Movies at the cinema

[admin_exported]

I watched Star Trek at the cinema yesterday and frankly, it was a very disappointing experience. The movie wasn't that great to begin with (IMO), but what really put a damper on things was the picture and sound quality.

I cannot simply cannot believe that the movie was shot at 1080p and the sound was absolutely rubbish. The quality of the picture was no better than a dvd.

I am a lot better watching a movie on blu-ray in the comforts of my home. The quality of the picture and sound are something else. I remember watching Quantum of Solace at the cinema and experienced the same effects (lousy!). Then, I got hold of a blu-ray dics and watched it at home and it felt like a totally different movie - I actually enjoyed it!

So, how does it work with these movies at the cinema?

 

[Gerrardasnails]

ValianTX:
I watched Star Trek at the cinema yesterday and frankly, it was a very disappointing experience. The movie wasn't that great to begin with (IMO), but what really put a damper on things was the picture and sound quality.

I cannot simply cannot believe that the movie was shot at 1080p and the sound was absolutely rubbish. The quality of the picture was no better than a dvd.

I am a lot better watching a movie on blu-ray in the comforts of my home. The quality of the picture and sound are something else. I remember watching Quantum of Solace at the cinema and experienced the same effects (lousy!). Then, I got hold of a blu-ray dics and watched it at home and it felt like a totally different movie - I actually enjoyed it!

So, how does it work with these movies at the cinema?

I thought that the last time I went and they showed a trailer for Ice Age 3 - even my partner said that it would be better to wait for the bluray. However, think about it a bit. Look how far away the projector is to the screen and then the size of the screen. It's probably a higher resolution than 1080p.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, I've considered the size of the screen and the distance of the projector, but with the leap in technology with home cinema, i.e., dvd ---> upscaled dvd ----> blu-ray, one would think that there would be an upgrade at the cinema too?

I've decided that I will no longer go to the cinema, simply because my viewing experience at home is far more satisfying!

 

[Gerrardasnails]

ValianTX:
Yes, I've considered the size of the screen and the distance of the projector, but with the leap in technology with home cinema, i.e., dvd ---> upscaled dvd ----> blu-ray, one would think that there would be an upgrade at the cinema too?

I've decided that I will no longer go to the cinema, simply because my viewing experience at home is far more satisfying!

I still don't think you can beat the big screen for watching great, memorable films. I mean, I saw Reservoir Dogs, Goodfellas, The Shawshank Redemption, Schindlers List, The Grifters, Trainspotting..... and many more at the cinema and it definitely makes the whole thing more special.

 

[Anonymous]

The Cinema is about the experience not the technical aspects.

Yes Bluray discs at home will look cleaner and sharper - simply due to the size of screen you watch the film on in the cinema. Try streching your home TV out to 400+"s and the results will be MUCH worse than the cinema 🙂

Sound is dependant on the cinema. I have seen big variences with sound quality with different cinemas. Experiment with some local cinemas. My local VUE cinema in Leeds, yes the surround effects are not as good as at home - but its ability to play LOUD without distortion and its centre speaker to give more life to the voices is next to none. E.g. Batman The Dark Knight - when the Joker is captured in the Holding Room. Batman starts to hit the Joker and ask "WHERE ARE THEY.........." (I am still yet to feel the original fear I felt at the cinema at that point)

Ultimately - popcorn, big screen, good sound, nice company & no cleaning up afterwards. And then you get to do it all again when the bluray comes out - however dont provide popcorn 🙂

 

[The_Lhc]

ValianTX: Yes, I've considered the size of the screen and the distance of the projector, but with the leap in technology with home cinema, i.e., dvd ---> upscaled dvd ----> blu-ray, one would think that there would be an upgrade at the cinema too?

