This summer is going to be about football, which means in your house, it’s going to be all about your TV. You can get close to the atmosphere of the big game by following these tips for setting up your living room, so you can cheer on England in France. So, here are the top tips for getting your living room ready for the upcoming football season.
1. Upgrade Your TV
Your old TV can make a beautiful game look unexciting and dull. Get a proper telly to bring the game to life. A 4K Ultra HD TV is a great choice. What is a 4K TV? It’s a TV with 4 times the resolution of a Full HD TV set. This means you get a picture quality that is vastly better than your standard HD, with more vibrant colors and sharper images.
For the best results, you want to make sure the program is broadcast in 4K, so you can record and watch it in 4K. Don’t worry if the game is not broadcast in 4K, there are doing a great job of making HD content sharper thanks to upscaling. So, even if you have to watch your football on BBC HD, you’re still going to get a great image.
If you subscribe to BT Sport Ultra HD, you can watch top-flight domestic football in 4K, because it is a dedicated 4K channel.
2. Mount Your New TV on the Wall
If you mount your TV on the wall, you can free up floor space. You can also position your TV so that it is at eye level when you’re sitting on your chair or sofa.
With a 4K UHD, you get a rich image, even if you don’t have lots of space in your living room. That’s one of the benefits of 4K. You don’t have to sit far away from the screen to see a high-quality image. The picture is clear no matter how close you are. With most HD sets, especially the bigger ones, the picture tends to break down when you get too close.
3. Try to Offset the Screen Glare
No one wants to watch football while trying to block the sun. You won’t have much fun if you’re shielding your face. However, you also don’t want to sit in a pitch black room in the middle of a sunny day. When you purchase your wall mount, look for one that has a tilting bracket so that you can angle your TV away from the sun’s reflection.
4. Create Big Stadium Sound
A super sharp picture on your 4K TV is only part of what you need to create a big stadium atmosphere in your living room. It’s important to get the right sound. The built-in speakers on your TV are not enough to do the job. They need a helping hand if you want to hear the shouts from the players, the thwack of the ball and the roar of the crowd. If you want to feel like you’re in the stadium, you need to get some speakers. The best options are:
Soundbar: This is a compact speaker which gives you near surround sound without taking up lots of space. And, it’s easy to set up.
Home Cinema System: This system includes speakers that are positioned around the room. You get sound from all sides, just like in the cinema.
5. Make Sure You Have Drinks on Hand
No one is going to want to risk missing a goal, red card or penalty because they had to get drinks. A mini fridge is small and compact and can fit next to your sofa, so no one has to leave the room to get a drink.
6. Supply Tasty Snacks
You can whip up some spicy salsa or humus in your mini chopper and serve it with toasted pita. You can also premake some chili the night before, that you can warm up before people arrive. Make sure you have a good supply of crisps and peanuts. Lay your food out on the coffee table to allow for easy access.
7. Make Sure Your Guest’s Are Comfortable
Make sure your living is comfortable by adding a throw to the sofa, arranging some cushions on the floor and bringing some chairs out of the kitchen. Also, lay out the Sunday papers so your guests can read the back pages. Additionally, ensure your significant other is too – perhaps she may wish to take part in one of these activities.
8. Keep it Social With Your iPad
Charge your table and have it ready so that you can search for players’ stats and check the score on other matches. This will eliminate the need to change the channel to check the other scores. You can even tweet about great goals while you’re watching the game.