Issue 132, June 2008 of Widescreen Review:• “Marantz VP-11S2 1080p DLP™ Projector” By Greg Rogers

• “Russound® Complement LCR7 & SUB105 On-Wall Loudspeakers & Powered Subwoofer” By Gary Altunian

• “Samsung BD-UP5000 Duo HD Player” By Mike Marks

• “An HD Optical Disc Timeline: Our Coverage Of The Competing Formats” By Danny Richelieu

• “The Digital Dilemma: Preserving Today’s Films For Tomorrow’s Audiences” By Bob Fisher

• “Deep Impact Part I: The Technology Of 3D Cinema” By Alen Koebel

• Plus the new department “Connecting Dots...” By Amir Majidimehr, “Your Letters,”“One Installer's Opinion” and 38 Blu-ray Disc and DVD picture and sound qualityreviews and more...

Happy May! Dads and grads are on everyone’s minds at this time of year, and with all the latest offerings in Home Theatrelandthere is sure to be the perfect gift out there for the man, woman, or child in your life. And in case you need a few ideas, wehave introduced several new products in the “Coming Soon To A Retailer Near You” column. Stacey Pendry has been verybusy with our DVD Giveaways, which are proving to be extremely popular with our readers. In addition to the single-title DVDcontests she has arranged, Stacey has also organized a Spectacular Summer DVD Giveaway that you can read all about in“The Studio Scoop.” “They” say that nothing is free, but this is one instance where “they” are wrong. Be sure and enter, andyou could be the lucky winner of any number of free DVDs. This month’s archived IMAX® article is from the December 1997Issue #26, a warm up for an updated article on 3D technologies in the cinema, which begins in Issue 132 June 2008 of WSR.

2 New Equipment: Coming Soon To A Retailer Near YouBy Tricia Spears

4 The Studio Scoop: Rumors, Reports, & RamblingsBy Stacey Pendry

7 As Wide And As Deep As It Gets—The New 3D Image And 3D Binaural IMAX®

By John Sunier

WELCOME!

NOW AVAILABLEON NEWSSTANDS

ATTRACTIONS

Gary ReberEditor-In-Chief, Widescreen Review

WIDESCREEN REVIEW NEWSLETTER 24 1 MAY 2008 - www.WidescreenReview.com

May 2008 • Volume 3, Issue 24 • The Official FREE Newsletter Of Widescreen Review Magazine

Sponsored By Triad:

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Jamo’s R 907 loudspeaker is a smaller,more affordable version of the company’sflagship dipolar R 909. Featuring 12-inchwoofers, the R 907 is approximately 20percent shorter and 15 percent slimmerthan its predecessor but with operationidentical in principle. By decoupling and

fully suspending the loudspeaker’s 25-mm silk-dome tweeters from the rest of

the loudspeaker, vibrations transmitted from the front baffle to thetweeter are reduced by more than 20 dB. Available in a sleek redor black finish, the R 907s are available for $9,000 a pair.

Tricia SpearsStewart Filmscreen has introducedStarLift, a motorized mechanismdesigned to raise and lower thecompany’s innovative StarGlas rear-projection screen. StarGlas takes athin image layer and sandwiches itbetween two pieces of glass. TheStarLift is a convenient and efficientway to house this large piece of

glass, allowing a StarGlas screen to be placed virtually anywhere.The StarLift mechanism can be integrated into a piece of furniture,allowing the screen to be hidden from view until needed. Availablein two models and pre-installed with a StarGlas screen, the 65H canbe fully extended to a height of 34 inches and 57 inches wide, andthe 72H is 37 inches high with a width of 63 inches. Available intempered or non-tempered glass, the 65H starts at $9,000.

The Infinity Classia Series loudspeakersinclude a compact bookshelf monitor, theC205; a wall-mountable center channel,CC225; a floorstanding tower, C336; anda wall-mountable surround loudspeakerwith selectable mono-pole/bipole/dipole/dual-loudspeakeroperation, the C255ES. All the driversin the Series incorporate CMMD drivertechnology and a CMMD tweeter with frequency response thatextends to beyond 40 kHz. All the models utilize premium-gradeparts and construction, with well-braced enclosures designed tominimize cabinet colorations and preserve subtle musical detail.The loudspeakers are available in high-gloss black and cherry-wood veneer and range in price from $330 to $900 each.

Infinity Classia Series

Stewart Filmscreen 310 784 5300 www.stewartfilmscreen.com

Panasonic’s latest Blu-ray Disc™ player, theDMP-BD50, includesBD-Live capability, whichuses the Internet to fur-ther enhance the con-sumer’s entertainmentexperience by givingusers the ability to down-load such data as images and subtitles and to be able to join inmulit-player interactive games that are linked to bonus movie con-tent contained on Blu-ray Discs. The DMP-BD50 also features thePHL Reference Chroma processor and P4HD i/p conversion proces-sor, which combine to create Uniphier®, a precise digital videoprocessor that produces sharp, crisp, natural colors. The DMP-BD50employs VIERA Link™, a technology that allows the consumer tooperate VIERA Link-equipped home theatre components with a sin-gle remote. Also included in the DMP-BD50 is an SD Memory Cardslot for easily transferring images from an HD camcorder or digitalstill camera via an SD Memory card.

Panasonic DMP-BD50

Panasonic 800 211 7262 www.panasonic.com

Jamo R 907

Coming Soon…To A Retailer Near You

NEW Equipment

K2 Mounts 866 526 6868 www.k2mounts.com

Available from K-2 Mounts are threenew universal mounting brackets forflat panel televisions, the K2-A2-S($150), K3-A2-S ($450), and K4-A1-S($550). Each mount is made fromsolid steel construction with a powdercoat finish. With a maximum tilt of 15degrees and an articulating arm hori-zontal adjustment of 180 degrees,the included hardware and integrat-ed bubble level on the mounts makeinstallation straight and easy. The K2-A2-S is designed for 13-inch to30-inch TVs, the K3-A2-S is designed for 32-inch to 45-inch sets,and the K4-A1-S is designed for TVs between 45 inches to 60 inch-es in size and weighing up to 198 pounds.

Infinity www.infinitysystems.com

Russound’s RFR-E5 two-way RFremote control is a true multiroomremote control that includes local IRsupport for operating up to three localsources, while RF technology extendsthe product’s reach to other rooms inthe house. Featuring a user-friendly,clickwheel design and a high-resolutiondisplay, the RFR-E5 relies on IP andZigbee RF technology to communicatewith an ACA-E5 Multizone Controllerfrom anywhere in the home. Theremote communicates with a cradle base station, which features a10-base T Ethernet port that connects to Russound’s E-Series ACA-E5 Multizone Controller Amplifier through a networker router orswitch. The cradle also charges the remote when not in use. TheRFR-E5 will begin shipping in the second quarter of 2008.Russound 866 888 7466 www.russound.com

Russound RFR-E5

K-2 Mounts K4-A1-S

Jamo 877 456 JAMO www.jamo.com

Stewart Filmscreen StarLift

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JVC is introducing anew line of super-slimFull HD televisions thatweigh less (26.4pounds) and consumeless power (145 watts)than conventional LCDTVs. The slim designwas made possiblethrough the use of anew JVC-developedslim panel backlightunit and power supplysubstrate, or chassis,and is 40 percent smaller in depth and bezel width compared to aconventional LCD backlight. The 42-inch LT-42SL89 and 46-inch LT-46SL89 both offer 1920 x 1080p resolution and feature a cabinetthat measures a mere 1.5 inches deep across most of its width, witha maximum depth of only 2.9 inches at the panel’s center. JVCdeveloped the slimmer backlight unit by optimizing the light-diffus-ing plates and light-reflection sheets. They also included a slimmeryet efficient power-supply substrate and employed a direct-mountconfiguration for it on the LCD panel backlight unit with a fan-lessheat dissipation system to further reduce power consumption. Bothmodels will be VESA compliant for easy wall mounting, but JVC willalso offer its own mounting solution—a wall mount designed to posi-tion the slim TV closer to the wall than a standard mount does. TheLT-42SL89 and LT-46SL89 will be available in early summer 2008.

