As everyone goes out to see Episode II, post your technical review of it on this thread. Be SURE and note the theater name, city and state, along with a date and showtime if possible. For this particular movie, I think it is also ESSENTIAL to note whether you screened a 35mm film print, or a DLP presentation. Please do not review your own theater, but feel free to paste other people's comments about your own presentation from comment cards, website comments, newspaper writeups or Star Wars geek internet forums.

Remember, this is not the place to post your comments about the movie itself, only the presentation of the movie.

Note: those of you who have been making comments about presentation on this movie in other threads here, please copy and paste the technical comments here. For those of you who actually don't know what TAP stands for, it's Lucasfilm's "Theatre Alignment Program" at 1-800-PHONE-THX (or as many lovingly refer to it, the "Lucas bitch hotline".)

I urge Ted Costas to post actual TAP reports here too. He may not be able to print negative reports, but surely he can print the occasional positive report. (People DO occasionally call in with a GOOD report, right Ted?)

If political reasons prevent you from posting a review, email it to me with the subject header "TAP review" and I'll post it. Just make sure to include your full name as it appears on the forums so I can verify you against your email address. I will not post your name.

Based on how smoothly this goes and how much participation there is will depend on whether we set up a forum specifically for this in the future.

The focus was iffy but I this was largely down to the cinema set up rather than the print as there was a left to right difference even during ads and trailers.

The splices were lousy. Nice and jumpy with black marks across the screen. At one reel change just before the arena scene there was a nice black vertical scratch for a couple of seconds about third way across from left side of screen.

As everyone says the darker scenes showed up more digital artefacts than the light scenes

Oh and to top it all the feature presentation tag between ads and AOTC was out of rack ! Film done right, I don't think so.

Sound wise it seemed to be lacking bottom end during some of the explosions, not sure which sound format they were using.

Next screening May 16 4:20pm at Jordan Commons, theatre number 13 with SDDS digital audio and it was film. Again, the picture was just fine. This time it was a THX-certified auditorium with the "punch" I missed the first time.

In both screenings, I noticed no "white specs" in the picture and only a few isolated, black specs. Each print had a factory splice somewhere in the middle (different places in each print) but apart from the one affected frame, no other printing and/or color problems near the splices.

I must say, I can't find anything lacking in the picture quality of this movie. If I'd never been told it was shot entirely without film, I never would have known. To me, the visual quality is no better or worse than it was when I saw The Phantom Menace on film three years ago. Those who claim to see glaring digital artifacts are, to me, just like those who claim to hear the difference between DTS and Dolby Digital in a "blind" test. They possess super powers which I didn't get on my home planet.

Edit: Each print had a preview for Die Another Day on it. We brought some very young children to the movie and the preview was not appreciated. This was "approved for all audiences"?

"Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones".

35mm film.

05/16/2002, Regal Cinema World 8, Eugene OR, 10:00AM (2nd public showing). House #3, SDDS sound. Screen width is about 30' according to the telltale ceiling tiles. Standard sloped seating (not stadium). This theatre was THX-certified back around 1995, but the THX certification was dropped when Regal bought out Act III. My favorite theatre in Eugene for technical presentation quality.

Show started on-time, perfectly framed, and in sharp focus.

I counted 5 ads (1 US Army; 3 for Coke products, 1 for Fandango); 1 PSA (Foundation For A Better Life); 4 or 5 green-banded previews; and the Regal roller-coaster image. All "rolling stock" and the feature were clean, hardly a black speck in sight. All seemed to play in digital sound.

Ep2 did have some white specks here and there but nothing drastically bad. I saw no CAP codes or lab splices (though I missed a few minutes at the end of reel 1 and beginning of reel 2 -- see sound comment below).

Image quality was OUTSTANDING. Very bright and steady, uniformly lit & focused across the entire screen. The image quality really jumped off the screen. I previously reported that the image was centered in the masking. It is well-framed by the masking, however, if I want to get nit-picky, it's shifted left of center about 10"-12" or so. Overshoots the masking quite a bit on the left side, hardly at all on the right, and titles are slightly left-of-center. Reel change splices were very clean, wouldn't have noticed them if not for cue marks. There is essentially no keystoning or geometry errors on this screen.

The sound was in SDDS, and except for a stretch of dropouts near the end of reel 1 (see below), it was FANTASTIC. I can't say enough good things about this theater's ability to reproduce it in something approaching its full glory. This theater blows area rival Cinemark out of the water in the sound department.

The SDDS sound did repeatedly drop out for the last few minutes of reel 1. Several people went out to complain to theater staff. After that though, it was fine for the rest of the show. After the movie, I spoke to the manager and he said they are probably going to switch it from SDDS to DTS.

EDIT: Forgot to mention the theatre: SilverCity Riverport, Richmond BC, screen #5

DLP showing in a 300 (or so) seat THX theatre.

Image Quality:

Let me first note that this is the first time I've seen a DLP presentation, and I didn't expect much from it.

The first thing that struck me was that the image was very clean. I guess I'm used to seeing at least some dirt, scratches or lab problems that are unfortunately common to the films found in your average multiplex. Other things I noticed about the image was that it was bright, had surprisingly good contrast, and extremely vibrant colour. I did not notice any significant artifacts due to the compression, although there was a bit of horizontal tearing during quick "camera" movements.

Not all was well though. Where the image quality really disappointed was with the resolution. I sat a bit closer to the screen than I normally prefer, but no where near the front row. I found the edges of the screen a tiny bit on the fuzzy side. It took me about 2/3 of the movie to really get over the low res image. Even so, upon leaving the theatre, my eyes were slightly sore, as if I had been squinting a bit to try and correct for the lack of resolution. One of the friends I was with also complained of sore eyes.

Another problem, unrelated to the digital nature of the movie, was that the masking was terrible. There was a good 2 foot overlap at the bottom of the screen, and about 6 inches on the left side. It wasn't too bad during darker scenes, but as soon as there was a bright object near the edge of the frame, it stuck out like a sore thumb.

