Do cinemas need to upgrade ?

M

MisterSams

New member
Took daughter to the cinema today to see Tinkerbell and the picture now seems poor when we see HD channels now and bluray movies, etc, getting this crackling now and then on the picture. Admitedly it is a large screen and also you forget about it once you get a few minutes in but still, apart from the sound, comfy seats, darkness and popcorn, do you get a better experience at home now ???
 
I saw Toy Story 3 in a fairly new Vue and the dialogue was noticeably distorted. I assumed it was a side-effect of digital projection but in general I would say that nowadays the picture is superb in cinemas but the sound is often mediocre.
 
Most Apollo Cinemas now have the Sony 4K projectors. I went to see Inception in one of those cinemas and the picture was excellent. No blips and it really added to certain scenes.

Although I am aware that there are not that many Apollo Cinemas around the country!
 
Film has higher resolution that bluray by a wide margin.
Perhaps you went to a theater with a poorly adjusted projector, it happens. Or perhaps a dodgy theater owner dimming the bulb to save money.
Tinkerbell is in the theater? I thought that was straight to dvd. Perhaps that has a very poor hd source which cannot really with stand being projected up to cinema size.
 
That depenRAB entirely on the theatre setup. You just have to go around and find a theater with a good sound system, they aren't all created equal. Some are great, some are poor. Digital does not distort the sound at all. Its better than encoding the sound on the side of a film strip thats for sure.
 
I'm sure that's true but it's not easy to find the perfect cinema. I suspect that big, shiny new multiplexes like the Vue at Westfield have decent enough equipment but no one to ensure that the set-up is perfect for every film.
 
The picture and sound quality in the major chain cinemas(Odeon, Vue, UGC, Cineworld,etc) is usually pretty good nowadays. Only a couple of times does it go bad in my opinion. Sometimes the filmstock is scratched badly and comes out on the projection(it can be just normal wear and tear). Sometimes as well the major chains don't put enough power into the projection so the image doesn't look as bright. They sometimes do this to save on the life of the projector bulb. I have know people complain to the management about it.

Independent cinemas usually have pretty good quality. However their sound systems are quite variable in my experience. The number of independent with just stereo sound nowadays is vast. Surely 5.1 equipment for cinemas has come down in price for even them to afford it. I even remember when Flicks in Deal(Kent) was still running and they had a mono system!
 
Cinemas near me always have too loud sound. My ears are very sensitive and being shouted at for an hour and a half is awful.

Cinemas in olden times were pleasant places. These days a trip to the cinema is aural assault.
 
I'm guessing you were watching it on film that had been used many, many times before. It degrades on every pass through a projector.

If you go to a 2K or 4K digital projection, it is higher quality than BluRay.
 
It was more just a thought, but I guess if my dvd/bluray was played on to a screen that size it probably wouldnt look as good.

Film was brand new by the way, it was only out that day.

Tinkerbell and the great fairy rescue. Daughter loved it by the way and also had a little chuckle at bits myself.
 
Our two multiplex's need upgrading for sure, if not upgraded a good overhaul. I doubt they have ever been serviced/maintained properly.

The last time I went there were dirty marks in the middle of the screen and the right hand speaker was damaged in some way, because the sound was dreadful.

So for me I get a better experience at home, but then I do have a big screen/projector and high end audio, much better than my local cinema.

I don't miss the constant talking, the popcorn/sweet bags rustling or my chair being kicked from behind. I much prefer the peace/quite in the comfort of my own home.
 
Yeah a major problem in all cinemas nowadays. Even adults don't seem to release that you have to be quiet in a film!! Also what is it with allowing people to go out for more food and drink when the film has started? Some guy done that on me during "Inception" to go and get another drink after he'd finished his first one!!

I also find that cinemas tend to over do the sound. They like the explosions and music up loud as anything, but the dialogue sometimes is to quiet. Anyone else found this?
 
As others have said digital projection in cinemas is at a far higher resolution than anything in the home including blu-ray. And 35mm film in cinemas is even higher resolution again (at least the first generation of prints are anyway).



Shame for Apollo that almost every film is still in 2K and likely always will be. Almost nobody is filming in 4K, the storage behind the camera just can't keep up ... most of what 4K stuff there is was filmed on film cameras and scanned in at 4K when it doesn't matter what speed the scanning happens at. Given the quadruple cost of 4K production and that there are plenty of massive screens running 2K and looking fine (e.g. Empire Leicester Square, Vue Westfield Xtreme screens, and various Imax Digital installations around the country) it seems that Apollo got well stitched up by Sony there - or they would have if they had paid anything like full price for the 4K kit.



The biggest annoyance I find in cinemas now is people turning their mobile phones on to check their texts/email or even spend the whole film doing it, and lighting up the entire auditorium :mad:. All the effort spent making sure the emergency lighting is as dim as they can get away with then selfish tossers turn on their personal floodlights :rolleyes:
 
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