JVC Super-Slim Full HD Televisions

NEW Equipment

JVC 800 526 5308 www.jvc.com

Toshiba 800 631 3811 www.tacp.toshiba.com

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Toshiba SD-6100

Toshiba America Consumer Products has introduced a full line ofDVD products designed to enhance the video entertainment expe-rience for the consumer. The three portable DVD players—the SD-P71S ($130), SD-P91S ($180), and SD-P101S ($300)—includelarger screen sizes, sleek cosmetic designs, extended battery life,and convenient swivel screens. The LCD TV/DVD combinationmodels—the 19LV505 ($480), high-gloss white 19LV506 ($480),and 22LV505 ($600)—are LCD televisions with slot-loading DVDplayers included in the units. Available in 19-inch and 22-inch diag-onal screen sizes, each set features a high-gloss bezel and slimcabinet design. The upconverting single-deck DVD players—SD-4100 ($40) and SD-6100 ($70)—feature digital cinema progressivescan, ColorStream Pro component video output, and JPEG andMP3 playback. The SD-6100 features REGZA® Link (HDMI CEC) fora simplified device control using only one remote and offers upcon-version to 720p, 1080i, and 1080p resolution. And Toshiba’s newline of DVD Recorders—D-R410 ($120), D-R560 ($180), D-VR610($180), and D-VR660 ($250)—all feature high-definition upconver-sion capabilities and convenient one-touch recording. The D-R410and D-R560 are single-deck DVD recorders that offer 1080punconversion and feature a high-gloss black cosmetic design,while the D-VR610 and D-VR660 are multi-format DVD recordersthat offer 720p, 1080i, and 1080p unconversion.

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Ice Age Director Chris Wedge is due toadapt Brian Selznick’s children’s novel, TheInvention Of Hugo Cabret for Warner Bros.John Logan, who wrote scripts for TheAviator, Sweeney Todd: The Demon BarberOf Fleet Street, and Gladiator has beensigned to pen the project.

The story revolves around Hugo, anorphaned son of a clockmaker who is taken inby his uncle, who lives in the walls of a busyParis train station. The uncle is in charge ofmaintaining the station’s clocks, but one day hetoo disappears, leaving Hugo alone. Withoutadult supervision, Hugo must scavenge andsteal to survive, all the time maintaining theclocks of the train station so his uncle’sabsence will not be discovered.

ParamountSumner Redstone, Chairman and CEO of

Paramount’s parent company Viacom, stat-ed he would have no objection if TomCruise were to star in the next installment ofthe Mission: Impossible franchise.

It was Redstone that ended Paramount’s14-year relationship with Cruise and his busi-ness partner Paula Wagner in August of 2006,after publicly criticizing the actors’ impetu-ous behavior. Redstone felt that Tom jump-ing on a couch on The Oprah Winfrey Showproclaiming his love for fiancée Katie Holmes,and having a verbal tussle with Today showhost Matt Lauer over prescription anti-depressants was a liability for the studio.

However, Cruise is now in talks withParamount about reprising his role in thefourth Mission: Impossible film. The twowere spotted dining out together in BeverlyHills last March. Redstone is quoted as say-ing, “I consider Tom Cruise a great actorand good friend. And if Paramount decidesto move ahead with him, I will not object,”adding the final decision was “up to BradGrey, who runs Paramount.”

Stacey Pendry

Current/Future DVD Giveaway ContestsBe sure to check out our monthly DVD

Giveaway contests located on the homepage of our Web site. You have until May29th to enter to win our current title: P.S. ILove You. Congratulations to our April The11th Hour DVD contest winners.

Our Spectacular Summer DVD Giveawaywill begin on May 14th with seven fantastictitles from Warner Home Video to choosefrom. The titles confirmed for this multi-titlecontest include: The Bucket List with JackNicholson and Morgan Freeman; the roman-tic comedy, Fool’s Gold, starring MatthewMcConaughey and Kate Hudson; 30 daysand 30 nights of on-the-road behind-the-scenes side-splitting fun with VinceVaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show; theepic, prehistoric sci-fi spectacle 10,000B.C.; Be Kind Rewind, the hilarious comedystarring Jack Black and Mos Def; Semi-Profeaturing Will Ferrell with the greatest ‘Fro onEarth; and finally the two Corey’s reprisetheir roles from the iconic 80’s flick The LostBoys in Lost Boys: The Tribe.

Our very first Blu-ray™ giveaway contestis here: Weeds: Season Three is up forgrabs! Enjoy the antics of drug-dealing soc-cer mom, Nancy, and the other quirky resi-dents of Agresta, California in the popularShowtime series. The DVD/Blu-ray will beavailable for purchase on June 3rd.

You may enter any of the above contestseither by clicking the images displayed inthis newsletter or online via the homepageof our Web site (www.WidescreenReview.com).

The Spectacular Summer DVD Giveawaycontest may also be entered by either faxingor mailing the entry form located on page57 of the June issue of Widescreen Review.With tiles to cater to every taste, and over100+ winners, this is sure to be not only oneof our biggest multi-title giveaways to date,but also one of our most popular. Good luck!

Warner Bros.Alan Horn, COO of Warner Bros., has

announced that both Picturehouse andWarner Independent Pictures will close.

In a statement, Horn said, “With New Linenow a key part of Warner Bros., we’re ableto handle films across the entire spectrum of

genres and budgets without overlappingproduction, marketing, and distribution infra-structures. After much painstaking analysis,this was a difficult decision to make, but itreflects the reality of a changing market-place and our need to prudently run ourbusiness with increased efficiencies. We’reconfident that the spirit of independent film-making and the opportunity to find and givea voice to new talent will continue to have apresence at Warner Bros.”

Executive Producers Peter Jackson andFran Walsh announced late last month thatGuillermo del Toro has been signed todirect the highly anticipated film The Hobbitand its sequel The Hobbit 2. This is seen asa major step forward for the production ofthe New Line/MGM project that is due intheatres in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

Del Toro will be moving to New Zealandfor the next four years to work on the projectswith Jackson and his Wingnut and WETAproduction crews. The Hobbit and its sequelwill be filmed back to back, with the plot of thesequel revolving around the 60-year periodbetween the end of The Hobbit and thebeginning of The Fellowship Of The Ring.

