THE TIME IS COMING quickly when new home buyers will sit down with their builders with an eye not only toward the kitchen layout, but also the location of the home theater. Whether it's a dedicated room with theater seating and acoustically treated walls, or a multipurpose media room with intelligently integrated audio/video systems and surround sound, the home theater is fast becoming a must-have in new construction. Here are five things to keep in mind as builders and installers hone their offerings.

1: Bone up on the next TV technology. Flat-panel televisions likely will become the norm by the end of this year. In fact, the flat-panel, high-definition TV market is growing by 40 percent, according to some estimates, eclipsing sales of those quaint cathode-ray tube models. More specifically, as LCD TVs continue to improve in their ability to display HDTV, they're zooming past plasma TVs, in part because LCD prices keep dropping even as their screens get bigger.

The rise in flat-screen TVs is notable because these big screens, which can hang on the wall, spell home theater for the masses. For homes and budgets not suited to a dedicated home theater, the intelligently incorporated flat-screen with in-wall speakers and home theater A/V hardware is the way to go.

But look just over the horizon: Builders and installers soon will need to evaluate the suitability of something called OLED. Organic light-emitting diode displays use light discharging through the self-luminescent properties of certain organic materials. As such, they could be less expensive than LCD technology. Sony, which is leading the charge, expects to have an OLED TV out by year's end. Samsung, LG Electronics, Philips, Toshiba and Matsushita are all planning similar products soon.

Early models will be small and probably costly at first, because of the complex manufacturing processes. Once they attain economies of scale, prices should drop quickly. Market researcher iSuppli says OLED TVs will be a miniscule fraction of the 97 million OLED screens made this year (most go into cell phones and other portable devices), but will account for $690 million in sales by 2012.

2: Theaters: Not just for movies anymore. As mentioned, the notion of a home theater is changing. “A home theater used to be a dedicated room, often with stadium-style seating, a fixed screen, and a projector, and typically found only in high-end custom homes,” says Robert Noble, chief technology officer at AMX. “Today, what many people call a home theater is actually a multipurpose room that doubles as a living and entertainment area.”

While in many cases, that means a flat-screen TV, some home buyers will opt for projection theaters anyway. Smaller, more affordable theater projectors that hide away when not in use and motorized screens that don't take up wall space 24/7 will enable this trend. The Runco Reflection Series CL-610 ($5,995) and RS-1100 ($11,995) projectors (www.runco.com), as well as the Vidikron Vision Model 50 ($7,995, www.vidikron.com), display cost-effective “hidden” value.

3: The HD picture is murky. Few doubt that the future of video is in high definition. The battle royal remains over how to deliver it. In this corner is Sony-backed Blu-ray technology. In that corner is HD DVD, championed by a Toshiba-led consortium. The struggle is as much perception as it is reality, which makes it impossible to pick a winner amidst the propaganda and conflicting information.

For example, if you want to hazard a choice based on what others are buying, tread carefully. Earlier this year, Adams Media Research reported combined Blu-ray and HD DVD player sales of 695,000 units—and 425,000 of them were Blu-ray drives. Do we have a leader? Not so fast. At the time, only 25,000 of the Blu-ray sales were standalone players; the rest were Blu-ray-based Sony PlayStation 3 game consoles. And even though HD DVD drives go into Microsoft's Xbox 360 game machine, the format still outsold Blu-ray standalone players by nearly 100,000.

Here is the good news: While HD player sales are still infinitesimal by consumer electronics standards, the format battle is prompting price drops. Toshiba now sells an HD DVD player for $400. And companies such as LG Electronics have begun selling new (albeit pricey) players that handle both HD formats, so all your bases are covered.