Autumn and winter months are prime time for sports fans, with the NFL, NBA, and NHL seasons in full swing. Fans everywhere are gathering, celebrating, and partying in support of their home teams, but almost as important is fans’ own quest for domination: setting up the best home theater to draw the crowds on game day. The best sports fan should have a setup that executes a game with technical precision that would make an athlete blush. Here’s our guide to everything you need to dominate the game seasons this fall.
View four games at once with a Sony projector
Aficionados know debates over LCD, OLED, Plasma, and other screen technologies are missing one important point—a truly immersive home theater experience is best achieved with a projector screen. Since 4K projectors have hit the market—with their stunning resolution—this has only become truer. Sony’s 4K HDR VPL-VW285ES projector is the only 4K projector available under five grand, yet it shuts down the competition with its specs. Though HDR-compatible, silky smooth at 60 frames per second, and brightly lit with 1,500 Lumens, Sony’s most impressive feature for our purposes is multi-view, which allows fans to stream four games concurrently, each in full-HD. There’s simply no better way to catch every game while it’s live.
Hear the roar of the crowd with a scene-setting sound bar
One of the great benefits of a projector is its nondescript form factor—when it’s not on, it literally disappears into the wall. Get audio to match with a sleek sound bar, which minimizes the bulk of a stereo while still providing immersive sound. We like Sony’s HT-ST5000, which is compatible with Dolby Atmos, high-resolution audio, and surround sound.
Get immersed in the game with virtual reality
The NBA, MLB, and NFL are all streaming games or highlights in virtual reality this season and Fox Sports is streaming soccer. If you want your home to be the best place to experience the game outside of the stadium, you’ll want to have a VR headset on-hand so guests can step right into the action. There are a number of great headsets available today, but we’re exciting for the upcoming version of the PlayStation VR headset, which is spec’d out with HDR and a streamlined form factor.
Cook food to perfection with a Lynx Smart Grill
Grilling is tricky enough when it has your full attention—it’s much harder when you’re cooking for a crowd. Lynx Smart Grills not only have 840 square inches of cooking space, but they can also manned via an iOS or Android app, which notifies you when the next batch of burgers is cooked to perfection.
Support snacks with a microwave designed for popcorn
Nail-biting games are no excuse for slacking in providing snacks for your guests. It’s tempting to throw popcorn in the microwave and let it run, but everyone knows the “popcorn” present button is a scam—at least, it was until now. Orville Redenbacher teamed up with Sharp to make a microwave designed to perfectly pop popcorn with the touch of a single button. Now there’s no excuse for missing a play or letting your teammates down on snacks.
Host a game of your own with a smart cornhole set
Cornhole is a classic tailgating game involving tossing beanbags through a small hole. Lightning Cornhole boards are designed to address one of the game’s most recurrent difficulties—remembering the score. Designed to comply with American Cornhole Association regulations, the boards are faced with lights indicating the current score and a 12-hour battery to power through entire tournaments.
Armed with a state-of-the-art home theater system, the proper tools for preparing a meal for a crowd, and entertainment in addition to the game itself, there’s no reason you shouldn’t take home the trophy this fall for the best place to cheer your team to victory.