New Line will oversee development andwill manage the production of both projects,with both pictures co-produced and co-financed by New Line and MGM. WarnerBros. is set to distribute domestically andMGM internationally.

I Want ToKnow

The Studio ScoopRumors, Reports, & Ramblings

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The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor,and Wanted have the potential to nudge theBlu-ray format into the consumer mainstream.

Others properties announced for Blu-rayrelease in 2008 are American Gangster, The40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Miami Vice,U-571, End Of Days, and Land Of The Dead,with more titles likely to be announced soon.

Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee’s next proj-ect, is said to be eyeing comedian DemitriMartin to star in the James Schamus’ scriptadapted from Elliot Tiber’s memoir.

Martin is being courted to star as Tiber, acloseted gay man working at his parent’shotel in the Catskills, who inadvertently setsinto motion the generation-defining culturalevent that was Woodstock.

Focus Features, a subsidiary of Universal,is hoping to begin production on this projectin late summer 2008.

Universal showed further faith in their Sci-Fi Channel drama Battlestar Galactica bysigning up for a spin-off series Caprica, aprequel to Battlestar set 50 years earlier.

Esai Morales (Jericho) has been signedto play Joseph Adama, the deeply moralfather of William Adama (played by EdwardJames Olmos in Galactica). Also cast isPaula Malcomson (Deadwood) as a sur-geon who also is a double agent.

Production on Caprica is due to beginbefore summer, and the Sci-Fi Channel iseyeing a December 2008 premier date.

SonyColumbia Pictures has acquired the

rights to the David Caspe comic script, IHate You, Dad with Happy Madison set toproduce the project.

The comedy’s plot revolves around afather who moves in with his son on the eveof his wedding, endangering the nuptials bypromptly rowing with the bride-to-be.

Two other Happy Madison productionswill be released by Columbia this summer:You Don’t Mess With The Zohan starringAdam Sandler opens on June 6th and onAugust 22nd The House Bunny hits the cin-emas, which is a film about a displacedPlayboy Bunny that befriends a group ofcollege sorority sisters.

Caspe is also currently penning anotherproject, Sensei for Summit Entertainment.

Superbad, the Sony-released buddy-comedy, has garnered a total of five nomi-nations for the 17th Annual MTV MovieAwards, it was announced on May 6th. Theawards show will air live on MTV on June1st, with Mike Myers hosting the event forthe second time in its history.

With nominations in such top categories

as Breakthrough Performance, BestComedic Performance, and Best Movie, thechances are good that the teen comedy willwalk away with at least one of the covetedgolden bucket of popcorn trophies.

Michael Cera received a nomination forBreakthrough Performance for Superbad,while also receiving the nomination for BestMale Performance for his role in the teenpregnancy comedy, Juno. Jonah Hillreceived a nod for Best ComedicPerformance for his portrayal of Seth, thechubby, deadpan, horn-ball teenager on thehunt for alcohol in Superbad.

Can you feel the McLovin’?

LionsgateLionsgate has acquired the North

American distribution rights to Oliver Stone’supcoming political bio-pic W, which is aboutGeorge W. Bush’s life and formative years.

Josh Brolin is slated to star in the titlerole. Also cast is Elizabeth Banks (LauraBush), James Cromwell (George H.W. Bush),Ellen Burstyn (Barbara Bush), ThandieNewton (Condoleezza Rice), Jeffrey Wright(Colin Powell), Scott Glenn (DonaldRumsfeld), and Ioan Gruffudd (Tony Blair).The only central character left not cast atthe moment is for the role of Dick Cheney.

Stone sited that he was pleased Lionsgatehad the independence necessary to bringhis provocative film to the American audi-ence. “We don’t really know much about Mr.Bush beyond the controlled images we’vebeen allowed to see on TV. This movie is abold stab at looking behind the curtain.”

The film will have a budget of under $30million and was due to start shooting May12th in Louisiana. The premier date is slatedfor October 17th, a full three weeks prior tothe November 4th presidential election.

Lionsgate is so confident that FrankMiller’s adaptation of Will Eisner’s comicbook series The Spirit will be able to hold isown against holiday heavy hitters that theyhave moved the release date from January16, 2009 forward to a Christmas 2008 pre-mier, pitting it against Disney’s BedtimeStories, starring Adam Sandler, and 20thCentury Fox’s Marley And Me, starringJennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson. Lionsgatemade the decision after the project was pre-sented to fans at New York Comic-Con.

The action-adventure romance revolvesaround a slain rookie cop that returns fromthe dead to fight crime and find a cold-blooded killer. Already cast are such A-Listtalents as Samuel L. Jackson, ScarlettJohansson, Eva Mendes, and Gabriel Macht.

This is Miller’s (Sin City, 300) directorialdebut; he also adapted and penned thescript for the project. WSR

I Want To Know

With the high-definition optical disc formatwar over, Paramount announced late lastmonth they would again enter the Blu-ray™

arena when the studio releases the animatedBee Movie on May 20th. Other titles slated forrelease on the same day are Face/Off and Next.

Paramount originally supported both theHD DVD and Blu-ray formats, but switched toHD DVD exclusively last summer afterToshiba offered substantial monetary incen-tives for them to do so.

The studio has plans to reissue older titleson Blu-ray throughout the year with two morerecent titles, There Will Be Blood andCloverfield, slated for retailer’s shelves onJune 3rd. The first day-and-date releasescheduled is the family fantasy film TheSpiderwick Chronicles, which will be availablefor purchase in both standard DVD and Blu-ray formats on June 24th.

Iron Man looks to be the summer block-buster to beat as the film netted over $100million during its opening weekend, accord-ing to domestic box office receipts. The huge-ly popular Marvel Studios-produced film rep-resented the second-biggest opening week-end for a non-sequel feature, after the $114million record set by Spider-Man in May 2002.

Iron Man enjoyed almost uniformly positivereviews ahead of its opening weekend, draw-ing patrons who were willing to stand in lineand cough up the ticket price, by the droves.Iron Man’s popularity may benefit othersbeside Paramount and Marvel by jump-start-ing the summer movie season and creating abuzz and sense of escapism that may drivemore would-be cinema goers back to the air-conditioned comfort of the local cineplex.

With the opening of Warner Bros.’ SpeedRacer the weekend after Iron Man debuted,Paramount execs are hoping word-of-mouthwill keep Iron Man at the top of the box officeearners’ list.

UniversalUniversal has announced its initial slate of

film and TV titles to be released on Blu-rayafter switching from HD DVD earlier this year.

Starting July 22nd, such catalogue titles asThe Mummy, The Mummy Returns, and TheScorpion King will be available on retailer’sshelves. Later this summer the first theatricalrelease that will be available day-and-date withits DVD counterpart will be the action-adven-ture flick Doomsday. Also to be released day-and-date with the DVD is Heroes: SeasonTwo, complimented by the first-time release ofHeroes: Season One on Blu-ray.

