| Author |
Message |
Jordan
Guest
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 Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 10:22 am Post subject:
DVD movies look better than theatrical? |
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I sat down this week-end and watched Batman Begins and was struck,
immediately, at how much clearer it looks on DVD at home than it did in
the theater. I don't have a AAA home theater set-up, but I have a nice
51" rear projection 16:9 set and Dolby Digital/DTS 6.1 surround.
I remember thinking when I saw it in the theater that it was a little
blurry, a little grainy, kind of hard to follow the action. I said to
myself back then "I wonder what it's going to look like on DVD?"
Turns out it kicks ass on DVD. Has anyone else had this experence? I
first noticed it back when the Brendan Frasier version of the Mummy
came out. I used to blame it on the projectionist (or lack of a trained
one), but now I'm not so sure.
- Jordan
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Manco
Guest
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| Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 10:29 am Post subject:
Re: DVD movies look better than theatrical? |
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Jordan wrote:
| Quote: | I sat down this week-end and watched Batman Begins and was struck,
immediately, at how much clearer it looks on DVD at home than it did
in the theater. I don't have a AAA home theater set-up, but I have a
nice 51" rear projection 16:9 set and Dolby Digital/DTS 6.1 surround.
I remember thinking when I saw it in the theater that it was a little
blurry, a little grainy, kind of hard to follow the action. I said to
myself back then "I wonder what it's going to look like on DVD?"
Turns out it kicks ass on DVD. Has anyone else had this experence? I
first noticed it back when the Brendan Frasier version of the Mummy
came out. I used to blame it on the projectionist (or lack of a
trained one), but now I'm not so sure.
- Jordan
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and this why multiplexes are dying and DVD sales/rentals are BOOMING. People
do care about quality. |
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John Harkness
Guest
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| Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 10:48 am Post subject:
Re: DVD movies look better than theatrical? |
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On 23 Oct 2005 22:22:18 -0700, "Jordan" <lundj@earthlink.net> wrote:
| Quote: | I sat down this week-end and watched Batman Begins and was struck,
immediately, at how much clearer it looks on DVD at home than it did in
the theater. I don't have a AAA home theater set-up, but I have a nice
51" rear projection 16:9 set and Dolby Digital/DTS 6.1 surround.
I remember thinking when I saw it in the theater that it was a little
blurry, a little grainy, kind of hard to follow the action. I said to
myself back then "I wonder what it's going to look like on DVD?"
Turns out it kicks ass on DVD. Has anyone else had this experence? I
first noticed it back when the Brendan Frasier version of the Mummy
came out. I used to blame it on the projectionist (or lack of a trained
one), but now I'm not so sure.
- Jordan
|
Just out of curiosity, wen did you see it in its run -- film prints
don't have that opening weekend clarity for very long, and as theatres
don't have actual projectionists any more to maintain equipment and
prints, what you likely saw was a badly projected print.
The opening weekend print I saw had none of those characteristics.
By the way, when you're in a theatre and the print's "a little
blurry", try complaining. They may send someone up to the booth to
adjust the focus.
John Harkness |
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Jim Reid
Guest
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| Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:20 am Post subject:
Re: DVD movies look better than theatrical? |
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There's another possiblilty. There's a theater chain here in Dallas
that I have caught turning the lamp power down on the projector when
it's not a full house. The picture looks dark and has what appears to
be lag in it. I go get the mangager and yell at him and a few minutes
later it brightens up. |
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Simon
Guest
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| Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:40 am Post subject:
Re: DVD movies look better than theatrical? |
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"Jordan" <lundj@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:1130131338.704245.199520@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: | I sat down this week-end and watched Batman Begins and was struck,
immediately, at how much clearer it looks on DVD at home than it did in
the theater. I don't have a AAA home theater set-up, but I have a nice
51" rear projection 16:9 set and Dolby Digital/DTS 6.1 surround.
I remember thinking when I saw it in the theater that it was a little
blurry, a little grainy, kind of hard to follow the action. I said to
myself back then "I wonder what it's going to look like on DVD?"
Turns out it kicks ass on DVD. Has anyone else had this experence? I
first noticed it back when the Brendan Frasier version of the Mummy
came out. I used to blame it on the projectionist (or lack of a trained
one), but now I'm not so sure.
- Jordan
|
I don't think I've ever seen a film at a multiplex that wasn't slightly out
of focus. I don't think they ever check the focus, their attitude seems to
be that if it was in focus last year it must still be. I don't expect
McDonald's staff to care about the food they serve and I probably shouldn't
expect multiplex staff to care about the film! |
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NunYa Bidness
Guest
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| Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 12:13 pm Post subject:
Re: DVD movies look better than theatrical? |
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On 23 Oct 2005 23:20:53 -0700, "Jim Reid" <jimreid56@aol.com> Gave us:
| Quote: | There's another possiblilty. There's a theater chain here in Dallas
that I have caught turning the lamp power down on the projector when
it's not a full house. The picture looks dark and has what appears to
be lag in it. I go get the mangager and yell at him and a few minutes
later it brightens up.
|
Do you even know what would be required to reduce the voltage going
to the projector bulb?
