Don?s Does Computers, Plasma

When the computer industry started slowing down a couple of years ago, Don’s Computers in Rogers became Don’s Home Theaters and Computers.

Since then, the company has installed four upscale home theater systems, and revenue has “doubled or tripled,” said Derry Berrigan. She and her husband Don have owned the business for the past 11 years.

The centerpiece of these theaters are plasma-display screens, which can be used as television, DVD or video-game screens.

Plasma television screens are much thinner than regular TV sets, making it easy to mount them on a wall. A plasma screen is basically a direct view of thousands of pixels (made of glass bubbles) filled with Xenon gas in a plasma state. Inside each bubble are three cavities — one blue, one red and one green. Each bubble is hooked up to an electrical current. The viewer looks directly at the source of the image (the bubbles), so the image is sharp with vivid color.

Don’s uses three different sized plasma screens: a 42-inch that sells for $8,000, a 50-inch that goes for $10,000, and a 61-inch that costs $25,000.

But that amount pays only for the screen. Most customers spend about $35,000 for an entire system, but the theaters can cost as much as $250,000. Don’s is installing one in that price range in a new $1.5 million Bentonville house.

For that amount of money, Don’s starts work shortly after concrete is poured for the floor.

“We did the architectural drawing and the sub-floor,” Derry Berrigan said, referring to the Bentonville project. “We’re taking it all the way to completion.”

In that house, the theater will have three risers and 15 seats. It’s sort of like having stadium seating in your living room.

The largest television in the house usually goes in a family’s living room, Derry Berrigan said.

“It’s mainly where the family gets together and watches TV at night,” she said.

When the theater isn’t in use, the plasma screen can be used like a computer screen saver to display family photos or pictures from a vacation to Hawaii. Don’s even makes a large picture frame that goes around the plasma screen so it will look like artwork.

With one touch of a button, the lights dim, the screen goes dark, motorized shades close the curtains, and the movie begins.

Derry Berrigan said Don’s doesn’t want to do any more than four or five home theaters a year because of the amount of time involved. Installing a system in a newly constructed house can take from six months to two years, she said.

Most people opt for the 50-inch plasma and a two-channel setup that costs about $50,000.

Derry Berrigan said the company also does lighting design, interior design and home automation, which includes automatic heating and air systems as well as security cameras.

“We are pretty much the electronic architects for a home,” she said.