One would not expect a senior financial PR consultant to live in the wilds of Lantau, but that suits John Ryan perfectly. 'My wife and I were walking around Mui Wo one day and we decided it might be fun to have a look at some property. We have always enjoyed living on Lantau and we thought we might have a look at what was available,' he said. They took one look at their house and snapped it up on the spot. As the renovations were being worked out, Mr Ryan decided he was tired of his 19-inch no-brand television and persuaded his wife that they needed a home entertainment system. With the help of Alan Lee of AV Consultant, a specialist company that helps people create high-end home entertainment systems, Mr Ryan began looking at various possibilities. 'I was very concerned that if I spent the kind of money I knew this would cost, I did not want it to become obsolete a few months after it was set up. I knew that I wanted to be ready for HDTV, especially the kind of quality you can get from a Blu-ray Disc or Sony's PlayStation 3. Of course, I want to watch HDTV but I think it will be a while before they can actually broadcast at a 1,080p resolution,' he said. Mr Ryan decided to forego a large LCD or plasma display television when he discovered the Epson projector. 'This is the first 1,080p projector at a really affordable price. I looked at others that cost considerably more than my entire system. The Epson does the job and the savings allowed me to do more with the screen,' he said. That screen - the Stewart Filmscreen Luxus - was the most expensive item of all. It is raised and lowered by remote control rather than by manual movement. 'Alan told me that a motorised screen will keep it in pristine condition. Pulling on it all the time will eventually result in a V-shaped wrinkle in the screen and actually damage it. He knows what he is doing so I listened to him,' he said. Despite all the hi-tech video gear, it is the sound that really gives his home that professional atmosphere. What you hear is exactly as it would be in a cinema but it is considerably 'closer', because you are in a smaller space. It is quite spectacular and the system's five output channels for sound give a surround sound experience. 'With 'five-dot-one' you get five channels for sound. The next one up is seven-dot-one and that is what I'm getting next time,' he said. The only drawback to Mr Ryan's system is that he had to put up black curtains to be able to watch during the day. Not a terrible price for a true home cinema, though. What it cost Stewart Filmscreen Luxus Model A LX082H HK$35,000; Harman Kardon AVR 4000 receiver HK$6,000; Sony PlayStation 3, Blu-Ray player and game console HK$3,780, Epson EMP TW1000 HDMI 1.3 projector HK$22,000; Sony CD/DVD player DVP-NS76H HK$1,400; CD player ARCAM CD72 HK$6,200; Wharfedale Pacific Evolution 40 front speakers HK$11,600; Sony rear speakers HK$700; JBL woofer centre speaker HK$2,300; KWorld TV Box WS-Pro HD HK$700; Cabling HK$6,000. Total HK$95,680