Also, the amount that would decrease the brightness significantly
would not be a very big change in wattage requisite at all. The
interplay between voltage input to the bulb and light output is not
linear at all. So, there is no valid reason they would need to "turn
it down". In fact, it would likely NOT cause any significant increase
in bulb life either. It could even shorten it.
The mere task of making a circuit that allows one to alter the
voltage of a device *inside* the projector, a very delicate piece of
machinery, is a very difficult one indeed.
Hypo-chondria? Perhaps. |
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NunYa Bidness
Guest
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| Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 12:18 pm Post subject:
Re: DVD movies look better than theatrical? |
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On 23 Oct 2005 22:22:18 -0700, "Jordan" <lundj@earthlink.net> Gave us:
| Quote: | I sat down this week-end and watched Batman Begins and was struck,
immediately, at how much clearer it looks on DVD at home than it did in
the theater. I don't have a AAA home theater set-up, but I have a nice
51" rear projection 16:9 set and Dolby Digital/DTS 6.1 surround.
I remember thinking when I saw it in the theater that it was a little
blurry, a little grainy, kind of hard to follow the action. I said to
myself back then "I wonder what it's going to look like on DVD?"
Turns out it kicks ass on DVD. Has anyone else had this experence? I
first noticed it back when the Brendan Frasier version of the Mummy
came out. I used to blame it on the projectionist (or lack of a trained
one), but now I'm not so sure.
- Jordan
|
I too have noticed the showings of *some* films to be a worse
experience for me than the disc was/is.
It is rare, though, and I would also attribute most of this to
theater function than the prints used.
Loews booted the union projectionists out of their chain (at least
some of the theaters), and their quality went to shit so bad that it
made newspaper articles on the complaints that arose. It appears they
are union busters in many of their holdings. |
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Guest
|
| Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:15 pm Post subject:
Re: DVD movies look better than theatrical? |
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Jordan wrote:
| Quote: | I sat down this week-end and watched Batman Begins and was struck,
immediately, at how much clearer it looks on DVD at home than it did in
the theater. I don't have a AAA home theater set-up, but I have a nice
51" rear projection 16:9 set and Dolby Digital/DTS 6.1 surround.
I remember thinking when I saw it in the theater that it was a little
blurry, a little grainy, kind of hard to follow the action. I said to
myself back then "I wonder what it's going to look like on DVD?"
Turns out it kicks ass on DVD. Has anyone else had this experence? I
first noticed it back when the Brendan Frasier version of the Mummy
came out. I used to blame it on the projectionist (or lack of a trained
one), but now I'm not so sure.
- Jordan
|
Every year that passes I now go fewer and fewer times to the movie
theaters!
Heck to use this year (with a little more than 2 months to go) as an
example I have seen a grand total of 2 movies (Batman & Star Wars-3)!
And you know I only went to see Star Wars because I am a hardcore fan,
and I only went to see Batman because the revues I read were so good I
really wanted to see it that week!
Frankly I cannot understand why anyone would want to go out to a
crowded movie theater these days?Especially with screaming babies and
children running around and rude people talking on phones and popcorn
that costs an arm and a leg and tastes like plastic and driving to the
theater paying $3.00 plus for a gallon of gas (and so on and so on and
so on).
No not me, especially when that very same movie is going to show up on
a DVD within 6 months anyway!
At which point I can then stay home and watch a better picture (on my
Thirty Two incher) while I am sitting in my recliner, drinking a beer,
eating pizza/chinese/chips/microwave popcorn,and then when the movie
ends I can if I want to go to sleep thereby avoiding having to drive
home! |
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Nick Macpherson
Guest
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| Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:47 pm Post subject:
Re: DVD movies look better than theatrical? |
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tabernacle2002@hotmail.com wrote:
| Quote: |
Every year that passes I now go fewer and fewer times to the movie
theaters!
Heck to use this year (with a little more than 2 months to go) as an
example I have seen a grand total of 2 movies (Batman & Star Wars-3)!
And you know I only went to see Star Wars because I am a hardcore fan,
and I only went to see Batman because the revues I read were so good I
really wanted to see it that week!
Frankly I cannot understand why anyone would want to go out to a
crowded movie theater these days?Especially with screaming babies and
children running around and rude people talking on phones and popcorn
that costs an arm and a leg and tastes like plastic and driving to the
theater paying $3.00 plus for a gallon of gas (and so on and so on and
so on).
