IMAX Theater: Batman / The Dark Knight

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The sound system at the IMAX was astounding.

A great reference for the sound system of any home theater enthusiast. If you want to know how good your system is, listen to The Dark Knight in an IMAX theater. You'll know exactly how your system measures up. Be prepared to be humbled.
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I saw Iron Man at the ArLight.

I thought that was the gold standard in audio until I saw The Dark Knight at The Bridge today.
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For the most part, my HT rig has been the sonic equal or better of any theatrical film presentation I've ever seen ... that is ... until I saw The Dark Knight at the Boeing IMAX Theater in Seattle. I'm not even going to THINK about the money it would take to upgrade my home system to equal that. I will be content to settle for second best at home.

The Boeing theater was better in every way--clarity, dynamics, frequency extension, immersion...

im planning on seeing it on aug 17th in the pittsburgh area at the pittsburgh mills mall,looking very forward to it to say the least,ive taken my son to see about 6-8 movies at that particular imax theater over the past year or two,darn shame its 125 miles one way from where i live,however its always a great time

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Yeah.....what Johnnyb53 said. My head is still spinning thinking about how good it was.
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Mikeys,....make sure you reserve yourself some good seats when you go. Also, there are some pretty intense scenes in the movie so make sure your son is at least 13 or older. The Joker had me squirming in my seat.
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08-05-08: Mitch4t
The Joker had me squirming in my seat.

Oh yeah. I'm really sorry that Heath has left us, but he left us with the mother of all swan songs. I have never seen The Joker played with the malevolent, amoral menace that Heath brought to this party. There is nothing like it. SEE IT!

I saw it last week with my wife's son. Tomorrow I see it with my wife. She had previously decided she didn't want to see Heath in a post mortem performance until I told her how wonderful that performance is. Now she's in. I'm really looking forward to being the guy who gets to see it twice in IMAX in one week.

The giant ball in front of Ceasar's Palace is an IMAX theater....I think.

IMAX Theater: Batman / The Dark Knight
Just know here folks, that IMAX theaters are using highly efficient active speaker systems throughout, with extremely favorable acoustical situations, in large venues, with a comparative screen size that dwarfs pretty much anything you'll find in a home setting!
Having multiple speaker arrays is needed for such a wide seating layout, for even coverage. It's not likely so critical in a small home in vironment. I find proper blance and accurate sound is more important - as quality takes priority over quantity here.
Also, omparative resolution of film is still effectively double what 1080p is - although close when you take into account other issues with film projection systems. Still, you can get a much large image with film.
All that, coupling anamorphically compressed 1080p, with high efficiency quality speakers and HD gear in a home - considering quality acoustical application and setup - you should be able to get as good or better all around with a well planned, executed, and balanced system in the home these days! That's the good news, I think.