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Do You Go Out to the Movies or Wait for the DVD?
SpecialAgentXXX asks "After I see a movie, I usually end up buying the DVD to see the deleted and behind-the-scenes bonus material. So I not only pay for $20 the DVD, but also $24 for a pair of tickets, $8 for parking, and $12 for popcorn & drinks. But now that I have a home theater system, I've mostly stopped going to the movies and just wait half a year for the DVD. The only exception is watching a movie in DLP or the IMAX Experience like Harry Potter since those are better qualities than a DVD. Are more people doing this? The cost of going to the movies is now more than double that of a DVD!"
Movies are way too valuable a way to kill time during business travel to waste seeing in a movie theatre. Airports, planes, trains, and ferries are full of people watching DVDs on their laptops or personal DVD players to fill all that 'wasted time'.
I've got a family of 4... To go to the theater with all of them means I'm out $30 just in the cost of tickets, and I'm restricted to family fare (My kids are 10 and 3). If I wanted to feed this bunch while there, it'd be easily another $20 - $30 (Just for some crappy snacks and drinks).
Like many of the other posters, I simply can't stand what the moviegoing experience has become. I don't like the crowds, and like the man once said: "In any sufficiently large group of people, most of them will be idiots." No place is this more evident than at a theater.
Home theater is where it's at.
For those that would die defending it, Freedom
has a sweet taste that the protected will never know.
1) Sound
Most of these theatres are run by people with no real AV calibration experience as far as I can tell. They EQ the bass up too high, the mids too low, and the highs are shrill. This is one of the reasons I couldn't enjoy Matrix Revolutions; the low mid of the punches was turned into an oatmeal slap by the horribly configured audio system. And this was on Sony DTS. Much of the time there is also some kind of buzz in the background. This is why I had trouble watching X Men 2 and a few others.
2) Video
Lots of times the video ends up looking flat and desaturated. I'm not sure if this is badly maintained projectors or what. It's often off center and obvious when switching reels. I long for digital video.
3) Audience
I hate them. Loud, obnoxious asshats chatting on cell phones and commenting aloud on the movie. Kids brought to the WRONG movies, so they're asking questions or crying. The lip smacking of the teenage couple making out behind me. Rednecks with their laser pointers and minimum wage ushers who won't do anything about it. No thanks.
You'd think for nearly (or over in some cases) $10 a ticket, they could have someone come in and set this stuff straight.
I don't have a huge home theatre system but watching it on my ordinary 36" TV with my Wharfedales and my Onkyo receiver is a better movie experience by far than going to any of the theatres near me.
vk.