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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Author
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Topic: Idea: Headphone screenings
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 11-24-2018 06:25 AM
Like Bobby already mentioned, those "surround headsets" are no comparison to the real thing. Actually, I've recently tried a pair of "Dolby Atmos" gaming headsets in a store, while trying to find a pair of OK noise cancelling headsets as a present for a good friend and I found the experience to be sub-par.
Like you already mentioned yourself, the impact of a subwoofer is entirely missing.
Running just the subwoofers is a really awkward idea if you ask me, because the levels of the subwoofer will not match with the volume you selected on your headset.
Then, there is hygiene. Just look at airlines that still hand out headsets for their in-flight entertainment. They collect them afterwards, clean them and rebag them in plastic bags. You really need to clean a headset after each use and they're not dishwasher safe like Dolby 3D glasses.
And another issue: Costs. Good headsets, especially those who support those "virtual surround" goodies, cost quite a lot of money. They will be more expensive than washable 3D glasses. And you need to install extra infrastructure in the room, like headphone wiring, amplifiers and if you use a wireless system, you need a method of charging those headsets and wireless transmitters...
Also... Yet another active component that can break. Not only the speakers themselves, but also the headphone jack or the wireless transmission system...
And... What about vandalism?
But, I've got a final issue with headphones: They're just another unnecessary distraction. I don't want to wear all kinds of accessories just to go see a movie, unless it really adds something really really worthwhile and not just a gimmick.
I see one upside though: Integrate some good noise cancellation, and you will be less distracted by those rude f*cks in the room that can't keep their mouths shut. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
So, my personal outlook for "cinema with headphones": bleak.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 11-24-2018 12:34 PM
Sorry to sound like a middle aged old fart, but the fact that we're discussing this at all is symptomatic of the iBullShit, narcissistic tendency. For the last 15 years or so, consumer media technology has promoted and focused on the idea of personal devices: you totally control what media you consume, create (e.g. selfies), etc. etc. We can set the volume to what we like in our living room, so why can't we do that in the theater?
For as long as I have had anything to do with movie theaters professionally (since 1989), complaints about the volume level have been the #1 reason why customers come out of a house and speak to a staff member. Our response has always been the same: we set the volume to a level that keeps most people happy, most of the time. In a communal viewing situation, you can never keep everyone happy, all of the time. When this is explained politely and empathetically, most customers will accept it and go back in.
We go to the movie theater (at least, I do) primarily because I want to see the picture in a darkened room, on a large screen, with no other distractions (and secondarily in order to see it before one is able to see it any other way).
Already, this experience is being eroded. "Movie grill" type places - combined theater/restaurants - have introduced reclining armchairs, table lamps (in other words, making the place more like a home than a theater), wait staff walking around in front of you and all sort of other distractions for customers who simply haven't got the patience to have a meal first and see the movie afterwards. The idea of headphone screenings is another step in that direction. There are now enough of these customers to make this sort of theater a growth sector. Samsung are actively promoting their big screen LED displays as looking as good with the house lights fully up as they are with them down.
Coincidentally (or maybe not), I read an article the other day noting that audiences at live sports events have been declining steadily over the last few years, too. The author blamed high ticket prices, which I'm sure is part of the reason, but I have to wonder if the same tendency is at work here: that customers are simply not willing to give up personal comforts or put up with something mildly annoying (not much legroom, or the smell of food they don't like) for the atmosphere of seeing something live, in the company of thousands of others.
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 11-24-2018 07:30 PM
quote: Bobby Henderson
Contrast that with experience of watching the big game at home. Today it's common for people to have huge HDTV sets in their living rooms. Watching sporting events at sports-themed bars and restaurants is popular. You still get a group atmosphere, but it costs far less than seeing the game in person at the stadium. And you get a better view of the action watching on TV than you do watching at the stadium.
I guess it's still the sense of being there and the social part that's important. Because, if you break everything down point by point, then it's going to look pretty bad.
For example, if you watch a game at home, the players will always be in focus and the image will be focused on the actor. Whereas sitting in a stadium, more often than not, you're looking at a bunch of matchsticks running around on a field.
The same is true for many live concerts. Often, you're so far away from the podium, whatever you see is just a bunch of tiny figurines.
Yeah, you can still always look at the video wall.
So, in the end, I had to get there, using either overcrowded public transportation or I probably had to fight myself through massive amounts of slow moving traffic just to get to my overpriced parking spot, right at the other end of the planet.
Then I stood in an overcrowded line, just to get in. I slowly made my way through the crowds to my uncomfortable, plastic seat. Whenever I decided to get up to take a piss, I had to stand in line for 15 minutes in front of a nasty public bathroom. And after the fact, I stood in total gridlock for 1.5 hours, just trying to get off the parking lot... or if I decided to take the public transportation, I would've been squeezed like a sardine into the next available, totally overcrowded train, tram or bus.
For all of this, I just paid triple premium, for the tickets, the parking, the bad food and stale beer, but I still somehow loved it, because I was part of something... special. I was there with my friends and the whole social interaction somehow was still worth it.
Whereas if I would've watched the same thing at home, I probably would've better picture and sound, better food, better beer, no traffic jams, no nasty toilets and everything almost for free... I could still have invited some friends, but it would not have been as "big" as the "real" thing.
But as ticket prices soar into the sky and the frustrations around the "real" experience largely remain, you'll see that those frustrations start to outweigh in the decision making. In some form, it's the same for cinema. That's why there is only ever so much market for "fancy pants" cinema concepts and why it's really important prices remain affordable for the average moviegoer.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 11-24-2018 09:36 PM
quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
That's why people build home theaters!
Related to the "i-ism" trend, this has been on the uptick, too. A co-worker recently commented that while home theaters in the houses of the Hollywood elite have been around since the 1920s (hence the Bel-Air Circuit), in the last 5-10 years or so, there has been steady growth in their installation in the homes of millionaires who have no professional connection to the film industry, but want them primarily as a status symbol.
I serviced one recently that had only been used to watch Direct TV a few times since it was built four years ago. Then, a movie industry friend of the owner invited him to hold a "private premiere," so to speak, at which point they booted up the DCP server for the first time since it was originally installed, and discovered that the battery in the media block had died, and bricked it.
There seems to be something paradoxical about building a facility that is designed to be used for a communal experience, and then sitting in it alone (or with just one or two others). But paradoxical or not, more and more of it seems to be happening.
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 11-26-2018 03:04 AM
Yes, latency and possible jitter will be quite a challenge. Constant latency, induced by processing and network components can usually be rather easily compensated. But there is an unknown factor inside the phones. The problem here is that every handset may be different and therefore may introduce a different latency. Even if he/she is using a Bluetooth headset, will add some extra miliseconds to the chain.
Now, for the illusion of audio being lipsync, there is quite a tolerance, but it obviously adds up. If the induced latency on the images and sound of the room is sufficiently big, so even the slower devices can follow, the software on the handsets could employ another trick by keeping a bigger buffer and syncing the playback with the room using queues it gets from the room, like queues that could be inserted in the room audio above the audible spectrum.
I know that in the past, there have been a few theatrical releases that had an accompanying app. (I know, the horror... ![[Smile]](smile.gif) ) Those apps would sync, based on those non-audible queues. Similar apps have also been used at sporting events.
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