Page 1 of Cinema V DVD

Has the advancement of home entertainment come so far as to rival the `experience` of going to the cinema? Does the phrase "You must see this on the big screen" carry as much weight these days?
Personally, I would rather wait the couple of months for the Cinema to DVD release (region 1 at least) and watch a movie at home, than endure the head dodging, back kicking, crisp crunching, bag rustling, sitting too close to one side of the theatre to appreciate the picture and sound, and missing the best bits when you need a pi** experience, that is going to the cinema.
There, got that off my chest!

That`s because of all those titchy little multiplexes with their miniature screens and weedy speakers. You might as well watch it on VHS, but if you get a decent screen, like Odeon Leicester Square or the Empire seating a few thousand with a sound system to match, then I`m sorry, no home entertainment system will ever compare. I always try to watch a film at the cinema first anyway, that way I know which DVD I`m gonna buy next.

I`ve never been much of a cinema goer to be truthful, and only go to see films that I have to see : I can probably count on two hands how many times I`ve been to the flix :

Grease (Harpenden Odeon with my mum and dad : now a Volvo dealer), Snow White (when my great uncle was manager of the Watford Odeon), Star Wars (with my sister at St Albans Odeon, still got the bruises), Nightmare on Elm Street (with girlfriend number one, St Albans Odeon), Parenthood (with girlfriend number two, Brighton Centre), Heat (Loughborough Curzon with a mate), X-Files movie (Loughborough Curzon, on me tod) and Clockwork Orange (Nottingham Odeon, drunk and on me lonesome : now closed)

And, er, that`s it.

DVD became my saviour and now I`m recognised as a bit of a film buff by my colleagues, who know better than to ask if I want to go to the pictures with them : cue snorts of derision and comments like "I`m getting a copy of that from Australia/US/Hong Kong this week.."

And, to take the original poster`s point : other people ruin it for me. Lights off, amp up, I can press the `pause` button if I need a slash/more beer etc..

No contest - you get to choose when you watch it, how loud you watch it, and whether you want a partner of your choice with you to hold your hand during the slushie bits (and snog `em without other people nudging each other).

DVD = no contest. ;-)

Oh, and I can smoke in my living room...

This item was edited on Saturday, 5th January 2002, 15:57

But what about the bit where the entire audience all jump up together when the unexpected bit turns up...and the atmosphere!

Cinema the best DVD p*** poor second!!

For me, watching at home will never compare. The cinema experience is just that - an experience. Buying the drinks and sweets, the handing over of the ticket, the shuffling along the aisles, the short prayer that some 7ft bouffant-haired person does not sit in front of you etc. It`s an emotional thing as well as an audio-visual one.

Cinema the best DVD p*** poor second!!

A bizarre response from one reading and regularly contributing to a DVD forum.........

In all fairness, in this age of the multiplex, it`s now sadly become a case of hit or miss at the flicks. Whilst i can applaud cinemas for offering the movie fan enough choice to see them through a whole month, it smacks of quantity over quality. My resident UCI in Cardiff is a classic. Whilst i can fully enjoy a film(thats what you go for in the first place!), the actual effect can be very underwhelming, with the projectionist pushing the fader in the booth up to a point where the speakers behind the screen are overloading and pumping out more treble than that twat on the bus listening to hardcore on his Alba walkman. Then we get hardly any surround sound whatsoever. The UCI Cardiff`s biggest screen (no.12 for those who`ve been) has no less than 14 surround speakers, yet the last ten films i`ve watched there, only two have had the surround `on`. And that was only just! There`s no immersion or atmosphere, all you get is a barrage of crap `upfront`, with terribly screechy speech and an admittedly massive bass, which is great for about five minutes but soon wears off as the sound gets fatiguing and uncomfortable(perhaps Dolby need to encourage movie sound recordists to use lower compression than the p*** poor 310kbps rate, dvd`s have far less!), then you`ve got the person who hasn`t switched the mobile off, won`t stop coughing etc...
Maybe i`m being picky, but as an avid movie lover, i expect to go to the flicks and see the movie as `the director intended`, not how the projectionist feels like on certain nights. As it stands, dvd is the saviour of the movie at home, and only those lucky to live in London will tell you that cinema is great (Odeon Leicester Square has a sound system to die for, plus genuinely comfy seating!). But those who live anywhere else are being robbed of the £5+ asking price...

Westy

Until I have a massive screen with DLP projection, I`ll continue visiting cinemas. I like cinema and DVD.

I love going to the cinema for the truly exceptional movie, especially if it`s at the Empire (screen 1). Empire 1 gives me goosebumps and makes my eyes well up, this is before the movie starts proper! I know not to have a drink otherwise I`ll need to get up. I`d love to own a place like that.

I love watching DVDs at home for the convenience, quality, replay value, fun and the fact that I can lend out to select friends. I loved laserdisc in its day and still have my LD player and all my discs too. There was always something about The Lion King`s opening Dolby Digital scene which would send shivers down my spine... :-)

Anil

PS: Westy, we`ll have to agree to disagree on the Odeon LS having the most comfy seats! It`s good for about 90 minutes, then I get seriously tired shifting around! I like the ones in Empire though...

This item was edited on Saturday, 5th January 2002, 22:26

Well, for us poor souls with small children, it`s difficult to get out to the cinema, so the only way to see films is via DVD. Recently did get out to see Lord of the Rings, and within the first 5 minutes realised what I hadn`t been missing - rustling, crunching, fidgeting, lack of legroom, staying hunched down `cos I`m aware that I`m tall and don`t want to obscuse someone`s view.... But to be fair to the audience, we didn`t get a single mobile go off, and they quietened down once they got into the story. There is something about the communal watching of a film that can`t be beaten, but when they can`t even get the film projected to fit the screen properly (tops of heads projected onto the top surround of the screen), then you do wonder....
And as for BUYING popcorn etc there - it costs more than the @#**&£ ticket - no thanks!

I went to the Odeon in Skegness to see Pearl Harbor, not only did the screen have big black patches all over it, the sound was terrible and only the right surround channel was working.

Crappy.......

Anyway my local UGC Cinema is fantastic, Screen 4, which is the biggest and THX Certified and equipped with SDDS sounds and looks the business.

So in my opinion DVD and Equipment has some way to come to match the experience of the Cinema.