By the holiday season, some of the mosthighly anticipated summer blockbusters willbe available in high-definition along with theDVD. Major releases such as The IncredibleHulk, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Mama Mia,

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M a k i n g M o v i e s

J O H N S U N I E R

As Wide And As Deep As It Gets➤ THE NEW 3D IMAGE AND 3D BINAURAL IMAX®

Left: Entrance of Sony Theatre,Broadway & 68th, NYC, showing

some of escalator.Downstairs area is a normal

35mm multiplex house.(Photo: M. Lorenzetti)

Right: IMAX® 3D Theatreinterior space, with eight-story-

high screen.

The Experience

As Hollywood blockbuster features have become wider, longer andlouder, with special effects never dreamed of just a decade ago, audiencesmay think they’ve seen and heard it all. The next dimension in filmic storytelling, IMAX® 3D, serves proof that they haven’t.

You enter the New York Sony-IMAX® Theatre at street level offBroadway and 68th. After ticket purchase you ascend a series of escala-tors that take you higher and higher. As you enter the 500-seat theatre prop-er an attendant hands you a cumbersome looking but actually lightweight3D headset, the Personal Sound Environment®. The theatre seating issharply raked and in front of you is a silvered 80 by 100 foot screen, equalto the height of an eight-story building.

When everyone is seated a host explains some of the points of IMAX3D and helps you to properly set up your headset. There are no wires toworry about because both the signals to operate the liquid crystal 3D lens-es and those bringing the binaural soundtrack to your ears are carried viabanks of infra red transmitters on the sides of the theatre.

The show begins and you quickly appreciate how far ahead this is ofany other 3D or widescreen film presentation you have ever experienced.First, the screen image is high resolution from edge to edge and top to bot-tom, without distortion toward the edges. Second, in spite of the dark liquidcrystal filters over each of your eyes, the image is nearly as bright as a stan-dard-screen 2D projected film. The depth of the 3D image is natural and com-pletely rounded; no cut-out, cardboard type of images here as with manystereo vision processes. There is no need for the image equivalent of ping-pong stereo demos here—the spear in the eye type of thing. The simplestscene on the giant screen puts you right in the picture, without strain of eyesor brain. And when the camera peers over the edge of a skyscraper

rooftop, for example, Wow! Where did your stomach go?The sound half of the experience seems to come from the multiple

speakers behind the huge screen, and much of it does. But in addition,and this is the key to putting you in the sound environment as well as theimage environment, there are two small ear speakers in the Personal SoundEnvironment (PSE® after this). These are nearly full range speakers but with acutoff at about 100 Hz, at which point the subwoofers behind the giantscreen take over. The signals fed to these ear speakers come primarily fromtrue binaural dummy-head original recordings. They put you wherever theoriginal sounds oc curred, with a seamless spherical soundfield all aroundyou. In conjunction with the screen speakers they tie you securely to theimages on (in) the screen so that there is never a question of whether a par-ticular specific sound is located behind you or in front.

The Latest IMAX 3D Feature

While several of the more recent IMAX/Omnimax features have beenshot in 3D and will provide material for the 3D theaters that will be built orconverted around the world, the one that opened in New York in November1995, is the first to make extensive use of the 3D sound capabilities of thenew format. It becomes a “You Are There” sound experience rather than a“They Are Here” one.

“Across the Sea of Time” is a 51-minute 3D feature with an involving storyline. Tomas is a 12-year-old Russian stowaway on shipboard, coming toAmerica for a very special purpose. Almost 100 years ago his ancestor emi-grated to America to start a new life for himself. The ancestor became anearly stereo photographer, creating the commercial black and white stere-opticon cards for viewing in the small wooden hand viewers so popular atthe time. He sent these back to his old world family—stereo views of his newhome in New York City. Now Tomas has come to New York to try to find hislong lost relatives, and touchingly shows many people his treasured fewstereopticons while enquiring in sign language if they know where theseold places are.

A number of these sites still stand, such as the statue in front of thestock market on Wall Street. The producers of the film scoured a collection ofrare stereopticons of New York City to assemble those used in “Across the

FROM The Archives

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Sonics Associates’ proprietary hard waresystem and specialized recording tech-nology removes the constraints of twodimen sional sound and can place soundsat any point in space around the audience.

They explain that in conventionaltheaters the sound may be localized on apoint up on the flat screen or somewherein the soundfield provided by the surroundspeakers, but these sounds are never ata specific identifiable point in space. Forexample a car door sound of closing on thenormal screen will be connected by themind as long as it comes from somewherein the vicinity of the image of the door onthe screen. However, in 3D this becomesa major problem when the car door appearsto be located halfway between the viewerand the screen. With conventional speakersat the screen this could result in the visualimage appearing to be separated from thesound by more than 50 feet, making itimpos sible for the mind to connect the twoevents. The mind will perceive somethingis wrong with the experience. The PSEmoves the sound out from the screen andpositions the apparent source of the soundas close as possible to the 3D visual image.The mind not only connects the two eventsbut encourages suspension of disbelief inthe observer that makes the action comealive.

With the PSEs there are no bad seatsanywhere in the theater, as with conven -tional sound systems. The experience isthe same for every seat, regardless oflocation. The wireless sound source givesthe listener complete freedom of movementwithout the feeling of being tied to the seat.The PSE design permits all ambient soundsoutside of the headset to be heard clearly.The headsets are powered by lightweightrechargeable batteries. Without the 3Dglasses the PSEs can also perform in asound-only experience, such as rides.

Sonics chose a modulated infra redcarrier for the image sync and sound trans-mission. This reliable approach wasselected to offer almost complete freedomfrom regulatory encumbrances in everycountry. Interfaces are provided to feed thesignals from a variety of sound sourcesincluding digital audio or multi-track analogtape. When used with the Sonics 6 or 8channel Digital Disc Player system, theultimate experience is obtained.

The PSE® System

Abbey Road Londonscoring session with John

Barry on the podium. Notethe headphones on allorchestra members.

(Photo: Brian E. Rybolt)

Closeup of audience members experiencing thefilm with PSE headsets on.

Sea of Time.“ They had to build the world’slargest Wheatstone Viewer, patterned on thoseused around the turn of the last century. Each of thetwo images was precisely aligned and then filmedindividually on a special copy stand with themassive IMAX camera. The special standallowed for moving around on some of theimages, and one of the most affecting is a verti-cal tilt down a large crowd of the expectantfaces of new arrivals at Ellis Island. Another pansacross grimy workmen eating their lunch in thedark tunnels of the under-construction New Yorksubway. In spite of being monochrome, frozen,and the 3D effect lacking the convincing “round-ed realism” of newly-filmed IMAX footage, onefeels as though you could walk right over andchat with the workers looking at you across thesea of a century. The binaural realism of thesound environments, taped on the spot whereboth the black and white stills and the modernscenes were photographed, aids in making theolder stereopticons come alive for the viewer.The plot of “Across the Sea of Time“ allows forplenty of modern-day New York City touring, too.One of the highlights is the rollercoaster ride,which may bring back memories of the originalCinerama feature for those old enough. If theCinerama scene made your stomach queasy,better cover your lenses for the IMAX 3Dplunge!

3D Then And Now

Sir Charles Wheatstone first used the princi-ple of stereopsis—the ability of our spaced-apart eyes and our brain to give images depth,width and height—to create his WheatstoneViewer in 1838. His images were hand-drawngeometric shapes. Later the new invention ofphotography made more realistic 3D possiblewith a hand-held device using a pair of photosshot by a camera with two lenses about 2.5inches apart—similar to the human eyes.

