Avengers 3D...See in realD or small Imax 3D?

Arrrgghhh!! I was waiting on a friend's schedule to be able to see Avengers 3D up at the big original size IMAX at Universal City in CA. But only a week and a half after release, tomorrow (his first chance) it looks like it is all Dark Shadows.... all the time now.

May as well just go locally to AMC in town where they have it running in their "IMAX 3D" theater and also in realD 3D. These are smaller screens of course. I saw Avatar in 3D when it released at that small IMAX first and then up at Universal which was bigger, brighter and better.

Between the two formats assuming good setups which is the better experience....any thoughts please? They are both passive glasses?

Asking here because of it being which projection system type question.

Thanks for any opinions from the 3D public theater aficionados amongst us.

I sat through voice mail and actually talked to someone up at the Citywalk complex and she was saying the Big Imax never had it in 3D....they didn't do a 70MM version. And then when I looked at the link I had sent my friend last week for the schedule, I hadn't noticed that Fandango had me on the Universal Citywalk in FL schedule with the IMAX 3D.

OK, well then thanks for the advice above. On the smaller "IMAX 3D" theaters what is the technical difference between them and the realD presentation? The gal wasn't sure but thought better sound system in the mini IMAX 3D.

They're both passive glasses / systems aren't they? What about the projectors? Am assuming DLP for the small IMAX where I saw Avatar but it's not 4K in those is it?


pokekevin: "Etx at burbank 16"

Huh?

Edit: Sorry pokekevin, I just googled and found information on the new ETX 3D venue in Burbank. Looks like it should be great. I wonder if it is even bigger than the mini IMAX. Will check it out for sure. Thanks for the tip! Looks like they are using realD system.


"AMC Theaters has announced a new way for movie goers to experience films on the big screen with the AMC Enhanced Theatre Experience (ETX).

This new movie-going experience will have:
- 20% larger screens
- An upgraded sound system
- 3D technology
- Digital projection
- 12 audio channels with 50,000 watts of power

ETX will debut in the United States on March 5th at the AMC Theatre at Downtown Disney in the Walt Disney World Resort."

bump....only because of the ETX 3D information above. 1st time I have heard of it and very close to me. Haven't been in awhile. Maybe others might be hearing of for 1st time too, or can add their impression if they have seen it....compared to the "mini" IMAX 3D screens. Just rolled out in March, 2012.

I just found this revue from Scott Wilkinson on May 3 in one of these. Sounds good but like he thought it was really loud... Using 4K Sony so must be LCOS.


http://www.hometheater.com/content/amc-etx-3d-rio

Actually a couple of comments too below the article talking about the digital IMAX setups in AMC vs this ETX. They are two projectors apparently. Hmmmm.......

My local AMC has both of these currently running Avengers 3D. First what a fun, great movie!! I will be seeing it all the way through with my buddy tomorrow but today by myself bought tickets to both theaters to try to pick the best one by watching the 1st hour and 15 minutes in each.

Damn....they are both great and it is really close. IMAX with dual DLP 2K (I believe in this plex) and the ETX had dual Sony (4K I believe) Both looked sharp with no registration issues.

Screen Size - very similar, not sure which one is bigger, but they are not typical cineplex size. Big! Almost as good as the "BIG" one if you can sit where you want which I was able to.

Sound - Both very good and can be very loud, some might want to take some protection for the loudest action scenes if you are sensitive. Slight edge I give to the ETX. Dialogue seemed a bit crisper, a bit better spacial with the surround and the deep tight base a slight edge as well.

Resolution and detail - Very close but slight edge to the ETX

Glasses - IMAX passive loaners, a bit larger than the realD pair they give you with the ticket. Both worked fine. Ghosting was not an issue with either.

Brightness - Too close to call and both with the passive glasses seemed to lose only about 30% through the lenses. Nice bright images.

Blacks & shadow detail - They both looked pretty darn good compared to what theaters used to look like, I was surprised. Slight edge to the ETX.

Motion - Slight edge to the IMAX with the DLP projectors, but the Sonys were not bad at all and most would not notice. Seemed closer than my RS50 and the edge my BenQ W7000 has on it. But some minor movement blur could be seen with the Sonys.

3D - Again both very good but here I would give a slightly bigger edge to the ETX Sonys. As someone said in a reply to Scott Wilkinson's review linked above the depth and overall quality seemed better with the ETX system.

I am picking the ETX venue for tomorrow's full screening.

Hard to believe we have two large screen digital 3D presentations now in the Burbank AMC 16 that are of the quality of these two. I wonder if they keep the IMAX now indefinitely. If the DLPs had been 4K each probably would have really upped the anti and made the IMAX hands down better than ETX.

Are they 4K? What city's cineplex are you referring to?

Yes, Arri Alexa on Wiki's films shot digitally list.

Sat through the whole movie today in the ETX 3D theater. Actually did see a few quick ghosts with the Sony projectors and a tad less quality of motion compared to the IMAX DLP system projectors. But overall the picture was quite good.

But it was really LOUD. I warned my friend who has had a long career in record industry professional audio and both of us had some soft ear plugs to help with that. On his iPhone app he had 94db peaks just during the previews, and on the start of the music on the end titles. It had to be even higher during the movie. Both of us left wondering how no legal issues have come up yet. It felt like it would have been really unwise without the plugs.....