With the advent of HDTVs and great products from the likes of Outlaw, etc., what's the draw to going to the movies these days?

I've reached the point where I see a movie on the big screen maybe 1-2 times per year. Usually, I wait until the movie comes out on DVD. More often than not, I enjoy the DVD of a movie I have previously seen in a theater on my own system.

Setting aside the whole convenience and expense factors associated with a trip to the movies -- and instead concentrating on pure fidelity -- do you think the AV experience is better on your system compared to the multiplex? How often do you go to the movies?

Our movie going has dropped off significantly since our daughter arrived on the scene, although it was already tapering off some before that. I will say that aside from the sheer size of the image, I've not seen or heard any advantages in going to the theater as compared to watching a DVD at home - at home, I don't have to deal with worn prints, projection mistakes, annoying music and ads before the movie, too hot a soundtrack (although I've had pretty decent luck avoiding the excessive volume/bass at the two theaters we do go to), or overpriced concessions. Video quality and audio quality both tend to be better at home (again, aside from the smaller screen size). I can also pause the movie if necessary, and with Netflix we've found ourselves keeping up with new releases pretty well (if you don't mind the six month or so lag between theatrical release and video release). We do still catch a movie from time to time (maybe three a year) just as something for the wife and I to do by ourselves, but I don't feel bad doing most of our movie watching from the couch.

Our family of 4 spends on average $70 per trip to the movies. That's not even going overboard. At $10.50 per ticket (DC area), that's $42 on tickets alone unless we go matinee when we can save a whoping $4. It is very easy to spend another $28 dollars at the concession stand (seems like a soda costs that much). That doesn't even include gas, parking and "collateral damage" (spending money at the mall while waiting for the movie to start).

Also, the experience has gotten worse. Nowadays a lot of theaters are using cheap DLP projectors and sound systems designed more to drown out crying babies than to reproduce good sound. People who end up going to the movies these days are those who don't appreciate a quality experience, because people like us have left the gene pool causing a significant spike in the moron/nice-person ratio.

We used to go to the movies about twice a month, more during the Summer. We now watch at least one movie a week at home. My Outlaw gear has pretty much paid for itself in less than six months of use.

LOL! You've got that right!

If you count the disruptions from people entering the movie late, leaving for bathroom breaks, blocking your view, talking, etc., your ability to concentrate on the movie is really diminished compared to watching it at home.

As Gonk noted, only the image size is the the real benefit to going to the theater. But even the perceived value of that can vary depending upon the availability of good seats.

And nine times out of ten, the audio quality is pretty bad -- muddy bass, veiled dialog and a poor surround sound envelope.

That said, it's tempting to see the new Bond film on the big screen!

Well since I got the 42" plasma I'll now be watching everything on DVD. I can't drink wine or beer in the theatre. I'm finding myself watching many of my dvd's over again.
Maybe someone can answer this question. I was watching Lord of the Rings last night and my surround switched from my default PLII-C to EX when I hit play. I only have 5:1 so I manually switched it to PLIIx-C as per the suggestion in the manual. The problem is, if I pause or stop the movie and then resume play, it goes back to the EX mode. Is this normal and does anyone have any suggestions what setting to use.
Thanks, Dave

Gonk,
I just read an earlier post of yours regarding this and I think it answered my question.

Cool - basically, in case others are curious, Lord of the Rings is a Dolby EX track with the EX flag enabled, so it will always force the receiver or processor to apply Dolby EX processing. It will do it every time you force the receiver to re-acquire the signal. It's annoying, but that's what Dolby requires of manufacturers. For folks with 5.1 systems, however, you don't need to worry about it being in EX mode (emphasis added by edit because I left that important word out the first time) - the receiver or processor will recognize the fact that no surround back speaker is available and will simply do basic Dolby Digital 5.1 decoding only.

Gonk:

Bear with me here, but I read your post and an earlier one on Dolby modes and I am still a bit confused about some of the differences...

For example, I recall you wrote that you used Dolby PLIIx as your default surround mode. Does that include for movies that are 5.1 encoded? The reason I ask, is that I [i]assume[i/] (and my assumption may be wrong) PLIIx is a matrix-based decoding scheme, not discrete based. So I fear I would "lose something" by going outside the discrete channel domain.

Am I missing something here?

I do use PLIIx even with 5.1 movies. It is a matrix decoding scheme, but when working with a 5.1 source and a 7.1 speaker system the only channels affected by the PLIIx decoding are the surrounds. The discrete center and fronts are unchanged by the overlay of PLIIx onto Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS. The surrounds are fed through a matrix decoding logic that derives back surround signals and adjust levels in the side surrounds to compensate for the activity of the back surrounds. That way, you don't actually "lose" anything - you just "refine" what your surrounds get.

I hate to be the one to interrupt the 5:1 and 7:1 conversation but I promised to post some images of my system when I had them. I'd like to see images of others on the forum, I find them really interesting and can appreciate what thought has gone into them. Thanks guys for all your help.

Outlaw 970
Adcom GFA 535 (Powering 2 surrounds)
Adcom 5006 (bridged for Main and Center)
Philips CD-50
Denon DVD 1720
Panasonic 42" EDTV
Cambridge Ensemble Satellites and Subwoofers
Cambridge Center
Cambridge Surrounds
AR 12" Subwoofer
MX-500 Universal Remote


Home Theatre Images

Nice pics, Dave. For what it's worth, I've got a page of pics on my site - you can see 'em here .