Sound:

The sounds was clear and crisp, but lacked any real depth or punch. Explosions did not seem to be backed with enough low end. I find this is fairly typical in the multiplexes I tend to frequent. My guess is that instead of adding more sound proofing, they just turn down the subs to help lower the amount of noise that leaks from theatre to theatre.

General:

The show was pretty much sold out. Since it was the first showing of the day, they did not require us to stand outside, but allowed us to take our seats, even though we were an hour and a half early. This was great, as nobody really wanted to stand in line for that long, but neither did we want to get front row seats. I wish all theatre operators did this for popular movies. As early as we were, the theatre was already about 1/3 full.

The movie started right on time. I was very surprised to see no ads or PSAs, only 3 trailers (The Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions, Minority Report, and a third which I can't recall right now). The lack of ads is most likely due to the movie being digital. I also noticed that the trailers had much worse picture quality than the main feature, especially Minority Report which almost looked like a RealPlayer streaming video.

Summary:

Overall, the picture quality was acceptable. None of the people I went with had any problems with the DLP, other than myself. I wonder if the lack of sharpness was due to the DLP projection, the resolution that Mr. Lucas shot the movie, or a combination of both. It is pretty obvious to me though, that full digital movie making is still not where it really needs to be. Double the number of horizontal and vertical pixels (therefore quadrupling the total amount of data), and then I will be sold.

Having not seen the film version, I can't say which I prefer, especially since the source material is all digital. I suspect that DLP is the way to view Attack of the Clones, as several critics, such as Roger Ebert, have mentioned.

All in all, I don't think that all digital movie making is at the technology level it needs to be to out shine 35mm film. Maybe for Episode III...

05/17/2002, Cinemark 17, Springfield OR, house #16. Dolby SR-D sound. Screen measures about 40 feet in width. Stadium seating. 35mm film presentation.

Show started on time. 1 Coke-product ad, 4 or 5 previews, 1 PSA (FFABL), no policy or sound snipe.

Image Quality

All the pre-show stuff was clean and free of scratches. Judging from some text being just barely cut off at the bottom, the framing seemed to be slightly off (too low) but not objectionable and I saw none of those negative flashes or whatever they're called.

I was "pleasantly surprised" to see that the image quality was very close to what I praised at the rival Regal screen, even though this screen is larger. Focus and brightness were both excellent and uniform. There was a very slight weave but hardly worth mentioning. Image did not quite reach the masking on the bottom or the right side. Reel change splices were noticeable and the image jumped when a couple of them went through. There is slight keystoning on this screen, but not real bad, mostly only noticeable in titles or when they show a flat trailer printed in scope (the bars on either side are elongated some at the bottom).

If anything, this print was a little better than the previous one I rated. Practically no white specks at all, same for black specks. Not a scratch anywhere. I did see what is probably CAP code dots near the beginning of reel 2. No lab splices that I could detect.

Sound Quality

The last show I saw in this particular house was Lord of the Rings, and the sound was making that "tick" noise that's been blamed on SR-D block errors ("F" readouts on the processor?). There were no such flaws in this show. Overall the sound was crisp, clean, loud enough, and directional.

My only sound-related complaint is the lowest, deep bass was totally absent. There was low-frequency stuff in the show I reviewed previously that was totally missing in this theatre. Other than that "flaw", the sound was very good.

quote:

---

David, please edit your post to include the theater name. Without that one specific, your review doesn't offer much. Thanks.

---

05/18/2002, Cinemark 17, Springfield OR, House #3, 4:15PM. DTS digital sound. Stadium seating.

Star Wars Episode 2: Attack Of The Clones. 35mm film.

Show started on time. 1 ad, 4 or 5 trailers. 1 PSA, which was dirty (FFABL).

Image Quality

Screen is about 36 feet wide. The scope aspect ratio seems to be only about 2.1:1. It looks common-height (scope image uses all the available height). Mild keystoning but not objectionable. The image overshoots the masking by a foot or so on both sides, but does not quite reach either the top or the bottom masking. Bright and steady, but seemed to be just slightly out of focus, not really sure (star fields and subtitles looked sharp, yet the rest of the image seemed softer than other Ep2 shows I saw).

Print was once again excellent, and clean. CAP code dots in reel 2. 1 lab splice, forget which reel (maybe 3). Reel change splices were noticeable. Overall looked pretty good but just a little soft.

Sound Quality

Unlike the SR-D show I saw yesterday, this DTS house is able to reproduce some of that really deep bass in this movie. It sounded much better in that regard. However, the volume seemed just a little too low, and things seemed "flat" and lacking in detail. Not terrible, just not real crisp.

In the middle of reel 6, the DTS sound dropped out completely (the analog SR was good but obviously different). I waited until reel 7 started and it remained in SR, so went downstairs and the GM happened to be standing right there doing crowd control. He radioed the booth and they confirmed it was in SR. Went back to my seat and after a couple minutes it returned to digital. Have no idea what the problem was.

EPISODE II ATTACK OF THE CLONES
19 May 2002
1:00pm
Loews Boston Common
[Screen] 18
Boston, MA

This was a DLP presentation.

Throughout the entire presentation, including the
trailers, there was a hair visible from the top of
the screen running down 1/3 the height of the image,
and positioned 1/5 from the left edge of the screen.
At first I thought it was a scratch on the screen, but
later noticed throughout the film that it swayed slowly
from side to side, ranging from straight vertical to
about 15 degrees of arc to the left and to the right.

Additionally, the DLP projector is positioned such that
heads of average-height audience members (e.g. 5'6"
tall humans) interesect with the bottom half of the
projected image as they walk through the rear left/right
aisle. This was not a problem during the feature, but it
was quite significant during the trailers and credits.
----------------------------------------

Anyone know where to get a copy of the official TAP evaluation form(s) online?

 

05/19/2002, Regal Cinema World 8, Eugene OR, 1:10PM, house #3. Digital sound format unknown this time around.

