AMC Tysons Corner 16

I’d see ‘After Earth’ but not IMAX – 4K DCP’s are being distributed so any projectors out there like the Sony one’s at most AMC’s seem more than suitable. I got to the Udvar Hazy an hour and 15 minutes BEFORE the 7:15pm showing on last Monday and one, I didn’t have to pay the parking (cough ‘rip off’) and obviously the first in line – I was no need or rush to see it in it’s first three days of release. You now have me wanting to check out the Xscape plex in Brandywine

interesting about the differing sound mix, I didn’t even bother seeing/hearing it in Atmos here – since I wanted to check out the IMAX shot scenes in an actual 15/70 venue (i.e, Udvar Hazy). Would like to see ST:ID again, in 3D, but more than likely be down at the National History Museum (which starts a week from today).

and yet another Dolby Atmos mixed movie comes along and blows the last one out of the water – ‘Oblivion’ takes the cake with a sci-fi themed movie where the soundmixers place sound in some truly amazing areas of the auditorium – in this one the music score takes center stage. The Drones burst of energy and bass staccato sound pummels us the viewers to extraordinary effect. And since this isn’t a 3D film – there’s no ghosting flaws I’ve noted in past 3D presentations.

I agree, of the three films I’ve so far heard in Atmos, this by far was the best. While the image for the first screening of last Friday was decent and conveyed some great dimensionality, far off images still seemed blurry – I really hope at some point AMC would just uninstall the two projector system and replace it with a single projector ‘Solaria’ 4K system. ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’s audio was just painful, I told the manager after 'Oz’s screening this was just exemplory (and then a quick comment that 'Die Hard 5’ was just beyond loud, which she agreed).

Jodar, in terms of the ETX screen not featuring ‘The Hobbit’ in HFR is baffling, since most specialty large screens have been upgraded to playback in 48fps – maybe AMC didn’t want to compete within it’s own theater/complex and give the IMAX presentation an upper hand – my guess is that the since the dual-projector is glitchy to begin with, updating to playback in HFR could be problematic. Fandango’s listing makes no mention that the ETX screen is HFR, it only applies to the IMAX-D presentation.

So I saw “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” in their IMAX auditorium. Wow, this place sure has changed since a went there to see “Dr. Seuss' The Lorax” earlier this year. The picture is clearer (and its not just the HFR), the sound is much, much more robust. I actually enjoyed the IMAX proprietary sound system for the movie more than I enjoyed the JBL system/Dolby 7.1 mix of the film at Cobb Village 12, and it’s usually the other way around. The right projector still had the same issue, it showed a few frames of black momentarily that all you see in the right eye of the polarized glasses was nothing whereas the left eye had the image. Can’t believe they didn’t look over that.

The HFR was different and hip. It did look like a new HDTV, but perhaps the greatest HDTV ever with the greatest luminance control of the IMAX 3D system and no artifacts in the motion as it was natively shot in 48fps. Sure it looked cheesy at times (“Blunt the Knives”), but the CGI blended pretty well. People should look back at the LOTR trilogy if they call the CGI in this film fake. ‘The Hobbit’ shows us how much can be improved in ten years. Gollum looks more real and emotive than ever. I also don’t want HFR to take over the cinema industry and milk the technology as with 3D. I want 24fps to still be a viable option available in the future.

The movie itself was boring, so we left two hours in. I had already seen the full film in 2D back in Cobb. I don’t think I can make another showing so no Atmos show for me. Think I’m going to wait until “A Good Day to Die Hard” or “Star Trek Into Darkness” as my first Atmos film. Oh and the preview for ‘Star Trek’ was fantastic. It looked soft at first, but once it got to the IMAX sequence all was better, though the constant alternating aspect ratios later on became comical.

The IMAX-D projector is ‘High Frame Rate’ – the ETX screen is not.

So it sounds like Atmos is being installed only in theater 11 (the ETX screen)? If so, drat. I really want to check out a movie in Atmos, but under no circumstance will I ever go back to a room without masking (especially one with such lousy projection quality, and the silver screen just adds insult to injury). I keep hoping AMC or Regal will install Atmos in a non-ETX/RPX room; have they done this yet at any location? (or has any other theater/chain done so?)

saw ‘Madagascar 3’ on the ETX screen the other day, and my mouth was on the floor – the colors were eye-assaulting – for once the projector was properly calibrated and no double imaging – outside of being wowed by the color intensity of the bluray of ‘Speed Racer’ – this movie was not only fun, but it was by far the best in color reproduction and clarity that digital projection can (and should) offer. On the flipside though, the 7.1 soundmix was practically non-existent, not a fault of the ETX soundsystem, but the folk actually created the mix – it was no where as creative or impressive as ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ 7.1 mix I had seen the week prior. (or even ‘Prometheus’ at the Egyptian for that matter)

Thanks Jodar for the response.

I think there is a bass-issue in that auditorium at times, or at least there has been recently. That AMC Magic-Chairs trailer should have a very noticeable bass-line ripping from the subwoofer right after the camera pans down to the girl’s boots and you see the roots sprout out of ground (right as the chairs in front fall forward). Trailers are mixed differently, but the presentation of that AMC ad has always determined the level of bass that I will hear (feel) from the film that’s about to play. It’s actually been a very useful bass-barometer. The trailers are a pretty accurate judge as well, but the AMC ad is 100%.

