Monday, December 28, 2009
Know your Alamo Drafthouse
Or what's the story with 3D...
I went with my family to the Alamo Drafthouse Village (on Anderson Ln) and watched Avatar in RealD 3D. RealD gives you these disposable glasses that have circular polarization, clockwise for one eye and counterclockwise for the other eye. This theater has converted over completely to Sony 4K projectors. It was stunning. No ghosting, good brightness and crisp detail. I was so impressed by the visuals I decided to go again. Despite a terrible plot with 1 dimensional characters. Can I watch it on mute?
Due to scheduling I ended up at the Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek (off 183 north) for my second viewing. I thought they'd have the same setup. But the glasses were different. Turns out this theater has Barco DP-2000 projectors with Dolby 3D. Dolby 3D uses color separation glasses, so they are heavier and have red/green kind of glass lenses. My pair of lenses were dirty and I had to clean them. They also are really reflective so you get some light reflection off your face, which is kind of distracting. But the main thing I think that hindered this viewing is that the Barco DP-2000 is a 2K projector. 1/4 as many pixels as the sony projector at the other theater. The end result was that some of the image seemed blurry at times, like it was out of focus. This as really apparent with the background. But no ghosting. Still a nice image overall.
So. If you have a chance to watch Avatar please see it in 3D. And if you have a chance see it on a 4K projector like those at Alamo Village. Also, the Alamo on South Lamar has 4K projectors as well, though I'm not sure if they've converted over entirely or not.
I went with my family to the Alamo Drafthouse Village (on Anderson Ln) and watched Avatar in RealD 3D. RealD gives you these disposable glasses that have circular polarization, clockwise for one eye and counterclockwise for the other eye. This theater has converted over completely to Sony 4K projectors. It was stunning. No ghosting, good brightness and crisp detail. I was so impressed by the visuals I decided to go again. Despite a terrible plot with 1 dimensional characters. Can I watch it on mute?
Due to scheduling I ended up at the Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek (off 183 north) for my second viewing. I thought they'd have the same setup. But the glasses were different. Turns out this theater has Barco DP-2000 projectors with Dolby 3D. Dolby 3D uses color separation glasses, so they are heavier and have red/green kind of glass lenses. My pair of lenses were dirty and I had to clean them. They also are really reflective so you get some light reflection off your face, which is kind of distracting. But the main thing I think that hindered this viewing is that the Barco DP-2000 is a 2K projector. 1/4 as many pixels as the sony projector at the other theater. The end result was that some of the image seemed blurry at times, like it was out of focus. This as really apparent with the background. But no ghosting. Still a nice image overall.
So. If you have a chance to watch Avatar please see it in 3D. And if you have a chance see it on a 4K projector like those at Alamo Village. Also, the Alamo on South Lamar has 4K projectors as well, though I'm not sure if they've converted over entirely or not.
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