The ceiling tiles seem to be 5' long which would make this screen about 37' wide, not 30' like I said before, but I'm not sure. It really looks larger than 30'.

Changes & exceptions to earlier comments about this location & its print:

After only 3 days, the print has picked up significant dirt. One 20 or 30 second stretch looked so bad it was as if someone laid out the film and rolled over it lengthwise with a chair (most of it wasn't nearly that bad, but there were still plenty of black specks). Other than the appearance of all this new dirt, the print looked excellent and again the image quality jumped off the screen more than in any other show I've seen.

At Friday's screening there was a problem with the SDDS sound, and they said they would "probably" switch it to DTS. Today, some of the trailers played in digital and all seemed to be fine. Then the feature started, and it wasn't in digital. SR. Wait. Wait. Still SR. Now, there were about 300 people there, and I'm sitting there thinking "HOW CAN THEY LET THIS HAPPEN!!?? THERE'S A PACKED HOUSE AND YOU'RE RUNNING THE BIGGEST FREAKING MOVIE OF THE YEAR IN THE BEST THEATER WITHIN AT LEAST 50 MILES AND THE SOUND IS HOSED!! WAKE THE F$%K UP!!!". So I got up, asked for the "manager", reported it, and she made the ascent up to the apparently-projectionistless booth to check on it. Returned to my seat, a couple minutes later the sound suddenly switched to digital. Apart from that incident, the sound was again great.

Most likely culprit there was a sound format cue in the wrong place between the last trailer and the beginning of the feature. Once DTS is playing in digital and the cinema processor is switched out, it takes an interruption and resumption of the DTS playback to cause the system to switch back to digital, unless the digital button is manually pressed. (exception here would likely be with the DTS-6AD)

-Aaron
 

Aaron: How much do you want to bet that every show is playing in SR now because of this wrong cue?

Projection: Program started 5 minutes early with one rolling stock ad (can't remember name), and several previews New James Bond, Minority Report, etc.) Ceiling light stayed on during previews gently flooding the center of the screen. Lights at this theatre always start dimming AFTER the Pacific snipe, and take at LEAST 30 seconds to dim all the way out.

The projection had a good steady brightness and was extremely steady. However, it was not uniformely focused. The left side of the image was slightly out of focus. The theatre has recently cleaned the portal glass, so the usual diffusion didnt' take place.

Print quality: I also noted the white spreckles, but only during the scenes in the robot manufacturing plant. There were several reels, however, that appeared to have black scuff marks, quite a few actually. Since it was spread over several reels, I'm attributing it to the theatre. Small dirt flecks were also showing up here and there, not bad yet, but give it time

The sound was excellent. Full bodied, with plenty of bass. Dialog was exceptionally clear, with no peaking or "boomy" low-end. EX was used quite a bit more this time out.

Note: While the color was pretty rich on the CG images, the humans exhibited the more limited fleshtone range I've seen in other DV productions (yes, I know this is DVCAM, not consumer DV). Also, they tended not to look as sharp as the CG-generated characters and effects. Is it possible that these were produced at the usual 2k resolution level instead at the HD level used for the taped segments?

I should note this theatre is ALSO showing the film in their smallest (99 seat) theatre, featuring a very small 22 foot screen. I peeked into this auditorium and the image was flickering quite a bit (didnt look like a shutter problem, just a poor xenon lamp). The theatre was at least honest enough to have multiple signs over every Boxoffice window stating that the showtimes in this house were showing a "No Large Sccreen" presentation.

I hope to see this movie again at a DLP theatre (probably the Chinese)to get a comparison.
 

------------------

 

As many have noted here, one of the first things I noticed was the difference in focus between the live action and cgi scenes. I also noticed some of the "graininess" and digital artifacts in the darker scenes. Beyond that, the image quality on the film was good.

The print that I saw had picked up some dirt, but was scratch free. The print was printed from a clean negative. I didn't see any of the white specs that many others have noticed. The focus was a touch soft on ths right side of the frame, but just a bit. The sound mix and reproduction was great. Good use of the EX system, but I agree that the lack of directionality in the dialog was even more noticeable with an otherwise well-mixed soundtrack.

There were some really odd things going on in reel two that I have not seen before. I will describe them here and perhaps someone can shed some light on whay I saw. The first half of the second reel had 9-10 instances in which the right most third of the frame was blocked by something. It twas as if a piece of tape was covering the right portion of one entire frame and a portion of one other frame. There seemed to be some discoloration surrounding these blockages as well. These blockages seemed to occur fairly regularly every 1.5-2 minutes. Also, on two or three occasions in reel two, there seemed to be letters printed in the center of the frame. They were brown/orange in color and only lasted a frame or two when they occurred. I only noticed these irregularities in reel two. Has anyone else seen what I have described here? Is this another form of CAP coding? If, by chance, it is, it was really distracting.
 

It does sound like a malfunction of the "new" CAP Code being used on some prints.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion
 

Image was soft, in fact focus was wildly uneven across the image. Image was not centered on screen, with a shadow on the stage left side. Turret shift with image on screen. Three bad lab splices. Didn't notice white specks. Loud audience was a distraction. E-mailed Carmike's website with a series of complaints about the last three times I've gone to this facility. Haven't seen anything in focus in three weeks, plus blown center channel speakers make for an unintelligable movie.
 

REVIEW #1
Mesa Dellow Feligates

I have now seen AOTC at the DLP in Legacy and at the UA Galaxy.

The DLP had SUPERIOR video over the Galaxy (and I'm sure any other 35mm print). I mean the DLP was almost TOO crystal clear. I will say this: I'm willing to chalk up the 35mm prints grainy/fuzz picture quality to transfer from digital.

HOWEVER!!!!!!!!!

THX AT THE GALAXY IS ABSOLUTELY OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!!!! I'M NOW OFFICIALY DONE SEEING AOTC AT THE LEGACY. It was good one time for the "experience it the way Lucas intended" thing, but NOTHING ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING BEATS THE THX SOUND IN THEATER 5 AT THE UA GALAXY 9.