Cinemas don't use blu-ray for films! There's no connection between the home market and cinema technology. For a start most cinemas in this country are, I believe, still using film projectors, not digital projectors (just checked and of the roughly 3,500 screens in the UK only about 240 are digital, so less than ten percent), the "resolution" of which is well in excess of 1080p (it's not exact but I think Clare posted a link a while back which stated that film had a resolution equivalent to greater than 4096 lines). If the picture looked that bad then it's possible your cinema had an old or well used copy of the film.

As for digital cinema projection the highest resolution is 4096x2160 although there are other lower resolutions available.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Vinny7:
The Cinema is about the experience not the technical aspects.

Yes Bluray discs at home will look cleaner and sharper - simply due to the size of screen you watch the film on in the cinema. Try streching your home TV out to 400+"s and the results will be MUCH worse than the cinema 🙂

Sound is dependant on the cinema. I have seen big variences with sound quality with different cinemas. Experiment with some local cinemas. My local VUE cinema in Leeds, yes the surround effects are not as good as at home - but its ability to play LOUD without distortion and its centre speaker to give more life to the voices is next to none. E.g. Batman The Dark Knight - when the Joker is captured in the Holding Room. Batman starts to hit the Joker and ask "WHERE ARE THEY.........." (I am still yet to feel the original fear I felt at the cinema at that point)

Ultimately - popcorn, big screen, good sound, nice company & no cleaning up afterwards. And then you get to do it all again when the bluray comes out - however dont provide popcorn 🙂

Agreed. I don't think you will ever replicate the "wow, I've just experienced something special" feeling that you can get after watching a great film at the cinema. The whole anticipation of lining up to get tickets and nibbles, watching surrounded by likewise people and even the stuttered departure (normally into the evening darkness) talking about the film. I love my AV set up and it's great for indoors but I would love to be able to go to the flicks more (2 young kids has thwarted it of late).

 

[Anonymous]

I have to agree with ValianTX. I went to see Star Trek at my local multiplex and was very disappointed too. The sound went during the Transfomers 2 trailer, hard to explain but in kind of popped and there was suddenly a lack of base resulting in the dialogue in the main feature sounding tinny. Also the picture quality was poor. I don't attribute that directly to the image as I thought the screen it was projected onto looked in need of repair with blemishes and possibly even tears standing out a mile.

Having said all that it's the first time I've felt this way coming out of a cinema and won't stop me going back.

 

[Frank Harvey]

It looked and sounded fine where I went.

 

[basshead]

i recently wrote an essay on this subject for my university. the quality of films at a cinema is largely down to the duplication proccess. this is a quote i obtained for my essay:

''... many problems are in relation to duplication and distribution. making the many thousands of copies of films needed for wide release leads to degradation in the quality of the copies, with each generation of copy being worse than the previous generation. as each copy is shown, mechanical damage takes place and the copy is further degraded..''

these issues are addressed by new digital cinema technology, however this technology has been slow to be implemented, largely due to cost and finance reasons, but also because cinema companies were awaiting the completion of the Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (dci) 'Digital Cinema System Specification'. this process is nearly completed and the initiative is (as of 13th october 2008) currently carrying out compliance testing with various organisations worldwide, this will lead to industry standards for digital film recording and screening. these standards aim to prevent any possibility of a 'format war' which would be very costly for all concearned in the industry.

the picture quality of digital cinema is already greater than traditional film and projection methods, and the quality is set to get higher and higher as the years go on. so basicaly - things can only get better, and they will 🙂

also, digital films are at least 300gb in size, and that is AFTER compression, and not including the sountrack.

 

[Anonymous]

ValianTX:

I watched Star Trek at the cinema yesterday and frankly, it was a very disappointing experience.

I live in Bradford so saw it at the IMAX at the National Media Museum. Flippin heck I was amazed. Picture, sound came together really well. I do sometimes watch a film twice if it was really good and I had been considering going to see it again (but at the multiplex). May just wait until the Bluray comes out

 

[Anonymous]

Gerrardasnails:Vinny7:

The Cinema is about the experience not the technical aspects.

