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