Dolby Vision or IMAX laser

BrentDO

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I have the rare opportunity being in Southern California to see Star Wars VII at either TLC Chinese or El Capitan.

TLC Chinese has the latest IMAX laser projection, while El Capitan has Dolby Vision with HDR.

Which will be better?
 
Preferred it in 2D with Dolby ATMOS, but I actually preferred seeing at the Village Theatre in West Wood over both the El Capitan and Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

I'm told only the El Capitan screening had HDR, but it looked brighter at the Village. Go figure. But all the presentations were excellent - no issues with sound or picture quality.

I'm glad I experienced Laser Projected 3D IMAX at the Chinese, but for me, 3D doesn't really add to the film experience, if anything it's a distraction, that takes me out of the movie.
 
I watched it in 2D at Sydney IMAX it was overwhelming for the first 30 min I literally felt seasick but once my brain got used to it it was worth the effort.
 
I watched it in 2D at Sydney IMAX it was overwhelming for the first 30 min I literally felt seasick but once my brain got used to it it was worth the effort.


I'm guessing this is a traditional ('proper') IMAX auditorium, where you sit very close to a massively tall screen, with a very steep seating incline? Previously, these venues mainly showed documentaries from 70 mm film projectors - they are often linked with museums. We have one in the UK at the National Museum of Film & Television in Bradford (not too far from me).

I saw Interstellar on 70 mm IMAX film and it was overwhelming to begin with. Totally attacked all the senses! I know what you mean about your brain having to get used to it. Looked amazing though.

The IMAX at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood isn't like that. It is a big screen, but doesn't fill your entire field of vision - the Chinese is configured like a normal cinema. They have installed stadium seating (previously it was a very flat), but it's nowhere near the steep seating incline you get at a proper 70 mm IMAX cinema.

Interstellar was a very interesting IMAX experiment. I'm glad I saw it in 70 mm IMAX, but generally I prefer watching movies in a traditionally configured cinema. 70 mm IMAX is great for a very immersive experience, but it's too intense for fast moving action movies.

Do you know if you saw 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' from a 70 mm film print? At least one sequence was shot in IMAX 70 mm, but the majority of it was shot on 35 mm film.
 
Yes correct it is a traditional IMAX setup and the biggest of it (35.7 m × 29.7 m), it fills more than your (normal) field of vision we had to move our heads side to side just to read the scrolling text at the beginning even though we were sitting in the last row:) Once you get used to it though it is literally like being part of it and is very exciting. Not sure if it was a 70mm but they did say it was a special format just for this theater so it may well be, it was razor sharp, colors and blacks were truly excellent, sound was fantastic coming from all over just like a true Atmos setup, the only gripe I had was the occasional motion blur when panning from side to side. Yes agree it can be too intense but once you adjust you simply feel like you are in the movie when the camera panned up and down I really felt like I was falling. Being in space literally felt like being in space and free falling, best part of Star Wars:)
 
Not sure if it was a 70mm but they did say it was a special format just for this theater so it may well be, it was razor sharp, colors and blacks were truly excellent, sound was fantastic coming from all over just like a true Atmos setup, the only gripe I had was the occasional motion blur when panning from side to side.


If you saw it at the LG IMAX at Darling Harbour, Sydney, then you saw a 70 mm film print. Only 20 IMAX venues around the world are showing the 70 mm film version, everywhere else is digital or laser.

I've just discovered that the Bradford IMAX venue in the UK, has recently been "upgraded" to IMAX Digital, and can no longer show 70 mm film prints. So sad.
 
well in any case it was spectacular and now I know it was 70mm but its no longer LG.
 

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