'IMAX Enhanced' Promises Highest-Quality Image, Sound Experiences For Home Theater Setups (audioholics.com)

Audiofan writes: Just when we thought Sony learned their lessons from past formats DOA, they are at it again this time by teaming up with IMAX and select partners to certify the "IMAX movie experience" for home theater setups. Will Sony be on the losing side against already established Dolby Vision and HDR10 or will they leverage IMAX's immersive picture and sound quality on top of these other technologies? This smells like a format war or at the very least more consumer confusion. The new certification and license program from IMAX and DTS will give what they say to be the highest-quality image and sound experiences for home theater. "IMAX and DTS [as well as partners Denon, Marantz, Sony, and Paramount Studios] aren't clear as to whether this will be significantly different from DTS:X immersive 3D sound other than to say, 'The DTS:X codec technology (is) integrated in home audio equipment to deliver an IMAX signature sound experience,'" reports Audioholics. "To be accepted into the program, leading consumer electronics manufacturers will design top-of-the-line 4K HDR televisions, A/V receivers, sound systems and other home theater equipment to meet a carefully prescribed set of the highest audio and video performance standards, set by a certification committee of IMAX and DTS engineers and Hollywood's leading technical specialists."

The report notes that the program will use an IMAX post-production process "to digitally re-master content to produce more vibrant colors, greater contrast and sharper clarity," as well as "deliver an IMAX signature sound experience."

Comments

Mostly Correct, some nits

[DumbSwede]

1080p -- 2 Million Pixels, 4K -- 8 Million pixels, 8K -- 33 Million pixels.

4K is for the most part way overkill for most movies. I watch most of my stuff in 720p (1 Million pixels) as it is very, very superior to SD or DVD on my tablet. On my 8 foot projection screen 1080p makes a visible but not dramatic upgrade from 720p. That said, some wide screen movies would be better on a wider screen and we are throwing away some of our 2 Million pixels on letter-boxing. When Blu-Ray came out they should have had a 3 Million pixel Wide Screen option at 1080p, this would have twice the usable pixels of regular letter-boxed 1080p.

4K is really sweet for programming and browsing and having multiple windows in general.

8K haven't really seen any up close, can't imagine it is much needed much currently -- but I could be wrong -- can never have enough windows :)

VR at 1440p still has a lot of screen door. I suspect 4K VR will be about good enough, but not affordable soon. Eye tracking and Foviated rendering will be needed to make 8K VR viable (though we are then at a point 8K starts to make sense).

Re:Videophiles

[David_Hart]

Audiophiles don't care about new surround formats. Quite a few won't touch anything digital with a 10 foot pole. Some will *maybe* go in for multichannel SACD, but that's it.

Naw, this is geared toward people who buy a new receiver every time a new surround format comes out. Most audiophiles also won't touch a receiver with a 10 foot pole.

My interpretation is that most audiophiles are interested in music and optimize their system for stereo, not surround sound. It's the home theater and movie buffs who are interested in these new formats. You can argue that the home theater crowd are included in the term audiophiles, but the traditional meaning slots these into separate groups.

The only time I buy a new receiver is when a new video format is released. For example, from 720p to HD to 4K. In regards to sound, I find that dolby 5.1 serves my needs quite well. The new formats are largely for systems with 7.2 speaker setups or higher. 7.2 and higher requires a relatively large space for the home theater setup and fewer homes have this amount of space.