Is Home Theater Technology Killing Movie Theaters? - Page 6

Let me just say your theatre sounds incredible. B&w 801s, fathoms, 10ft wide screen. We have very similar tastes. Can't wait until my theater is finished. My screen is nearly 11ft wide!

I work for myself, make my own hours, so when I go to a theater, I go midweek in midafternoon and most of the time maybe there will only be 10-12 people in that big theater.
Great way to watch the BIG screen!

I NEVER go on weekends or in the evenings....

Gracias, Cool please post pictures when it is finished

B&W 800Diamonds, http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/Speakers/Home_Audio/800_Series_Diamond/800-Diamond.html

As has been stated, home theaters are having no impact on movie sales. All the various reasons have been listed. There are just too few people that will spend $$$$ on a reasonable theater. Components alone are going to run $4k-$6k for even a budget system like mine. That is with an existing space and painted wall as a screen. You can have a lot of movie nights for what many here will spend on a theater.

Now if the question were; What about your home theater keeps you from going to the Cineplex? Or even what would it take to get you to the Cineplex and out of your home theater? Those would be interesting and some have already been detailed here.

Couple of nuggets; In a home theater you can watch sports, play video games and TV programming on par or better than if you watched it in a theater. But you can’t for the most part do that in a theater and you can do it anytime you want under your roof.

Side note: one thing that amuses me about my wife is that before I had a theater she thought I was nuts even doing the basic one I have/had. Now that we are without a theater during the rebuild, she doesn’t want to watch any movies until it’s done!

That seems about right to me. I got in a bit under that, but I re-purposed some components for it, the surround system for instance. And assuming a 65" TV qualifies.

Then there's the question of laying it out and remodeling a room for a dedicated home theater. I did it all myself, from re-wiring (outlets, speaker wires), to soundproofing, drywall, flooring, finishing, painting, etc. Materials ran into the thousands as well. I originally intended putting in a projector, and made an indented wall area for one (to accommodate a screen), but going passive 3D with a projector setup was looking questionable at the time, for various reasons. Hence the TV instead, but I still may go with a PJ. Or a really big 4k panel in a few years, who knows?

Funny thing about wives. Mine thought I was nuts as well. First thing she said when she saw the TV was: "Who the hell needs a TV that big and expensive?" "We do", says I. Then she couldn't believe it when I gutted the room. For a month it was: "What's taking so long with this project of yours?" Mind you, I'm a semi-retired contractor and I wasn't screwing around with it. It was a lot of work for one guy, even one experienced in the skills required.

Then came our "premier" night when it was finally finished. I sat her down in the love seat 8' from the screen and we watched Hugo in 3D. I said: "There, that's what all the work was for. Come on now, it's awesome, admit it." She replied: "Alright, it is awesome, AWESOME."

Now she wants to hang pictures and crap on the walls to decorate it. "No can do", I replied. "This is my room." I did allow her to put up new drapes on the windows. She didn't like just the blinds there.

Anyway, the above begs the question: "Does putting a flat panel in the living room and hooking up a soundbar qualify as a home theater.?" I say it doesn't. Though I realize some may think a 65" TV doesn't qualify either. But I consider the TV to be temporary only.

Reasons I don't go to the Theater:

Utterly garbage content ( Spiderman, Batman, Resident Evil, Prometheus, Avatar, Battle Ships, etc ). Content targeted at teens. The action and special effects can only keep me focused for a few seconds/minutes. As soon as the actors start talking and the plot takes its course, I enter this state of boredom.. I just feel like punching the actors in the face, their acting is beyond obnoxious many times. Script and direction are subpar as well.

No proper way to relax at the Theater ( stretch legs, sit comfortably, etc. )

Can't smoke ( not that I smoke in the room where the TV is located, but if I want to take a cigarette brake at home, I just pause the movie and do that )

Food/Snacks/Drinks ( not gonna pay 20$ for a few snacks and drinks ). At home I just grab whatever I want, I can even have dinner during the movie if I want to.

Socializing during the movie. At home I can socialize during the movie, I can pause it any time and discuss scenes, etc.

Replaying and Pausing: I can watch a 2--3 hour movie in in 2-4 sessions. I can replay any scene as many times as I want.