Nice pictures. And this is why I don't go to the movies anymore.

OK maybe it wasn't such a good idea to see photo's of others' Home Theatres. Now I'm feeling inferior. Those chairs look comfy, I'd probably fall asleep in them. Very clean setup especially for having children. Only thing missing is a nice art piece from Gonk's Dad!

Missing from here too, at the moment. Got to retrieve the small pieces and two panels one day this week. The beloved turtle panel may have found a new home, though...

Really?
I like that sea turtle copper panel very much.

I have spent most of my life at sea (21 years in the Navy - submarine force) and really wouldn't mind some sealife art around the house. Please let us know when the next exhibit is.

Dave, Nice set up. I too have those ensomble and I see you have your passive bass modules still hooked up.

I did until last week when I tried the system without them. I have a LFM-1 and jsut let it do its thing and it sounded better.

After spending some time with Barry Ober at M&K sound I started thinking "less is more" and tried a few tweeks.

With Redundant crossovers in both the sats and the passive subs you can just remove the sub hook up and experiment.

The Ensomble's served me well for 15 years and its time to retire them. My Outlaw gear as lsted below is inroute and I have a lot of work ahead of me the next few weeks.

Try it with the bass modules and see what happens.

The bass modules were fine for music, but they just didn't cut it for theatre so I added the AR sub.
I'll have to experiment without them.
I like the ensemble, but the black formica finish was peeling over time and I had to keep fixing it.
With the crossover adjustments on the 970 I can probably unhook the modules and just use the sub although sometimes I just use the bass modules for music.

Have fun setting up your new system.

Let the threadjacking continue...

Yeah, we found out yesterday that someone is interested in buying the turtle. The museum rarely sees much work sold out of exhibits (to the point that the staff had some trouble with requests during dad's show), but four pieces out of dad's show have sold - assuming he can catch up with the people and make arrangements. We had the turtle at the end of our hallway for close to two years, and our daughter used to always run her hand across it when we carried her down the hall. I'm really going to miss that one.

Dad rarely exhibits his work, especially in a one-man show like this, but I'll let folks know the next time it happens. He has a number of pieces that are always "for sale" even though they live in my parents' house (or, in the case of the turtle and the jellyfish, our house). The turtle, waves (which are mine), gator, gator tails, and jellyfish were all made on an island off the Mississippi gulf coast called Horn Island - it's where Walter Anderson used to do a lot of his painting. The Memphis College of Art (where dad teaches) takes a group of students there for a week every May and dumps them on the island for a week to create art. They were made with minimal tools (one or two hammers), shaped against wet sand, and annealed in a bonfire.

Since you were in the sub service, you might be interested to know about the five-piece silver service on the USS Tennessee. When the navy commissioned the Tennessee in the late 80's, the state of Tennessee offered to hand over the silver service from the old 1920's era battleship. The navy pointed out that a sub really didn't have room to store a 100+ piece silver service complete with punch bowl, and they turned the state down. Instead, the state commissioned the Metal Museum to oversee the fabrication of a small, custom made service specifically for the sub. The museum hired dad since he was the only person in the state (if not the entire region) who could design and raise a silver service like that. There is a sterling silver tray, tea pot, coffee pot, creamer, and sugar bowl riding around on that sub to this day that dad made at the museum smithy back in 1988 or 1989. The design reflects the submarine, with the bottom mirror smooth and the top chased with a heavy texture to represent the ocean both below and above the surface. The two sections were separated by a rough wavy line, and the state seal of Tennessee straddled the line to represent the sub's place on and beneath the surface.

The submarine world is a small world indeed. I visited the USS Tennessee two years ago in Kings Bay, GA. I might know a few members of the crew.
When I was in, one of my jobs was to make sure the "presentation silver" was inventoried and appraised yearly. Submarines treat these gifts of silver received during commissioning almost as a baptism certificate, and I am sure that your dad's work has been treated with the same reverence.
You'd be surprise the artistry you can find onboard a nuclear power submarine.
To sort of get back on topic, let me say that we have nice sound systems too (indoor and outdoor ).

Wow. Those systems look great! Keep the pictures coming. I find I get more inspiration and design ideas from looking at a few pics of people's home theaters than I do reading a hundred articles on the subject.

BTW, since we have veered off course anyway, I am pleased to report that I am picking up my new amp today for my mains. (yeehaw) Once I live with it a bit, I'll have to post a mini-review.

And don't worry about the thread-jacking Gonk, I actually enjoyed reading the story behind the USS Tennessee silver service -- your Dad is obviously very talented an respected in his field.

The Ensombles have the same cross over in either unit. If you recall, it does not matter how you wired them. I just unhooked them and let them play large. Adjust the sub cross over to about 150 (gotta guess) and I like the sound better.

It was a great system in its day, especially for the money.

I wish I could use them somewhere else. My sats have like 4 different coats of paint on them from moving or changing colors! The holes are getting smaller!

I bought dipoles to match the front a few years later after getting the initial set up.

Cambridge with Henry Kloss made some nice prodcuts before he died. The Company is much different now once they started opening up stores and expanding.

Natural progression.

Its happeing to Outlaw also these days. They don't quite have the "Rouge" persona as they did a while