The popular ViewMaster, with its smallsquare transparencies mounted on a revolvingcardboard disk, will be familiar to most today.From the very beginning of the motion pictureindustry, experimental 3D films were put on thescreen. The first 3D short showed views of NewYork in 1915, and the first 3D feature film wasshown in 1922. One system used a pair of inter-locked projectors showing alternating black &

white images. Every theater seat had a rotatingshutter disk attached to it and synchronized withthe projectors to block out alternate images so thatthe left camera images were seen only by the lefteye and the right images only by the right eye.

In the 1950s there was a rebirth of 3D filmsdue to the movie industry hoping to win backaudiences from television. Hollywood turned outfifty-four 3D feature films, mostly with the polar-ized glasses originally developed before theSecond World War by Edwin Land, founder ofPolaroid. Some of the titles were Bwana Devil,House Of Wax, Creature From The BlackLagoon and The Maze. Many black & whitefeatures (such as the last two) used the simpleranaglyph process of red and blue/green lens-es in stead of more expensive polarized ones. Theprojectors had matching filters over the left andright projection lenses and the audience woreflimsy cardboard glasses with cellophane lens-es that distorted the images on the screen. Thisprocess could produce a roaring migraine inthe viewer very quickly; more so if the projec-tionist failed to have the two projectors exactly insync or lined up properly on the screen. Just acouple frames out of sync and one eye’s image10 percent higher on the screen than the othereye was pure visual torture! (I recall purchasinga fancy pair of custom plastic-frame 3D polarizedglasses to avoid the throwaway handouts at thetheater, but just after buying them the 3D fadended and I never used them once. They can’tbe used as sunglasses because the polarityangles are wrong.)

The IMAX 3D process is the most ad vancedfilmic 3D technology today. It em ploys the

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The Sonics Proportional Point Source™loudspeaker was specially designed forIMAX and Omnimax theatres. It employsa custom enclosure, proprietary horns andelectronics to virtually eliminate variationsin volume and sound quality over theseating area of the theatre.

Conventional speaker technology forlarge spaces has serious limitations. Sucha speaker can do an excellent job of recon-structing a signal, but only over a relativelysmall area. This is due to two factors: thestacking of the drivers on top of oneanother causes the various spectrum bandsto arrive at the listener at different timeswhen the listener is seated above or belowthe center position; while subtle, this affectsthe timbre and confuses the brain’s abilityto localize the sound. Secondly, each of thecomponents in conventional speakersradiate sound energy in a different pattern,none of which are well suited to the IMAXenvironment. High frequency componentsespecially have a limited oval-shaped dis-per sion pattern; those seated outside ofthe pattern close to the particular speakerwill hear a very loud but muffled sound, andthose seated at a distance outside thepattern will have difficulty hearing the soundfrom the speaker at all. These variationsdetract from the sonic experience for all butthose audience members lucky enough (orsmart enough) to rush for the center seatsin the theatre.

The Sonic Proportional Point Sourcesolution places the components inside eachother so that the signals from each com-ponent arrive at the listener with the sametime relationship regardless of their positionin the theatre. The high frequency repro-ducer is nested inside the mid-frequencyelement, which is in turn surrounded by thelow frequency reproducers. The effect issound emanating from a single point inspace. The horns are matched to projectthe sound from each element in a patterntailored to the ship of the particular IMAXtheatre. Sound is projected more efficientlyto the seats farthest from the speaker tocounteract the volume drop cause bydistance, thus assuring consistentsound for every member of the audience.

Special SonicSpeakers

Left: John Barry (on left) and recording engineerdiscussing PSE headsets.

Top: John Barry and engineer at the consoleduring Abbey Road recording session.

(Photos: Brian E. Rybolt)

world’s biggest motion picture camera,although at 250 pounds the new camera usedfor this production is a light weight compared tothe previous 2000-pound IMAX behemoth. Thesmaller camera allowed shooting only a fewinches away from some of the actors- neverbefore tried in a 3D film. The camera burns 20times the film stock of a standard Hollywoodmodel—2000 feet of 70mm every three min-utes! And that is when running at the normal24-frames-per-second speed; there is also acapability for 48-frames-per-second HighDefinition IMAX, but it has so far not been useddue to the doubling again of the al readyimmense film stock requirements.

The first IMAX color 3D film was made forExpo 1986 in Vancouver. (I’ll never forget one shotwith flying Canadian geese, where you felt youwere one of the geese flying right along withthem!) The IMAX film frame, ten times the sizeof standard 35mm film and the largest film for-

mat in the world, allows projection to immensescreens which with smaller formats would resultin an extremely dark and grainy image. The chal-lenge is to put enough light energy behind eachframe; more on that later. The normal projectorsetup for 2D IMAX presentation—already muchlarger and immensely more complex than any35mm film projector—has to be in effect doubledto project the two huge 90-inch diameter indi-vidual film platters of 3D IMAX. The first platter of70mm film stock holds the film recorded by theleft lens of the original IMAX camera, while thesecond separate platter of film holds the imagesrecorded by the right camera lens. The IMAXprojector projects the left and right eye imagesonto the giant screen at 24 frames per second.

Simultaneously, the liquid crystal shutters inthe battery-operated PSE headsets receivecontinuous signals from wall-mounted transmit-ters using a modulated infra red carrier and areopening and closing at the rate of 48 times per

second. You see first only with your left eye andthen only with your right eye as the shutters onthe PSE are perfectly synchronized with those onthe projectors. There is absolutely no “ghosting”of images common with other 3D formats.Polarizing filters are not required, though theycan be if wished. The process is based on thesame stereopsis principle that created 3D imagesfor viewers through Wheatstone’s first stereo-scope—it’s just speeded up to today’s fastertempo! So in “Across the Sea of Time” you areseeing both the oldest and the newest of 3Dtechniques.

Other IMAX 3DCurrentPresentations

At least two other 3D productions are beingshown in rotation with “Sea of Time“ at the NewYork Sony IMAX Theatre, and also at the EdwardsTheatre in Irvine, CA. They will be seen later inother parts of the world as the 100 IMAX the-aters around the globe are converted to 3Dimage and sound.

“Wings of Courage” is the first IMAX featurewith leading stars and directed by a majormotion picture director. Jean-Jacques Annaudcombines a high adventure tale with a creative useof the 3D technology in this true story about theFrench airmail service operating out of BuenosAires in 1930, flying mail over the perilous AndesMountains. Val Kilmer, Tom Hulce, Craig Shefferand Elizabeth McGovern have leading roles andthe original musical score is by Gabriel Yared. Inaddition to putting the viewer right in the cockpitwith the daredevil pilot soaring the jagged andthreatening peaks, it also puts the pilot’s ownthoughts into the viewer’s head through the use ofthe binaural technique. When his plane goesdown and he forces himself to walk back to civ-ilization you hear him in your own head repeatingto himself the exhortation “I’m walking, I’m walk-ing...”