I remember seeing Green Hornet on that Tysons IMAX screen and it was easily the best presentation of a film I’ve ever “heard.” The bass/sound during the Fast-Five and Thor trailers prior were beyond anything I’ve ever experienced, and what I heard in the actual film followed suit. I then made very sure I was seeing future IMAX films on that screen. Since then however, I have not seen any that have matched that level, and I’m very sure it’s not an issue of sound-mix moreover something in the theater’s levels. I remember next seeing Thor on that screen, and it wasn’t nearly as strong as the Green Hornet presentation. Again, I understand every film is mixed differently, but on a relative level I could tell there was something a touch off.

Besides IMAX films, regular films on that screen from years-back have always over-whelemed with bass. I believe Serenity was the first film that ever played on that screen, and the presentation was unreal.

I’m not a bass-addict by any means :) as I EQ the bass for my home-theater to the proper level. But based on what I’ve “heard” in that Tysons IMAX screen recently, there’s either an EQ mis-adjustment or a faulty sub.

This theater is a drive for me, but its a point of ‘compromise’ of sorts between my friend and I, who attend movies almost weekly. Most of the time, we go near where I live, which is either the Regal or Annapolis Mall theater, where at least 3 auditoriums are THX certified and everything else is digital. Granted, the Annapolis mall screens do not have the wall-to-wall screens that this venue has, but the excellent sound (Dolby Digital 7.1, now) and projection attains that all-important immersion experience and we don’t have the traffic and parking mess.

Therefore, I cannot comment on the rest of the auditoriums at Tysons to comment, irish_mclean. For the most part, I ’ve enjoyed the presentations here. I enjoy the dialog between myself and everyone else to compare things going on and sharing information. Back in the day, there were several 70mm theaters here in NoVA..most of them the National Amusement chain, the formerly GCC..then AMC Springfield, that I used to go to pretty much when they had the exclusive 70mm bookings. Making the drive here is/was worth it. When Regal opens its new Crofton plex with IMAX-lite, then the drive here may be more debatable.

To answer your questions about the sound booms..do you think maybe the trailers or movies you saw just didn’t have them? I can’t imagine management deliberately toning down the bass booms…at least for the trailers. I doubt any AMC folks from there frequent this site, much less comment. Once in awhile, a cinema enthusiast such as ourselves, who just happens to work for a theater and just so happens to come to the site will comment, but that is rare. I don’t know..maybe you could talk to someone at the theater and see what they say? If so, let us know what they say.

With regard to your SDDS comment, I thought that was encoded on the film, itself and hardly used, or discontinued nowadays. I thought I read a comment to that effect somewhere on the site. I remember the AMC ads for SDDS, in the trailer, that bragged about 8 channel sound…the animated triangles…remember those?

I’ve read comments posted by projectionists on the site about ordinary theater (kids) employees running the automated projection booths. If these automated booths are truly automated, then is it fair to say that the sound levels are also pre-determined? I’d think to control sound levels would require some level of skill because you’d want to achieve optimal sound levels to provide the best in viewing entertainment. Too much bass, not enough treble, or vice versa, or not engaging the surrounds, too low or too high sound also would detract from ‘the experience.’ Maybe there’s a cheat sheet to set the sound levels… :)

JodarMovieFan – I was at Wrath of the Titans on Friday at Tysons AMC – in the same IMAX auditorium. While I only once saw a projection problem in the 6 years the theater has been open, I have noticed that the sound quality in some of the auditoriums has diminished, most notably with the bass.

The IMAX auditorium is screen #3 I believe. I’ve been in there for some movies where the bass is jaw-droppingly powerful — creating the best movie experiences I’ve ever had — and other times where the bass is muted. The true test is during the AMC “Magic Chairs” ad. As the trees come out of the ground you should be feeling a strong bass-line rip from the subwoofer. Over the past couple of years I notice this has really declined, as often-times this piece of bass is far less powerful. As I mentioned it’s most notable in Auditorium #3. The last 2 IMAX films I’ve seen on that screen have been like this, and it has taken a bit away from the experience. One of the reasons I go the extra couple-miles to Tysons is because of the superior audio-quality that this theater can produce.

I’ve seen some of these bass-problems at the other AMC theaters like the Georgetown one, but the Tysons theater I feel has the better potential of the 2 as far as their equipment and setup.

When it first opened in late 2006, every auditorium was calibrated perfectly from what I could hear. But as I said over the years the bass has declined, and it’s most obvious for the IMAX films I’ve seen on screen # 3. The auditorium that has been most consistent has been screen #11 (the one on the very far right). I’m very sure AMC theaters use SDDS for their audio. I also hear that the theater has had THX-certification quality at certain times, despite not actually having the stamp of approval from THX. You can tell I’m observant when it comes to the audio-quality in theaters, and have also been educated a bit from friends who work for some of these companies associated with movie audio.

I’m wondering if the theater is deliberately dialing down the bass for some movies, or whether the subwoofer-parts just need replacement. If anyone affiliated with this theater reads this, I strongly suggest that the audio is re-calibrated in some of the auditoriums. While the theater always has “good” sound, I know it is capable of excellent as I’ve experienced it a few times. It has been a while though. I still will be willing to come the extra few miles if they can get the bass back up to par.