u/holmesersimpson

For those who didn’t have the chance to see the Odyssey in GT Laser IMAX, the trailer that’s online was shown before my screening but utilized the imax footage. Not sure if the special footage shown on the 70mm IMAX was the same but here’s what I noticed.

Dune Part 2 was shot entirely in IMAX, with Denis and Fraser switching between the two aspect ratios- 1.90 for the majority of the movie, and 1.43 for set pieces and establishing shots. It was a very impactful presentation on a 1.43 screen with most of the screen being utilized the whole time, and made the jump to 1.43 less jarring.

Based on the trailer shown before Odyssey, it looks like Denis has fallen back to the choices made for Part 1, switching between scope for most of the movie and 1.43 being the exclusive choice for IMAX shots we saw. 71 minutes of 1.43 footage is still a lot more than Part 1 utilized but it was odd to see him fall back after doing such a great job using IMAX’s dueling formats in the last movie.

The switch to film cameras to utilize the Keighleigh camera for the IMAX sequences may be to blame here but my only hope is that the jump to 1.43 is less jarring here than it was seeing Part 1, where the screen would sometimes only be 1.43 for a few seconds before snapping back to scope. He wanted to make this the one he actually shot on film instead of using a Film-Out after all.

This is mostly inspired by the recent report that the Ace Ultra will be switching to touch controls despite the leaked images clearly showing the content key (the physical mechanism that controls playback and volume) still being present on the Ace Ultra. If you’ve used the headphones you know the content key is a terrific control scheme and Sonos abandoning it makes no sense.

This isn’t to say the Ultra won’t be adding some kind of touch functionality, but if the images have the physical control and then the “specs and features” leak says they won’t, it’s clear something may literally be lost in translation from the international supply chain leaks these are coming from.

Just stay wary until we have real reporting from more reputable outlets or official word from Sonos itself. We’re all excited to see how Sonos fixes the Ace and whatever other new hardware is slated for next month.

Not trying to air too much laundry here but speaking broadly about my situation- if you were going to end a friendship with somebody who there isn’t much bad blood with but simply isn’t treating you how you’d need a friend to treat you would you just stop talking to them or reach out about ending the friendship?

My main issues are that I’ve caught this person in several lies recently and I wasn’t able to rely on them during a difficult mental health period I recently went through. We’ve been friends for 4 years and they were recently a guest at my wedding but I don’t think I want to deal with unraveling these recent gripes with them and would rather just end it.

So text/conversation or just let it wither naturally?

Even with memory prices the way they are I find it hard to believe the Apple would be losing money on the 3rd Gen Apple TV 4K. It was built to be the cheapest box ever, cutting the fan and even made ethernet optional. The volume on it was also so low that I’d be shocked if Apple is importing new ones in all that frequently- especially compared to products like the iPad and MacBook.

The price increase is also so dramatic that it reeks of Apple doing price normalization.

The 4th Gen box is rumored to use an A17 Pro chip, which would come with more memory than before, and new storage chip orders would bump the cost up as well. $200/$250 is almost certainly going to be the price of that box, and even if Apple hadn’t raised the price today, the 4th Gen could’ve plausibly sold for that price given the market.

So my question is what features does the 4th Gen need to have for you to fork over $200+ without hesitation? For me it’s Apple finally delivering lossless quality streaming for video and audio for your purchased movies. Lean on the more efficient codecs like AV1 and AC-4 to pull it off and I’d be fine paying that price for the quality of the image. If it’s just Siri AI support I’ll be holding on to my 3rd Gen boxes.

This is the best screen in the state and one of the best in the entire country. Gorgeous projection and affordable tickets (compared to what you’d pay for a PLF ticket anywhere else in Austin).

But by god, did the people who program that theater forget that movies open on Thursday?

I’m a diehard moviegoer and cinema employee and I schedule my days off to always have Thursday off so I can see the new releases and avoid spoilers. But for the handful of movies that open in IMAX that are worth seeing in IMAX, I have to make the choice between moving my days off to see it in IMAX first at the Bullock on Friday, or wait and see it in IMAX and see it in standard formats first.

Any Bullock employees care to share why yall stopped doing movies on opening Thursday nights? I believe this trend started last year because I saw tons of movies there Thursday without issue before.

Every other downside of the Bullock like lack of reserved seating or having to pay for parking before 6 I can live with. Even how uncomfortable the seats can be. For the right movie there’s few better places in the country to sit down and enjoy the IMAX format.

My favorite Bob Dylan story comes from my father.

While he was seeing student at the university of Florida, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez on a joint tour. Baez was the first act on stage and the frat boys in the crowd were absolutely awful towards her and heckled pretty much her entire set-pretty much demanding that Dylan come out.

