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Topic: THX completely out of business ???

Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-26-2007 01:10 PM

quote: Bobby Henderson
I think Carmike's newspaper ad in our local paper (The Lawton Constitution) is too small -certainly too small to display logos like those of THX and DLP with any decent legibility at all.

Bobby, I suggest that you call the local paper and the largest paper in your state adn get advertising rates per line. I think you will be shocked. The Carmike ad is small because it costs a fortune every time its in there.

Mark

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 03-26-2007 02:19 PM

That's right. Remember the days of 1/4 page (and larger) display ads? That was routine for theatres on Fridays and Saturdays. During the week, they still ran some kind of display ad cut from the pressbooks.

With today's crowd and multi's, directory ads have proven to be as effective.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-26-2007 03:08 PM

I think newspaper ads are still relevant. Whenever my wife and I travel, we almost always go to at least one movie, and there's no easier way to find out what's playing where. I suppose for local residents it's easier to go online, but not everyone goes to the internet for everything (yet).

I think what's really unnecessary are those huge full-page ads for movies that run in the big cities. I think the TV ads and trailers in theatres have much more effect that giant newspaper ads.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 03-26-2007 03:57 PM

That probably true. However, one of my favorite things about reading the New York Times was its huge full page or even 2 full page ads for new movies. I saved quite a few of them (featuring 70mm listings) from the late 1980's and early 1990's.

I wish they could come up with an Internet-based equivalent, perhaps something in PDF format to retain vector-based artwork and font formatting.

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Cameron Glendinning
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 845
From: West Ryde, Sydney, NSW Australia
Registered: Dec 2005

posted 03-27-2007 08:18 AM

So does anyone know what THX is short for? Thomas Holman eXperience, Thomas Holmans eXperiment, Thomas Holmans Xover, or just a tribute to THX 1138? or all of the above?

[ 03-27-2007, 08:39 PM: Message edited by: Cameron Glendinning ]

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Jeffry L. Johnson
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 809
From: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 03-27-2007 10:25 AM

Tomlinson not Thomas.

THX

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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 03-27-2007 05:37 PM

I practically have to beg some theaters to provide me with complete information regarding THX, digital sound, and stadium seating. They are so accustomed to being constrained for space by newspapers that they aren't able to come back from the ledge.

Some will show THX but not digital sound, even when both apply. Some will just assume that people know they have digital sound. The only thing most of them get right most of the time is stadium seating.

Thankfully, there are exceptions. I have some theaters that go the extra mile to take full advantage of the flags that we offer in our showtimes. We don't have many THX-cerfitied theaters any more, so that logo doesn't show up often, but I know my readers like to see the other indicators there in as complete a fashion as possible.
Example

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 03-28-2007 12:40 AM

Regarding the Wikipedia link Jeffry posted, did anyone catch the reference to the Eileen Norris Theatre at USC being cited as the first THX theatre? Given George Lucas and Tomlinson Holman's long-standing ties with USC, I'm not surprised by the Norris' THX status. But the first such theatre???

quote:
The first theater THX was used in was at the University of Southern California's Eileen Norris Cinema Theatre as a part of USC's acclaimed film school. The Norris Theatre's THX system is currently second-best in California to that of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre.[citation needed]

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Dustin Mitchell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1865
From: Mondovi, WI, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 03-28-2007 02:14 AM

From the wiki article:

quote:
and other technical requirements; architectural requirements include a floating floor, baffled and acoustically treated walls, no parallel walls (to reduce standing waves), a perforated screen (to allow center channel continuity), and NC30 rating for background noise.

Can someone confirm this? We have two auditoriums which were built to THX standards (both certified at one time, only one now) and neither one has a floating floor. I'm also pretty sure both have 'parallel walls', though I could double check with a tape measure.

Incidentally the first and second years of their certification an actual THX tech flew out from California to do the cert/recert, so you think he would have noticed.

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Cameron Glendinning
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 845
From: West Ryde, Sydney, NSW Australia
Registered: Dec 2005

posted 03-28-2007 05:15 AM

The one THX theatre that I worked in did not have a floating floor either, the building was seperate from the rest of the complex however being added later. As for parallel walls, behind the drapes were actually quite suprising, In one section there was a 12 foot deep void, where the bag snatchers would hide!

Thanks for the link Jeffry, I got lost in there for a few hours last night and for the correct spelling of Tomlinson. I will not use Google as a spell cheaker anymore [Eek!]

[ 03-28-2007, 08:15 AM: Message edited by: Cameron Glendinning ]

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John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 03-28-2007 07:40 AM

Well, personally I can confirm many, many auditoriums were approved by THX did not have floating floors and did have parallel walls. I think those would be just too expensive. However, if done correctly you can still get excellent 'isolation' between auditoriums.

Be a little careful about the 'NC30' rating. The standard that I read did not specify frequencies below (if I remember) 250Hz, or above 16kHz, which are certainly audible. I'm guessing THX took that standard and added the necessary range, but it wasn't part of the orginal standard.

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 03-28-2007 09:02 AM

Note, there are cinema standards and screening room standards for THX. The screening room standards are more strict with such things as NC25 instead of the cinema standard of NC30.

I've too seen parallel walls and non-floating floors in THX rooms and we are an official recertificaiton company. Then again, I've seen floating floors and non-parallel walls.

Both NC and STC ratings (ASTM) really relate to work spaces more than theatres...however they are the only recognized standars we have. Unfortunately, as John pointed out, they do not completely define the frequencies we need to deal with in movie theatres. STC is particularly deficient since it stops at something like 125Hz when in theatres we really need to be concerned down to 20Hz. Thus, theatre demising wall systems (not just the wall but everything that separates one theatre from another including the wall behind the screen and the booth wall) need to be in the STC-75 class and above.

I've measured STC-75 walls that once installed in a theatre were reduced to FSTC-62 since the slab was continuous between theatres, the wall behind the screen was continuous and the booth wall was continuous. All these flanking paths just propagated the noise right on over.

Steve

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