The other IMAX 3D film has no story but is ajourney through some of the amazing plant, animaland geological sights in the mostly un explored

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Left: Mixing room scene in Toronto for Across the Sea of Time. Frame syncinformation at the top of the video projection and audio data displayedon the left and right video monitors on top of the mixing console.

Right: Recording binaural foley. Sound person eats apple in front of Aachen artifi-cial head and attempts to match distance from camera and room acousticswith shot in 3D film being projected on video in background.

under-ocean wilderness. “Into the Deep” wasdirected by Howard Hall, and with its wide field of3D view immerses the viewer in the underwaterexperience more than any standard screen for-mat possible could.

“Across the Sea of Time” is obviously in -tended as the ultimate New York Experience mul-timedia show, and it is. Although the story it tellsis universal enough that it could be shown withinterest almost anywhere, the plans are also toeventually produce similar features in some ofthe major cities where 3D IMAX theatres will belocated.

The 3D SoundtrackFor “Across The SeaOf Time”

Director Stephen Low has coupled creativi-ty and a fascination with film technology for theproduction of six previous IMAX films, beginningwith one of the format’s all-time most popularones, “Beavers.” He has already begun shootingon another IMAX feature, “The Art and Scienceof the Racing Car,” and is developing “MarkTwain’s America.”

Low wanted to give “Across the Sea ofTime” the sound texture of the past, and hewanted it to have a sense of depth in every ele-ment of the mix, so that he could take the audi-ence “through the looking glass” into the world ofNew York’s colorful past as well as present. Thethree-dimensional sound experience had tomatch to amazing giant images, both historic andmodern, up on the 3D screen. This meant theonly basic process that can do that—binauralvia headphones.

IMAX subsidiary Sonics Associates ofAlabama is in charge of the technology of theIMAX presentations. They geared up for the 3Dproject with five years of tests and developmentat both their Birmingham offices and at Sound

Dome Audio Video in Toronto, Canada. Testswere made both with and without the accom-panying 3D images.

Most of the original recordings began with anartificial recording head developed by HeadAcoustics of Aachen Germany. The unit isdesigned to replicate the features and even thedifferent consistencies of an average human headwith two small omnidirectional mikes at theentrance of the ear canals. The recording chan-nel for the left ear is kept entirely separate from thechannel for the right ear, and thus when the lis-tener wears a stereo headset for playback, he orshe will experience all the sounds in the originalenvironment as though they were really presentthere.

The Aachen Head is a rather awkwardassembly weighing in at 50 pounds prior tomounting on a supporting tripod. This rig had tobe transported on everything from subways toroller blades and to locations varying from sky-scraper roofs to storm sewers. The sound teamput the head in acoustic settings to match thedepictions of both the past and present in thefilm.

Another sound person put binaural mikes onhis own ears hooked to a portable record er, andset out to capture the special vocal and audiocharacteristics of dialogue around the city. Thepurpose was to pick up background accentstypifying the neighborhoods seen on the screen.Next, back in the studio a five-person foley teamdiscovered an en tirely new approach wasneeded for creating their sound effects to matchscreen ac tion. The actors on the screen movedin real time and space, and to sound believableboth the dialog and foley had to have similar roomreflections and acoustics to match what was seenon screen. Special walls and other surfaces hadto be constructed to achieve the desired ambi-ence around the sounds. Both binaural andmono recordings were made simultaneously.

The painstaking effort to match all sound move-ments extended even to a Broadway tap dancingscene in the film.

The musical score for “Across the Sea ofTime” was composed and conducted by Oscar-winning film music composer John Barry. Hewas identified with the scores for the JamesBond spectaculars, and his most recent creditwas “Dances With Wolves.” The Aachen binau-ral head was placed behind Barry while he con-ducted the orchestra. This was intended to trans-port the audience into the heart of the music, mak-ing each of them the conductor aurally speaking.The instruments of the orchestra are thus givenpalpable locations across the soundstage withan accuracy impossible with even three or four-channel stereo.

The IMAX camera puts out a loud roar dur-ing operation, and two of them roar twice asmuch. So as with most Hollywood productions, theoriginal soundtrack taped during filming canonly be used as a reference for the creation of anew clean track in post production. Also, sincethe camera has a great deal of bulk, even if itwere silent in operation the binaural recordinghead couldn’t possibly be placed where thelenses were—that is what would be required tohave a reasonable match between the soundand image that the viewer will eventually expe-rience. Thus dialogue replacement had to bedone, and it wasn’t as automatic as withHollywood films. The dialogue had to play to theproper screen depth. The narrator was espe-cially recorded with the artificial head for theintimacy of playback on the PSE headset.

During editing of the film, all of these soundtrackswere matched to the images and tested in the sameenvironment of the PSE headset plus speakers atthe screen that would be used when it was pre-sented. The sound team spent many hours wear-ing the PSEs.

There were a few older recordings for the mix

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Above Left: Complete Personal Sound Environment 3D Glasses with liquid crystal filters.Above And Below: Personal Sound Environment headsets; version without the 3D glasses.

(Photos Courtesy Of The Sony IMAX Theatre)

In addition to the three 3D filmsmentioned in this article, there are fivemore in the IMAX vaults, including onepro duced on 1985 in anaglyph format— meaning the viewer must wear red andblue glasses a la the old-fashioned regularformat 3D movies (and usually get a roar-ing headache in the process). Most of thenew IMAX film projectors are of coursebeing produced in 3D and as filmakersbecome more skilled with the immensepossibilities, even more thrilling use ofboth the image and sonic capabilitiesshould be in evidence in the future.

The next IMAXfeature with PSE bin -aural sound will be released this spring,titled “Four Million Houseguests.” Itexplores the world within an enchantingsummer home visit by an 11-year-old andher parents. Her eccentric grandfather whois away on a trip, has left a series of whim -sical clues leading to three magicaljourneys into normally unseen worlds. Thefirst is the observable world around us,the second thru the microscope lens andthe third an infinite, richly detailed universeaccessed thru her grandfathers invention,the illuminator. An eye-opening adventure.

The Luxor in Las Vegas is now showingthe 3D feature “L5” plus two other 2D IMAXfilms. (I suggest visitors to this venue avoidthe top two rows of seating in the ex -trem ely-angled raked theatre — the safetyrailing in front of you obscures the bottom1/3 of the giant screen!) The former IMAXtheatre at Ceaser’s palace in LV is now anIMAX “RideFilm” attraction rather than atheatre. The Sony IMAX 3D in Yerba BuenaCenter in San Francisco won’t be inoperation until early 1998.

New IMAX FilmDevelopments

that were available only in mono. These were “re-steered” into stereo versions using softwareapplications from Crystal River Engineeringwhich are often used in speaker-only applicationsfor computer multimedia. Even some originalbinaural recordings were processed with the 3Dsoftware. For example, the sounds of sea gullsflying around the boat bringing the youngRussian immigrant to New York. The perspectiveof the original recording didn’t match the 3Dimages and the gull sounds were moving in adifferent direction than the gull images at somepoints. So the binaural tracks were folded intomono and then processed with the software togive the correct panning of the sounds to fit theflying birds.

