Budget-friendly ways to build a home theater system

1. BIG SCREEN. Sony's 85-Inch Z9G Master Series TV for $9,999 is an 8K television, also referred to as 4320p resolution, that gives you the most immersive picture possible today. If you

don't have 8K source material, which is scarce today, it can convert 4K video to near 8K quality. Along with HDR and Dolby Vision support, this Z9G TV offers many other bells and

whistles, including proprietary technologies for a crystal-clear and bright picture such as Sony's Backlight Master Drive for deeper blacks and brighter lights and 8K X-tended Dynamic

Range PRO 20x that gives the screen 20 times the contrast range of a conventional LED edge-lit TV. This IMAX-enhanced TV also offers studio-quality Netflix content with its Netflix

Calibrated Mode, fast and smooth performance, plenty of Android apps to download, exclusive Sony content to access, and integrated Google Assistant voice functionality. 2. THIN SCREEN. LG

also has stunning — and stunningly thin — OLED televisions. The 77-inch LG W9 Series OLED TV at $9,999 is a 4K, 2,160-pixel smart TV with HDR, that's only 0.2 inches thick. Yes,

that's skinnier than a smartphone, believe it or not. The svelte iPhone 11 is 0.33 inches thick! No wonder LG calls this its wallpaper TV. TVs with OLED panels, pronounced “oh-led,” are

incredibly thin because each pixel is its own light source; therefore, no backlighting is required. More important, OLED televisions deliver a gorgeous picture, including unprecedented

contrast ratios, again, the luminance between the brightest whites and the darkest blacks. They also have exceptional brightness compared to older LED-backlit TVs — the bigger the “nits”

number, the brighter a screen is. A bonus for your electric bill: OLED TVs are much more energy efficient than other TV panel types. They sip, rather than gulp, electricity. LG's

premium W9 TV supports Apple HomeKit, so you can control the TV through other Apple products; its Magic Remote, which acts like a mouse for the screen; and voice commands via the

remote's microphone. Speaking of Apple, Apple AirPlay 2 also is built in to bring content wirelessly from an iPhone or laptop to your big-screen TV. 3. AUDIO. Finally, if you want

multichannel surround sound — and several speakers to place around your room — you'll need to start with a good audio-video receiver such as the top-of-the-line Denon AVRX8500H for

$3,999, a 13.2-channel receiver with support for many audio technologies, known as “codecs,” such as Dolby Atmos, Dolby Surround, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS:X. Along with its

eight HDMI inputs and three outputs that support 4K Ultra HD and 3D content, it has built-in Wi-Fi to connect to music streaming services, Bluetooth, a USB port and a versatile remote to

control it all. You'll also need several speakers and a subwoofer or two, which are sold separately.