So why would I be stuck in traffic like dumbass, waste gas, pay a premium for snacks/drinks just to watch some average/subpar movie, when I can have some good/interesting/intriguing/provoking entertainment on my 60" GT50 at home.
The content is my main reason, but the other reasons are valid as well.

adriantrances,

What are you smoking???
If it is garbage, the shows your talking about, then your off base as those shows are extremely popular with the masses.
They wouldn't make those movies because the public demands it.
I for one like all those shows you bashed, especially in 3D. And I'm not a teenager either, I'm 60
The other points you made have been said over and over hundreds of times already... let's hear something new.

No more movie theaters for me...I have a wife and 3 kids, so with 5 tickets, popcorn, sodas,etc..Its about $80 to go!!..I would rather spend $80 on a few blu rays,kick back in the comfort of my own home..Plus, I can pause the movie, if I have to use the bathroom

The reason they make LCD that SUCKS is so people will go to the movie theaters!

If you had 85-inch Kuros at a decent price the movie theaters would go out of business!

The reason you have so much compression is also to FORCE people to go to the movie theaters.

I really think if they charged less for the popcorn they could charge more for the movie tickets.

If they want people to go to the movies they need calibrators for their projectors.

Sometimes I think they're trying to suck as much as LCD!

Now it makes sense for you to watch movies at home

Friday I saw Life of Pi (3D) at the Arclight Sherman Oaks. With the Woopi Atmos. Though I didn't know it till the corn-ball entro sceen. Not a good demo to me. Really sad.

I worked for 23 years at Universal studios in the sound dept. Building dubbing stages (theaters), large & small screening rooms for the studio as well as at producers/ director homes (you know, like Speilberg) & all other types of rooms that are TV / Cinema sound. We always used the industry standard JBL speakers. Which is probably what is used with the Atmos system.
I can find out as I have many friends that still work there.

The Acrlight is supposedly a great theater. I wasn't impressed.
Picture was very soft I get MUCH more detail at home, partly thank's to Darbee Vision.
The Atmos did seem to have more surround seperation & I did hear the sound directly above once or twice. Bit overall dinamic range & impact wasn't there. Much better at home.

Dolby is the industry standard for cinema sound. (prossesing) only though.

Maybe this was just a bad mix?

As far as 64 channles ? Movies are STILL only mixed in 5.1.anything more (7.1, 7.2) is a matrixed creation.

Now the Hobit will have something, well not even new, but new to mainstream movies. 48FPS. THIS shoud be great. Some previews already have people getting sick from it.

Now, give me this & D-box, (which is in some theaters now) That's a show you won't get at home.
Edited by decodave - 12/9/12 at 5:54pm

I've heard that about Life of Pi instead quite a bit, actually. 3D with a lot of ocean boat rocking has people getting seasick.

If I had a 10' screen and home theater seating, I'd probably never enter a theater much. However, I can also think of some movies that were just a lot better to watch with a crowd in a theater...that's an experience you lose at home for the most part.

However, I'm currently in an apartment and get "free" tickets once a month from the complex to AMC. So, I've seen a lot more movies than we normally went to in the last 2 years since living here.

Prices of food / drinks are insane at the theater though. Two of the smallest drinks offered cost $10 total! I know theaters don't really make a lot from the ticket sales, but rely on the concessions, but seriously, don't you think them reducing prices to sane levels would allow them to make even more money from increased sales / eliminating people sneaking food / drink in? That to me is what's going to kill them first. And yes, for a family of four, ticket prices for seeing a movie vs just buying it when comes out on blu-ray / dvd seems to limit the amount they can increase ticket prices without major blow back from people.

There you go, you said it yourself.

Now that my theater room is starting to take shape if it wasn’t for my wife making me go out to the movies every now and then I would never go again! There’s not much a movie theater offers me over my very own other than sound that just cant be reproduced in my house. My screen is only 70inch and the relative size is close enough! Plus I dont have to worry about missing part of the movie for a bathroom break and I can drink / eat whatever I want, even fall asleep if its a late movie and wake the next day!