My goal is to see AOTC at least 10 times in the theater. I've now seen it twice. I have 8 more trips to make to the Galaxy. Yes that's right THE GALAXY!!!!!!!!

REVIEW #2
Ok guys. I have to agree with Eric on this one. We (Eric D., Eric S., Kenley, Kevin, and I) made our second viewing of AOTC today, and we trekked all the way out to the Galaxy and......

IT IS ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT!!!

You definately need to see the movie at least once or twice on the DLP at the Legacy for the picture's sake. But nothing can beat the feeling you get when the Force (read: THX) flows thru you and all your surroundings. Everything was vibrating: the concrete, the chairs, our clothes, even the little hairs on your arms and back of your neck.

I personally think the very best sequence to hear in THX was the Slave 1 vs. Jedi Starfighter duel in the asteroid belt, but the opening sequence with the Naboo ship approaching Coruscant was pretty good as well.

Please do yourself a favor and take a trip out to the Galaxy to treat yourself to one helluva ride in good ol' theater #5!!

REVIEW #3
We went to the Galaxy tonight for the 7:30 show and I'd have to say it was way better than the Legacy. Picture quality was noticeably worse than the DLP when I was looking for hte difference but the THX sound was just so much better. I'm definitely going back to the Galaxy to see it again and again.

REVIEW #4
I will agree with eric as well. DLP was perfect too perfect. You can see the difference in the prints, but the sounds makes any imperfections in the print disappear very quickly. One thing is for sure the 35mm gives the film an older feel like the original Trilogy. And that with THX made it all the better.

I do say this see it in DLP first and you will appreciate both more. The CG on the DLP was some times impossible to differenciate. Where as in the THX Galaxy you could see the differences a lil bit more clearly. Even still it was Stunning. Sound does make for a better movie. Either way see it both ways DLP and THX. you will not be disappointed...

Red 5 Out

REVIEW #5
well, last night I took my family to view it at the galaxy in theater 5 and all I can say is WOW!, that is such a better experience than the Legacy. The digital picture was impressive and all but it just doesn't compare, not even close to the galaxy. Between the the huge screen and the thx sound, which to me made all the difference in the world, the experience is a no brainer. The galaxy wins hands down. The sheer size or the screen makes up the difference for the clarity, but you can't match the sound anywhere and that is what I love. I have to drive quite a ways to see it any ways so what is 15-20 more minutes for the better experience. It is the galaxy for me. I hope next time we choose the theater with the best total experience and not just the best picture.

COMMENT from a hard-core "digital is always better" guy who has not yet been to the Galaxy
Someone from Cinemark (I'm guessing) told her that the sound for OPENING Night WAS NOT calibrated right off of the DLP. Thus it WAS NOT heard the way their system was capable of playing inside Theatre 13 at Legacy.

REVIEW #6
I went tonight to the Galaxy and I will have to say the sound is outstanding! But I liked the visual of the DLP much better. The only thing that was better on the film was when Ct Dooku steppped into the shadows, you can see the door behind him better, but thats IT!

The frame rates just didnt look like it was right on some of the shots, Especially the pans, and several of the Cloning room shots in paticular, seemed alot clearer on the DLP.

Of course, I havent fully made up my mind yet, I'll have to see the DLP once again with the improved sound to see if that will help win me back to the Legacy.

REVIEW #7
Okay, as mentioned I've seen it at both now, and with the sound ramp-up at the Legacy, they get my vote unequivocably!

The depth and clarity of the digital image, combined with the almost alive colors everything had, has spoiled me...plus I dig the shot in the digital version, where Padme grasps Anakin's mechanical hand in the wedding scene.

DLP all the way on this one!!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

It is important to note that the "comment" and "review #7" came from two people who previously voiced their strongly opposed opinions to watching the movie any way other than DLP because "that's the way George Lucas intended it to be seen". As such, I don't put much consideration into their reports, for they are biased going into it, but I posted all the reviews here to be fair.

Why in the world would Cinemark supposedly not have their system tuned properly for opening day of Episode II in their DLP auditorium? I'm not buying that one. (I think the guy just doesn't want to admit he was wrong after all of his pro-DLP babble before the movie opened.)

See George, size DOES matter and sound can count more than 50% of the experience. At least that's what your loyal lightsaber carrying fans are saying.

14:30 Screen 13 Ster Centuary Cinemas, Leeds

According to the Website
This screen is Dolby EX. (All the screens are SR*D, and the two largest 12 and 13 are also EX).

There is top masking, which lowers to scope after the flat adverts/trailers.
There was a copy of the SR*D (Aurora i think) tag played infront of the film.

Carlton Screen Advertising plays with lights on about half. Lights go down for trailers and film. Trailers were, Minority Report, Bond 20, Scooby Do (was a short 30 sec teaser)

I sat on the 3rd row back from the front (Row L) The rows are numbered from back to front - Row A being the back row.

Pretty Good.

There was grain noticible in a few scenes. (There were a few scenes in the middle which looked like it was snowing)

The print didn't seem to be dirty ect.

The sound was ok. At first i thought the sound was just a bit too low. But during the end lightsiber scene the volume seemed ok. Good bass. The surround channels weren't used a lot, (music seemed to come from just the front) but there were some scenes in which the surrounds nicely jumped into life.

Good splices. Most of the reel changes went through without me noticing.

Date/Time: 2002/05/20 19:00
Theatre: Regal River Oaks Cinema 8, Decatur, AL
Auditorium: 6
Format: Scope
Sound: DTS
Auditorium width: 52 feet.
Screen width: 40 feet (scope mode) [adjustable side masking]

Image: Excellent. No scratches or dirt noticeable. Print was very clean, as typical for this theatre. I'm confident I could go back in a month or two and this print would still look great at this particular location. I did notice a couple of lab splices and one "CAP code" frame during the movie.

