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Topic: Theaters are messing with your senses to make movies more real

Harold Hallikainen
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 906
From: Denver, CO, USA
Registered: Aug 2009

posted 12-06-2015 12:13 PM

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-et-cinema-technology-20151205-story.html

LA Times, December 6, 2015.

Discusses Dolby Vision, Barco Escape, Dolby Atmos, CG Group 4DX and other methods of making cinema more than home theater.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 12-06-2015 05:47 PM

I think this article is not very realistic. It seems to imply a lot of new technologies are rolling out to d-cinema equipped theaters everywhere when that absolutely is not the case. For a long time to come most customers are still going to encounter theaters with ordinary configurations: single 2K Xenon-based projector, some implementation of 5.1 audio, common width "wall to wall" screen that letter-boxes 'scope. The screen may or may not have any adjustable masking.

Dolby Cinema and IMAX with Laser are both rolling out to theaters at a very very slow pace. At the current pace it will be at least several years before most Americans could find such an equipped theater within any reasonable driving distance. Meanwhile, "Dolby Vision" 4K UHDTV sets supporting REC 2020 color and HDR 4K movies will be available soon in the consumer electronics market. Home theater enthusiasts can already install home Dolby Atmos and DTS-X surround sound systems.

Not many commercial theaters have Dolby Atmos and very few new Atmos systems are being installed. Not even ahead of the new Star Wars movie, which boasts an Atmos mix. I think the roll-out of DTS-X is a total, disorganized mess and the DTS-X format appears to me to have no real standards on speaker configurations, channel layout, etc. Just what the hell can I, as a paying customer, expect to encounter in a theater equipped with DTS-X?

If all these new technologies are meant to give commercial theaters a technological leg up over home theater the movie industry and movie theater industry sure isn't in any hurry to get the new technologies installed on a widespread basis.

The 4DX and Barco Escape formats seem more distracting than anything else. I wouldn't pay extra to see a movie in either format.

The article writer's term "laser guided" projectors made me laugh.

The article claims studios are being movies via satellite rather than shipping hard drives. Really? In terms of cost, renting out satellite time to beam data or broadcasts is not cheap. I don't know the cost differences between shipping hard discs versus using satellite, but IIRC a lot of theaters are still receiving their movies on hard discs.

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