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Author Topic: Watching films in a theatre and at home Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 11-14-2015 05:13 PM                        There was a time when watching films in a theatre was a treat with a gorgeous big picture and sound compared to watching the same movie much later on television. In the old days before television when I was little, I was already aware of how beautiful three strip Technicolor was and was amazed with Natural Vision dual projection 3D , thrree panel Cinerama and 70mm. I was also impressed with the introduction of CinemaScope and VistaVision in the fifties. No matter what format, I loved watching movies in a theatres because of the wonderful quality of the projected image until now. As you all know, the home U entertainment industry has been doing a good job keeping up with the technology that originated in movie Theatres. First with surround sound followed by 5.1 digital sound. For many years, home entertainment even had 7.1 sound that theatres did not have until recent years. When I saw my first digitally projected movie, I was very impressed because it looked like I was watching film without scratches. After awhile when digital took over, I had no complaints until I began to notice how much better movies looked on my high definition televusion than in a theatre. There was a movie titled ALOHA I went to see in a theatre I frequent on a regular basis because it was filmed in my state and found the picture quality drab and did not have that film like quality. When the movie was released on Blu Ray, I rented it from Netflex just to see how it compared to what I saw at the theatre. The picture quality on the BD was gorgeous with film like picture quality and a tremendous difference from I saw at the theatre. I just saw BRIDGE OF SPIES earlier this week in the same theatre and once again, I saw the same drab picture quality. The theatre is the Regal Pearl Highlands near where I live and was wondering if the probkem with the poor picture quality is the faul of this theatre or is it industry wide. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 11-14-2015 05:34 PM                        Probably your theater is severely underlit. If that location is using Sony's for 2D and 3D there's a good chance they're leaving the 3D filters in place even for 2D shows, resulting in a picture luminance of anywhere from 3 to 7 FL instead of the 2D standard of 14fL... assuming they can produce 14 fL in 2D to begin with. Pictures and colors there will look rather dull and lifeless. Regal determined several years ago that the Sonys can't light a screen wider than 38' - they subsequently moved their machines around to get the Sonys on to their smaller screens, with the bigger screens getting Christies, NECs, or Barcos. Those at least have a fighting chance of lighting a bigger screen properly.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 11-14-2015 05:44 PM                        Yes Paul, the picture quality when I saw BRIDGE OF SPIES did look like it was underlit but it was just slight. The problen I had when I watched the movie was a image that looked almost colorless and very drab. By the way, the auditorium I. Saw the movie has a Sony 4K projector but is not a 3D house. The screen appeared to be about 35 feet wide -Claude  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 11-14-2015 06:15 PM                        Did that screen go with a Sony in 2010-2011 or so when Regal was in the middle of that chain-wide conversion project? Assuming they're using the biggest lamp they can fit in that machine (4.2Kw) and that the optical chain is lined up, they should be able to get close to 14 fL. I have heard that the Sony SXRD imagers are very heat sensitive and are prone to discoloring with age, thus requiring fairly frequent re-shooting of the colors with an analyzer in order to maintain whites at close to 5500K. If that Sony has been there for four or five years, I wonder if its SXRD imagers have become burned?  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 11-14-2015 07:30 PM                        Because I am not a projectionist or work in a theatre, I do not know anything about digital projection, Paul. All I know is I am beginning to not like it from what i have been seeing at the Regal Pearl Highland. I find something very puzzling from you said about Sony's 4K projectors functioning in large auditoriums with large screens. One of the auditorium at the Regal Pearl Highland (#12) is large with seating for about 600 people and a screen about fifty feet wide or perhaps a little wider. They have a Sony 4K projector and it is also a 3D house. I saw lots of movies in that house and I was not bothered with poor ptojection there. In fact one of the shows I saw, LES MISERABLES about two years ago was fantastic and the picture wascomparable tto the blu Ray I got several months later. The problem at the Pearl Highlands are in their smaller auditoriums. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 11-14-2015 08:10 PM                        Sounds like it should be the reverse situation doesn't it? In 2010 and 2011 I installed quite a few of the Sony 320s in Regal locations all over CA, OR, WA, NV, ID and PA (didn't get a chance to do any in HI dangit!) - some of them in some pretty big houses with screens on the order of 50 feet or wider. Later on I moved on the doing NEC and a couple of Barco installs for Regal and some other chains in the midwest, while the previously installed Regal Sonys were moved to smaller screens. Also did some 2D to RealD 3D retrofits at a couple of CA Regal locations equipped with Sonys. So, I don't have a comment on why that location would be having problems on its smaller screens equipped with Sonys. The larger Regal screens started out with Sony, but by now most of them should have been replaced at Regal with one of the DLP/Xenon- or laser-based machines from Christie, NEC, or Barco.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 11-14-2015 08:20 PM                     My guess, and this is totally a guess, is that Regal put the smaller 515 model machines in those auditoriums and the management is letting some of the bulbs die without replacing them. Annoyingly the 515 will continue to run all the way down to only one bulb (out of 6) functioning. With each dead bulb is noticeably less light.  |  IP: Logged

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