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Home › Articles › Grandparent Finance › Home Theater Heist

Home Theater Heist

What to Consider Before Buying a Home Theater System

By Michael Kellam

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Hidden Costs
What my friend never figured into his numbers was that he was going to have to have DVDs to watch on this new system. At the purchase price for DVDs, suddenly it would be cheaper for him to watch a movie in the theater. His system could never pay for itself. My friend decided that he would instead rent the DVDs from the local video store, where DVDs rent for about $4 each. If all of the DVDs he watches are rented, he only saves $4 over the price of watching the film in a theater.

This means that we have to do the math all over again. Now for the system to pay for itself (dividing the $5,500 system by the $4 savings), my friend would have to watch 1,375 movies for the system to pay for itself. He would have to watch at least one movie every day for close to four years before the system pays for itself. Now my friend is serious about movies, but let's face it, one movie every day is a lot of movies.

My friend never considered that after a couple of years, the technoloy would be so much better that he would want a new one. Sure his system was great, but look what they have now. Still, the system has not paid for itself so he must press on. He never considered that if he had simply paid the $8 to see a theater movie every day that he would be $3,000 ahead at this point and not in hock for this stupid home theater. Heck, he could have gone to the theater and bought popcorn every day!


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