Audio: Excellent. Before the show, I asked the manager if both of his prints arrived without defects and he said no, that one reel of one print had a defective DTS time code. A replacement was ordered and the new reel was in place. A one to two minute period during the arena fighting played in analog, and I'd be willing to bet that it was due to a print defect. I say this because this was the first time I'd ever heard the DTS default to analog during a movie in this theatre and due to the seemingly high defect rate on these prints. I did not deduct for that dropout in my rating system. The analog sound was well calibrated so the dropout was not noticeable to most people.

Other: The image seemed to be well-focused and if I had not known the movie was shot digitally, I doubt I would have ever known. During the credits, I walked up to the screen and could not see any pixelation of the letters in the credits. I was a bit surprised by this.

------------------
Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Information Site

Contained trailers for Goldmember, Minority Report, MIB 2. I wasn't impressed with the way they looked, the fleshtones seemed a bit too purplish/pink in color. Minority Report had dirt on the image.

The Clones was a mixed bag to me. I wasn't impressed with dark scenes, like the part where the bugs are on Amidala's bed while she's sleeping and the guys come in and kill them. That part had lots of digital artifacting. Also, I noticed alot of digital shimmering that I notice alot while watching dvd's. The fleshtone's of Amidala, Anakin and several other characters had a purplish/pink hue to them, but Im not sure if that was the intended look or not. Plus, I thought alot of the picture was not as sharp as it could've been.

Also, I noticed something which I called digital platter wear. Three times during the last half of the movie, a small white line appeared, similar to some lines on VHS (which would be a grey shiny line), if the tapes been played too much or is old or whatever. Anyone know what kind of defect this is?

Overall, I feel DLP has a long way to go to beat film, but its a nice start.
 

May 20, 2002
Showtime: 10:15 pm
Regal Entertainment Group
Mall of Georgia 20 and Regal IMAX
Screen 2

Trailers:
FBL, Fandango, Nestea, Minority Report, MIB 2, three other previews (can't remember all of them), Regal policy trailer.

Auditorium/equipment:
Stadium seating, about 200 or so seats, screen was approximately 45 feet wide. The top row of seats was so high that anyone walking by crossed in front of the projector (only at the bottom of the image). Projector was a Simplex Millenium, on a Super Highlight console. Strong Alpha platters. There were two types of digital sound available, SDDS and Dolby EX. It was hard to say which format the feature was played in, but my guess would be the EX.

Presentation/feature:
The show started with the projectionist hanging out of the booth and looking around to see what was going on. The house lights stayed up all the way until the feature started. After that, smooth sailing, except for the occasional pixelation in some of the background animations. Also, in one fight seen (in the droid factory), as the camera "panned" the entire picture became extremely blurry, and came back to excellent focus when it stopped. There was apparently a bad splice (very rough) at the beginning of the ending credits. It looked like there may have been film missing as the Lucasfilm logo didn't fade in smoothly. After the splice (or whatever), the sound dropped out completely for almost a full second.

Overall, I'd say that I enjoyed the experience. Except for the little glitch at the end, the presentation was excellent. The movie could have used a little more Padme wearing her white spandex, but that's something for another review.

Bill
 

Please see my earlier DLP review.

Theater: SilverCity Coquitlam, screen #8, 7:50pm showing. 300 seat theater or so, sold out.

35MM.

Image Quality.

I have some mixed emotions about the picture quality. The film was very clean, and almost no visible dirt. The was one in frame splice, but it was quite clean, and I don't think it was a lab splice. There were a couple of very, very long scratches. One was dead center in the frame and lasted about 4 reels or so. Fortunately, it was very, very thin, and I doubt many people noticed it. The other one was about one quarter of the way from the right side, and was a bit thicker than the one in the centre, but it only lasted a reel and a half. I would guess that most people would have noticed it, but it was very consistent (didn't weave or change position or thickness very quickly), so it wasn't too distracting.

Another problem I saw was related to the actual theatre. There were several speakers behind the screen that appeared to be missing part of the black masking, and they were reflecting some light through the screen. Fortunately, it looked like only small pieces were missing, and the reflections were easy to ignore. On a side note, screen #2 at the same location has a speaker behind the screen completely missing it's black masking, and it is much harder to ignore.

The film overshot the masking on the left side of the screen by a large amount, so much so the movie was almost projecting on the side wall of the theatre. There was a little bit of overshot on the bottom, but the top and right side were perfect.

The colour was quite good, but not nearly as rich and vibrant as the DLP showing I saw. Still, it was quite good, with one exception: the darks. In every dark shot, the darks had red and blue chroma errors to a varying degree. Sometimes, it was very evident, and then in the same scene from a different angle, it would be almost gone (but not quite). I never saw this during the DLP presentation, and I suspect it might be part of the print process from digital to film.

I believe that this was caused by a combination of things. When you have lossy compression, you get a lot of these chroma errors, but they tend to be very small. If you then increase the colour intensity in the image/video, you increase the visibility of the chroma errors. I was able to achieve the exact same effect by taking a picture of my cat, converting it to jpeg, and then increasing the intensity to a point where the colours were much more vibrant, but still acurate. My guess is that they cranked up the colour at the expense of the contrast.

One thing that I didn't have a problem with was the resolution. Unlike the DLP show, I didn't walk out with sore eyes. Without the previously mentioned chroma problem, I don't think I would have known this was shot in DV without being told. Even with the image problems I've mentioned, I much prefered the film image over the DLP image.

Sound:

When my wife and I got to the theatre, we were a good 40 minutes early. So, popcorn and drinks in hand, we moseyed (is that a word?) over to the theatre (hey, no line up! cool!), only to find it about 85% full already. So, we ended up 3 rows from the back and I was right up against the wall, directly under a surround. Damn.

And then the movie started. The sound was no problem. In fact, everything was quite good. The surround effects were a little off due to my location, but they still seemed accurate enough, surprisingly. The audio was nice and clean, no pops, and unlike my first viewing, the low end was nice a strong without any distortion. The wall next to me was shaking quite nicely during the explosions. I personally would have liked a teeny bit more low end, but I know not everyone is a glutton for teeth rattling explosions.

