Whenever watching a movie in the cinema theatre, Dolby and IMAX are two terms which I have heard a lot but I have never bothered to know exactly what they are. For me it was just going to the nearest theatre and getting the available tickets.
But IMAX theatres are all the craze and I know people who will only watch Christopher Nolan movies (as he shoots on IMAX) or other movies which are shot on IMAX like Avengers:End Game, only in IMAX theatres. For a complete movie experience. Whatever that is.
While making the decision on where to watch Oppenheimer, (Christopher Nolan’s newest release), I got curious and wanted to explore what is Dolby and IMAX, what is the difference between the two. I am no connoisseur, but now I know a little more than I used to.
Summary | TLDR
Both Dolby Cinema and IMAX theatres provide a great movie experience. A complete Dolby (Dolby Atmos+Dolby vision) experience is better than the complete IMAX experience.
A movie theatre has 3 main components:
- The movie screen: IMAX screens typically tend to be bigger, but other cinemas have adapted to be bigger
- Projection system: The technology that is used to project the film. The resolution, brightness and the sharpness dictate the quality of the projection. Dolby Vision and IMAX projection systems are comparable with Dolby having an edge on the resolution
- Audio system: Dolby Atmos is the industry leading sound system. Better than the IMAX sound system
Complete Dolby theatres are more premium than the IMAX ones. They are also fewer than IMAX ones.
Dolby Cinema
Dolby Cinema is premium cinema system created by Dolby Laboratories and it offers a tools and equipment for movie theatres. These tools primarily include two systems:
- Dolby Vision: It is a projection system which uses laser projectors to deliver the content. Because of the high quality of the projectors, the images delivered are bright and sharp. (Brightness measures how much light is reflected off the screen surface, and sharpness measures how distinct images are - how clear the borders and edges are). So a great quality projection in a theatre would have bright and very sharp images
- Has a very high contrast ratio (you can see colors distinctly), which means color perception in the theatre feels “real” giving an “immersive” experience
- Has very high resolution - because the projection lasers are in 4k (which is 4 times HD) the images are very clear, as there are more pixels to display each color of the image. (Resolution is a way of measuring how many pixels are on the screen. Usually higher the pixels, clearer the image. no blurring etc)
- Typical Screen sizes with an aspect ratio of 2.40:1. Aspect ratio is the ratio of width to height of the screen. Screen size is another consideration in an “immersive” experience.
- Dolby Atmos: It is the sound system in the theatre. Dolby Atmos boasts of a really advanced sound system capable of delivering 128 different audio tracks through its systems. Because the sound system surrounds you, you can perceive depth in the sounds as the movie is being played giving an all around immersive experience
IMAX
IMAX is not only a cinema system but they also make cameras to shoot movies. The film used in these cameras in typically 70mm (as opposed to the industry standard of 35mm). Which simply means that these cameras can capture much more area in one image. Which is the reason IMAX screens tend to be taller (bigger). The Cameras are super advanced and can capture images in very high resolutions. Most times, higher than what can be projected.
In an IMAX theatre you will find:
- IMAX Screen: the typical IMAX screen has an aspect ratio of 1.90:1, which is 26% larger than the 2.40:1 screen size described above. in some cases, IMAX can be as large as 33%. So if a really tall image is shown on a screen which not as tall, you would not see the full image.
- IMAX Projection system: There are several kinds of projection systems. The most advanced is 4K laser projection system which allows to deliver the images in 4K, but still not exactly as how they are captured through the camera.
- IMAX sound system: The IMAX sound system is specific to IMAX shot movies, and is designed as such to give a complementary experience to the large screen size. Delivered through a multi channel set up, but pales in comparison to the Dolby’s Atmos system.
Because IMAX is an ecosystem in itself, and is expensive to construct theatres using all of the above components, IMAX also has a format called Digital IMAX where the projection is adjusted using a different projection system, which makes compromises on the resolution and reduced it to much less than 4k. A lot of theatres advertising IMAX are actually showing Digital IMAX projections, and are not the real “immersive” IMAX experience.
Comparison
Image quality
Based on several expert blogs (added at the source), Dolby Projection systems are better than IMAXs. Dolby Vision systems provide high resolution, brightness, contrast and sharpness. Because the IMAX screens are larger, the resolution suffers as there is more area to be covered by the image.
Sound quality
Dolby Atmos system is a far better audio system than the IMAX sound system. Dolby has been a the market leader in sound tech, and their sound, in a like for like comparison, is better than what IMAX sound system produces.
Image format
This is to do with Aspect Ratio and Film Size. Because the IMAX screens are taller, and IMAX movies are shot on 70mm film (2x the usual standard), the image is really big and immersive. And because the theatres are designed in such a way that the seating is optimised for the tall screen, the image format gives the feeling of the viewer being “present” in the scene.
Because the how the sound and projection systems work, the seating of the cinema is also different in an IMAX and a Dolby cinema. Dolby cinemas are known to have a more plush seating with full recliners. IMAX can not have full recliners as the theatre screen is very tall and the seating arrangements do not allow for it.
Sources:
