which has better PQ, movie theater or Blu-ray

[sheldonison]

Which has better PQ, the movie theater or blu-ray?

I went to the theater this weekend, and was disappointed by the PQ, the movie was enjoyable, "Smart People", but blurry. Maybe was probably out of focus.

Got me thinking, do blu-ray releases look better than the movie in the theater? Does it depend on whether its 1.85:1 vs 2.35:1?

[cajmoyper]

What a ridiculous question. I'm only joking but for real, the theater can't even compare to BD.

[sheldonison]

Originally Posted by cajmoyper

What a ridiculous question. I'm only joking but for real, the theater can't even compare to BD.

laughing. I haven't been to the theater enough, since getting spoiled by HDTV/blu-ray to know, but lately I'm not impressed by the 35mm theatrical release.
In theory, a theatrical 2.35:1 print could be better than blu-ray, since the 2x vertical means more negative area, and since blu-ray has only 817 lines vertical for 2.35:1. I'm curious to see what opinions others have.

[Deadset]

yeah, not comparison....there's a reason I rarely go to the theater anymore

[DutchBoy]

I don't think I'll ever get tired of going to the theater...there's just always been something about the experience that makes me happy and gives me the warm fuzzies inside.

[Banjo]

Movies would look better at the theatres if they were projected properly, and the film does get worn out after being projected several times.

[john_1958]

Originally Posted by DutchBoy

I don't think I'll ever get tired of going to the theater...there's just always been something about the experience that makes me happy and gives me the warm fuzzies inside.

my theatre ticket doesn't include rude patrons
but i have enjoyed once in awhile in theatres when novelty of new shows wear down

[sendmorebrains]

Originally Posted by sheldonison

laughing. I haven't been to the theater enough, since getting spoiled by HDTV/blu-ray to know, but lately I'm not impressed by the 35mm theatrical release.
In theory, a theatrical 2.35:1 print could be better than blu-ray, since the 2x vertical means more negative area, and since blu-ray has only 817 lines vertical for 2.35:1. I'm curious to see what opinions others have.

WHen There is a FOCUS problem and or a VOLUME problem ie: too low. That really ruins the "Theater"experience.

BUT 35mm film will beat BluR everytime - It gets even better whne u watch a 70mm print and then u can go to the IMAX print which again is larger - try like 70megs on a screen thats 3 stories high a bulb thats 10x brighter than home projectors.

The home standards are still crude in comparison. But when you get only one projectionist taking care of 10 - 12 movies at 7pm and then you have the bulb issues, dirty screens well it adds up. BUT if the eqpt is all running right and the guy in the booth isnt being like Tyler Derden( pls watch Fight Club for reference) then a theater experience cant be beat.

Think about it whats a home screen 150inch compared to a 150foot theater screen with a sound system that has multi amps multi speakers and subs ?

Jude

[syncguy]

I think blu-ray will give a good competition to theaters which is a good thing. Theaters should improve to attract mass and stay in business. However, this will be an easy task since people want to watch new movies. In a way, there is no much choice.

[Roland1919]

Originally Posted by cajmoyper

What a ridiculous question. I'm only joking but for real, the theater can't even compare to BD.

Are you like, Tooooootallly serious, I mean like duh everyone knows this...its like that Movie Theater Butter Popcorn from that guy Reddedbaucher or his name isn't Red Butler....they really didn't put Butter from a movie theater in your bag....thats what my friend Sally said...Oh, the answer is theater

[syncguy]

As previously pointed out, film should (or could) be much better than BD. It has higher resolution, deeper blacks and larger number of colour levels etc. However, in practice this may not be the case. I have seen some threads that people discuss low quality cinemas that don't have even proper focus. Apparently, it is not trivial task for the projectionist to achieve sharp focus. Also, if the film uses 2K DI, it would be close to 1080p but uses a larger screen and this would reduce picture clarity.

IMO, blu-ray produces an outstanding picture in properly setup home theater mainly due to the relative smaller screen size (in comparison to theater screens) limited by the typical real-estate dimensions.

Always theaters have the edge as new movies will not appear on BD, until a sufficient collection is achieved via the movie theaters.

[PS3-Playb3yond]

I'm going with Blu-ray.

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by sheldonison

I still think a widescreen 2.35:1 theatrical print ought to have better PQ than blu-ray at 817x1920, but first I have to find a theater that knows how to keep their projector in focus.

Well if the 2.39 theatrical print comes from the 2K DI of a Super 35 film, they have the same digital resolution.

Originally Posted by Zten

I'd be interested as well, but I must say I'd be very surprised if Blu Ray beat a high quality 35mm film release. Simply compare the still photos from a 35mm camera to the still photos from a 2MP camera. 35mm is signicantly better. I'd say there needs to be another 5x improvement in digital video resolution to make it comparable to 35mm film.

You're falling inrto the common misconception that still photo 35mm is the same size as motion picture 35mm.

Still photo 35mm is 24 mm x 36 mm . Its motion picture equivalent would be between VistaVision and Technirama.

Motion picture 35mm currently ranges from 10 mm x 24 mm Super 35 (less than a third the size!) to 17.5 mm x 21 mm (less than half the size of still photo 35mm) for 35mm shot with anamorphic lenses.




Anyway maybe this PDF will be interesting for some, specially the comparisons between a 1080p digital projector with lens MTF (the 1024 x 2048 blue line) vs the MTF of negative, internegative, interpositive, and release print, before they go through a mechanical projector + lens (black lines), vs after they do (green line).


And a direct view 1080p Plasma or LCD display has no lens.