IMAX-Digital – really?!? oh come on, it makes more sense for a RPX screen – that’s discouraging news, since more films (other than the IMAX) get the deluxe theatrical experience – added to the fact that the RPX sound systems are configured to 7.1 sound – damn you Regal, that’s the reason I go over to the Egyptian [insert mad face]
it’s AMC’s answer to IMAX, Regal’s RPX and Cinemark’s XD systems where the auditorium is upgraded to feature the largest screen possible – 4K digial projection w/ 3D and custom sound where a multitude of speakers are placed in, around and behind the screen
well for starters Monday’s is the slowest day of the week, and two, 22 bucks for prime orchestra seats – major ouch – I thought we are still in a recession, personally I draw the line at $18.50 … tops.
I saw this on the XD screen at Cinemark’s Egyptian and I was kind of surprised that it was presented in 2.35 and not 1.78 – oh well whatever. I thought the stampede scene was quite cool in 3D
really I find that shocking – unless they are acoustically fixing it, the old auditorium’s acoustics were quite frankly terrible.
Except for the IMAX screens, most all of the auditoriums in the varying Smithsonian musuems are terribly lacklustre – the new one in National History is good, since it features digital projection but it’s on the small side.
Really the best place to see movies on the Mall is at the National Gallery of Art (which isn’t part of the Smithsonian – even though ‘Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian’ wants you to believe so) – the seats are raked and comfortable, the screen is large, and projection ranges from 16mm, 35mm, HiDef – no 70mm unfortunately.
I’ve not been to the Museuem of the Native Americans – but a friend of mine said he wasn’t impressed with that auditorium either – from what I recall they can’t even project 35mm.
Freer’s auditorium is fine since they show alot of great Asian, contemporary and classic, but you really have to sit up close to able to read the subtitles.
Hirshorn is a joke, it’s just a blank white wall, and the flat floor seating is hit or miss depending on ‘who’ sits in front of you. When they showewd Peter Greenaway’s Tulse Luper film – the first one and the companion film, he was quite frankly appalled by the lack of an actual screen and vocally expressed to everyone attending at the film’s post Q&A – I’m sure the film programmer was royally embarrassed.
Maybe with the construction of the new African American museum, maybe an architect can do a multi function auditorium right – like the one at National Geographic – they can do lectures, speakers, performances, concerts and film (complete with three channel behind the screen sound and 35mm/Sony 4K LCoS digital projection) and comfortable seats/better sightlines to the stage.
the place to vent is on their facebook page, add a comment to one of the postings and you will more than likely get a response – I complained about their one showing of ‘Empire Strikes Back’ and got a reply almost immediately.
sound levels were also a problem at last years showing of ‘Pink Floyd – The Wall’ – granted that was a DVD presentation, the low sound, it was probably a given that it was to be a lacklustre experience – oh how I would love to have a time machine and see/hear ‘The Wall’ in 70mm!
I have no idea what the layout of the projection room is like, but the AFI Silver theater has screen 1 set up to playback 35mm, 70mm and DLP digital projection – I’m sure a similiar installation at the Cinerama could be accomplished. Has anyone heard what type of projector is being installed – the best at the moment are Christie and Barco (4K DLP) that has enough light to throw on specifically extra large screens.
the plus of having digital projection on such a big screen, would be that the image and specifically the light output and consistent color balance would be superior to the subpar mass produced 35mm prints the Uptown sometimes gets.
back to XTC, like XD there are more speakers used behind the screen to produce a fuller soundscape – similiar to what IMAX screens use. XTC and XD screens also can playback 7.1 sound – I’m not sure that is what the Uptown needs, since alot of the audiences – those sitting in the balcony wouldn’t be able to hear the side channels of sound
XTC screen is AMC’s theatre version of Cinemark’s XD screen – it’s the IMAX alternative so they can playback any movie on the digital projection system. Because of the size of the Uptown’s screen it’d make sense to have a system that can playback 4K enchanced DLP – Barco, Christie and NEC projector’s can do this as well as Sony’s digital projection system.
maybe I was sitting to close to the IMAX screen but ‘Resident Evil: Afterlife’s’ surround sound mix was no where as immersive or inventve as ‘The Expendables’. The mix was very front heavy, alot of bass, but the surrounds didn’t seem well used. Another thing that bothered me was the IMAX glasses were producing reflective glare from the images on the screen(!) – this was extremely distracting – and something I’ve never seen before or encountered with the Cinemark’s XD system and 3D glasses.