The preparation for the sound mix was prob-ably the most complex ever done for any motionpicture in history. The 450 raw tracks of soundmaterial was nearly double that of a typicalcommercial motion picture. It took 14 weeks tocomplete the mix. The basic ma terial consisted of96 tracks of sound effects, 23 tracks of foley, 48music tracks, six tracks of dialogue and three ofnarration. 3D video projection was used toavoid unnecessary wear and tear on the IMAXfilm stock. Real PSE binaural signals were sentvia the infra red transmitters to headsets wornby the mixing crew. The playback control areawas built to resemble closely that of the SonyIMAX Theatre. Twenty-eight pre-mixes were gen-erated for the director’s final approval, all usingeight channels plus the two going to the PSEs,for a total of ten.

In The Theatre: MuchMore Than SurroundSound

The sound experienced in the IMAX 3DTheatre is closer to actual reality than ever

before possible. It is played on an 18,000 watt, tenchannel system, sourced from four separateCDs in caddys, synchronized by computer withone another and the film projector using a systemroughly similar to that used by DTS for theirimage and sound connection.

Eight channels feed the speakers in the au -ditorium. There are three full range speakers in arow at the screen center and a fourth at the top ofthe screen. Two more discrete speakers are in therear of the theatre and two subwoofers are alsobehind the screen. The remaining two channelsare specifically for the PSE headsets. With aneven more sophisticated configuration, the head-sets are capable of receiving up to four differentchannels of transmissions, so that a film could beshown in four different languages simultaneous-ly; perfect for theme park use around the world.

The combination of the screen speakers, thesubwoofers, and the PSEs produce a very nat-ural soundfield that soon makes one forget anyspecial apparatus is being worn. The viewer isplaced wherever the sounds occur. As youtravel around New York City, you’re right in themiddle of the action. Hel icopters move in front,around and behind you. A train whistle movesacross screen in perfect sync with the 3Dimage up there. When you’re riding the subway inone scene, the sounds provide an uncanny feel-ing of actually being aboard the subway car.

The most sophisticated multi-channel loud-speaker surround system could not duplicate theaccuracy of sound location in every direction ina 360-degree sphere the way two-channel bin-aural can. The key to the “depth audio” provid-ed for in the new IMAX format is the PSE head-set.

This innovative advancement in soundimaging creates a fully-controllable 3D soundimage which can accurately track any 3Dimage on the screen. Sound positioning can beused to create drama and suspense. It cantake sounds and noises off the screen in thedistance or behind and place them anywhere

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The Sonics DDP Digital PlaybackSystem uses technology again developedby Sonics Associates specially for IMAXtheatres. DDP is capable of reproducingup to eight channels of CD quality digitalsound. Patented Sample-Lock® technologymaintains synchronization between allchan nels with a tolerance of .00144 of asecond. The result is perfect reproductionof the original soundtrack. Widest frequencyresponse (ten octaves), widest dynamicrange, and maintenance of time relation -ships are hallmarks of the system.

With SampleLock the DDP can takeadvantage of the compact disc media toprovide soundtracks which never degradeno matter how many times they are played.(On this point it is similar to one of theselling points for conventional movieexhibitors of the DTS system.) Even whenthe projection equipment is kept in perfectadjustment, due to continued showing bothmagnetic and optical soundtracks on filmsuffer wear with each successive passthrough the machine. In time the originalhigh quality is literally worn off the film(Typical life of a magnetic track is onlyabout 500 passes). With CD sources thereis no physical contact and hence no wear.With the DDP every audience going throughthe IMAX theatre has the same premiumquality sonic experience that was enjoyedon the opening night of the particular film.

Sonics DDP DiskPlayback System

the producers wish. A sound can be made toappear directly behind your seat, over your shoul-der, or anywhere else in any direction and at anydistance—from a sexy or threatening whisper inone ear to a rumble of thunder or a sonic boommiles away.

The additional pair of sound sources on thePSE expands the capabilities of the ex isting six-channel digital speaker sound system mount-ed in the theatre. This use of headsets toexpand the theatre’s existing sound system isanother world first for IMAX. The SonicsAssociates developers had to equip the PSEwith sound transducers fitted in such a fashionthat they did not interfere with the sounds com-ing from the main sound system speaker array.They also wanted to minimize possible end userdiscomfort and adjustment requirements withnormal headphone drivers that rest directly onthe pinna or outer ears. And if contact with theears were avoided it would be more sanitary.

In personal research into commercial head-phones for binaural listening, I discovered thatthose with their drivers positioned somewhataway from the pinna were the most successful inhelping to locate the sounds outside of the headrather than inside as with ordinary stereo. (i.e.: theAKG K-1000 and the various Jecklin models).Sonics took this approach further in the PSE bylocating the small headphone drivers on thetemples of the headset, above and in front of thepinna. The frontal location helps to pull thesounds more securely to the screen to eliminateany possibility of sound image reversal. Allowingthe pinna to be completely free also reduces anyclaustrophobic feeling that some users mighthave when donning the PSE headset, and itleaves the ears un blocked to receive the fullbelow-100 Hz sound waves from the sub-woofers in the theatre.

Though it may appear somewhat clumsy, thePSE is in fact quite comfortable to wear. A sim-ple plastic strap at the back is easily adjustedso that the front section, with the electronic 3Dfilters, sits comfortably on the bridge of yournose. Very large filters are required so that theeyes have an unimpeded view of the entirescreen area; this proves much less distractingthan peering through the small lenses of other3D glasses. The sound portion of the PSE worksso well that Sonics also offers it without the 3Dglasses section, for use in specialty attractions,exhibits and rides. It may even eventually beoffered in this form as a consumer stereo head-phone, which would probably be perfect for lis-tening to binaural music and drama recordings.

Projection Of †he 3DIMAX Films

In addition to the greater complexities andcosts of shooting and producing both 2D and3D IMAX films, the final projection situation islight years from the straightforward exhibition sit-

uation that allows for nearly-automated opera-tion of 12 and 16-plexes in our major cities. TheSony IMAX Theatre projection room looks like agiant film processing laboratory crossed withthe sort of plumbing labyrinth one runs acrossin the sub-basements of public buildings.

Tendrils of 70mm film are moving overrollers all around you and sailing across theroom to and from various giant film platters. Therollers are really tension arms, and such a plethoraof them are required due to the in creasedweight of the film vs. 35mm stock. More lapsover the tension arms slows down jerky and pos-sibly damaging movement of the film during start-ups and stops. The film is ad vanced through theprojectors in a smooth wave-like motion known asthe Rolling Loop. Due to the horizontal orientationof the frames (similar to the old VistaVision format),the IMAX film frame is triple the size of standard70mm though employing 70mm original stock.

The twin-lens projector at the NYC theatre usescutting edge technology. It is also possible toshow the 3D films with a pair of separate standardIMAX projectors yoked together electronically. Thetwo films and lenses each have 15,000 watts ofbrilliant high output light streaming through them toproduce the bright images on the eight-story-highscreen. This produces plenty of heat, asexpected, but the sophistication of the effort thatentails may be unexpected.

