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Author Topic: IMAX films on DVD Adam Martin I'm not even gonna point out the irony. Posts: 3686 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Nov 2000 posted 03-30-2004 11:45 AM                     Destination Cinema still operates large format theaters at the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, and Hearst Castle as well as the National Geographic Theater in Victoria, BC. I think the most boring film I've ever seen was Ring of Fire, but there are several that rank up there with it. I wanted to kill myself long before SOS Planet ended. A couple of great recent films are The Human Body for its visuals that make you wonder how the hell they got a camera in there; and Bugs 3D for its great soundtrack and sense of humour. I watched Straight Up last night. It's about helicopters and vertical flight. Interesting subject, not-very-interesting film. Slingshot Entertainment distributes a lot of large format films on DVD.  |  IP: Logged Rob Butler Film Handler Posts: 91 From: Westford, MA, USA Registered: Mar 2004 posted 03-30-2004 01:07 PM                     Since IMAX movies are designed for giant screens, don't the DVD versions kind of defeat the purpose of the film? But if you're really into the concept of buying IMAX films on DVD, then here's something you might want to check out. It's a company called eDimensional, and they have a 3D viewing system for the TV, their IMAX 3D Package comes with 3 IMAX 3D films on DVD.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 03-30-2004 08:19 PM                        Of the few IMAX film DVDs that I've seen they've all had higher bitrates than most other DVDs, possible since the films are shorter. A higher bitrate has far more to do with the picture quality than a higher resolution when it comes to DVDs.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-30-2004 10:49 PM                     "A couple of great recent films are The Human Body for its visuals that make you wonder how the hell they got a camera in there" ________________________________________________________________ Didn't you hear that they shrunk the camera and crew down and put them in a tiny submarine.... you know the rest. I watched my DVD of Grand Canyon last night and to me it looks like a 35mm transfer. Heck, there are a couple of shots in there that have scratches running through them and I thik that if this was a 70mm transfer the scratches would not be visible. As compared to other Imax DVDs it also looks murky with high contrast during the first half, the second half looks better. This film must have been the practice run for filming Zion Canyon....very similar films just a different setting with Zion having far better daredevil stuff in the second half. I agree with Daryl on the higher bit rate. My JVC DVD player has an on screen meter that reads mb per second of data and some of the IMAX disks are definately putting out more data than others.... Mark  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 03-31-2004 02:31 PM                        Daryl wrote: quote: A higher bitrate has far more to do with the picture quality than a higher resolution when it comes to DVDs. Agreed. But I've also seen the generally better quality of films originated on 65mm on broadcast and cable TV. In particular, when TBS broadcast Branaugh's "Hamlet" a few years ago, it looked much better than anything else they were carrying at the time. And the full length 65mm features I've seen on DVD have been very high quality, even if only recorded on one side of a disk (lower bitrates).  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 03-31-2004 02:37 PM                        Also agreed. Any duplication from a higher resolution is going to look better than a dupe from a lower, but still greater than the final, resolution. This applies to pretty much anything, not only film to television transfers.  |  IP: Logged Rob Butler Film Handler Posts: 91 From: Westford, MA, USA Registered: Mar 2004 posted 04-02-2004 02:06 PM                     This whole thread reminds me of this comic that a friend emailed me. Note: I don't claim any ownership of this image, if I am violating any copyright laws or policies by posting this, please let me know and I'll remove it imediatly.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-11-2004 05:06 PM                     I just go through watching Rolling Stones at the MAX. I noted an odd thing...though the picture was clear...there was chroma-crawl all over the picture. The odd thing was...I was outputting the DVD in component video (Y, R-Y, B-Y)...there shouldn't have been any chroma crawl. This leads me to believe that it was somehow mastered with a composite signal rather than some form of digital, or analog with color separation (RGB, Component, S-Video...etc.) Are all of them that way? Steve  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 07-11-2004 05:43 PM                        I don't think they are all that way, but I've noticed big differences in quality amongst the IMAX video releases. In your case Steve, it sounds like they encoded from a D2 master. If the original NTSC encoding wasn't handled carefully, one could end up with a good digital recording of NTSC artifacts. I mentioned this in another thread a long time ago, but I have two different versions of The Dream is Alive on laser disc. One of them features what has to be one of the worst video transfers I've ever seen. I used to use it in my video projection classes as an example of the kinds of things that can go wrong during a video transfer session.  |  IP: Logged James B. Openshaw Expert Film Handler Posts: 106 From: Mt. Pleasant, SC, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 07-11-2004 08:31 PM                        The best IMAX to DVD transfers that I have seen are the ones distributed by Warner Home Video (e.g. Dream Is Alive, Cosmic Voyage) by means of picture quality. The worst I've seen are from Slingshot, particularly the CGI transfers (e.g. Encounter in the 3rd Dimension, Haunted Castle)  |  IP: Logged Brian Michael Weidemann Expert cat molester Posts: 944 From: Costa Mesa, CA United States Registered: Feb 2004 posted 07-12-2004 04:21 PM                        I've seen that DVD box set with Haunted Castle, Encounters, and Alien Adventure ... they come with 3D glasses and everything. Those movies weren't worth watching on the IMAX screen to begin with, so it's quite understandable that they didn't give a damn about the transfer. But hey, you can release ANYTHING on DVD and SOMEONE'll buy it.  |  IP: Logged System Notices Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi Posts: 215 Registered: Apr 2004 posted 07-15-2005 05:41 PM                 It has been 368 days since the last post.  |  IP: Logged Andy Summers Master Film Handler Posts: 397 From: Bournemouth Dorset United kingdom Registered: Jun 2005 posted 07-15-2005 05:41 PM                 I have around 7 IMAX DVD’s and they are all fantastic. Ghosts of the Abyss Hunted Castle Hail Columbia Blue Planet The Dream is Alive Mission to Mia T-Rex Back to the Cretaceous I like the sound mix on Hail Columbia where the press is asking lots of questions and the voice come from the side surrounds and the centre back surround as well, and the lunching of Columbia is frilling. I was at Florida in 1981 with my uncle and auntie with there three children and it was a holiday of a lifetime I’m still kicking myself that I had to miss the launching of Columbia, which lifted off in April 12th 1981 and since I was there from early February to late February is was not going to be possible, however I did get to go to the cape, and see the testing of the shuttles main engines and the SRB live on TV at Clearwater Tamper Bay…  |  IP: Logged William Hooper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1879 From: Mobile, AL USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-19-2005 02:03 AM                        I never bothered to see it in 3D at an IMAX theatre, but I rented a DVD of "Ghosts of the Abyss" & very quickly was reminded why directors also need to hire writers & actors.  |  IP: Logged Mark Pierce Film Handler Posts: 11 From: Mount Juliet, TN Registered: Jun 2005 posted 07-19-2005 11:11 AM                        I don't know if any of you have seen them yet but Macgillivray Freeman has released some of their films in the new Windows Media HD (WMV HD)format. When I was up at IMAX earlier this year another of our brethren (Hey Markus!!!) had purchased The Living Sea DVD. We threw it on my brand new laptop and it looked amazing! The obvious drawback is that you need a computer to run them. That is, until they start coming out with DVD players that will run WMV HD!  |  IP: Logged

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