No not me, especially when that very same movie is going to show up on
a DVD within 6 months anyway!
At which point I can then stay home and watch a better picture (on my
Thirty Two incher) while I am sitting in my recliner, drinking a beer,
eating pizza/chinese/chips/microwave popcorn,and then when the movie
ends I can if I want to go to sleep thereby avoiding having to drive
home!
|
Going to the movies and watching something on DVD are two different
experiences. It's the difference between going to bar or drinking at
home, or going to club and seeing a band or staying home and listening
to a CD. There's benefits and shortcomings to each option but they're
different experiences. I don't understand how people can *prefer*
watching DVDs at home when it's so different from going to the movies
to begin with. I go to matinees, take my own food in, the only people
there are normally retirees (a recent trend, I don't know what's going
on with that) and I'm avoiding those screaming kids and cell phones.
The gas doesn't cost anything more than it would if I went to Wal-Mart
or Blockbuster to pick up a DVD (or drive to the mail box with the
earliest pick-up time if I've got a Netflix DVD).
And since most filmmakers are still making theatrical releases designed
to be seen at a theater, by going with DVDs you're losing the audience
interaction with what's happening onscreen and you're not getting a
fully dimensional view of what the filmmakers are trying to get across,
especially in comedies or horror films. It's not so important with
indie films, foreign releases or documentaries (particularly the
latter, where you might as well go with the DVDs because of all the
extras) where the presentation in art theaters isn't that good and the
films are normally cheap enough and modest enough that you're not
losing much waiting for the DVD. Star Wars and Batman Begins? Those
need to be seen in a theater. |
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Stan Brown
Guest
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| Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:20 pm Post subject:
Re: DVD movies look better than theatrical? |
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Mon, 24 Oct 2005 05:29:07 GMT from Manco <manco_dollars@net.com>:
| Quote: | Jordan wrote:
I sat down this week-end and watched Batman Begins and was struck,
immediately, at how much clearer it looks on DVD at home than it did
in the theater. I don't have a AAA home theater set-up, but I have a
nice 51" rear projection 16:9 set and Dolby Digital/DTS 6.1 surround.
I remember thinking when I saw it in the theater that it was a little
blurry, a little grainy, kind of hard to follow the action. I said to
myself back then "I wonder what it's going to look like on DVD?"
Turns out it kicks ass on DVD. Has anyone else had this experence? I
first noticed it back when the Brendan Frasier version of the Mummy
came out. I used to blame it on the projectionist (or lack of a
trained one), but now I'm not so sure.
- Jordan
and this why multiplexes are dying and DVD sales/rentals are BOOMING. People
do care about quality.
|
Exactly. I went to the local theatre (Fall Creek Cinema, Ithaca) to
see /The Aristocrats/. I was not pleased to be in the screening room
where the screen is too high up, the seats are too close to it, and
half of them are broken, but I decided to put up with it.
What I could not put up with was distorted sound, on a dialog-driven
movie to boot. I complained to the projectionist, but he shrugged his
shoulders and said they knew about it but couldn't fix it. I demanded
my money back; in three or four months I'll see the show in comfort
for half the price.
--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
DVD FAQ: http://dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html
other FAQs: http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/faqget.htm |
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Stan Brown
Guest
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| Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:22 pm Post subject:
Re: DVD movies look better than theatrical? |
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Mon, 24 Oct 2005 07:13:58 GMT from NunYa Bidness
<nunyabidness@nunyabidness.org>:
| Quote: | On 23 Oct 2005 23:20:53 -0700, "Jim Reid" <jimreid56@aol.com> Gave us:
There's another possiblilty. There's a theater chain here in Dallas
that I have caught turning the lamp power down on the projector when
it's not a full house. The picture looks dark and has what appears to
be lag in it. I go get the mangager and yell at him and a few minutes
later it brightens up.
Do you even know what would be required to reduce the voltage going
to the projector bulb?
|
(big snip)
| Quote: | Hypo-chondria? Perhaps.
|
Or, if it's not just a fabrication, perhaps a lot of dust and dirt on
the lens.
Like you, I can't imagine any theater turning the lamp down to save
money with a less than full house. The cost of running the lamp is
such a small part of the total cost of operating the theater that it
wouldn't be worth the effort.
