Weird hill to die on.Those are all opinions? most of them don't even explain why it's better, just that it's a nicer (not better) experience and less expensive.
You're also on a forum full of introverts who couldn't be paid to sit near the general public
It's the same with things like Reddit, you get a very skewed response from certain demographics. The reason cinema attendance is down has nothing to do with the level of equipment people have at home, because the vast majority of people don't have an OLED or surround sound system. It's down to cost and the fact that there are only a couple of films a year that are worth seeing on the big screen.
I don't go that often myself, but I'm not under any illusions that my home setup can beat a cinema on the AV front. Yes, it may not have the infinite contrast ratio of my OLED or be as crystal clear, but some movies just need the sheer scale of a cinema screen to give you the full experience. The same reason very few people use TVs when building a dedicated home cinema room.
Another cinema chain going down the pan
- Thread starter robfosters
- Start date
I haven't been to a cinema since I started accruing a decent home cinema setup, that was 15+ years ago. It's too expensive, there's barely any decent new movies to watch, and I don't like the way they equalise the sound in cinemas. They're all the same, way too much mids and upper bass, not enough deep bass and just way too loud across the board. The food is expensive, most of the customers and staff are rude, I can't pause it, and you either have to sit through a half hour of adverts (trailers are basically ads) at the start or arrive late and push past 20 people to find your seat. No thanks.
If there was a cinema quite near me, that had decent sound levels, showed classic (70s/80s/90s) sci-fi/horror/action flicks, only admitted adults and banned people for life for phone use or excessive talking, allowed people to bring their own food including alcohol, then I might be persuaded to go. That will never happen, and so I'm quite content to never visit a cinema ever again.
If there was a cinema quite near me, that had decent sound levels, showed classic (70s/80s/90s) sci-fi/horror/action flicks, only admitted adults and banned people for life for phone use or excessive talking, allowed people to bring their own food including alcohol, then I might be persuaded to go. That will never happen, and so I'm quite content to never visit a cinema ever again.
Soldato
Bad Projection Is Ruining the Movie Theater Experience
Multiplexes are failing at their most basic function: delivering a bright, sharp image.
www.vulture.com
44 years old here and still love going to the cinema, granted the choice of good movies has fallen massively in recent years but there is a feeling I get watching a movie in a cinema I just can't replicate at home, no matter how good a setup is. A friend of my wife has a dedicated projector cinema room costing in the high 5 figures easily and while it's really stupidly nice, it still doesn't compete for me.
However, as I get older i'm more inclined to go for afternoon showings, seems to remove the phone using moron factor. I can't remember the last time i've been bothered by someone making excessive noise, using a phone or generally being a nuisance.
I introduced my son to cinema a few months back for Super Mario and he's been another two times since, he loves it just as much and seeing the excitement and enjoyment he has really makes me happy. It is generally expensive for a few hours entertainment but I can get discounted tickets through work so not too bad and we openly take our own snacks/drinks into Showcase and they don't mind at all. It's a short 15 minute drive, free parking - the seats have a lot of space in front across rows for getting in and out, are wide, recline, comfortable, came very close to nodding off last time
On the flipside, I know some people have a horrid experience and can totally understand preferring to watch movies at home, nothing wrong with that - there is no right or wrong choice, it's all preference.
However, as I get older i'm more inclined to go for afternoon showings, seems to remove the phone using moron factor. I can't remember the last time i've been bothered by someone making excessive noise, using a phone or generally being a nuisance.
I introduced my son to cinema a few months back for Super Mario and he's been another two times since, he loves it just as much and seeing the excitement and enjoyment he has really makes me happy. It is generally expensive for a few hours entertainment but I can get discounted tickets through work so not too bad and we openly take our own snacks/drinks into Showcase and they don't mind at all. It's a short 15 minute drive, free parking - the seats have a lot of space in front across rows for getting in and out, are wide, recline, comfortable, came very close to nodding off last time
On the flipside, I know some people have a horrid experience and can totally understand preferring to watch movies at home, nothing wrong with that - there is no right or wrong choice, it's all preference.
I think I read that a while ago and it's all true. But whats good about it is the newer indie cinemas/mini chains like Everyman, Picturehouse that are turning cinema-going into a decent overall experience. Good bars to meet your friends at, good food/restaurants if you want to eat first, you can take drinks in. And a good watching experience more importantly. What's not to like.Bad Projection Is Ruining the Movie Theater Experience
Multiplexes are failing at their most basic function: delivering a bright, sharp image.
