User talk:Richardyy

List of IMAX venues
IMAX laser projectors are now available in two types, one is a two-machine GT laser, and the other is a stand-alone commercial laser. Are you sure your data is correct? ArvinTing (talk) 03:29, 19 August 2019 (UTC)

The relevant changes I made were as follows:

Empire Leicester Square -- changed "IMAX COMMERCIAL LASER" to "GT Laser" -- Yes, this was the first "IMAX with Laser" installation in Europe in October 2015. [Press release].

Cineworld Sheffield -- changed "IMAX COMMERCIAL LASER" to "GT Laser" -- Yes, this installation pre-dates IMAX's single-projector "Commercial Laser" system. It's mentioned in [this article].

Cineworld Watford -- added as "IMAX Commercial Laser" -- Yes, this was the first installation of IMAX's "Commerical Laser" system in the UK. You can see the projection booth (including the projector itself!) in a YouTube video titled "IMAX WITH LASER! 1st In UK with NEW 12.0 IMAX Audio - FOUR Overhead Speakers". It opened in December 2018.

Cineworld Rushden Lakes -- added as "IMAX Commercial Laser." -- New multiplex which opened in June 2019; very similar auditorium to Cineworld Watford. Highly likely to be IMAX's "Commercial Laser" system.--Richardyy (talk) 20:09, 19 August 2019 (UTC)


 * Thank you very much for your contribution to the entry. It is up to your source. I hope you can add the IMAX screen size to the nearest two decimal places. Thank you very much.ArvinTing (talk) 04:15, 20 August 2019 (UTC)

You're welcome, thanks for your reply.

Regarding 2 decimal places, my suspicion is that some of the figures in the entry have been converted from feet to metres, and that's where the added precision comes from.

More broadly, trying to get screen size information is fraught with difficulties:


 * For example, the listing for BFI IMAX gives two different figures. IIRC, I have typically seen 26mx20m quoted. On the other hand, the BFI's own website, in the Technical Specifications document for prospective "event" customers (seeking to use the whole auditorium for a private event with the possibility of bringing their own "external" video sources) lists the screen size as 26.52x20.42m.


 * How is the screen measured? If it's along the arc (i.e. measured along the curve of the screen) then that would give a different figure than along the chord (i.e. measuring along a straight line from one side of the screen to the other.) In the case of IMAX, the screens are curved--"slightly curved" as IMAX's own marketing material puts it--and certainly nothing like the "deep" curves of some historic formats such as Cinerama or Dimension 150. So, because IMAX screens have relatively "shallow" curves, the difference between the two measurements would be fairly marginal--but certainly far greater than 2 decimal points.


 * There is the issue of the "screen on frame" and the filled area of the screen. For example, I corrected the Empire Leicester Square figures from what seemed to me to be a derived height based on 1.9:1 ratio; however, when the IMAX was opened, the cinema operator gave the screen dimensions as 26.5x15.6m, or ~1.7:1. The screen reaches to the ceiling, and I can certainly attest, having visited that auditorium multiple times, that the projected image does not--and (unless the vertical anamorphic lens for 1.43:1 is used) 1.90:1 is the maximum "height" achieved by the GT Laser system.


 * Also, the screen width for the Empire Leicester Square was listed as 26.52m, which I changed to 26.5m; it is quite possible that 26.5m was converted to feet (=86.94ft.), rounded up to 87ft., then converted back, which to 2 decimal places would yield 26.52m.


 * This may also be the case for the BFI IMAX Technical Specifications document, as linked above; this also gives figures in feet, rounded to the nearest integer--it doesn't seem too much of a stretch to think that the dimensions in metres were actually converted from these, with said conversion then rounded to the 2 decimal place figures listed.


 * IMAX's auditorium geometry specifies various attributes, such as maximum seating distance from the centre of the screen not exceeding the screen's width. Particularly with the move over to "retrofitting" existing venues, these requirements are not always met; a particularly striking example being the Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, where (albeit the floor was extended down by digging a large hole in the ground) the auditorium's form was kept and fabric maintained or reinstated to match the original, and the auditorium is very much deeper relative to the screen width than a typical IMAX venue. In other words, relative horizontal and vertical seating position is important rather than absolute screen size alone.

I am happy to make suggested changes or add another decimal place, where available; but it might be better to consider available screen sizes as guides rather than exact measurements? Trying to resolve all the issues above for every IMAX venue on a worldwide basis would be an impossible task.

--Richardyy (talk) 16:06, 20 August 2019 (UTC)