Take away the actors and the plot, and TRON 2010 could have been a very, very focused Disney Fantasia Sequel of the New Millennium, all set to the sizzling soundtrack of Daft Punk. This trailer confirms my presence in an proper IMAX theatre just to HEAR the film and the music.
Visuals and electronic tunage are tucked under the seat.
Another hat-tip to QE, whom I seem to be stealing from the second time today!
So the guy who hates 3D is watching it in the format with the worst sound and the biggest chance to get headaches.
Only Halfyard would think that sounds reasonable.
IMAX has probably the most incredible sound I’ve ever heard.
IMAX sound is crap. Its all about cranking the bass resulting in muddy sound and shoddy dialogue. But the seats vibrate. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Top it off they are front loaded with speakers (the vast majority are 2.1), resulting in sound that isn’t immersive in the slightest and creates an incredibly small viewing window.
I’d take pretty much any halfway decent standard theatre’s surround sound over IMAX any day and not think twice about it.
The MN ZOO IMAX sound here is amazing. U2 and Fantasia 2000 at the IMAX here was terrific. IF I decide to see Tron in 3D (haven’t decided yet), then I’ll definitely be seeing it there.
I don’t think Matt is allowed to say anything good about any theater that isn’t Icon. There are plenty of good theaters in the Minneapolis area.
From the IMAX web site:
“IMAX uncompressed digital, laser-aligned, wrap-around sound is simply unsurpassed in depth and clarity. Our proprietary six-channel, Proportional Point SourceTM Loudspeaker system delivers exacting volume and quality at every seat throughout the theatre. From a small drop of rain to a massive clap of thunder, you’ll hear every shade and subtlety, regardless of where you are sitting.”
Gamble: Not in the the Imax theatre here. The sound is crystal clear, not all base. Perhaps calibrations and quality vary from cinema to cinema, but I cannot think of a better cinema in my area than the local Imax screen.
Furthermore, I’ll probably bring a piece of black cardboard, and stick it in the lens of one side of the glasses to know out the stereoscope nature of the film. I’ll agree that Imax 3D is the worst 3D technology of the bunch.
I have to side with Matt here. Maybe some more modern IMAX theaters have awesome set-ups but the one I go to has terrible sound. Inception’s dialogue was barely decipherable at times.
The MN ZOO IMAX sound here is amazing.
No it isn’t. I’ll be happy to have you talk to any number of projection techs here in the Cities, all with decades of industry experience, who can attest to its poor quality. But it is really freaking loud.
Even if they do multiple channels they are all front loaded speakers so it isn’t true surround sound. IMAX’s are notorious for it. Sound wise I’d take the mini-Max over a standard IMAX. Those at least have true lossless surround sound. IMAX is also pretty notorious with their stretching of the truth in their advertising, calling the mini-Max’s IMAX theatres (when they use totally different proprietary technology) and claiming theatres have true surround sound just because one of their theatres does. Notice how they call it “wrap-around sound” in your example Drew and avoid any direct mention of surround sound. Its not true surround at all, its just a couple of speakers in the front cranked up to 11.
And their 3D is also becoming incredibly well known for how bad it is and how easily it induces headaches. What’s even more amusing is IMAX 3D focuses more on popping the image out of the screen while RealD and Dolby 3D focus more on providing depth in the frame. This is exactly why it causes headaches so readily and it is also what Kurt hates about 3D. So he’s basically funding the one version of the format he hates most. The irony amuses the hell out of me.
I’d watch a 3D film anywhere but an IMAX. Its far too expensive for what is by far the worst technology format. But really the best format would be Dolby 3D, of which their are only a handful of in the Cities, and no, my theatre isn’t one of them.
I could care less what some tech believes. These are the same people screaming about the Grindhouse Blu-ray release not having lossless and boycotting the disc. Good for them. If your ear is that well honed then life must pretty much sucks. Grindhouse sounds great on my system. I doubt I would notice otherwise. As for IMAX, techies can complain all they want. I’m always wowed by the sound and think it is great (particularly for concert films (U2 and Fantasia)).
3D sucks no matter what so that makes little difference to me. It’s all about screen size and sound and for my money I’m much happier at MN Zoo than at Burnsville multi-plex. I only go there for major event movies anyway (Tron might be one of those).
I’m not ‘funding 3D’ I’m seeing a single movie in a movie theatre that has excellent sound (to these poor ears) I could care less which 3D format wins (although I agree that IMAX 3D is easily the dimmest, and most head-ache inducing). My extra 3D is going for screen size and sound. I’ll block one side of the glasses effectively remove the Stereo-Scope effect, and my enjoyment of the movie will be just fine.
Projection techs don’t give a shit about home theatre systems. You’re mixing groups together. Projection techs work on auditorium sound systems and they hate IMAX sound. Its hard to work with, it doesn’t play well with other components and the quality is consistently inferior to other systems.
But hey, go ahead and ignore the experts in the field. That’s always a solid basis for a good argument.
I’m not putting forth an argument. I’m stating an opinion. This kind of goes back to the debate we had on The Social Network. You seem really caught up with what other people think about something rather than what you think – and that affects your opinion about a given product or piece of art. As I said, I don’t really care what some techie thinks or his/her expertise. Just like I wouldn’t care if some Professor of art told me not to like a painting because it’s not technically correct or a musician tells me I’m not holding my drum sticks “the right way.” I know what sound I like and what works for me. The MN Zoo IMAX sounds awesome every time I go. Whether or not some projection tech doesn’t like that it doesn’t work well with his equipment pretty much means fuck-all to me.