Last edited:
Better. Better picture quality than the cinema, better sound than the cinema.Those are all opinions? most of them don't even explain why it's better, just that it's a nicer (not better) experience and less expensive.
You're also on a forum full of introverts who couldn't be paid to sit near the general public
It's the same with things like Reddit, you get a very skewed response from certain demographics. The reason cinema attendance is down has nothing to do with the level of equipment people have at home, because the vast majority of people don't have an OLED or surround sound system. It's down to cost and the fact that there are only a couple of films a year that are worth seeing on the big screen.
I don't go that often myself, but I'm not under any illusions that my home setup can beat a cinema on the AV front. Yes, it may not have the infinite contrast ratio of my OLED or be as crystal clear, but some movies just need the sheer scale of a cinema screen to give you the full experience. The same reason very few people use TVs when building a dedicated home cinema room.
Nicer experience, can pause the film if I choose to get more food/drinks, comfier, quieter as in no people talking or playing on phones.
Even if cinema were almost free I still wouldn't go.
Another big thing is years ago you had to wait ages for a film to be available for home viewing now you don't.
Caporegime
It still takes quite a few months for some films to be released in full quality i.e. not some 20gb compressed version from one of the streaming services.
While picture quality might be better it's still very difficult to match the scale of a big screen at home.
What sound equipment are you using and how much did it cost?
The cost of my home equipment is irrelevant as it isn't purely to replace the cinema, it's 80% for gaming.
Work it out sat 4 foot from a 65" screen Vs sat 100 foot from a cinema one, now which is bigger.
In any case I was simply giving you the reasons I prefer staying at home.
Last edited:
Caporegime
It's not irrelevant when you tell people it's better than cinema sound.
Besides, I can't remember the last time I sat 100 feet from the screen in the cinema we go to.
As I said, it's all opinion rather than fact. I don't have a problem with most of the reasons people give for preferring to watch at home, but to say outright that the AV experience is better at home takes some doing in reality.
If you had a dedicated room like some of the people in the home cinema thread here, I'd be more inclined to believe you. However, I'd assume that most people here are talking about an OLED in their living room with an Atmos soundbar and surrounds or low-midrange separates in a room that's very difficult to calibrate.
Last edited:
I think most people talking about the 'better experience' are talking about it as a whole.
When I say I feel I get a better experience at home than at the cinema, i'm not suggesting that my TV is bigger or my speakers are louder but that overall all the other negatives of the cinema visit vs home viewing outweigh the fact it's bigger and louder. Bigger and louder just isn't enough to earn people's money anymore.
Though as mentioned before, I couldn't help but be disappointed in the picture quality too when I did go last, it felt very washed out and flat coming from a lot of OLED viewing at home.
Soldato
Picture quality ain't everything ask Tarantino low quality movies he loves and on Film not Digital
Id argue it is a fact otherwise why are cinemas struggling?
I also don't need a dedicated cinema room to enjoy watching a film at home rather than the cinema. You seen to be stuck with the opinion that people want to replicate the cinema experience. I don't I want to make it more enjoyable which is many things not just the specifications of my audio video equipment.
For me there is still plenty of films per year that I don't want to wait 3 months to buy digitally or stream. To see the releases from big studios you'd have to subscribe to 3 or more services per month and even then you can't subscribe to everything due to regional reasons.
I would happily pay 19.99 a month to have an unlimited cinema pass rather than HBO Max + paramount + whatever for probably closer to 30 a month and go to the cinema 2-3 times a month.
I doubt most people in this thread live in locations where they can crank up the sound at home like a cinema, and headphones don't even compare. Just from the seat I can see more physical speakers in the cinema then people have at home! That's even before you get to IMAX levels of audio!
I'm also not convinced about this "people make noise and play with their phones" malarky. You can't all live in places full of delinquent youths who pay for the privilege of going to the cinema to annoy others! The few times it has happened to me the rest of the audience going "shhhhhh" shuts them up and that was like decades ago in an urban part of London. In the big chains in central London I've never had other people ruin the film for me.