I spent about 9k on my theater. Its not the best ever but it does the trick. When watching a movie I'm fully immersed

That's exactly the point, though. For $9k, someone could go to the theater roughly 600 times (assuming you pay $15 each time). That's 30+ years of movies assuming you only go once every 3 weeks. I'd say that's sufficient enough to say that HT tech doesn't affect movie theater attendance.

Nobody pays $15 each time... as no one goes by themselves. More like $30 or more each time.

Me? I spent approx $4K on my setup and extremely happy with it. Watch a lot of Blockbuster / Streaming shows. (about 20 shows or more a week)
My wife and I go to the theaters once, twice a month to watch new releases (ones we like) when they come out.
When we go is during the midweek and midday when people are at work. Many times there are only a handful of people there. NICE!

So there is a time to go to the theaters and a time to stay home....
Edited by jack54 - 12/11/12 at 11:50pm

ROI on a home theater build is an entirely different thread. If you put 9K into a home theater, you're going to get X% of it back when you sell your house. In this market, it could be the difference between selling and not selling.

And -- from experience -- you're going to watch a lot more movies at home than if you were going out to the cineplex.

ROI may be an interesting discussion, and I'm sure I could drive my car for fewer total dollars per mile if I had bought a Ford Fiesta instead of a Challenger Super Bee, but I'm happy with my choice of car and I'm pretty happy with my Home Theater.

Starting new ROI thread here:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1444910/roi-on-a-dedicated-home-theater-2012-2013-edition

Why not.

In my humble opinion, home theater is not having a major impact on commercial movie houses. By the time I had the space and the cash to put together a nice home theater,I was already outside the theater going demographic. My daughter, who is a teenager, has access to the home theater for herself and all her friends, but they prefer to go to the movies, as a social experience, to watching at home. My wife and I also go to the movies fairly regularly, as a date for ourselves. It usually involves a meal before or after, and costs more than $50.00 per trip. Not a good comparison to the $1.50 Redbox rental, but is good for our relationship. In my opinion there are 3 major things that have negative impact on commercial theaters. Competition from other media, like gaming and the internet, including pirated movies. Next the high cost of the commercial movie experience. Third, the content does not seem to be as high as in the past, and it is harder to get crossover hit movies that appeal to more than one market segment. I for one, do not crossover well to the child and teen content, and tend to avoid it. That leaves the choices rather sparse. We need more movies like the Hobbit, which I am anxiously awaiting, like I am sure 6 and 16 year olds are as well. That should be a major hit, as it appeals to the whole theater going crowd.

Here is a reason why at least some don't head to the theaters anymore. "Broadcast TV". The TV shows that my wife and I like to watch include, NCIS, NCIS LA, Bones, Haven, Walking Dead, Hawaii Five O, Blue Bloods, Vegas, Lost Girl, Rozilli & Isles, Arrow, Beauty and the Beast, Mike and Molly, Two and a Half Men, Big Bang Theory, Heart of Dixie, Nikita, Supernatural, Dr. Who, Homeland, Chicago Fire, Hunted, Scandle, Last Resort, Sons of Anarchy, Good Wife, Rules of Engagement, Revolution, Person of Interest, Elementary, Vampire Diaries, Burn Notice, Fringe, Warehouse 13, Castle, Leverage. Now I realize that 90% of viewers do not necessarily like all of these shows but we do. So it stands to reason that millions of people like at least a fair percentage of those shows and I left off dozens that I can't think of off the top of my head. Consider that all of these shows are broadcast in very nice HD as well as 5.1 Dolby Digital. Throw in a few blu-ray movies and it's pretty obvious that any decent home theater system (Big Screen TV especially) will keep many potential movie goers right at home. IMO many of these shows provide a much better viewing experience than the majority of movies I've seen in the past four or five years. A mediocre one hour (45 minutes if you skip commercials) TV show can hold your attention better than a mediocre two hour movie. Throw in some sports and the reason to head out to the movies even less appealing.

I think more and more people are watching movies at home. 15 years ago a home theater setup on average did cost a lot more than it does now. Plus it easier now to access movies from the comfort of your couch at home. Since I have a decent setup I'd rather watch them at home but if I do go to a theater it's an iPic theater.

There's a few things killing theatres.

1. Prices for an inferior product. The only studio putting out consistently great films is PIXAR. You know you're going to see some great storytelling when you go to a Pixar film.

