{"id":687307,"date":"2026-07-12T07:55:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T07:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/687307\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T07:55:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T07:55:27","slug":"as-a-home-cinema-fan-i-hate-the-summer-and-its-not-just-the-heatwave-making-me-say-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/687307\/","title":{"rendered":"As a home cinema fan, I hate the summer \u2013 and it\u2019s not just the heatwave making me say that"},"content":{"rendered":"

My rant against 100-inch TVs<\/a>; a penchant for the four-star Aventho 300<\/a>; being the only Scot on the team during the World Cup. I have had many controversial opinions during my tenure at What Hi-Fi?.<\/p>\n

But recently, a sentence erupted from my lips that made every other home cinema reviewer on the team stop in their tracks: I hate summer.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Not the character from The OC (she\u2019s one of the best parts of millennials\u2019 favourite teen drama), I’m talking about the season.<\/p>\n

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Why? Because the paltry benefits it brings \u2013 BBQs, an excuse to visit the park, etc \u2013 don\u2019t make up for the fact that it ruins one of my favourite pastimes. Specifically, watching movies in my home cinema.<\/p>\n

How are the two connected? By three big factors driving my neurotic war on summer.<\/p>\n

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The first is the obvious one; it\u2019s the heat. My home cinema isn\u2019t fancy. I live in a small Victorian-era terraced house in zone three, London. So as I\u2019ve said before, a proper long-throw projector and multi-speaker Dolby Atmos<\/a> set-up is too big to sensibly fit in my cinema room<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Instead, in the top-floor room, in my converted attic, I have a Hisense PX3 <\/a>UST, connected to a JBL Bar 1300 <\/a>soundbar system. That puts it somewhere between a basic TV set-up and what our technical editor, Ketan Bharadia, would deign to call a \u201cproper home cinema\u201d.<\/p>\n

The latest hi-fi, home cinema and tech news, reviews, buying advice and deals, direct to your inbox.<\/p>\n

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Today’s best Hisense PX3, JBL Bar 1300 and JBL Bar 1300MK2 deals<\/p>\n

And during all the other seasons, I\u2019m happy with it. The wireless satellite speakers and subwoofer do a decent job of bringing movies to life and offer a nice sense of directionality that\u2019s a level up on most basic single-soundbar packages. And the UST projector\u2019s 120-inch image feels gigantic and like a proper step up from the tiny 48-inch LG C2<\/a> in my lounge.<\/p>\n

So, most weekends, when the wife is out, I\u2019ll scamper upstairs, put on my Ninja Turtles pyjamas and indulge in some serious movie watching.<\/p>\n

During summer, that fun treat to myself morphs into an endurance test, both for me and the hardware in the room. Home cinema hardware runs hot to begin with. But because I\u2019ve had to put it all on the top floor, mine is also running in a room that\u2019s automatically a fair few degrees warmer than the rest of the house, even with the blinds closed and window open.<\/p>\n

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So, by the time I\u2019ve made it through a 90-minute feature, I tend to have devolved into a slimy, primordial monster that has become one with the sofa \u2013 and that\u2019s if the hardware has survived that long. Often, the projector will overheat and need a timeout before my metamorphosis is complete.<\/p>\n

And the easiest and most popular solution among the team for this problem, an air conditioning unit, is troublesome for a couple of reasons. First, because as a lifelong Captain Planet supporter and proud Planeteer, I don\u2019t like using them (they\u2019re not great for the environment).<\/p>\n

Second, because even if I did, they\u2019re noisy. So noisy that every unit I\u2019ve auditioned has been just loud enough to distract me from what\u2019s playing \u2013 they hum at the perfect frequency to constantly be in the back of your mind, like a small child crying in the distance.<\/p>\n

And speaking of small children\u2026<\/p>\n

The summer season brings with it summer holidays. Most think this time\u2019s cute, giving kids time to be kids. And I appreciate that. But as an uncle and repeat godfather, it feels like being a resident of Argos after the gods unleashed the Kraken.<\/p>\n

Tiny monsters, descending on you as tired, exasperated parents volunteer my wife and me for babysitting duties, regardless of our protests. \u201cOh, it’s fine,\u201d they say. \u201cJust put some Bluey on in that home cinema room, and they\u2019ll be fine,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n

My home cinema is my fortress of solitude and built for better things than Bluey\u2026<\/p>\n

But more importantly, tiny summer spawn are the most dangerous kind. Warm, fussy, hyped up on ice lollies and caffeinated fizzy drinks. I\u2019ve been sugar-bombed by many of my \u201cfriends\u201d and family over the years.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: Sugar bombing is when you turn your child into a live grenade, loading them with sweet treats, shaking, then tossing them to the person babysitting just as their pupils start to dilate.<\/p>\n

They’re destructive forces of nature that have a supernatural ability to do two things: destroy expensive home cinema hardware and always be slightly sticky, no matter how many times you make them wash their hands.<\/p>\n

Honestly, the last time I babysat, I left the room for two minutes with them happily watching Wicked and came back to chaos. Jam was smeared over their tiny hands and most of the room, including the projector\u2019s glass, even though I don\u2019t have any jam in the house and the kids were \u201cclean\u201d before I left to get them a juice pop.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a mystery I still haven\u2019t solved. Was it in their pockets? Is producing jam out of thin air a superpower all five-year-olds have? I need to know!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s this potent combination of factors that makes me hate the summer season and wish we could skip it and get back to the infinitely more home-cinema-friendly winter months. Call me a grump all you like, but you know I\u2019m right.<\/p>\n

MORE:<\/p>\n

We rank the best projectors <\/a>money can buy<\/p>\n

Our reviewers rank the best Dolby Atmos soundbars<\/a><\/p>\n

Our picks of the best AV receivers<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My rant against 100-inch TVs; a penchant for the four-star Aventho 300; being the only Scot on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":687308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-687307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-gb","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}