--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
DVD FAQ: http://dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html
other FAQs: http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/faqget.htm |
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Manda
Guest
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| Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:27 pm Post subject:
Re: DVD movies look better than theatrical? |
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I go to matinees at my overstretched (9 screen) small town (16,000 pop)
multiplex, and there's at least one problem every time I go there. A
speaker fizzled throughout "Apollo 13." The Howler scene was missing from a
week two showing of Harry Potter 2. At another showing of that film the
lights came up before the credits ended (there's an extra scene at the
end). The a/c was up so high during "Matrix Reloaded" I kept rubbing my
hands to get some circulation back. And just last week with "Corpse Bride"
there was a thin green line on the screen throughout both the trailers and
the film. I gave up complaining long ago because there's usually only one
person working during matinees - a minimum wage teen who'll just say "uhh..
sorry about that." The next nearest theater is 30 miles away, and the
ticket price is only $4. I'll tolerate it for the films I really want to
see, but most of the time I'll wait for DVD. My TV is only 20", but at
least I can watch a film without needing mittens.
Manda |
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Goro
Guest
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| Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:27 pm Post subject:
Re: DVD movies look better than theatrical? |
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Jordan wrote:
| Quote: | I sat down this week-end and watched Batman Begins and was struck,
immediately, at how much clearer it looks on DVD at home than it did in
the theater. I don't have a AAA home theater set-up, but I have a nice
51" rear projection 16:9 set and Dolby Digital/DTS 6.1 surround.
I remember thinking when I saw it in the theater that it was a little
blurry, a little grainy, kind of hard to follow the action. I said to
myself back then "I wonder what it's going to look like on DVD?"
Turns out it kicks ass on DVD. Has anyone else had this experence? I
first noticed it back when the Brendan Frasier version of the Mummy
came out. I used to blame it on the projectionist (or lack of a trained
one), but now I'm not so sure.
- Jordan
|
Am I the only one that thinks that DVDs looks "not so good"? I mean,
yes, they are very nice and certainly a huge step up from VHS and LD
and a viable alternative if (as has been mentioned) the theatrical
setup is poor; however, I am continually struck by how mediocre DVDs
look, especially now that I have a 50" DLP. Edge enhancement drives me
crazy. Macroblocking (granted, a problem of the Faroudja upconverting
chip) is at least mildly irritaitng. Chroma Errors (on my Sony) are
painful. Artifacts abound (with the setup properly calibrated, they
are somewhat minimized, but still noticeable).
I love DVDs, I surely do, but compared to a great presentation at the
Harkin Cine Capri (in Scottsdale, AZ) on the 70' screens (with no ads
once the lights dim, btw), it's not even remotely close (imo).
The limitations of DVD video is what makes me especially irritated that
BluRay and HD-DVD are going to be DRM'd like crazy and in a format war
for a while. I WANT to buy into the next gen Video Disc format; i'm
just not going to for a while.
-goro- |
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Nick Macpherson
Guest
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| Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:38 pm Post subject:
Re: DVD movies look better than theatrical? |
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Stan Brown wrote:
| Quote: | Mon, 24 Oct 2005 07:13:58 GMT from NunYa Bidness
nunyabidness@nunyabidness.org>:
On 23 Oct 2005 23:20:53 -0700, "Jim Reid" <jimreid56@aol.com> Gave us:
There's another possiblilty. There's a theater chain here in Dallas
that I have caught turning the lamp power down on the projector when
it's not a full house. The picture looks dark and has what appears to
be lag in it. I go get the mangager and yell at him and a few minutes
later it brightens up.
Do you even know what would be required to reduce the voltage going
to the projector bulb?
(big snip)
Hypo-chondria? Perhaps.
Or, if it's not just a fabrication, perhaps a lot of dust and dirt on
the lens.
Like you, I can't imagine any theater turning the lamp down to save
money with a less than full house. The cost of running the lamp is
such a small part of the total cost of operating the theater that it
wouldn't be worth the effort.
I've been hearing the "turning the lamp down" story for so many years |
it's verging on urban legend, though Roger Ebert and Tim Lucas have
both complained about it, and neither of them are critics anyone would
call "unreliable sources". Whatever the reasons, movies shown in
cinemas almost always look too dark, but I've been more struck by how
much it must cost to provide air conditioning in a huge, open space
during an afternoon matinee when you have five or six people (or less)
who've paid to see the film. |
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Justin
Guest
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| Posted:
Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:43 pm Post subject:
Re: DVD movies look better than theatrical? |
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Jim Reid wrote on [23 Oct 2005 23:20:53 -0700]:
| Quote: | There's another possiblilty. There's a theater chain here in Dallas
that I have caught turning the lamp power down on the projector when
it's not a full house. The picture looks dark and has what appears to
be lag in it. I go get the mangager and yell at him and a few minutes
later it brightens up.
|
The problem here is that, why should I pay my 8 bucks to then leave the
movie for 5 minutes and find someone who will listen to the problem and
then come fix it?
They should restart the thing from the start. |
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