Unpopular opinion: Our (better) rooms are better than (average) theatres

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k-pad

k-pad

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Just caught the Hotstar version (claimed atmos) of the water Avatar.
My room left me fully satisfied in the second half.
Point is not to tom-tom my set up, but this:
Theatres are just too big and unwieldy to satisfy those not sitting in ideal seats.
Home systems, on the other hand, my god, if you can keep neighbours at bay, uff, blow you away, even a budget one, for sound.

Of course, the home screen industry also needs to step up, be it budget 4K pjs or big screen oleds.

But, movie sound, personally is best experienced in a personalised space, all other constraints considered.

PS: Wonder why Indian theatres dont invest in good sound. Or a proper IMAX screen.
 
k-pad said:
Just caught the Hotstar version (claimed atmos) of the water Avatar.
My room left me fully satisfied in the second half.
Point is not to tom-tom my set up, but this:
Theatres are just too big and unwieldy to satisfy those not sitting in ideal seats.
Home systems, on the other hand, my god, if you can keep neighbours at bay, uff, blow you away, even a budget one, for sound.

Of course, the home screen industry also needs to step up, be it budget 4K pjs or big screen oleds.

But, movie sound, personally is best experienced in a personalised space, all other constraints considered.

PS: Wonder why Indian theatres dont invest in good sound. Or a proper IMAX screen.
Click to expand...
For most of the average theaters definition of good immersive sound = loud sound which causes a lot of discomfort. A small hometheater system if tuned properly will give immense satisfaction. The big screen will be missed offcourse, but those with projectors with a dedicated HT room and a bigger screen may not.
 
I agree. I just saw the new Spiderman movie and felt the underwhelming sound and painful sounds of kids talking throughout the movie. Plus for some godforsaken reason I had chosen 4DX and the constant seat wobbling nearly broke my back that I switched to sitting on the stairs.
 
With VR/ AR, both cinema halls and home theatres would have a formidable substitute soon. With no limit (except resolution) on the (virtual) screen size backed by immersive spatial AV experience. Carrying your personal theatre wherever you wish. 😊

Home theatres would still continue to serve family entertainment, just like cinema halls serve social viewing. But with the trend clearly towards increasingly solo entertainment, VR glasses could soon become the most popular mode of movie consumption. At a small fraction of cost and space that home theatre takes.
 
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Last movie I saw in theaters was 'Spider man Far From Home' (My son insisted). Was shocked to see poor picture contrast, viewers missing jokes and hence ruining experience, and sound being no better than my home theater. Even recliner was no better than what I use at home. Haven't been back to theaters since.
 
I find watching at home more convenient for various reasons though I don't have any dedicated home theater setup. I still use an old 42 inch Plasma TV and a vintage Philips Fideleo soundbar. The last movie I watched in theater was Vikram, in supposedly a theater with very good sound and screen, but was just not my cup of tea. It took a couple days to detoxify as the experience was quite.fatiguing
 
The last movie I had watched in the theater was Infinity wars few years ago which was sold at a premium amt and much more than the usual ticket price. Found it a real let down and very underwhelming with respect to desaturated print quality and bad sound quality at the theater near my place.
Really enjoyed watching the same movie in my humble HT setup with no sound proofing & with convenient breaks at your finger tips.

In my case never enjoyed 3d movies with wearing 3d glasses over your specs. Maybe even with the new VR glasses this needs to be seen.
 
I have poor eyesight, and have never found movies to be engaging at the theatres. My wife also doesn't like the high volumes.

With the amount of movies we watch at home now, I decided it was high time to setup a 5.1.2 system at home.

Dialogues are so much better now. Next is a TV upgrade from 50 to 55, space won't allow going to 65 unfortunately.
 
Despite my last bad experience, I still like watching movies in theaters. esp. it was fun to see the MCU movies (till Infinity War) and the recent Batman and Joker movie. The viewing experience in an IMAX makes it very much worth it. In most IMAX the audio experience also tends to be very good. In others a bit iffy and extra loud.
 
I don't have a surround setup but my OLED screen and Q Acoustics M20 HD gives theatre screens and sound a run for their money.
Always feel that screen is "very" poor in theatres compared to my OLED screen at home. And sound clarity is also meh compared to my 2.0 home speakers.
 
I find the new theatres ear piercingly bright. And so loud. These days I sit in the last row against the wall. That way the sound from the rear speakers won't drill through my hapless ears. But the big screen is unmatchable.

