Comment About the cinema I posted @ apartment therapy that I wanted to share...

[smoke]

I know I'm probably late to this party but I wanted to chip in my 2¢. There are pluses and minuses to watching movies either at the theater or at home. Here's some things I've noticed and some of my opinions in general.

• My local multiplex has rooms a lot smaller than traditional theaters we had in the past. In fact it almost seems like some of the rooms there are about three rows in the front and three rows in the back. Seriously, it seems they have been making smaller theater rooms in order to pack more screens into a multiplex.
• Most people watch movies from the back half of the theater and especially when you are in the back row the screen doesn't seem much bigger than screens one may have at home especially if you are sitting closer to them. I watched prometheus at the theater in 2D sitting in the back half of the room and when I came home it didn't make my own system feel like crap the same way watching Terminator 2 at the theater in '91 did to my then small TV with mono sound. That was in a brand new at the time theater and it was the first time I was aware of surround sound... that being the major new feature of that theater.
• Most movie theater rooms are acoustically treated and most homes are not. Also, some movie theaters have mediocre sound but others have sound that has more dynamic range than the average home theater sound system. This dynamic range makes a world of difference when watching movies at a well maintained movie theater. That being said I've been working on acoustically treating my personal screening room and spending a lot of time calibrating my sound system and right now my local multiplex doesn't sound bigger although their acoustical treatment does give an edge to their bass performance.
• Many people don't know HD when they see it and don't have their displays calibrated properly nor do they even watch actual HD movies instead they watch DVDs upscaled or SD or lower videos in general with bad contrast and blurry colors.

Personally I'm sort of resentful towards 3D because it's one of those carrot in front of the horse type things. I've been upgrading my household to HD but then suddenly they decided to bring 3D back and suddenly HD is not good enough. I've had a sibling downplay our upgrade saying.. "It's not like it's 3D or anything". I have a 2k resolution display that I watch movies on and even though I don't have any movies that match that resolution it has me spoiled against most TVs that you find in the store. I was checking out some 3D TVs and they hardly even look HD to me.

One thing I forgot to mention at apartment therapy is it's true other people can be annoying at the theater. When I was watching Prometheus at the theater somebody brought a toddler along and the toddler was making comments and noise during the movie. Hell my parents tend to make comments and talk through the movie. On the other hand most of the other people in the theater that day where quiet and there's nothing like the feeling of being quiet and attentive to a movie with a group of people sharing that communal experience.

It's also very possible to have a lot more comfy seats at home than at the theater. Some good theaters like the century rio in ABQ have real nice seats that when the arm rest is put up can be sat on like sofas. Others have narrow seats that while they have good cushion can be awkward to sit on and then you have relatively small arm rest that you have to share with other rubbing elbows with them. My father for example has a problem keeping his elbows to himself at the theater. At home there are a wide array of seating that you could choose to have in your personal screening rooms.

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