General:

The show started bang on time, after a nervous female employee under a spotlight attempted to annouce the show to everyone and remind the people to turn off their cell phones. A few misc. ads and trailers, nothing special. My seat turned out to be much better than I first thought it would be, and I really enjoyed this showing more than I did the DLP.

Film is definately not dead...yet.
 

REVIEW #8
Hey everyone!
I'm new here, but a lifelong SW fan. Loved Episode 2 and was proud to be standing in a not-so-monstrous line for that first night's midnight showing at the UA Galaxy 9.

I'm a friend of fellow new member, "Flix", aka Brad Miller, part time projectionist, who actually ran the 35mm print that night and had the auditorium's THX sound tweeked for optimum audio orgasmic bliss. I am not biased just because I know the guy. He knows his stuff, and he's damn good at it.

I have not seen the DLP presentation yet, and I look forward to it, though most, if not all of those shows are sold out, meanwhile one can easily hop over to the Biggest Screen in Texas and see a FANTASTIC presentation. The picture was crisp, clean, bright and the sound is UNEQUALLED in the DFW area. Your seat rumbles from start to finish.

I've heard multiple reports of the DLP presentation totally rocking visually, with something to be desired in the sound department.

Everyone has their own opinion, and this is mine.........for hands-down, THE best sound presentation bar none, you OWE IT TO YOURSELF to see Star Wars Episode 2 on the gigantor screen at the UA Galaxy 9.

Mind you, I did not have issues with the visual presentation at all, but the sound is the real kicker here. Episode 2's genius sound design needs to be shown off and for Metroplex fans, it luckily is.

REVIEW #9
Well today I went and saw AOTC at both the Galaxy and the legacy. To be honest in my opinion I think that they equal themselves out. The sound system at the Legacy is better now since the premier, however I still dont think it is anywere near as good as the Galaxies THX system. The Galaxy had it turned up really loud and sounds awsome. The hair on my head was moving. The picture quality was fair at the most. I saw a bit of "wobble" in the picture. The Galaxy is also going down the tubs. The past couple of years have not been good to it. In my opinion the only thing the Galaxy has left is the sound system which by far is still the best I have ever heard.

Basiclly if you want Excellent image quality and decent sound go to the Legacy and vise verse for the Galaxy.

I will continue to see the movie at both theaters. Just more at the legacy in the fact it takes me some time to get to the Galaxy from Plano

REVIEW #10
Can't wait to see the DLP. Me and Darth Snoogans caught the 7:30 pre-screen at the Galaxy ... the sound was as all have said, incredible!

We'd tried to go this weekend to catch a DLP screening, but of course, it was all sold out. We're going to try again tomorrow/today if possible. I hear there's 8 minutes of additional footage on the DLP that's not in the celluloid prints? Can anyone confirm that? That would rock!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

So does anyone know if there is indeed a difference between the film versions and the DLP version? Do they both have the same running time, or is the DLP 8 minutes longer? I'm just wondering if that is gossip or fact.

I also have a feeling if these guys were comparing Episode II on one of our smaller 40 foot wide-ish screens (with 4000 watt lamp) instead of our 80 foot wide screen (with 4500 watt lamp) that they would not be hailing the image superiority of DLP quite so much.

I was impressed overall despite several things which detracted from the performance.

Trailers ran at full house lights, no ads before them, although there were short spots for DLP and TDC after the last trailer. Lights went full off at the LucasFilm logo. Only the Goldmember trailer looked poorer resolution than the movie itself. The package was, in order:
Goldmember
Matrix 2
MIB 2
Minority Report
DLP
Technicolor Digital Cinema

SOUND
We got to the aud with five minutes to spare and had to sit in the back row. This was great for viewing, but not so great for sound because the back wall speakers were above our heads and we lost some of the surround effect. So I didn't have the best sound experience possible, but I could have if we had made it there earlier. Sound was excellent outside of this; the right amount of depth and punch. Very very nice, no distortion at high or low frequencies.

PICTURE
This was one of the brightest presentations I have ever seen. It was so bright, in fact, that four of the seven screen seams were illuminated to the point of distraction. They ran vertically at (from the right) 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 of the screen. It was really, really annoying, especially since one of the nicer things about DLP is the lack of scratching possibility. I had four vertical lines which effectively were the same thing as scratches, and which really took away from what the presentation could have been.

Another problem I noticed was the presence of three blurry faint spots of light on the left hand center and center top of the screen. The left/center was green, same color as the exit signs, the center/tops were red... during credits the place emptied out quick so me and my assistant (who came with me) ran down and covered up the exit sign to see if that was it. It wasn't. When the projector shut off the lights went away. I don't know that much about DLP, and they wouldn't let me see their booth . It almost reminded me of the spots we used to get on our screen from the green window that lets you see the bulb while it's running, but it was a different color green, and that wouldn't explain the red spots. Annoying, but not as bad as the screen seam "scratches".

We also noticed that from the fourth row, the stars are squares. In the first seven rows or so of the theatre you would be able to see the jagged (stair-step) edges on the curves of objects or credits (ESPECIALLY the credits). Also from up close you can see the vertical strips that comprise picture which is annoying. I would say that on the whole, I could toleratre film presentations from the first few rows but not digital ones.

Ok, now for the exciting raving parts. Hands down some of the truest colors I have ever seen. The reds were incredible and definitely the best I have ever seen. In the scene where Jango is standing by the pink electronic ads, the ads glowed with sharp intensity. Everything was bright, distinct, with no bleed and crystal focus. It was amazing to see the backgrounds so sharply. It was a very nice picture from where we were sitting, about three screen lengths away (40 foot screen?). The picture was steady, steady, steady. I found the lack of changeover cues noticeable at first, but forgot about them eventually. Only a projectionist would notice that anyway.

Overall a good show. I will have to go back and sit in the middle sometime so I can get the full surround sound effect. Focus was clearer than the film prints at my multiplex can get, although I think in some scenes (Mos Eisley, e.g.), the computer animation is more noticeable in DLP than on film. None of the white specks were on the digital version, they are on all five of the prints we have here.