I would concede the picture quality arguement in normal cinemas can be hit and miss, as an OLED TV owner. If you sit close enough it can be very immersive and the blacks beat any cinema screen. But then even a crappy IMAX screen will blow that away.
anyway, off to the cinema tomorrow for MI:7
p.s. more on topic. Does this effect th big Empir cinema/IMAX in Leicester Square?
rp2000
I would happily pay 19.99 a month to have an unlimited cinema pass rather than HBO Max + paramount + whatever for probably closer to 30 a month and go to the cinema 2-3 times a month.
I doubt most people in this thread live in locations where they can crank up the sound at home like a cinema, and headphones don't even compare. Just from the seat I can see more physical speakers in the cinema then people have at home! That's even before you get to IMAX levels of audio!
I'm also not convinced about this "people make noise and play with their phones" malarky. You can't all live in places full of delinquent youths who pay for the privilege of going to the cinema to annoy others! The few times it has happened to me the rest of the audience going "shhhhhh" shuts them up and that was like decades ago in an urban part of London. In the big chains in central London I've never had other people ruin the film for me.
I would concede the picture quality arguement in normal cinemas can be hit and miss, as an OLED TV owner. If you sit close enough it can be very immersive and the blacks beat any cinema screen. But then even a crappy IMAX screen will blow that away.
anyway, off to the cinema tomorrow for MI:7
p.s. more on topic. Does this effect th big Empir cinema/IMAX in Leicester Square?
rp2000
Last edited:
Caporegime
It's not factual (especially when you don't even give details on said equipment) to say that your home equipment is better overall than cinema equipment, which is the only point I've challenged people on.
I'm well aware of all the other reasons why people might prefer to watch at home, and I haven't questioned them.
Cinemas are struggling because of how expensive the overall experience can be and the lack of good content over the last few years, not because a few people have an OLED and a sound system at home... Again, we're on a forum where ownership of equipment like that will be way higher than in the general population.
Last edited:
Ticket prices, food/drink prices, a few years lockdown that changed peoples habits, poor general quality of movie releases, cost of living crisis to name a few.
Last edited:
I honestly think it's just these 2, for the majority of people. Ticket prices and food prices in the cinema seem to the be the same as pre-pandemic in my opinion (maybe 50 cents more).
rp2000
That's fair and thinking further on it, probably right, i'm not overly conscious of the food/drinks price as rarely have them unless i'm absolutely craving a hot dog.
Last edited:
This is a good point. We even refer to cinema as 'the big screen' but really the size is irrelevant, it's the viewing angle (how many degrees of your field of view are filled with screen) that matters. I can get the same viewing angle as I would in a cinema just by sitting close to a normal size TV.
This only falls down when you want to have many people watching the same screen. You physically can't cram 4+ pairs of eyes close enough to a normal size TV to give cinema-like viewing angles. That's why people put projectors in their home cinemas, not because a large screen is inherently better, but a large screen is required if you want to achieve cinema-like field of view to several people at once. If you only ever need to achieve it for a single person (i.e. yourself) there's literally zero reason to go bigger than standard large-ish TV sizes (55-75in) other than to show off.
More speakers ≠ better sound.
It's actually quite easy to beat the sound quality of a cinema at home, cinemas usually have crappy sound, they compensate for that by making it crazy loud. Especially if you like really deep bass effects; a cinema is such a large space they'd have to spend a ton of money to achieve sub-30Hz effects so they don't bother. Whereas in a room at home that's only a few thousand cubic feet you can get 20Hz effects with ease on a few thousand £ worth of subwoofer.
It's even easier to beat cinema video quality. Cinemas generally target around 50nits, many are lower. When they had film projectors each one was monitored by a skilled projectionist, now they're digital projectors that are mostly maintenance free (in the short term) so there's nobody there to troubleshoot. Projection problems like incorrect keystone or image overshoot are ignored until people complain and even then only fixed when they can get a technician in which might take days or weeks.
Last edited:
Caporegime
The viewing angle isn't the ultimate determining factor and it's uncommon for people to sit within 4 feet of a 65" screen. If you aren't situated in the furthest rows of a large theater, the scale perception at a cinema is likely to be more impactful.
On another note, I'd question how many people are investing thousands in subwoofers solely to surpass cinema-level sub-bass frequency at home. It's worth mentioning that frequency is only one element to consider when handling sub-bass.
On another note, I'd question how many people are investing thousands in subwoofers solely to surpass cinema-level sub-bass frequency at home. It's worth mentioning that frequency is only one element to consider when handling sub-bass.
Last edited:
