close it off from view. So, woodworker that I am, I jumped to the rescue. I built a home entertainment center that was a thing of beauty to behold. Solid wood, plenty big, retractible doors, lots of storage, and a massive open cavity to house a ridiculously heavy TV.  LIke other large entertainment centers, this one was great for what it was. Plus, the top had lots of display space for knick knacks.

Last summer when the old bazillion pound TV died we opted for one of the new flat screen models. Even though the screen was much larger, it weighs much less. I love that! So, what did I do? I took my circular saw and busted a move on the old home entertainment center. I sawed it down big time. What I ended up with was just a small remnant of the old one. I can't close it off from the rest of the room, but why would I want to? I don't. Some people are even more minimalists than I am. They mount their TV on the wall and just use a small cabinet for components. Now that's what I call a home entertainment center. Easy on the back and more floor space. Sounds like a winner to me.

The only thing I can think of that would make me want any sort of cabinet type home entertainment center in the future is if I were to get one of those fancy schmancy lifts that hook onto the TV and allow it to recess into, and lift out of, a nice wooden cabinet. I would consider that. Especially if it had a remote control to run the lift. That might be too good to pass up.

Who knows what the next evolutionary step will be. Maybe holographic TV or some other technology that will make a home entertainment center all together obsolete. For now I am content to be rid of the old big unit, enjoy my current setup, and just wait and see what comes next.