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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Topic: THX amps?
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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 12-07-2005 01:49 PM
quote: Richard Hamilton
I agree alot has to do with the equipment, but the design and install play a major factor in the whole outcome. Who really cares about the name brand?
Does the average paying customer think about THX? I think they worry more about if the concession has Coke or Pepsi, or coconut or canola oil! Oh, and free refills!!
The fact is a well designed theater can get just as good results as a theater that has all THX approved equipment. In my opinion THX did not set any standards, the new technology and the competition between theaters has made the experience what it is today.
I think it's interesting to read comments about THX that go along the lines of "if you design to THX specs and use equipment that is just as good as THX specifies, it can sound just as good or better."
My response to that would be "of course!" If you design an auditorium to THX specs, but don't pay for the certification, you've already gone through the work, but with no third-party verification and no ability to apply a known marketing device to publicize your efforts and the money you spent.
Maybe self-certification was abused, and someone at THX was asleep at the wheel. Even if I cede these points, that doesn't mean that the design concepts behind the THX approach are wrong/useless and that the quality of THX equipment is sub-par, right?
From my experience and research on the topic, THX certification was never meant to be the best attainable level of quality/performance. Rather, it was meant to be a bar that was set for minimum performance standards in order to deliver a quality presentation.
Can theaters exceed those minimum specs? I would imagine that quite a few do. Can a non-THX certified theater outperform a certified theater? If it was designed, equipped, and operated well, sure. There's no monopoly on intelligence on the part of the THX engineers when it comes to those things.
But it comes down to: how do you know? How do your customers know?
A theater owner building a new location can either follow published guidelines (THX) or do the leg work him/herself to figure out what makes for good design and equipment choices. Then, a responsible owner would make sure that the equipment is always maintained and calibrated on a regular basis to assure a consistently good quality presentation. He/she can hire good people to do that in-house, and/or hire a calibration service (THX) to come in and do it.
OK, so as a theater owner, you've done this all yourself in-house. You found great people that know everything that there is to know about theater design, calibration, and proper maintenance and operation. You pay good money to make sure that your equipment is maintained properly and end-of-life equipment is traded out for new on a regular basis.
So, how does the paying customer know that you've done this? When looking at the newspaper ads or showtime listings on web sites or (gasp) calling a phone recording, how can a paying customer differentiate between your first-class theater and the run-of-the-mill stockyard multiplex down the road?
What recognizable mark of quality can they look at to know that you've done all these really great things in your theater?
Please tell me how having a THX label next to your showtimes won't matter and that it's just a waste of money.
If it's nothing else, it's a marketing device to differentiate your theater from a competitor's theater. Since I haven't been there in a while, I checked out THX's web site to see if there has been any recent research done lately.
This is what they have:
http://www.thx.com/nato/
- Across all three surveys, more than 82% of participants had heard of THX
- The hypothesis that THX is a valuable differentiator and assists in driving preference and theatre loyalty was shown to be true in the BASELINE study – before the marketing campaign even started
- Across all three studies, between 69% - 75% of participants stated they were loyal to the theatre. THX Certification is one of the reasons stated for their loyalty
- All else being equal – same time & same movie selection – 66% to 69% prefer to go to a THX Certified Cinema
- When educated about THX, 80% said they would become more discerning when selecting a movie theatre
THX certification must be really expensive or really hard to get for theaters to say that attracting more customers is a bad thing...
But back on the point of the original question, I wasn't able to find any baseline specifications for amplifiers to be THX-worthy. You may want to research some of the amps listed on their THX Approved Equipment List. Perhaps some of those manufacturers expound on that aspect of their products. You could always contact the people at THX and see if they can shed some light on your question as well. It's too bad their web site doesn't do more to inform than it does.
THX always seems to be a flashpoint for some people, and all you end up getting is vitriol as a result. Fortunately, people like Mark and others are willing to rise above that and get to the heart of the matter.
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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 12-08-2005 11:41 AM
Mark,
When I met you when you were doing the Johnson Creek calibration, I was very impressed with the amount of effort going into the THX screens they had there, and I was also impressed with the courtesy you extended to me in explaining what you were doing. As a result, your opinion carries a lot of weight with me.
In a market where a theater is the only game in town, I can see where it would be difficult for a theater owner to justify the expense of THX certification at $10,000 per screen. However, I would hope that any self-respecting theater owner is still investing time and resources into calibrating and maintaining their equipment so that high quality presentations are maintained. This is on top of the assumption that the installation (building and equipment) was done right in the first place.
Your account of a location which had just a few of their screens THX-certified is a scenario I've heard before. The theater with that situation is a victim of their own decisions, in that they made a good decision to go the extra mile in certifying some of the screens, but then the success of the THX marketing device got the best of them because not all their screens were certified.
With restaurants, consumers have food critics to help them find the good places to visit. With hotels, AAA provides information and rates them according to quality and other characteristics. With movie theaters, consumers have none of those types of sources to consult. THX is a recognizable mark that means something to a lot of people, and even though it's not perfect, it's a way for someone wanting to see a movie to identify theaters which should be doing it right.
I've never heard what the prices were for the recertification, so that can be the only rationale I can see for dropping it. I would hope that each theater making such a decision looks at the numbers hard and does a cost-per-sale calculation as opposed to just looking at the total bill and freaking out.
I ran some quick numbers using lots of assumptions, but it didn't seem to take much of an increase in customer volume (10-15%) to justify the expense, even if it was considered purely as a marketing expense without considering other factors which would reduce the effective cost.
It's unfortunate that an alternative to THX has not cropped up, so that good theaters would have a way of distinguishing themselves from the mediocre or just plain bad ones out there. If it's prohibitively expensive and of dubious worth in the minds of theaters, I'm surprised that an alternative has not arisen to challenge them. My guess is that the effort and cost to do so would result in similar fees, which would negate the viability of an alternative service.
My post was a reaction to a comment that always provokes me, which is that customers don't care, or worse, that they care more about mundane things like soda flavors. Sure, some outspoken cranks may stand out in a manager's memory as being far too concerned about the ice in their cup than the presentation, but I fervently believe that the audience as a whole cares about the movie-going experience.
If a customer is provided with a high quality experience, and especially if they are educated as to what makes a high quality experience (because such things are often hard for many to identify or quantify, but it's part of their overall impression nonetheless), they will respond.
I've had a hell of a time getting theaters to differentiate themselves by making sure that their THX shows are flagged, that the proper digital sound format (or at least the generic digital sound flag) is indicated, and other items that will differentiate themselves from the other shows out there. People can't be expected to know the difference or care about the difference unless the people doing film right take the time to help their customers see what makes their presentations better.
I've gone and stood on this soapbox again and probably overstayed my welcome, but it's frustrating to see such things, especially looking at it from the customer's perspective. Since I'm also trying to serve theaters and help to increase their business, the lost opportunity that is present frustrates me to no end.
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