I don’t know how many speakers are implemented on AMC’s XTC’s screens but hey why not go with the flow and have AMC convert the Uptown screen as such. I’d assume there are at least 6 speakers behind the screen already. I’d think that with Barco DP system able to display such a bright and colorful image on the Cinemark Egyptian screen there ’s no reason why the Uptown can’t have digital projection as well. Is the curved screen really that problamatic?, isn’t the screen comparable to the Arclight’s screen size and curvature?
holy canoli! granted ‘The Expendables’ is a naturally loud movie, I wasn’t expecting to be pummelled by the soundmix. I’m so used to the XD screen and it’s mammoth sound system, that I forget that other theatres and specific films can equally impress. Seen on screen 13 – the sound was a juggernaut, so much so, I was getting a headache, something I don’t get alot from ‘sound’ Thumbs up to lossy 35mm sourced digital sound to be that aggressive – wow!
the October Horror Film fest looks great, the films:
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror
Dawn of the Dead [with Silver Spring ‘Zombie walk folk]
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil
Let the Right One in
Shaun of the Dead
Suspiria (!!!) on the big screen this should be amazing!!
on a positive fun note, the Senator is featured in the new Star War Year by Year book: with a picture of the front with ‘Phantom Menace’ and queue of folk (page 204)
yeah, yeah Piranha $14.50 – it was okay, not great. But the XD ‘experience’ made up for the films flaws. Now if I had payed that amount for ‘The Last Airbender’ when it had played in XD – I’d cut off my pinkies in sheer embarrassement.
wow… wow – okay I must admit I’m a fan of James Cameron’s AVATAR – and the screening I saw today was my fourth time in the theatres – but the presentation on the XD screen was tremendous – while the sound features a juggernaut of a soundmix, I thought it superceded the IMAX soundmix, by the mere fact that the sound in the surround tracks had more speakers to be thrown around the auditorium. The fall of hometree – the force and loudness conveyed such a powerful and frightening crash it made my hair on my neck and arms stand straight up. The IMAX mix only made my neck hair stand up ;) While I thought the XD presentation would have mirrored the IMAX presentation: 1.78:1 – it didn’t, but really even at 2.35 the black borders above and below the image weren’t distracting at the least. That is where I thought the IMAX version I had seen (at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History) had failed at, not only was there a large amount of unused screen – above, below and around, the XD image used up far more of the intended screen.
PIRANHA last week was a blast on the XD screen, the 3D effects were hit or miss, but the sound really kicked. One shot of the embryo piranha in it’s egg and an accompanying audio slash nearly gave me a heart attack. Another ‘audio moment’ was the earthquake scene where there was both a tremendous amount of bass and treble that it literally sounded like one of the ceiling braces, in the auditorium, had snapped
IMAX-Digital – really?!? oh come on, it makes more sense for a RPX screen – that’s discouraging news, since more films (other than the IMAX) get the deluxe theatrical experience – added to the fact that the RPX sound systems are configured to 7.1 sound – damn you Regal, that’s the reason I go over to the Egyptian [insert mad face]
it’s AMC’s answer to IMAX, Regal’s RPX and Cinemark’s XD systems where the auditorium is upgraded to feature the largest screen possible – 4K digial projection w/ 3D and custom sound where a multitude of speakers are placed in, around and behind the screen
ETX: ‘Enhanced Theatre Experience’
Screen 10 – one of the complex’s three largest screens is now a 3D Sony LCoS projector/digital system – ‘Saw 3D’ look and sounded great!
^ HAH! that never happens for this theaters postings.
the mention of a propsed 120 seat second auditorium (in the PDF attachment) sounds like a great addition.
will the webpage go active as well on the 15th??
http://www.westendcinema.com/
(like the name, plain and simple)
and it also has a facebook page
well for starters Monday’s is the slowest day of the week, and two, 22 bucks for prime orchestra seats – major ouch – I thought we are still in a recession, personally I draw the line at $18.50 … tops.
I saw this on the XD screen at Cinemark’s Egyptian and I was kind of surprised that it was presented in 2.35 and not 1.78 – oh well whatever. I thought the stampede scene was quite cool in 3D
really I find that shocking – unless they are acoustically fixing it, the old auditorium’s acoustics were quite frankly terrible.
Except for the IMAX screens, most all of the auditoriums in the varying Smithsonian musuems are terribly lacklustre – the new one in National History is good, since it features digital projection but it’s on the small side.
Really the best place to see movies on the Mall is at the National Gallery of Art (which isn’t part of the Smithsonian – even though ‘Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian’ wants you to believe so) – the seats are raked and comfortable, the screen is large, and projection ranges from 16mm, 35mm, HiDef – no 70mm unfortunately.
I’ve not been to the Museuem of the Native Americans – but a friend of mine said he wasn’t impressed with that auditorium either – from what I recall they can’t even project 35mm.
Freer’s auditorium is fine since they show alot of great Asian, contemporary and classic, but you really have to sit up close to able to read the subtitles.
Hirshorn is a joke, it’s just a blank white wall, and the flat floor seating is hit or miss depending on ‘who’ sits in front of you. When they showewd Peter Greenaway’s Tulse Luper film – the first one and the companion film, he was quite frankly appalled by the lack of an actual screen and vocally expressed to everyone attending at the film’s post Q&A – I’m sure the film programmer was royally embarrassed.
