Movies at the theatre not clear

[gll99]

I started going back to the movie theatre lately. The largest cineplex theatres are really comfortable with plush seats and lots of space. The row height is really good too so no one blocks your view. I have a few gripes (prices and commercials among others) but that is not why I started this thread. In the last year or so I have seen The Day after tomorrow, Finding Neverland (my wife's choice), National Treasure and today Sahara.

My complaint is that in all the movies the picture looks weak and a bit pixilated. I noticed that the edges of the screen about 1 foot or more all around is out of focus. On one of my previous visits they showed a DVD logo when playing some future attractions. Are they projecting from DVD now instead of film. As anyone else noticed this effect?

Overall I enjoyed Sahara. The premise is serious but most of the movie is lighthearted action but I have a couple of comments:

Sahara had a lot of footage that looked like it was shot with a home camera with lots of diffused lighting somewhat like polution or dust in the air. Some of the best scenery footage is somewhat done out of focus as though something in the foreground should have the main focus. I suppose that could be the result of not shooting inside a studio but in an uncontrolled environment. I couldn't see the sense of that. I saw some ghosting in the opening credits. The fighting scenes are mostly shot close up with a chest or a shoulder here and a knife blade there with flailing arms in the shot until the fight is over. I guess the stuntmen didn't look too realistic so they had to cover it up by taking tight shots of clothing.

Anyway I didn't intend this to be a discussion about this movie but the overall quality of the movies in theatres.

[Shadowmistress]

Oh my god, now I've heard everything.

I knew somebody around here would say that eventually.

[yoda313]

Hello,

I saw Episode 2 on a digital screen and it blew me away! It was crystal clear and that was 3 weeks after the release!

And it was better than when I saw it during the opening weekend on a regular screen.

DIGITAL will take the movie goers by storm once prices drop and more films are shot on digital.

Kevin

[pacmania_2001]

It depends on the cinema you go to and also the movie.

I remember watching I think Starsky and Hutch and the film print was shocking. Granulated and cigarette burns all over the place. Before the movie started it had a Britsh rating screen on it so I'm betting that it wasn't a new reel but one they'd gotten after another cinema had used it.

[waheed]

Hello,

I saw Episode 2 on a digital screen and it blew me away! It was crystal clear and that was 3 weeks after the release!

And it was better than when I saw it during the opening weekend on a regular screen.

DIGITAL will take the movie goers by storm once prices drop and more films are shot on digital.

Kevin

My cinema also shows movies in digital from time to time. Its the same price as a regular movie.

I think cinema screen pitures aren't the best quality, its just famous for being a bigger picture.

[enstg8er]

I remember watching I think Starsky and Hutch...

i would never admit that...

[pacmania_2001]

I went with a group of people so it wasn't my choice. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

[enstg8er]

i saw "open water" last week.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374102/
true australia story-" Based on the true story of two scuba divers accidentally stranded in shark infested waters after their tour boat has left."

the special features were very interesting. the movie was shot by a husband and wife with a digital camcorder. they edited it with final cut pro. after showing it at a film festival, it got picked up by a studio. they then cleaned it up and put the finishing touches and it loos very good on dvd.

it exposes just how far my video efforts have to go...

[MackemX]

I haven't been in a while but I fancy a trip real soon but I'm undecided what to go and see

i saw "open water" last week.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374102/
true australia story-" Based on the true story of two scuba divers accidentally stranded in shark infested waters after their tour boat has left."

the special features were very interesting. the movie was shot by a husband and wife with a digital camcorder. they edited it with final cut pro. after showing it at a film festival, it got picked up by a studio. they then cleaned it up and put the finishing touches and it loos very good on dvd.

it exposes just how far my video efforts have to go...

it is a decent film in quality and content, although it's not exactly true but does follow the event exactly. I won't say any more in case of spoliers but the IMDB boards had some good threads about it as I was interested in the story after watching it. There are also people moaning about the fact it was shot unproffesionally with a digicam

[EddyH]

I'd prefer to see it on film until the quality of digital goes up some.

From what i've heard the highest DLP resolution right now is about 2048x2048 (odd for such an inherently widescren thing to be a "square" resolution, but there you go), but most are around 1280x1024, which at such a zoom isn't going to impress even if it IS about as good as the best HDTV.

Likely you saw a theatre that was convinced to convert to digital on the cheap as it was "super high definition future proof quality" and got flogged a home cinema 800x600 unit... not good... been to student screenings of movies like that before (anime club and other dorky things like that), and although we had a decent projector borrowed off the university, a good DVD player and top quality official discs, it still looked kind of out-of-whack, because TV pictures really shouldn't be blown up that big. If you're showing an NTSC film, and the frame is, say, 2.4 metres high (a nice big university lecture theatre screen), then each pixel is 5mm big.... enough to be discerned, if you're in the front 2 or 3 rows, and jaggies will be visible for a few more rows... Moire effects, all the way to the back of the hall.

[northcat_8]

While I refuse to go to the theatre...$7.00 to get in, $4.00 for popcorn, $3.00 for a drink...(I always take my own food anyway, it's just the principal of it)...I'm not paying $7.00 to see a movie.

Last night we watched "The Forgotten", odd movie, it was alright, nothing special...but anyway, in the movie there were 2 sections of the film where the editor screwed up and left a few to many frames at the end of a scene. My wife didn't even notice, but I noticed it and it bothered me. I certainly hope they didn't intentionally do it for "effect" because there was nothing effective about it.

Also, in the alternate ending to the movie, she is getting shocked by some kind of electrical field or something I can make better electrical arcs with Adobe After Effects. Probably why it's the "alternate" ending.