After her set, the crowd got rowdier and rowdier waiting for Bob until he finally comes on stage and says (paraphrasing)- “You have disgraced an American treasure and deserve no show.” Then walks away, house lights on and that was it.

Luckily for Dad they were booked for two shows in AtlantaGainesville and he’d bought tickets for both beforehand.

Edit: Hello I’m so sorry for missing the timeline here so I reached out to my dad to clarify. He saw them play at GA Tech in Atlanta in the early 90s, where he lived at the time. I got confused which is why I said the show was in Gainesville-where he went to college. I’ll be putting strike throughs on the dates and locations but the rest of the story is as he told it to me

Looking to build a home theater in the house we’re about to buy. Space is picked out and I’ll be fully light and sound treating the room myself. I’m currently torn between laser projection or a large OLED/MiniLED TV to serve as the centerpiece.

I’m fine sacrificing gaming performance if the picture quality gains of the projector are really there but I’ve had a hard time finding real research on if the laser projectors out there are doing real HDR or just slapping a sticker on there. I want true black levels, but the best quality OLED panels out there top out at 77” or 83” currently.

Top TV contenders are the LG G6 83” or the Sony Bravia 9II 85”. I’m considering the 115” Bravia 9II but at $31k I’d be more tempted to find an alternative and put that money towards the sound system.

Admittedly I know more about TV tech than projectors so any expertise is appreciated here! I love the look of laser projection at my local movie theater but I’m incredibly skeptical that any home solution exists that holds a candle to that.

The Era 100 is $190 and the 100 SL is $170. $380 for an Era 300.

Lots of other discounts across the lineup but the Era discounts are particularly aggressive if anybody has been waiting to add reads to their setup. Pro tip- go for that open box inventory if you can.

Sonos

Era 100 at Best Buy

Travis Knight is in my hall of “directors I’m not gonna doubt” after this one. Was initially going to skip it but my wife liked the trailers. As someone who is only vaguely aware of MotU (my main exposure is the Netflix adaptations of She-Ra and Revelations) the movie looks absolutely gorgeous. Tons of practical effects and costuming, and it has beautiful cinematography and lighting to show it off. No marvel color grading or Netflix lighting to be found here.

When people described Mandalorian versus Groglet as “fun” I think this movie would melt their brains. The actions scenes are all very well shot and the movie is just very earnest. They definitely shouldn’t have put as much of the self aware dialogue in the trailers because this movie mostly accepts the world for how it is. The self aware humor fits in much better than I feared it would and doesn’t have that marvel “we know this is stupid but you morons love this anyway” tone that’s become so grating.

Hell, even Jared Leto does a great job as the voice of Skeletor. His performance is very campy and you mostly forget it’s him. It does beg the question why they cast him in the first place since he’s not doing press for the movie and he sounds nothing like his usual voice, but he did a great job nonetheless.

It’s a shame this movie is gonna flop and we won’t get any more sequels from Knight but I hope it finds an audience before Toy Story 5 sucks up all the family audience. It’s going to make the 50 year old men who are its target demographic very happy but I think it’s worth a watch for anybody. It reminds me a lot of Transformers One-a very well made movie that understands the source material that absolutely nobody will watch because it came out far too late.

After Saros and 007 First Light, both of which use Enhanced PSSR to great effect, I think Sony has done enough to justify the launch pricing of the system.

I purchased mine open-box from Best Buy for $630 after the announcement of the new upscaler. I’ve been thoroughly impressed with how games look on it but the performance comparisons for newer titles are what drove me to this conclusion. You only need to watch a few recent Digital Foundry videos to see what I’m talking about. This makes the price hike to $900 all the more frustrating amid rumors of the PS6 facing a delay.

When the Pro first launched, games didn’t look that much better and PSSR 1.0 wasn’t helping all that much (in some cases it made things worse). Aside from games like Assassin’s Creed Shadows, very few games showcased dramatic visual upgrades over the base system. The Last of Us Part 1 and Spider-Man 2 looked and played spectacularly on both systems. If you wanted a good-looking 60fps experience the PS5 and Pro were both delivering that.

But RE9, Saros, and First Light are a completely different story. Developers are optimizing for higher and higher performance capacity and the PS5 is being left behind. First light’s performance mode looks genuinely ugly compared to the Pro. RE9 is an even starker visual delta. Saros is the closest comparison with performance but PSSR is what provides the ultimate slam dunk there on pure visuals. CDPR finally relenting and readying a patch to support the new PSSR is even more evidence of how much more fondly developers are treating the Pro system.

I’m sure we’re going to see plenty of games that still look great on base PS5- rumors are that everything we’ve seen of GTA VI has been running on that system. If Spider-Man 2 is any indicator then Wolverine is also going to punch way above its weight class-but I expect the next few years of this (likely extended) generation to see more and more large third party games that leave too much to be desired for those who still have their launch PS5.