Maybe with the construction of the new African American museum, maybe an architect can do a multi function auditorium right – like the one at National Geographic – they can do lectures, speakers, performances, concerts and film (complete with three channel behind the screen sound and 35mm/Sony 4K LCoS digital projection) and comfortable seats/better sightlines to the stage.
saw ‘The Social Network’ last night and the repainted ceiling and mural look fantastic!!
the place to vent is on their facebook page, add a comment to one of the postings and you will more than likely get a response – I complained about their one showing of ‘Empire Strikes Back’ and got a reply almost immediately.
sound levels were also a problem at last years showing of ‘Pink Floyd – The Wall’ – granted that was a DVD presentation, the low sound, it was probably a given that it was to be a lacklustre experience – oh how I would love to have a time machine and see/hear ‘The Wall’ in 70mm!
I have no idea what the layout of the projection room is like, but the AFI Silver theater has screen 1 set up to playback 35mm, 70mm and DLP digital projection – I’m sure a similiar installation at the Cinerama could be accomplished. Has anyone heard what type of projector is being installed – the best at the moment are Christie and Barco (4K DLP) that has enough light to throw on specifically extra large screens.
can you give ue any hints here what’s going to be playing??
well considering how large the screens will be – 2K will be fine too. What’s the projected (re)opening date?
the plus of having digital projection on such a big screen, would be that the image and specifically the light output and consistent color balance would be superior to the subpar mass produced 35mm prints the Uptown sometimes gets.
back to XTC, like XD there are more speakers used behind the screen to produce a fuller soundscape – similiar to what IMAX screens use. XTC and XD screens also can playback 7.1 sound – I’m not sure that is what the Uptown needs, since alot of the audiences – those sitting in the balcony wouldn’t be able to hear the side channels of sound
XTC screen is AMC’s theatre version of Cinemark’s XD screen – it’s the IMAX alternative so they can playback any movie on the digital projection system. Because of the size of the Uptown’s screen it’d make sense to have a system that can playback 4K enchanced DLP – Barco, Christie and NEC projector’s can do this as well as Sony’s digital projection system.
maybe I was sitting to close to the IMAX screen but ‘Resident Evil: Afterlife’s’ surround sound mix was no where as immersive or inventve as ‘The Expendables’. The mix was very front heavy, alot of bass, but the surrounds didn’t seem well used. Another thing that bothered me was the IMAX glasses were producing reflective glare from the images on the screen(!) – this was extremely distracting – and something I’ve never seen before or encountered with the Cinemark’s XD system and 3D glasses.
I don’t know how many speakers are implemented on AMC’s XTC’s screens but hey why not go with the flow and have AMC convert the Uptown screen as such. I’d assume there are at least 6 speakers behind the screen already. I’d think that with Barco DP system able to display such a bright and colorful image on the Cinemark Egyptian screen there ’s no reason why the Uptown can’t have digital projection as well. Is the curved screen really that problamatic?, isn’t the screen comparable to the Arclight’s screen size and curvature?
holy canoli! granted ‘The Expendables’ is a naturally loud movie, I wasn’t expecting to be pummelled by the soundmix. I’m so used to the XD screen and it’s mammoth sound system, that I forget that other theatres and specific films can equally impress. Seen on screen 13 – the sound was a juggernaut, so much so, I was getting a headache, something I don’t get alot from ‘sound’ Thumbs up to lossy 35mm sourced digital sound to be that aggressive – wow!
the October Horror Film fest looks great, the films:
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror
Dawn of the Dead [with Silver Spring ‘Zombie walk folk]
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil
Let the Right One in
Shaun of the Dead
Suspiria (!!!) on the big screen this should be amazing!!
on a positive fun note, the Senator is featured in the new Star War Year by Year book: with a picture of the front with ‘Phantom Menace’ and queue of folk (page 204)
yeah, yeah Piranha $14.50 – it was okay, not great. But the XD ‘experience’ made up for the films flaws. Now if I had payed that amount for ‘The Last Airbender’ when it had played in XD – I’d cut off my pinkies in sheer embarrassement.
wow… wow – okay I must admit I’m a fan of James Cameron’s AVATAR – and the screening I saw today was my fourth time in the theatres – but the presentation on the XD screen was tremendous – while the sound features a juggernaut of a soundmix, I thought it superceded the IMAX soundmix, by the mere fact that the sound in the surround tracks had more speakers to be thrown around the auditorium. The fall of hometree – the force and loudness conveyed such a powerful and frightening crash it made my hair on my neck and arms stand straight up. The IMAX mix only made my neck hair stand up ;) While I thought the XD presentation would have mirrored the IMAX presentation: 1.78:1 – it didn’t, but really even at 2.35 the black borders above and below the image weren’t distracting at the least. That is where I thought the IMAX version I had seen (at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History) had failed at, not only was there a large amount of unused screen – above, below and around, the XD image used up far more of the intended screen.
PIRANHA last week was a blast on the XD screen, the 3D effects were hit or miss, but the sound really kicked. One shot of the embryo piranha in it’s egg and an accompanying audio slash nearly gave me a heart attack. Another ‘audio moment’ was the earthquake scene where there was both a tremendous amount of bass and treble that it literally sounded like one of the ceiling braces, in the auditorium, had snapped