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Topic: Is THX still relevant?
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Aaron Garman
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1470
From: Toledo, OH USA
Registered: Mar 2003
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posted 10-28-2010 10:57 PM
To answer the topic's question: yes, it is still relevant. Do average consumers notice or even care? Most likely not.
THX certainly did suffer from getting lost in the alphabet soup, and I'd love to see it perhaps bring order to that mess. If they rethought the spec, and made it stricter, it could help the consumer. Instead of going to a 4K DLP with 3D, stadium seating, and mega super duper ultra fantastic sound, just sum it up with one name: THX. There is definitely a great branding opportunity there.
As for consumer gear, I was very excited to see THX certified displays because it was starting to get extremely confusing when looking at different display devices. Now when I see a THX display, I know that it can perform certain tasks up to a certain standard.
And I concur, THX certified VHS tapes was not a step in the right direction.
AJG
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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!
Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 10-30-2010 12:47 PM
I think Manny summed it up the best.
THX was always supposed to be a "seal of approval" to a theatre and patron. By attaining THX certification, the theatre was supposed to meet specifications normally reserved for dubbing stages and thus a theatre would have a similar experience, sound wise, to what the person heard when they mixed the movie.
They absolutely suffered a branding issue when the patron thought of THX as a "sound system" or a "format" rather than a quality. They also did EVERYONE a disservice when they allowed in-house techs to recertify their own theatre. Regardless of the integrity of the tech, their livelihood could be put in jeopardy by failing their boss' theatre! And with that, allowing theatres, that happen to be part of a lucrative or high-profile deal pass when they shouldn't. They damaged their reputation.
We still re-certify theatres for THX. And most know, I have no problem failing one that does not meet spec. I have not had a problem getting folks to fix their HVAC or whatnot in order to pass. In a sense, this is THX at its finest...the annual recertification process allows one to track a theatre that is aging and address problems that will not be noticed on a day-to-day situation. One such screening room we handle I noted that each year, a little more boost was needed to meet spec (our mics are recalibrated annually to avoid our test equipment from entering into that equation). After 10 or so years, really, the diaphragms needed to be changed because they didn't have the response they once did. That sort of thing gets missed in most theatres since one has no point of reference. The change is so small on any time period, one wouldn't even pick off that the performance had lessened. Likewise with the HVAC stuff where the noise increase is gradual as the equipment ages.
THX also is more than a collection of equipment. It is not enough to merely put in THX-approved equipment to get the full benefit of the design. How the equipment interacts with its surroundings also plays into it.
I'm not sure I've ever seen a conventional theatre, without THX actually go through will all of the design required for THX certification, including spacing of the stage speakers off of any boundry surfaces, the baffle wall construction...etc.
Joe does bring up a good point about the noise from the booth. I know that when I went for training, they made a point of stressing to use double ports to minimize it and to seal them tight to the wall as well as other openings (electrical boxes...etc) to keep booth noise down. At the AFI/Silver, a THX Certified facility, to this day, the booth walls are VERY impressive...despite having theatres back-to-back...you can't hear the booth or the other theatre. I think there should be a test, like the HVAC test to verify that the booth also does not bring the theatre above NC-30. The projector should be threaded with a loop that has several splices in it too! For DCinema, the projector, with all of its fans, should be on too.
On the consumer side...well, that is a source of revenue, for sure...and again, THX is a certification that one either believes in or they don't.
Steve
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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 11-01-2010 12:50 PM
Some of this sounds like a company I used to work for. We needed to attain ISO9000 certification in order to get a particular contract. The officers of the company got on board with the idea of becoming ISO9000 certified, until they found out how hard it was going to be. Then they decided to become ISO9000 "compliant" which is a euphamism for not doing everything the certification required, just most of it (or at least the parts that they wanted to do). It become such a protracted issue, I don't even remember if they got the contract that originally required them to get the certification.
Can ISO9000 be blamed for the company watering down the spec? No. From what people say here, THX did just that, and for that, they should be blamed for the mess they created. But the theaters certainly sound like they had a hand in it, as they were trying to skirt the requirements because they were too onerous. It's too bad that THX didn't stick to its guns and say that the spec was the spec, but most companies follow the money...
It's odd that a THX screen would have sound leakage issues from adjacent auditoriums, as I'm certain that such isolation was part of the spec (as was isolation from the projector). In the half-dozen THX auditoriums that I've been in, I've never experienced those issues, but I believe those here that say that it exists/existed.
As far as relevance of THX certification and of the THX brand, I think both are still relevant.
No one here has said that if the THX spec were followed completely, you would end up with a poorly performing theater. Therefore, a THX certification should be a stamp of approval that the consumer can count on. There is a salient point that a theater could build an auditorium that would meet or exceed the performance of a THX-certified auditorium, but no one paid the money for the THX plaque for the wall. That's all well, fine, and good, and it's possible that the public might notice without any prompting or marketing by the theater.
That's where the marketing strength of the THX brand comes in. I have absolutely no data to support this, but I would wager that the THX brand still has meaning with the moviegoing public. If you had a movie playing in two auditoriums, and one was branded THX, I'll bet that the THX auditorium will sell better. That's just simple marketing. Now, you might be able to switch out THX and put in ETX or XD as the brand, and maybe get the same results, but the end result is that by marketing something as special, it draws attention that it wouldn't normally get. It's a competitive advantage.
If you had two auditoriums, and one was THX and the other was ETX, the natural thing for the customer to ask is "what's the difference?" If the answer was that the THX auditorium was built to a set of rigid performance specifications, using equipment that has been approved for its performance, and it was checked by a third-party every six months, vs. the ETX auditorium which was built with the same intentions, but it wasn't certified or checked by a third-party, my guess is that a majority of people would steer towards THX. Especially if the THX presentation is regular price, and the ETX presentation is 30-45% more.
I'm less confident than the THX vs. nothing argument, but the effect of the marketing and the impact that using the THX brand could have still resonates with the public. That THX trailer is part of the show, and when you put that before a movie, people are going to sit up and take notice. That makes a theater playing Harry Potter in a THX house more attractive than the theater down the road not having anything additional to advertise about.
Even ignoring THX as the linchpin, if theater chains were to set up a certification program that would provide the public with some additional confidence in the performance of the presentation they experience, it would have an impact.
For example, if Marcus Theatres were to come up with a new program, let's call it "Gold Standard" This new program would outline to the public that there are a certain set of performance guidelines that they were checking their own theaters against, such as sound performance, image brightness, focus, steadiness, noise levels, etc. and each auditorium would be checked on a regular basis for these factors, that would instill confidence on the part of the consumer. Even bathrooms at WalMart have a sign on the back of the door that says when it was last cleaned and the name of the manager to contact if you find something that needs attention. Why can't a theater have the same thing? At the door, a small sign that reads "This auditorium checked by S. Johnson on 10/31/2010. Gold Standard Certification -- PASSED" would all that is needed.
In the consumer's mind, the THX certification already does that, and it's a universal standard that is easy for people to understand and lots of marketing has already been put into it (not so much anymore, but that's another issue).
The THX spec matters. Digital Sound matters. Film/Digital Cinema done right matters.
Consumers have to be educated so that they know what it is that they're experiencing, so that they can appreciate the difference. These things are completely up to the theaters, and unfortunately, many fail at the job. Small wonder that the audience is either confused or apathetic about the differences!
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