Sarah Werning
Chief of IMAX Projection
Regal IMAX Lincolnshire

No ads or policy daters. Trailers: Like Mike, Men In Black 2, Minority Report, Austin Powers, Matrix sequals. DLP Tag and Technicolor Logo.

Film evenly illuminated and focus sharp edge to edge. Masking dead-nuts on. Oddly enough, I saw the exact same blobs of light Sarah noted above, they came and went with the show, were very visible in fades-to-black and were clearly not ambient in nature. Sound very clear. There was a soda (or something) stain on the screen, fer crissakes, about center and down slightly with the usual reflectance change. They have one DLP set up in one of their smaller houses, and are working three other prints. Picture very clean and saturated (we surfed into the big screen after the show and caught a few minutes of 35mm, which was slightly lower in saturation and thinner in contrast, and not nearly as visually involving). No aliasing or artifacts that I could see.

All in all, if I hadn't "known", I would never have made it out to be a video origination. The wholly digital effects sequences were very sharp and clear, the live action photography less so. It seemed to me that there were depth-of-field issues in the photography of the actors, I felt that there were clear focus problems when the focal plane was split even slightly between a foreground performer and someone in the backround. You really see the difference in resolution in people's faces, it seemed to me. The whole effect of the video photography put me in mind of 35mm. with a fair amount of diffusion, like the kind you would get with a lite Tiffen softnet.

If only the Galaxy would get DLP....

REVIEW #12
After seeing 12:01 at the Galaxy and Saturday afternoon at the Legacy...the Galaxy definitely was a better experience. Looking at the replies it looks like the Galaxy was prefered. It is pretty clear where the line should be next year...Legacy, that way I will be closer to the front for Episode III at the Galaxy!

REVIEW #13
The Galaxy screening I saw was phenomenal in sound. I doubt it can be surpassed, but I admit the picture quality had some grain to it. Will see it on DLP as soon as possible.

REVIEW #14
The Galaxy sound is out of this world. But the picture quality stinks.

Give me DLP any day of the Week.

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Like I've always said, a 4500 watt bulb is just NOT enough to light an 80 foot screen. Oh well, maybe now that the theater is a Regal, we can start using 7000 watt lamps like the system was originally designed for.
 

REVIEW #15
Ok guys. I've been back to the Galaxy again now, and I have to say that I much prefer the "experience" at the UA Galaxy 10 there more than the "movie" on DLP at the Cinemark Legacy. This is after 3 viewings at the Legacy and 2 at the Galaxy. Look at it this way....

When you watch a show at the Legacy on DLP, you get GREAT visual quality, but the sound just isn't where it should be. You just can't "feel" the movie. You are only getting one of your senses aroused… sight.

But when you go take in a showing at the Galaxy on theater #5, you can really hear everything. You and your chair are vibrating with every saber blow and explosion. And although it may only be a film version of the movie, it is one of the best possible theaters to see film (clean with few scratches, etc…). You are getting 3 of your senses pleased with this experience…. sight, sound, AND feeling.

Nothing can beat the orgasmic feeling you get when those sonic charges go off in the asteroid field. You can actually feel the peril for Obi-Wan because you actually feel asteroids exploding all around him. And I personally think that the Mids and Highs are better in the Galaxy. They are almost too sharp and piercing at the Legacy, and there is no Bass to counter it out with.

The Legacy’s legacy just can’t hold it’s own against the Galaxy far, far away….

Now, what was said above is relating to the quality of the movie experience ONCE the sound was turned on in the theater!! Check this out…

It was myself with my Aunt, Jeff and his friend that he brought in from Sherman, TX, and I can never remember your name man , but you had your son with you yesterday. When the lights went down and the previews began to roll, something just didn’t sound right. I could not feel/hear any bass with the MIB2 trailer and I’m sure I have before. So I got up and ran down the hall to the girl who was tearing tix and asked her to have them check it before the movie began to play. She picked up her walkie-talkie and began to talk into it, so I figured it was taken care of. Boy was I wrong.

The first time I went to the Galaxy for AOTC last week, my 2nd favorite scene was the opening sequence where the Royal Naboo ship passes over us 3 times and then explodes. Every thing in the theater (including my chair) was vibrating. I love this because you can really get a sense of the size of this starship and then you feel like you are on that landing platform when it explodes. Unfortunately, upon this viewing yesterday, the sound was just not there. It was like watching a big screen TV with MONO sound and no bass.

So I ran back out and complained again about the sound, to which I was told they’d get right on it. I felt like Branson was working there… Now I was hoping that at least the rest of the movie would be better. Boy was I wrong AGAIN.

Apparently the sound was never touched. So from the whole scene with Zam and her chase all the way until Obi-Wan meets Jango on Kamino in his apartment (about an hour into the movie), we are listening to crap. I kept hoping that they would get it fixed and get it right, but it was clear that wasn’t going to happen by the end of the apartment scene. And I wanted good sound for the duel and subsequent chase through the asteroids. So I pulled out my cell phone and called the box office from inside the theater to which I was told that someone would fix it.

Finally, on my 3rd complaint for them to correct the problem, the sound kicked in. We all (in my party) could clearly tell when the digital sound was turned on, even though we were watching a conversation at the time. The next scene was the Jango/Obi-Wan duel and that was great. From then on, the movie was fine.

After the show, we tried to complain and were told to wait and someone would be with us shortly, but after about 10 min of waiting we left. It was enough time for everyone in our group to run to the restroom and come back (even my Aunt ).

Although the presentation was good AFTER the sound was turned on, the customer service sucked. I don’t know why I would take me 3 tries to get the sound turned up/on and why we were ignored after the show, but it was not pleasant. I will probably go back to see AOTC at the Galaxy due to the great sound, but perhaps they care more about their customers on the weekend when they have massive amounts of them than the few weekday matinee customers. So I suppose I’ll just have to fight thru the large weekend crowds and lines just to see this movie the way it should be seen. Or I can just go to the DLP at the Legacy, which is closer to my house anyway.