Swagath Shankar Nag at MG Road, Bangalore is the go to theatre for me nowadays. Purely for the screen. Samsung Onyx. The alluring blacks 😍​
 
k-pad said:
Just caught the Hotstar version (claimed atmos) of the water Avatar.
My room left me fully satisfied in the second half.
Point is not to tom-tom my set up, but this:
Theatres are just too big and unwieldy to satisfy those not sitting in ideal seats.
Home systems, on the other hand, my god, if you can keep neighbours at bay, uff, blow you away, even a budget one, for sound.

Of course, the home screen industry also needs to step up, be it budget 4K pjs or big screen oleds.

But, movie sound, personally is best experienced in a personalised space, all other constraints considered.

PS: Wonder why Indian theatres dont invest in good sound. Or a proper IMAX screen.
Click to expand...

In reality a bigger space is "theoretically" better for sound. In a smaller space you would need an excess amount of treatment to make it free of issues. The part about ideal seats is correct to some extent as theatres are meant to cover a large area and cannot be personalized to your preference at your seat. I think most people prefer their home setups not because it is superior but because it is customizable and controllable. I reckon most people would be much happier with the theater if they actually owned it. Since they don't they rationalize their systems shortcomings and money invested to be superior to the theater to make themselves feel better. This is normal human behaviour. The primary benefit of one's personal HT is customization and control. Not inherently better system. One final point of note is that theaters rarely invest in treatment or setup to make good sound, they focus to some degree to sound proofing but not on sound quality. I have been invited once to the setup of a theater before it opened when it was being setup, if you know how to set things up and see how they set it up you might be shocked.
 
Silencer said:
I find the new theatres ear piercingly bright. And so loud. These days I sit in the last row against the wall. That way the sound from the rear speakers won't drill through my hapless ears. But the big screen is unmatchable.

Swagath Shankar Nag at MG Road, Bangalore is the go to theatre for me nowadays. Purely for the screen. Samsung Onyx. The alluring blacks 😍​
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agree on Swagath Shankar Nag, had gone to check the screen, dont recollect which movie. that will be "WAR"
 
Goodness! This isn't an unpopular opinion at all, is it!
Thank you to all those who replied.
I think the logical extension is to draft a charter for good cinematic experiences.

My ideal theatre would be where the front seats would be as cheap as the rear seats, while the middle ones would be the most exorbitant.

But nobody makes egg-shaped theatres, do they?
 

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Most theatres I have been to are rectangular in shape. Only the hall size, speaker layout and shape of the screen differs.

The best theatre I have been to is AriesPlex SL Cinemas in Trivandrum. ​
 
Other than screens and audio, the thing I hate about theatres are people commenting on each and every scene and making us distract from the scene. Last time when I went to watch PS2 there was a group of people behind me making comments on each every scene and dialogues. I had to tell them and it kicked their ego, ended in exchanging of words. And then others started intervene- they stopped. Such a bad experience.
 
Last Movies I Watched were RRR & Kantara at Theaters...
For Both Movies : My Wife and Kids exclaimed Movie is Good " But We should Wait for OTT Release to Watch at Home" because of the Subpar experience at Regular Theaters.

Well, Nothing Beats Personalized and Customized home theater experience for me, and there's no point going back to theaters anytime soon, I believe the industry is going to have a paradigm shift towards early OTT releases.
 
Most of the theaters are just loud with average to sub par screen quality.
Very few of them are really nice in terms of both. For a family outing to the theaters nowadays, it becomes quite expensive plus parking headaches or taking a cab.
Nothing beats the convenience of watching at home despite the shortfalls of proper accoustic treatment.
Offcourse there are some who enjoy going to theaters which is understandable. To each his own.
 
sreejithsreedharan said:
Other than screens and audio, the thing I hate about theatres are people commenting on each and every scene and making us distract from the scene. Last time when I went to watch PS2 there was a group of people behind me making comments on each every scene and dialogues. I had to tell them and it kicked their ego, ended in exchanging of words. And then others started intervene- they stopped. Such a bad experience.
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+1.

The lame comments from others throughout the movie is such a turn off.

People should respect others while being in a public place like theatre, which demands silence and attention. I am a person who doesn't even miss a dialogue. I am so focused on the movie in a way that had I been this attentive during my school time, I would have become a scholar, lol.

I mean, why else we bother to travel all the way to theatre through our notorious Bangalore traffic spending our hard earned time and money ?

To argue and pick a fight with the idiots in the middle of the movie, ruining ours and others' mood and day. Not to mention the unpleasantness if we have our family with us. ​
 
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