Portable home cinemas improved over time with color film, Kodak Super 8 mm film film cartridges, and monaural sound but remained awkward and somewhat expensive. The rise of home video in the late 1970s almost completely killed the consumer market for 8 mm film cameras and projectors, as VCRs connected to Home Theater Installation ordinary televisions provided a simpler and more flexible substitute.

The development of multi-channel audio systems and laserdisc in the 1980s added new dimensions for home cinema. The first known home cinema system was installed as a sales tool at Kirshmans furniture store in Metairie, Louisiana in 1974. They built a special sound room which incorporated the earliest quadraphonic audio systems and modified Sony trinitron televisions for projecting the image.