Movie theatres Ugly Picture and sound, is it just my area?

[Kuraudo]

My friends and I agreed that movie theatres here in So. Cali look like shit. They are blurry, have excess grain, blobby and things like LOTR with a lot of vegetation look "blocky" so much that the general saying that isn't an improvement from DVD.
In the cinemas here, they don't always turn on surrounds
Pay 10 bucks to get only the center channel running, dumb screaming kids, rest my arms on sticky icky armrests and deal with ugly picture for what??
The one theatre (which is inconvenient to park) is the DISNEY theatre, now that one is good. But most theatres here really are the pits. Thats the only local digital one.

Film is high resolution, but the blu rays have MUCH MORE DETAIL, I'm sure of it. No comparison to the vegetation on LOTR to screencaps of remastered 1080p screencaps I have seen.

I've never been satisfied with a movie theatre, a dvd or anything in my entire life. I'm a picky or just knew better.
That is why I'm so hyped up for Blu Ray on a beautiful screen like SONY XBRs. Most of the time I think its good to watch blu ray at home this way. I think you people who made HTs at home agree.

I understand its cool to go to a theatre to get out of the house and thats why I do it. I'm only knocking the shit quality out here. I haven't gone to a Imax or THX theatre yet but i look forward to. How is the experience for that?

[LynxFX]

It's your theatre. There are a couple around me that blow away anything we'll ever see or hear in our home theatres. Quality 35mm projection is hard to beat. I've been to my share of crappy theatres too but they quickly go on my 'never again' list.

[cdot2four]

yeah just your theaters i have a DLP theater buy me i will only watch movies there the ground shakes underneath you from the sound. i have free movie passes to another theater but i just cant see myself not watching a movie there.

[JamesN]

Originally Posted by LynxFX

It's your theatre. There are a couple around me that blow away anything we'll ever see or hear in our home theatres. Quality 35mm projection is hard to beat. I've been to my share of crappy theatres too but they quickly go on my 'never again' list.

Don't know how old you are, but since you're from Denver do you remember the Ogden?

[LynxFX]

Originally Posted by JamesN

Don't know how old you are, but since you're from Denver do you remember the Ogden?

I've only lived in Denver for the past 8 years. I haven't been to the Ogden but I believe it is just live performances now. Supposed to be the premiere concert venue in town.

My favorite screens in town would be Colorado Mills (screen 8, 9, or 10 digital), The Continental (although I think the projector needs a workover since the picture is starting to get soft but the sound is great), the Imax on colorado, and most recently the new Harkins Northfield. It now has the biggest screen in town and watching new projectors is always a great experience. I used to live in NYC and that was a filmgoers wet dream. So many great screens.

[hc666]

Sucks here too. I prefer blu ray on my 57 inch with 7.1 at home.

Much more enjoyable. I don't mind waiting for movies to come out on video anymore

[krendevil]

Originally Posted by hc666

Sucks here too. I prefer blu ray on my 57 inch with 7.1 at home.

Much more enjoyable. I don't mind waiting for movies to come out on video anymore

Ditto. Your average movie takes about 2-3 months to be released after the theatre run. Well worth the wait.

[JamesN]

Originally Posted by LynxFX

I've only lived in Denver for the past 8 years. I haven't been to the Ogden but I believe it is just live performances now. Supposed to be the premiere concert venue in town.

When I lived in Denver in the early 80's the Ogden ran 2 "themed" films a night. The themes were very eclectic. There would be Bond week, Pink Panther week, Fellini week, Bogart week, Beatles week, etc. This was before the day of even affordable VHS, so I got to see lots of great stuff that I'd missed as first-runs. Lots of great memories. Glad the building is at least still there.

[Beta Man]

Been to the Ogden for a concert before (I'm in ohio though) Denver is a great place.....

as far as your crappy theater experience..... Look for a newer AMC or whatever they call the "big boys" in your area.... ones boasting new stadium seating, etc....

[JasonS]

Originally Posted by LynxFX

I've only lived in Denver for the past 8 years. I haven't been to the Ogden but I believe it is just live performances now. Supposed to be the premiere concert venue in town.

My favorite screens in town would be Colorado Mills (screen 8, 9, or 10 digital), The Continental (although I think the projector needs a workover since the picture is starting to get soft but the sound is great), the Imax on colorado, and most recently the new Harkins Northfield. It now has the biggest screen in town and watching new projectors is always a great experience. I used to live in NYC and that was a filmgoers wet dream. So many great screens.

I live in the area as well and highly recommend avoiding the AMC 24 in Highlands Ranch off of Lucent and Plaza. Picture quality there is absolutely horrendous.

[LynxFX]

Originally Posted by JasonS

I live in the area as well and highly recommend avoiding the AMC 24 in Highlands Ranch off of Lucent and Plaza. Picture quality there is absolutely horrendous.

Yeah I haven't been there for quite awhile but I don't recall being impressed. Same goes for the other AMC 24 over in Broomfield/westminster. They seem to just build as many screens as possible and that's it.

