wayne, i guess that is kind of the point of thx certification. to make everything sound similar or at least good enough at the minimum of thx. i have had (still do)experience with thx certified products, and while i see a few benefits of the process, i would never buy any equipment solely because of it (well it being the deciding factor).

the theatre that i go to most regularly is not thx certified, and when i go to one that is thx certified, there is no difference. but that is not comparing apples to apples, because not every theatre is the same acoustically or pushing the same equipment in the first place.

the main audio area where i notice a difference between at home and at the theatre is bass, mine at home being cleaner. the experience of the movie in a theatre is usually a pleasant one... the sound is different than at home for sure, but one is not always better than the other.

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Also, if it's not certified it may mean they just didn't pay the money to go through any process to get certified. To me THX seems to be a garauntee that it'll sound decent at least.

Almost all the common equipment available and frequently used in commercial cinemas is already on the THX certification list. The theater does not automatically get blessed with the "THX Theater" certificaiton unless they meet some other acoustic criteria during the construction of the auditorium. And of course there are some costs involved in the actual certification process.

So depending on the construction of the theater, since the same equipment (speakers, amps, preamps, etc, etc) is used, a non-THX installation and one that is blessed can sound identical. The only other variable is the construction of the auditorium itself with things like reverb time, isolation etc being specified in the THX spec. Also the screen is specified, along with it's brightness.

id like to know how much it costs companys to add thx certification to their audio gear... everyone agrees that it at least ensures a minimum level of quality, and that is a good thing, however it by no means guarantees greatness. the reason for no thx is always said to be cost, itd be neat to know exactly how much more cost it would add...

its a shame george lucas is a punk, he should accept his riches and take one for the betterment of his passion and offer thx certification at a minimal price.

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curegeorg, what if they are already charging minimum?

A question to those who are familiar. Most of HT audio source is DVD. What do the movie theaters use?

Movie theaters use 35mm film projectors. There is a growing number of digital cinemas that use special high def video projectors. These play back the movie from a local hard disk. The movie is delivered to the theaters on DVD-ROM I believe, but there is talk of secure downloading in the future if they can get the encryption secure enough.

Some movie theaters have the capability of projecting 70mm film, but these are very much in the minority.

The Dolby Digital audio track on 35mm film is located on the film itself between the sprocket holes (if you can believe that!) The DTS track is on a seperate CD-ROM that is synchronized with the 35 mm film by use of a SMPTE time code track which is imprinted along one edge of the film.

One of the jobs I did in my distant past was a part time movie projectionist.

I think I should remind you folks of IMAX - and its technology.

The film's frame is 10 times the area of 35mm. The sound is uncompressed digital. The standard is 12,000 Watts of power per theatre. I could go on. Check it our for yourself. http://www.imax.com/

Yes there is a dearth of things to see - due to the expense, and the relative limited number of seats that the final product can be shown to - but I doubt whether anyone's home theatre can rival, or even come close, to the IMAX experience. IMAX is, to me, the ultimate movie-going experience.

With the new Harry Potter movie coming to IMAX, perhaps that's a good opportunity for the Outlaws, and their families, to take in the experience. I know that I will.

Jeff Mackwood

imax is neat, but it stinks that they dont show too many new (commerical) films, just a lot of specialty stuff... i know the reasons why they dont, but it would still be nice if they could... why doesnt the movie industry just switch to imax standards?

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I think one of the reasons is time considerations. I remember they had to edit out about 30 minutes of "Attack of the Clones". I think IMAX for some reason is limited to around 90-110 minutes which would explain one reason why Hollywood hasn't embraced it yet.

Edit: I found out most IMAX systems only go for 120 minutes, so I was a bit off.

[This message has been edited by Jed M (edited June 01, 2004).]

The IMAX 70mm film is extremely expensive and Hollywood doesn't see the need to spend that much money on prints for a relatively liminted number of theaters. A regular 35mm release print is over $3,000.00 - mulitiply that by a couple thousand theaters and the cost mounts quickly.

IMAX is sure neat, but it is nowhere near a mass release format.

In my experience with the IMAX theaters in the Los Angeles area, the sound is still not as good as with a good home theater setup. 12,000 uncompressed watts notwithstanding - the sound is generally just as harsh as in any other commercial theater. This is not surprising since the speakers are the same JBL horns, not known for their finesse and the same "industrial" quality power amps made by QSC and others.

[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited June 01, 2004).]