2. I've been going to the movies since the 60s. The screens were gigantic and people were respectful of one another at the movies. Nowadays you have tiny screens and people on their phones, talking and generally being obnoxious and rude.

3. My projector is giving me close to an 8' wide screen. I feel like I'm in a movie theatre. It was expensive, but not unobtainable.

4. What was the last blockbuster? What was the last real blockbuster that everyone had to run out and see? There hasn't been one for years. Hollywood keeps regurgitating the same old garbage. There's a new Spiderman. The last one was made after 2000. The unoriginality of Hollywood is mind bogglingly awful.

These are just some of the reasons Hollywood and the theatre system is dying. They deserve it. The artistry that was once Hollywood is all but dead.

Look at the success of low budget direct to video releases, we are more forgiving and not expecting anything great when we watch in the comfort of our home theater.

Really? If is that bad, then why do you spend the money to have a home theater???

1. No one ever really wants to pay more for a thing once it seems to have a price set in the minds of the many. There was a time when a movie theater was a reasonable experience cost wise (well except for the candy/popcorn/drinks, those have always been high priced and poor offerings generally as long as I can remember), when I was a kid 25 cents got me an afternoon of movies, lots of double headers too. Budgets of the films weren't as bloated with salaries and production costs either. There are some good products still, although perhaps not to your taste in movies. Studios are only so important, there are still some awesome projects out of other than Disney/Pixar.

2. Me too. Screens were gigantic in some cases, but yes generally larger as were the theaters themselves. However, did not have Imax or the better sound systems in the 60s. Much better maintained and policed theaters in the 60s but then so were schools. People were more courteous but the US was less crowded, better educated, more relaxed and prosperous then too (IMHO).

3. Just have a big tv myself, but it works well enough, my audio setup helps out a lot.

4. Last one that got me out there was Avatar, the three previous were the LOTR releases, and a coupla James Bond flicks. I aim at the best screen/sound system when I do go out, hopefully with good food nearby to dine on before going in. Thinking about the HFR presentation of The Hobbit today.

Here is the thing about Theaters, typically they make zero dollars on the actual movie ticket, that tends to go towards the cost of leasing the film and so forth, most theater owners say that they are in the popcorn business not the movie business since thats the only area in which they make money. I agree that the experience itself should be updated to offer a better picture and sound because if that was better then people wouldnt look at the overall price as negatively.

I'm a complete noob at all this and don't have anything that would qualify as a HT. Just a 42 inch flat screen. Even then, I consider going to the theater to be a horrible value and the only time I go is either on a date or with friends. Seeing The Hunger Games with 6 other guys was a lot of fun, but we were complete *******s the entire time which probably ruined the enjoyment of the movie for everyone else in the theater, which as many have pointed out seeing a movie with the unwashed masses is one of the downsides. I've never gone to a boutique theater like Arc Light or Cinetopia, but the regular AMC or Regal is definitely not something I have much desire to go to. These kind of theaters only have one advantage, they are bigger and louder than what I have at home, though not really better. The picture quality isn't even good, it's just big. Going to the theater is definitely not $11+ better than watching a movie at home. And I don't even have a HT. It's just a poor value and too many alternatives exist.

Jack54:

Lots of old movies. There's tons of great films.

It's funny you didn't mention one big new blockbuster. That's because they're few and far between.

LoveintheHD:

I'll give you Avatar. The LOTR and Bond are blockbusters per say but in a very stylized way. As is things like The Twilight Saga, which after watching the first Twilight I didn't even bother with any of the others. I couldn't make it through the first LOTR and I've never seen a James Bond flick. If I did, I'd start with Sean Connery. But, the Bond trailers have never done anything for me.
Edited by vanlutz - 12/16/12 at 5:21pm

I will say that with my new HT I just completed, it is the first time I feel like I can get the HT experience at home. Previously I heard people say they liked their home system better than the theater and never could connect with that statement until now. I would much rather sit at home and watch a movie then head out to the theater for many reasons including a better experience at home and just the convenience versus packing up to head out with the family. We watched brave last night and the audio and video were fantastic. I doubt I will be heading to many more movies in the future...I have my own theater