Oh I went to the Century 16 at Bel Mar when it first opened and was appauled at what I saw. On their biggest screen they actually have daylight coming through the back door creating a giant sun hot spot on a section of the screen whenever someone opens the back door. It is like watching your home tv with the curtains open. I couldn't believe they designed it that way.

I'm still not impressed with 2k DLP presentations. They are forced to use smaller screens do to pixel definition which if you don't want to see you need to sit at least 2 screen heights away. I went to see Transformers for a second time at the DLP screen at Colorado Mills and walked out after the first attack. The sound was wimpy and walked back over to screen 8 which is the one with the stage. The difference was night and day. They have one hell of a sound system in there.

[krendevil]

Originally Posted by LynxFX

It's your theatre. There are a couple around me that blow away anything we'll ever see or hear in our home theatres. Quality 35mm projection is hard to beat. I've been to my share of crappy theatres too but they quickly go on my 'never again' list.

I live in San Jose, CA. I have not been to the theatres here in about a year, but the Century 22 or 23 on Winchester Blvd. has 3 screens and one of them is digital projection. The last 2 movies I saw there were "Sin City" and "Star Wars: Episode III." I say instead of investing in movie tickets, invest in a nice home set-up and blu-ray movies. You can get most movies for the price of 2 theatre tickets and you own it for your collection or can sell/trade them later. Just my 2 cents ; ) YAAAAHH!!! YAAAAHH!!! On to the next town!!

[Kuraudo]

Yeah at Amazon.com its only 15 bucks for a good blu ray movie.
My friends and I never agree on what to watch and I always get stuck with movies I don't want to see, so I end up not hanging out with them.

Its pretty cheap to own a movie compared to the alternatives now.

You guys have it much better, thats great. 3 screens?
The AMC 30 at "the block at Orange" has nice chairs but small screens.
The other theatres around me have even smaller screens with even dirtier looking projections.

Its pretty inconvenient to plan a day to go to a better quality theatre, my friends never agree to want to drive that far even i drive.

I need new friends and new blu ray discs.

[Seablazer]

The past few summers, I've been traveling quite a lot and have been to quite a few theatres...

Out of seeing films in Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, Long Beach, Atlanta, Tampa, Miami, and where I live, Long Island, the winner goes to Long Island..

With all the sprawl here, the one thing they have done right is the movie theatres. Seats are super comfortable ("stadium seating" and either fabric or leather), screens are huge, and sound systems are amazing... The price is high though, $11.00-15.00...

SLC had decent a decent theatre, same goes for Minn. and LB, but Atlanta and Tampa were the worst... Miami was nice, but different since it was IMAX.

BTW, the theatres on LI are basically all owned by Loews and National Amusements (Cinema de Lux "brand").

[DetroitSportsFan]

The theater I go to has great picture and sound.

[Kayne314]

The good theaters on on the decline.

Most theaters use minimum wage, minimum experience people to run their movies. A friend of mine got a job as a projectionist and he had absolutely NO experience. After 1 day's training, he was left to tend all 8 screens by himself.

He didn't know what the hell he was doing. Almost every day he would regail me with stories of how he accidentally unspooled a movie across the floor, and had to re spool it, Forgot to turn on the surround system for a movie. Loaded a reel incorrectly, and it played at the wrong time in the movie. The horrors were uncountable. Calibrating the projector and sound were completely beyond him.

He was one of their best projectionists!

The companies that own theaters have very little interest in hiring a trained professional or training someone properly. It would mean they'd have to spend more money on payroll. Experience doesn't come cheap.

IF you can find a good theater, make a point of telling management how much you appreciate it. Praise the projectionist. Write a letter of appreciation to their head office. Theaters care less and less about a quality experience, and have chosen their bottom line. Maybe if their bottom line was dependent on good PQ and AQ, they'd bring back projectionists with experience, and we'd be able to enjoy the movies the way they were intended.

Until then, I'll stick to my Theater at home.

[NutsAboutPS3]

I haven't been to a cinema for many years, because I found the same as you, that even compared to dvd the cinema picture seemed blurry, and the sound quality was truly appalling compared to my home setup. Now that I have Blu-ray at home the a/v quality gap has just got even wider, not to mention the convenience and comfort of watching at home. The only advantage the cinemas have is seeing the movie sooner, but I'm not prepared to have my first viewing of a movie spoilt by seeing it in such poor picture and sound quality.

[Blu-Beard]

To the OP:
I see on this forum alot that people have a way better theater experience than I, so I think it's just our theater's. Mine suck too

[nelsona]

The theater we go to has digital projection and a sweet sound system. My only complaint is sometimes I think the sound is a little too loud.

[TheTenth]

Last movie I saw in theater (France) was AVP2. I was always thinking "damn, image is blurry, colors are lavish ... I think we don't have many theaters with Digital projectors (maybe a few in Paris), and the film that's projected is often of mild quality.