"Lost some respect the Galaxy has. How embarrassing, how embarrassing!"

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Definitely not acceptable!!! Clearly the projectionist that day failed to do his mandatory 15-20 minute "booth walks" to check on things, and then proceeded to lie to the manager that "all was fine" (so he would not get into trouble) and as such the manager believed him without question and refused to make good to these customers with 6 passes for their group. Upon researching the problem I believe it has been tracked down to a relay in the automation (a few more screenings will tell for sure). Over the 24 hours after this screening, the system failed 4 times to "bump up" the level from 3.5 (previews) to 7.0 (feature) and remained in SR for the feature. Our systems are very reliable and this happens *maybe* once a year. Regardless, this is no excuse for the projectionist to not get off of his ass and check on things throughout his shift. This should have been caught within the first reel of the movie, worst case senario, and of course passes should have been given. (Yes, I am stewing over this one.)

Disclaimer: while yes this is the theater I work 2 nights a week at, I have nothing to do with how the floor operations are ran. Up until this week I have always felt the managers did a good job at taking care of the customers. Today I have lost much of that respect due to Thursday's events and the complete refusal of the manager to make good in some manner to that party of 6 that drove out of their way to patronize the Galaxy and got a bad show.

(BTW, these guys have been speaking on the Star Wars board since before the movie opened about how "film gets scratched" and most have been well conditioned to believe that as a fact of film. Our prints are NOT scratched! An ex-projectionist of mine (who is very picky) was in that same auditorium last night and reported the print was "perfect from beginning to end". The infamous Mr. Ron Beardmore from Northpark is going to the theater to screen the movie tomorrow and if there is a mark on that print, I will certainly hear about it.)

Since there are many technical glitches that can cause the wrong sound format to be selected, in my Perfect World the person on duty in the booth would be ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED to check for proper sound format playback at the start of the feature, AFTER all the trailers etc. are finished.

Or better yet, there would be some kind of audible alarm system designed into the hardware that would alert the booth staff to the fact that "this should be playing in digital but it's actually in analog".

 

I've always felt that the digital logos need to have a nice friendly voice on the analog track saying "Welcome to everyone at this theater. If you are hearing this announcement, this movie is NOT being played in Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS and the management of the theater needs to be contacted immediately." Wouldn't that be nice? It would also prevent those theaters advertising digital from running those logos, because it does happen, frequently intentionally.

Actually I remember reading something related to the analog sound on the DTS flying disc logo when the system was being rolled out for Jurassic Park. The DTS people were concerned that some theaters not equipped with DTS would get hold of the logo and play it to mislead customers (of course there could be other scenarios such as prints being moved to non-DTS houses, etc). Their idea was to have no analog sound on it whatsoever. I think exhibitors balked at that and DTS went ahead and put the analog soundtrack on the logo, which seems awfully dumb. Playing that logo in bad SR is not very impressive.

The adds abd trailers also played in SR only. Something must have gone wrong.

Anyway

Back to Star Wars......

For some reason the curtains were open when I walked in. Strange. I've never seen the giant 70ft screen out in the open like that. Lots of movable black masking. It looks like they can raise the top a bit to make 1.85:1 films bigger than they would normally be. I can't confirm that they do that since I've never seen a non-2.35 film there. Anyone know? After awhile the curtains closed and then opened and then the lights dimmed. Hmm, I guess the timing is out of sync. This was later confirmed when the curtains closed all the way and reopened during the MIIB trailer. They also didn't close at the end credits like I've seen them do. The lights didn't come back on either so everyone who had stayed until the end had to find their way out in darkness.

Picture

I never thought DLP would hold up well on this particular screen but I was wrong. Image was consistently bright, detailed, and of course, mindblowingly steady. Only the Minority Report trailer exihibited film artifacts. From where my seat was(just to the right of the exact middle) I couldn't see any artifacts or pixels. Only when I got up and moved closer to have a look did the picture reveal it's digital nature. That's okay though since the same happens with film, only there's grain and other junk instead of pixels. Being the first movie I've seen shot entirely with digital cameras and projected digitally I didn't know what to expect. It certainly wasn't soft or grainy like some people have said about the film prints. I was really critical of Lucas pulling this off but I have to say I was really impressed at how much detail his team squeezed out of those cameras. It actually looked better than most prints I've seen.

Sound

Oh man! Of all the times I've been to Grauman's this definitely was the loudest I've heard their sound system go. While I appreciate an insanely powerful sound system(ie Cinermam Dome) there are limits to how much people can endure. The MIIB trailer in particular was just too much. Very very harsh sounding. Dialogue intelligibilty was also worse than past experiences I've had there. The beautiful interior of the auditorium just isn't good for sound. It bounces, it echoes. Fortunately the bass is well understood and AOTC has enough to... well, you know. It kicks some major ass. The sound sytem had no trouble reproducing it. Surround activity was equally impressive with the countless fly-bys of ships and explosions. I'm pretty sure I heard 3 channels.

Program Order

Austin Powers: Goldmember
Like Mike
Men in Black II
Sum of All Fears
The Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions
Minority Report
New Mann's Chinese complex trailer
Latest THX trailer
Latest DLP trailer
Technicolor Digital Trailer
Main Feature

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A KIWI eats,roots & Leaves.

He went to see AOTC at the Wynnsong 10 (a Carmike) in Billings. The show failed to start on time, and after a few minutes delay, an usher walked into the auditorium and told the crowd that the "projector bulb was blown" and they did not have a spare. Wait, it gets better....rather than offer refunds or free passes for a future show, he told the whole crowd they could see Spider-Man across the hall...it was either that, or nothing.

As it happened, my friend had not seen Spidey yet, so he and his party went ahead and watched it. No word on whether there was a riot in the lobby.

Gawd, I love Carmike in Billings. They are great for our business here.