Here's a fun bit of tech news for all you film buffs out there. This morning, USA Today reported that Cinemark will be tossing its hat into the IMAX ring. It seems they'll begin rolling out their own deluxe screens, called Cinemark XD, by Oscar season. The IMAX rival will begin in twelve test markets, including Las Vegas and San Francisco. Assuming the new screens prove to be a hit, Cinemark will likely begin converting theater screens across the country.
From a technical standpoint, Cinemark's system sounds comparable to IMAX in every respect, but they're claiming that their ace in the hole will be the ability to support any film format, celluloid or digital. For films to be shown on IMAX, special prints need to be made to accommodate the projectors.
I don't know about you, but I see a flaw in this plan. The reason IMAX film prints look as good as they do are due to A) the special formatting and B) certain films being shot with IMAX cameras. For Cinemark XD to jump into this format with what sounds like a regular projector system on a larger screen, it's likely that this format will stretch a film's aspect ratio to achieve the effect. If that's the case, this isn't going to make films look any better, and discerning theater-goers are going to notice the difference right away.
At this point, all we can do is wait and see how Cinemark's technology compares. Do you IMAX has anything to worry about?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment