HD cinemas?

shauncr91

shauncr91

shauncr91

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Maybe this is a bit of a silly question but I can't work it out...why are cinemas still not showing films in HD? The current quality of picture is just terrible, especially when you're paying nearly £10 a pop to view it.

Is it a cost problem, or simply that they don't have the relevant equipment to show films in the same quality we can view them at home on such a large projection?
 
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Robbie G said:
They show them at a much higher resolution than 1080p! 1080p would look awful on a screen that big.

Maybe it's the grain effects that are making you think it's poor quality.
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Well it's just something I've noticed over the last couple of months after watching most of my films/tv in HD at home, when I go see a film it looks nowhere near as good as it does at home, even HD TV looks massively improved over cinema displays.
 
Yeah, but your television is a lot smaller than the screens at a cinema. Think of how high the resolution of the film would have to be in order to offer a crystal clear, sharp picture on a screen that size... It would be massive. :p
 
Robbie G said:
They show them at a much higher resolution than 1080p! 1080p would look awful on a screen that big.

Maybe it's the grain effects that are making you think it's poor quality.
Click to expand...

The latest IMAX conversions at cinemas (i.e. Odeon Norwich) project at 2000x1080 pixel resolution iirc. Then again you can see the pixels quite easily on these so it's not exactly great.
 
Most cinemas are setup quite poor to be honest. There are varying factors when it comes to a poor picture:

Is the screen in focus properly?
Is the projectionist inexperienced?
Has it been properly calibrated?
etc

The only cinemas I think are worth bothering with (from experience) is IMAX ones. Most of the standard Cineworld and Vue Cinemas have been pretty poor that I've been to.

Is it just me or are more and more cinemas these days setup really bad compared to how they all were 11yrs or so back? I remember the screens looking so much better than they do now, and it's not just because I'm used to seeing HD content on my TV either.
 
In regards to the old film thing. I assumed they remastered and tweened pixels etc. I knew some used older raw footage but thought that was less common than remastering etc.

OP; here's what you need to know:
1080p = 1920x1080 resolution. That doesn't change. But when you spread that resolution over a PHYSICALLY larger area, the pixels then become larger too. And thus reducing overall picture quality.

IMAX use "IMAX" shot film mostly - they advertise when they do. (Dark Knight being an example). "IMAX" shot film is of a higher res than 1080p.. I don't know what the res is exactly, but google should tell you - this allows them to have it look the same if not better on their "largest screens in britain". The main IMAX draw for me is their speaker system.. it's awesome and makes movies so much better.

Also; I'm not experienced, just assuming using limited video knowledge.

S
 
Snooble said:
In regards to the old film thing. I assumed they remastered and tweened pixels etc. I knew some used older raw footage but thought that was less common than remastering etc.
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35mm film is rather higher resolution than 1080p, really good remasters get scanned at 4K and they work at that resolution until doing the final master for BR.
 
Some info from Wikipedia... I've tried to pick out the more interesting ones. IMAX film has got some serious resolution.

wikipedia said:
Analog and early digital
350×240 : Video CD
300×480 : Umatic, Betamax, VHS, Video8
350×480 : Super Betamax, Betacam (pro)
420×480 : LaserDisc, Super VHS, Hi8
500×480 : Analog broadcast
670×480 : Enhanced Definition Betamax

Digital
720×480 : D-VHS, DVD, miniDV, Digital8, Digital Betacam (pro)
720×480 : Widescreen DVD (anamorphic)
1280×720 : D-VHS, HD DVD, Blu-ray, HDV (miniDV)
1440×1080 : HDV (miniDV)
1920×1080 : HDV (miniDV), AVCHD, HD DVD, Blu-ray, HDCAM SR (pro)
2048×1080 : 2K Digital Cinema
4096×2160 : 4K Digital Cinema 7680×4320 : UHDTV
Sequences from newer films are scanned at 2,000, 4,000, or even 8,000 columns, called 2K, 4K, and 8K, for quality visual-effects editing on computers.

Film 35 mm film is scanned for release on DVD at 1080 or 2000 lines as of 2005.
35 mm original camera negative motion picture film can resolve up to 6,000 lines. 35 mm projection positive motion picture film has about 2,000 lines which results from the analog printing from the camera negative of an interpositive, and possibly an internegative, then a projection positive.
IMAX, including IMAX HD and OMNIMAX: approximately 10,000×7000 (7000 lines) resolution.
Click to expand...
 
shauncr91 said:
Maybe this is a bit of a silly question but I can't work it out...why are cinemas still not showing films in HD? The current quality of picture is just terrible, especially when you're paying nearly £10 a pop to view it.

Is it a cost problem, or simply that they don't have the relevant equipment to show films in the same quality we can view them at home on such a large projection?
Click to expand...

The reluctance of cinemas to upgrade is two-fold. Firstly cost, why should they upgrade unless they have to, distributors still provide 35mm prints and the technology works fine for them. Unless they need to replace an old machine it makes no financial sense to spend money on a tool which will do exactly the same job, show films. The major driving force behind digital is of course 3D, if a cinema wants to show 3D then they have to go digital but that is showing signs of decline already with a lot of customers opting to watch the 2D version, not the 3D.

Secondly, 35mm print projectors are a proven technology, they do the job they're meant to do well and have done so for quite a long time. Digital, on the other hand is new and a lot of people don't trust it yet. One of the major concerns is what if the standard changes again and they have to fork out more money to changeover.
 
I think the cinemas are finally coming round to digital/4k. Vue have recently signed up with Sony to install their 4k projectors across the board.

http://www.screendaily.com/news/digital/vue-strikes-deal-for-sony-4k-projectors/5017627.article

Oh, as for IMAX I might be wrong but I believe they would shoot on 70-80mm film which is huuuuuge!

Another part of the issue is that a lot of directors of photography still want to shoot on film. You'd be amazed at the huge films coming through production now which are still being shot on film. It's most definitely not dead yet. There are 5k cameras out there now but the quality on 35mm is still superior on a lot of ways.
 
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