ETX Trek

[Nerroth]

Hi.


I don't know how many other AMC cinemas show this, but the one in downtown Toronto (in the new Toronto Life Square, at Yonge and Dundas) have a screen they call ETX.


It's not quite IMAX or anything (the only IMAX in downtown Toronto didn't show Star Trek...) but it has a larger-than-normal screen, and simply outstanding sound.


Or, as they put it:

AMC Yonge & Dundas exclusively offers the Enhanced Theatre Experience for all performances in Auditorium #7. ETX features a 20% larger floor-to-ceiling screen, 11-channel surround sound with 57,000 watts of power, and 8.8 million pixels providing 4X the resolution of HD.

(I'm not sure if that 'exclusively' is for Canada only, or for AMC as a whole.)


I've seen the movie 3 times in that screen, and once in a normal type - and I can tell you that for the sound alone, the ETX is worth the extra twonie.

(When a ship jumps to warp in the regular screen, you hear it. In the ETX one, you feel it!)


So, anyone else try the ETX screen out, and if so, how did you like it?

 

[M'Sharak]

Seems to refer to the projection system, along with a larger-then-usual screen:

http://www.jambrose.ca/star-trek-and-the-amc-etx-enhanced-theatre-experience/

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/movies-theatrical/288193-enhanced-theatre-experience.html

http://www.movietickets.com/house_detail.asp?house_id=10818

So far, the only place I can find mention of is the AMC Yonge & Dundas Auditorium #7. Seems to be a test of an experimental system, currently in progress only at the one Toronto location, if I'm reading this right:

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090609-710685.html

 

[JonnyBoy]

I'm not a big AMC fan, mainly because the two AMC's closest to me aren't spectacular. The Ontario Mills AMC 30 is crap. Its pretty run down now and the screens are smaller. The sound isn't as good as the Edwards Ontario Palacee 22 & IMAX. The AMC VIctoria Gardens is nice, but still not a s big as the Edwards. If something like ETX came to our AMC's, then I might consider giving them another shot.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

ETX at AMC theater - technical

Enhanced Theatre Experience 11-channel surround sound with 57,000 watts of power,

That's just marketing-speak. These are the commercial surround sound formats.
Sony SDDS
DTS
Dolby Digital

None do not have any new surround sound spec as per Wikipedia.
The newest Dolby one is for home theater and it is an upmix
Dolby Pro Logic IIz released 2009

Upmix Stereo or Surround 5.1/7.1 to 7.1 Height or 9.1 with the addition of front height channels. (Based on Dolby Pro Logic IIx.) L, C, R, Ls, Rs, Lrs, Rrs, LFE, Lvh and Rvh

DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, with DTS-HD Master Audio
only have 7.1 surround sound channels.

SDDS stands for Sony Dynamic Digital Sound

The system supports up to 8 independent channels of sound: 5 front channels, 2 surround channels and a sub-bass channel.

after the 7.1 They also have

Additionally there are 4 backup channels encoded - in case of damage to one side of the film or the other. These are:

• Center
• Subwoofer
• Left + left center
• Right + right center

This gives a total of 12 channels, for which the total bitrate of 2.2 megabits per second.

The closest thing is:
10.2 is the surround sound format developed by THX creator Tomlinson Holman

10.2 augments the LS (left surround) and RS (right surround) channels by two point surround channels that can more finely manipulate sound—allowing the mixer to shift sounds in a distinct 360° circle around the movie watcher.
The 14 discrete channels are:

• Five front speakers: Left Wide, Left, Center, Right and Right Wide
• Five surround channels: Left Surround Diffuse, Left Surround Direct, Back Surround, Right Surround Diffuse and Right Surround Direct
• Two LFE channels: LFE Left, LFE Right
• Two Height channels: Left Height, Right Height

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surround_sound#10.2_Channel_Surround

The next closest thing to 11 channel surround sound is the forthcoming SHV sound spec for Super Hi-Vision / Ultra High Definition Video TV standard for around the year 2020.
It is called 22.2 or Hamasaki 22.2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22.2