Yes Bluray discs at home will look cleaner and sharper - simply due to the size of screen you watch the film on in the cinema. Try streching your home TV out to 400+"s and the results will be MUCH worse than the cinema 🙂

Sound is dependant on the cinema. I have seen big variences with sound quality with different cinemas. Experiment with some local cinemas. My local VUE cinema in Leeds, yes the surround effects are not as good as at home - but its ability to play LOUD without distortion and its centre speaker to give more life to the voices is next to none. E.g. Batman The Dark Knight - when the Joker is captured in the Holding Room. Batman starts to hit the Joker and ask "WHERE ARE THEY.........." (I am still yet to feel the original fear I felt at the cinema at that point)

Ultimately - popcorn, big screen, good sound, nice company & no cleaning up afterwards. And then you get to do it all again when the bluray comes out - however dont provide popcorn 🙂

Agreed. I don't think you will ever replicate the "wow, I've just experienced something special" feeling that you can get after watching a great film at the cinema. The whole anticipation of lining up to get tickets and nibbles, watching surrounded by likewise people and even the stuttered departure (normally into the evening darkness) talking about the film. I love my AV set up and it's great for indoors but I would love to be able to go to the flicks more (2 young kids has thwarted it of late).

I'd stay home and watch movies on my home cinema (and enjoy the popcorn and a beer!) anyday. That 'big screen' experience or thrill has long diminished in favour of crystal clear picture and sound.

 

[Anonymous]

I haven't been to the Cinema for years, just hate the experience.
Sitting in those seats for more than an hour and I can't feel my backside, haveing to stand up so someone can get through to go to the loo or whatever, sitting next to or behind someone crunching on their popcorn etc.etc.

Much nicer to sit in my own chair, have a few bevies, and if I need the loo or cigarette I can pause it, and then carry on watching it.

And like others have said, sound and vision is much better at home.

 

[carter]

picture can depend on the real numbers issued to the cinema all films are copied from copies and the higher the number the lower the picture q. my local cinema was lucky enough to have copy 3 off a film recantly(good picture) but thay had another film that was 325(bad picture) the bigger the cinema may tend to get priorty ie center off london gets first issues but this is not allways the case it could be luck off the draw.(how many times the film has been viewd can also be an issue films break and have to be rejoined dust is collected and so on)

as stated equipment will also be a masive facter in this some cinemas i have worked in have very ropie looking gear

 

[method man]

i dont even have a 'home theatre' system . it doesnt interest me. I have a 42 plasma and

60 quid dvd player. and i still way prefer to watch at home. going to the cinema over sitting in my nice lounge is like taking the bus rather than driving my car. I dont need 300 other people around me to make 'the expereince'. quite the opposite. however I recogise I'm a bit odd when it comes to crowds.

 

[Anonymous]

I must admit that I haven't been to an evening showing at the cinema for years. The IMAX is usually a bit of a treat. All 3 main brands of cinema are within 15mins of work for me and once a month I can organise my workload to give me 3hours over lunchtime. I go to the cinema which has the closest to a 12noon showing, nice sandwich from the sandwich shop, bottle of pop, 50% of the time I have the place to myself, select a "centre middle" seat - voila

 

[Anonymous]

Since installing my home cinema system and joining love film i have had no need to visit the cinema. Love the comfort of my own home, crystal clear picture quality and awesome sound and the kit is only average stuff. If i need the loo i can pause and not miss any of the film. I have had 2 free cinema tickets since december which i still havent used!

 

[Anonymous]

soulstyle:Since installing my home cinema system and joining love film i have had no need to visit the cinema. Love the comfort of my own home, crystal clear picture quality and awesome sound and the kit is only average stuff. If i need the loo i can pause and not miss any of the film. I have had 2 free cinema tickets since december which i still havent used!

Mine's budget stuff too mate, and the movie experience is thrilling! Fantastic picture and sound - good on you mate!