I'm posting this in FHF since the content deals only with presentation quality and might be of interest to film handlers. Later I might post more about the trip, with links to other misc. pics (probably under Ground Floor). Lots of good things to say about the Hollywood & Highland area where the new Kodak Theatre is.

Disclaimer: I only stayed for about the first 2 reels of each show.

In the order visited:

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Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21 IMAX [Giant Screen], Irvine CA, 04/30/2002, 5:00PM, "The Scorpion King", 35mm, scope, digital sound (newspaper said DTS but they played an SR-D snipe). Newspaper stack ad also says "Special Enhanced 35mm Giant Screen Presentation" or words to that effect. Christie projector & lamphouse visible through port glass. Matinee admission $6.

Image quality: Impressive only for its size. I measured the screen width at 80 feet. Since this is a conventional 2.39 image, only about 1/2 of the total IMAX screen height is used, and since there is no movable top or bottom masking, the edges of the image fade. Noticed pretty severe keystoning during flat trailers, and the scope image is horizontally stretched too much near the edges (poor geometry). Not particularly sharp looking, but it was focused (grain was sharp). But there's a lot to be said for that huge image taking up most all of the viewer's field of vision. I kind of liked it despite the flaws.

Sound Quality: Excellent. The surround speakers were of much higher quality than most theaters, looked like stage speakers: Large enclosure with 2 large woofers and an unenclosed horn on top. In short I think overall this is the best theater sound I've ever experienced (or at least I thought that until I visited the Dome...). Very clean, dynamic, powerful, and the surrounds have the same "character" as the stage speakers so they seem better integrated than most theaters.

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ArcLight Theaters, Hollywood CA, 05/01/2002, 12:00 noon, "The Rookie", Theater "Lower 2", scope, screen width ~38 feet, slightly curved. SR-D. Moderate slope to stadium seating and Kinoton projector is not raised too far above the centerline of the screen. Admission $11.00.

Image Quality: Extremely sharp, steady, and bright. Very very nice image quality, probably as good as any 35mm I've ever seen. But the print was scratched: 1 or sometimes 2 vertical thin scratches on the entire frame (to be fair I don't know if their print came there from another theater; apparently ArcLight started running "The Rookie" after the nearby El Capitan dropped it, but the El Capitan might have been running it in DLP, so who knows for sure...). Also, the show started out of frame but that was quickly corrected. Here is a shot of the Kinoton projector taken through the port glass.

Sound Quality: As Consumer Reports would say: "Not Acceptable". Right away I noticed a "reverb" quality to the sound, especially dialog. Everyone sounded like they were talking in a racquetball court. Since there were only 2 other people there (sitting near the front), I walked around to different spots in the auditorium to see if it would make any difference. The echo effect largely went away in either rear corner, or off to either extreme side. The acoustical treatment on the walls is nothing more than a piece of flat fabric over a very thin pad. Clearly it is not suppressing "slap echo". This seems like a pretty serious flaw for a brand-new, supposedly state-of-the-art theater. Also, there was audible hiss when nothing was playing. Hiss was even audible during quiet parts of the movie. Anyway, ignoring the serious echo problem, the sound was otherwise very clean and full-range but not exceptional.

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Cinerama Dome (recently refurbished and now operated by ArcLight), Hollywood CA, 05/01/2002, 1:00PM, "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", 35mm, scope, stated screen width is 86 feet, deeply curved. Stack ad said SR-D. Admission $11.00. The place has been renovated from top to bottom and looks beautiful. Has a curtain, which closed as the trailers ended, reopened for the ArcLight image and the feature. An usher gave a short introduction.

Image Quality: Pacific Theaters claims that presentation improvements have been made and I can confirm it. The 86' image was quite bright, very steady, and well-focused across the entire curved screen. This seems like quite an achievement for 35mm. LotR actually looked much better than the last movie I saw there, the 1990 70mm reissue of "The Ten Commandments". The main thing I remember about that was it was dim, very dim. Yep, the curved screen still has horizon sag or the bowtie-syndrome or whatever you want to call it. This is mainly noticeable whenever lines of text appear. I also noticed a slight "milkiness" to the image, like too much or too little contrast (not sure which). But overall the image was extremely impressive. Imagine what a 70mm show would be like. Here is a screen shot

It's blurry due to screen image motion and too long exposure time, but it still gives you some idea of what that curved screen looks like. Note at the top of the image you can see the screen follows the curve of the round roof of the dome.

Sound Quality: Holy S&%T!! Hands down, this was the most powerful, gut-wrenching, high-impact cinema sound system I've ever heard. It was almost too much. The seats and my bodily innards were resonating. The deep .1 LFE bass in this place is not to be believed. They supposedly axed the idea of installing a Cinerama strip-type screen because they were afraid that vibration caused by the subwoofers would be noticeable in the image. I was skeptical but now I believe it. Oh yeah, if you likes your movies loud, no other theater is likely to top this.

I'm very happy to hear that they didn't ruin the sound system at the Dome after the renovations. I loved the sound there when I visited just over two years ago--it was the most musical and natural sounding system that I've ever heard in a theatre, but which also had sufficient power (wihout distortion) to give full effect to action scenes.

On that point, wasn't that what the Dimension 150 lens was supposed to cure? That with the D150 lens, horizontal lines weren't supposed to bow on either side of the center-line. Seems like they could get themselves a D150 lens and shut the nay-sayers up. There was a D150 theatre here in NY operating right up until last year. It was out in Syosset New York and we would take the 50 min drive each way just to see films there.

I understand there were attempts to change the screen, like installing a less curved frame, but they became embroiled in "historic preservation board" edicts.

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Also, a bright scene will cause a diffusion of light scattering all over the screen. The effect is similair to a Pacific theatre in Bakersfield, which, while featuring perfectly flat screens, has so much film build-up on the projection window, creates a very washed-out image.

In the past at the dome, I always sat in the last row of the main level section.

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Mark, when I asked for the middle, I was told this section was NOT available for this performance at this time. I didnt know if this meant it was sold out or not. After entering the theatre it became clear the entire raised section was being called the balcony, so in effect, they were dividing the dome up into just two sections, at least at this performance. It WAS confusing. I also could have moved just about anywhere after the lights went out, but it turned out to be perfect where I sat.