Could not the same effect be achieved with an ultra short throw projector and a motorised drop down screen or the rolled up lg oled i saw reports of last year… would save the need for a hole in the floor.
Have you seen the ‘c seed 201’ a snip at 500k 
or the m1 and n1 models in indoor use.
Yes but then you need to have the lights off just to watch the news.
I had a projector for about 10 years. I’d always wanted one and thought it essential for the home cinema experience. But TVs have got drastically bigger and HDR works much better on a TV than a projector and with less fan noise.
My projector screen came up from the floor.
Not sure I’d want to watch the news on a large screen! We have a projector and screen (a lot larger than any TV yet available) in the music room which doubles as a cinema room, and whilst it does need the lights off, and curtains closed if during the day, that adds to the cinema experience. News and nondescript TV watching is on a TV much smaller in size. At one time there was one in s front corner of the music room, but now only in another room.
As for the idea of raising/lowering TVs, I gave seen devices intended to be used with beds, that lower, tilt and slide the TV, even quite a large one, under the bed. Perhaps one could be adapted for @Chaff’s desire, with low flat box at the front of the room, looking a bit like a mini stage.
There are ceiling mount motorised TV brackets available. If you google it, you can see how the screen is horizontal from the ceiling and then lowers and rotates 90 degrees. Some are recessed into the ceiling cavity, others not.
When I moved away from using a projector I decided that I got far more cinema feel from the sound than the huge screen. So I moved from a 90" screen to a 55" screen but honestly, everything else about the setup is vastly superior, so nothing would tempt me back. The real determining factor though is, as you say, whether it is a dedicated space or not. I had a dedicated cinema room before and watched TV on a small screen in another room. But my tastes have changed to preferring the AV setup to be integrated into a family living room.
Fascinating, as for me it is the opposite! Cinema has always been about an image overall much larger than me, an immersive visual experience, with the sound adding to it, far more so of course for some movies than others.
As far as the drop down TV holders are concerned, they of course are effectively an upside-down version of the pop up type I described (maybe interchangeable, though weight distribution/balance and fixing might be quite different). However to my yes they put the screen far too high unless watching very reclined - back to the TV above fireplace/mantlepiece discussion.
Is it really that critical? I believe in HT the center and sometimes the sub are the most critical. If you don’t actually sit and listen to music , the front left and right are like the surround speakers, just for effects or atmosphere. Get the best center channel and sub you can afford and enjoy w/out overthinking it from there.
It is, in my opinion, critical to have matching speakers for effects panning.
So much so that a perfectly matched low end set can outperform and wow more than a mismatched high end set. Many years ago I had an AV system comprised of Linn Keilidh main speakers, a Ruark centre, and Mission 731 rears. The processor powered the centre and rears and the main Linn system did the L and R channels. I thought it was superb but then tried a 5.1 speaker setup all powered by the processor. These were quite low end speakers closer in clarity to the Missions I had for rears than to the Ruark or Linns.
And it was absolutely miles better. As things pan around, the consistency of identical speakers gave the sound stage such a fluid continuity of object motion. As such, I never did hybrid stereo + AV systems again. I keep them completely separate and absolutely keep the front three matched.
To me the benefit of matching is so important, that rather than blend a stereo and AV system, if a dedicated set of AV speakers for all channels was not an option, I’d rather go with a really good sound bar. Which is exactly what I do in another room.
I couldn’t see the soundbar in your profile - what do you have ?
I have a Sony TV which allows the screen to act as the centre speaker when using the more upscale Sony soundbars. An intriguing possibility.
In my office, which serves as a second living room when the kids are hogging the main one, I have a Luxman hifi and although the speakers are either side of TV, I have a Bose SR-1 soundbar and sub (it’s their old flagship bar from about 10+ years ago).
While clarity is poor, it gives scale and generates ambient effects better than the stereo can so is overall more enjoyable for games and movies.
