Which cinema; 4dx vs imax?

Bullitt

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Hello there, I haven't been to the cinema for a few years; always disappointed with the substandard sound systems and have been more satisfied with 4k/blurays on my 58" with Dolby/DTS 5.1.2 sound. However we have a new Cineworld in Plymouth and I fancy watching Tenet. Yes, a strange time to return to the big screen, but feel the need to treat myself to a unique experience and support businesses that really might not be around next year.
Anyway my question is should I choose standard 2D, IMAX or 4DX screen?
I appreciate a decent surround sound system but not gimmicks like squirty water.
What are your suggestions please?
 
Definitely don’t go for 4DX then as that’s all gimmicks. I’d say go for IMAX. It is quite a unique experience without the added gimmicks.
 
Hit Tenet on an IMAX screen, the biggest screen you can. It’s a no brainer. Don’t worry about any of the other gimmicky stuff.
 
Cheers. Tickets are booked for seats in middle of rear third of IMAX screen this Saturday. Will report back on my views of film, video and sound quality.
 
If it wasnt for the first line, i’d swear this was a trick question.:rotfl:

IMAX every time. Well liemax (digital imax) for most but proper IMAX (London, Manchester etc) if you can. I saw Transformers 2 on the imax screen in Manchester and it almost made the movie good:eek::D

Save the fancy water stuff for Alton Towers (well Thorpe Park for the OP i guess).
 
Cheers. Tickets are booked for seats in middle of rear third of IMAX screen this Saturday. Will report back on my views of film, video and sound quality.

FWIW... @dvdmike seemed impressed with Plymouth’s new IMAX screen judging by his post from December in this thread: IMAX Laser - The Future of Cinema

I’ve only visited the 4DX in Milton Keynes once and the novelty wore off within half an hour, so the thought of being shaken around for 2.5 hours of Tenet is not an appealing one 🤢

Oh and ICYMI in Tenet threads, be prepared for some ear splitting sound levels!

 
Yes, I have read many reviews here that say the volume is too high; I do like it quite loud but fear that my middle aged ears/head might regret it. We shall see....
 
My impressions of my first IMAX cinema experience.

Good robust sound. Plenty of bum shaking sub-bass. However the IMAX sound (6.1?) displayed little evidence of vehicles or gun shot sounds travelling around the theatre as I would expect from a well installed Atmos system. Loud but not too bad, bit louder than I usually watch films and really as loud as I would want to listen, especially the action scenes but certainly not headache inducing.

Seats very comfortable ; for sitting still for over 3 hours (including the trailers and adverts)

The screen was enormous, we sat in centre in the rear third and required constant eye/ head movements to take everything in. In fact everybody that sat in front of us swiftly moved behind us once the trailers began. There is no way you could enjoy a film if sitting for more than a few minutes in the front half of the theatre. Seated in the first few rows would require staring up at a very trapezoidal screen!

Picture quality (of this film) was very good. Projector was certainly in focus. I'm pretty sure it was shot on film. Blacks were dark grey and lighter than my led lit lcd TV screen. Certainly not the black I would expect with a new OLED TV. Very little glare from room lighting which can be a pain if, like me, you wear specs.

Overall very pleased with the experience and would certainly consider returning for Top Gun Maverick. However I would like to experience Dolby Atmos next time.
 
My impressions of my first IMAX cinema experience.

Good robust sound. Plenty of bum shaking sub-bass. However the IMAX sound (6.1?) displayed little evidence of vehicles or gun shot sounds travelling around the theatre as I would expect from a well installed Atmos system. Loud but not too bad, bit louder than I usually watch films and really as loud as I would want to listen, especially the action scenes but certainly not headache inducing.

Seats very comfortable ; for sitting still for over 3 hours (including the trailers and adverts)

The screen was enormous, we sat in centre in the rear third and required constant eye/ head movements to take everything in. In fact everybody that sat in front of us swiftly moved behind us once the trailers began. There is no way you could enjoy a film if sitting for more than a few minutes in the front half of the theatre. Seated in the first few rows would require staring up at a very trapezoidal screen!

Picture quality (of this film) was very good. Projector was certainly in focus. I'm pretty sure it was shot on film. Blacks were dark grey and lighter than my led lit lcd TV screen. Certainly not the black I would expect with a new OLED TV. Very little glare from room lighting which can be a pain if, like me, you wear specs.

Overall very pleased with the experience and would certainly consider returning for Top Gun Maverick. However I would like to experience Dolby Atmos next time.
Sounds like your experience confirms that Plymouth has been kitted out with the last generation IMAX Digital xenon projectors combined with 6.0 surround (rather than the newer Laser HDR projectors and 12.0 surround) which seems like an odd choice by Cineworld; unless they got a good deal?!

There’s a Digital IMAX which opened up near to me (Hemel Hempstead) back in 2015 which I’ve barely visited since an IMAX with Laser opened up only a little further away (in Watford) in December of 2018.

I’ve been underwhelmed with Cineworld’s use of Dolby Atmos to date, as both the Superscreens in my neck of the woods (Milton Keynes and Hemel) aren’t all that much better than regular auditoria. Odeon’s implementation of Atmos in their ISENSE seems superior in my experience. I gather that Plymouth has a Vue but don’t know if it has an Xtreme screen kitted out with Atmos.
 
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bumping this to read new opinions

Has either advanced & improved or still the same?

I saw Beowulf, the animated one, in 3D-IMAX & was blown away at how much better the 3D was than on a regular screen. We were nearly jumping out of our seats.

Have yet to experience 4DX & wondering if it's worth the 100 miles drive to a cinema that has it vs. 45 minute drive to the nearest 3D-IMAX.
 
Watched Maverick in IMAX at Plymouth Cineworld last week. Excellent roller-coaster ride so did not have time or inclination to assess video or audio quality, other than to say as far as I can tell they have same good, focused 2k laser and average sound system: volume was sensibly loud, but no seat shaking LFE and a front biased sound stage with occasional surround.
Ticket prices have increased though.....
 
I liked the 4DX but it can get rough in those seats. Maverick would be a blast, but I find the 3d in it a bit poor.
If u can get the seat movements and stuff without the picture being 3D I would say go for it.
 
Me and my partner are huge fans of the 4DX. We used to go to the IMAX all the time, but much prefer the immersion of the 4DX now.

The Batman nearly threw me out of my seat during the car chase scene which was hilarious. Top Gun Maverick was an absolute pleasure during the flight scenes, every turn on the screen the seat mimicked perfectly.
 
Germany IMAX The light show would give people a migraine 🤪 hope every light goes off when the movies start, one of my pet hates

 

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