Two entirely separate enclosed circular cir-cuits of water via large diameter pipes handle thecooling of each one of the two giant lamps. Onecircuit, filled with distilled water, goes directly tothe lamp housing and the mirrors. The otherclosed circuit goes through refrigeration platesknown as the Chiller and a Cooling ConditioningUnit; together they cool down the distilled waterso it can be recirculated and doesn’t have to bedumped down the drains. Much of this plumb-ing equipment is housed in a separate room. Ifthe four circulating water systems stoppedpumping for even a short while, the projectorlamps would overheat and could explode.

And speaking of water, while each audienceis sitting in the theater, a whole lotta scrubbin’ isgoing on in an adjacent room. The PSEs get abit grubby, especially those that have been in thehands of children with candy and soda awash.So there are over 2000 PSEs for the 500-seatSony IMAX Thea tre: One batch can be in use, asecond all buffed up and awaiting the next the-atre-full of wearers, the third batch undergoingcleaning and sanitization in special machines de -signed for the purpose, and the fourth batch onstandby just in case. The lenses are carefullycleaned and light scratches erased so thatnothing obstructs a clear view through botheyes. The earspeakers are waterproofed so thatthey can also be scrubbed.

IMAX 3D to the Max

Stephen Low, the director of “Across the Sea

of Time,” got into IMAX production be cause hisfather was the director of the first 3D IMAX presen-tation. In making several IMAX productions themany technical challenges have become sec-ond nature to him. These include the camerasize and weight, the difficulty in lighting due tothe extremely wide angle lenses, and the factthat every three minutes of shooting the camerahas to be reloaded and that process takes 20minutes!

In spite of this, Low minimizes the difficultiesand extols the virtues of the technology, feelingthat it is the future of film. “IMAX 3D is very muchlike your own senses,“ explains Low. “Visually, it islike your eyesight. And the sound is as good asyour ears. It offers a completely new way of expe-riencing a movie. And now that we are goingbeyond making demonstration pieces for thetechnology, we can offer people a good narra-tive too.”

While he points out that due to film stock,lighting and setup costs being much higher thanstandard films it is possible for the budget on a fic-

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Left: The Chiller (left) and the Cooling Conditioning Unit (right), whosefuinction is to cool the two giant lamps in the IMAX 3d projection. Photograph:Mike Satran

Right: Interior Of Projection Room, Fish From “Into the Deep” Visible On TheScreen Through Glass Front Of Room. Large Platters Holding The FilmHorizontally Are In Immediate Foreground. Photo: William Taufic

tional-story IMAX film to go out of control, he stillbelieves IMAX 3D is here to stay: “...Once audi-ences grow accustomed to images and soundsthat are much more satisfying to their eyes andears—much more like the real thing—it’s impos-sible to go back. The basic 35mm technologystandard is almost 100 years old. We are, how-ever, at the very early stages of giant screen3D. The technology, the story telling techniquesand conventions will continue to grow andimprove throughout the coming century.”

As with anything new on the scene, there area few negative comments in the press about thefilms and the process. The absence of fast cameramovement and cutting in the first films hascaused at least one writer to claim that thesestandard tricks are impossible in 3D becauseviewer’s “can’t handle the pressure,” I’ve heardsuch objections before, having produced a 3Dmulti-image production myself. It was claimedthat even simple cross-fading from one stereoimage to another would disturb most viewers.Garbage. Still, it’s reported that while the IMAX3D experience is a thrill for most people, it is“nerve-shattering” for some. Well, so is a roller-coaster ride.

Additionally, some critics—while praising thetechnical side—have groused about the wispy orcorny plots of the 3D films. Part of the problem,besides the whole genre being so new, may bethat the films run under one hour rather than thestandard hour-and-a-half feature. I found theplot of “Across the Sea of Time” to be suited tothe subject and process, but surely the dramat-ic elements will improve further. (Let’s hope thisdoesn’t replicate J. Gordon Holt’s dictum aboutthe early audiophile LP record labels—“The bet-ter the recording, the more awful the musicalperformance.”)

IMAX 3D GrowingAround The World

The IMAX 3D has made the Sony Theatre inNew York city the most profitable movie housein the country, and other 3D theatres have beenopening around the U.S.—“taking it to the IMAX”for enthralled capacity crowds. [The Sony IMAXTheatre’s Internet address ishttp://www.sony.com (go to THEATRES)]

The Edwards 21 Cinema in Irvine opened inMarch to rave notices. This theatre chain isCalifornia’s largest, and already plans to buildmore IMAX 3D theatres. Known as The Big One,the theatre is the largest movie megaplex in theworld.

There are currently 129 IMAX theatresaround the world, and many of these will be con-verted to 3D theatres. Some already under devel-opment are in Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Costa Mesa,CA; Los Angeles, CA; Seattle, WA; Munich,Germany; and Sydney, Australia. Other newtheatres are underway for San Francisco (inthe Yerba Buena complex, sched uled for1998), Indianapolis; Omaha; San Juan, PuertoRico; Minneapolis; Tokyo; Brossard; Quebec;Madrid; Sinsheim, Germany; Poitiers, France;Majorca, Spain; Kaohsuing, Taiwan; Leipzigand Berlin. All of these theatres will not nec-cessarily use the expensive liquid-crystal projec-tion system and PSE headsets of the first threetheatres. Some will use a simpler method withpolarized glasses which may or may not allowfor the binaural sound portion of the experi-ence.

In addition to the normal IMAX theatres(where the seats are securely fastened to thefloor) IMAX has another growing sideline called“Ridefilm.” This is a process for theme parks and

other attractions which uses the IMAX 3D PSEheadsets for large-scale multi-sensory motionsimulated rides. An 18 passenger module ismoved up and down, side to side, and tilted for-ward and back by a giant powered assembly, yetin such a way as not to cause inner ear damageto the riders. The seats can be put as close as 18inches away from the movie screen, which ishemispherical and covering all of the riders’feilds of vision. Systems are already up inLondon and Japan, and the former Omnimaxtheatre at Ceasar’s Palace in Las Vegas is beingcon verted to Ridefilm. It will have an 82-foot-diameter silvered screen under the existingwhite dome, and a multi-sensory 3D film isbeing developed especially for the venue locat-ed on the grounds of Ceasar’s Palace. The bigplus for venues that build these rides is evenshorter length of the presentations compared tothe original IMAX theatres — they can charge $5for a four minute “ride” and then run another groupof people through. The Ceasar’s project musthave more than a single 18-passenger modulesince they anticipate entertaining crowds ofmore than one thousand viewers per hour! It isscheduled for a mid-1997 opening.■■

IMAX® is a registered trademark of the IMAX Corporation®.

PSE® and Personal Sound Environment® are registered trade-

marks of Sonics Associated Inc.

John Sunier hosts AUDIOPHILE AUDITION, a weeklyprogram including Soundtracks and Surround SoundSpecials — heard on 125 public radio stations nationally.He is a contributing editor to AUDIO, BOUND FORSOUND, and SECRETS OF HOME THEATER AND HIFI (on line) [www.sdinfo.com/]. He is also an authority onbinaural reproduction and operates THE BINAURALSOURCE mail order service offering headphone-relatedCDs & cassettes: Box 1727, Ross, CA 94957, or[www.btown.com/binaural.html].

FROM The Archives

WIDESCREEN REVIEW NEWSLETTER 24 13 MAY 2008 - www.WidescreenReview.com

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