thebluview

Sunday is usually a catch up day in our house but my wife was out with several of the kids which just left me and our almost eleven year old thinking what to do for the afternoon. We decided to checkout our closest 3D Cinema, Bracknell Berkshire in the UK which is equipped with ReadD 3D. We previously visited Camberley Vue cinema which also uses the ReadD 3D however Bracknell’s Odeon couples this with Disney’s Digital projection system.

First impressions where good the digital system defiantly seemed clearer with better initial contrast. Searching around the net it appears that the Odeon chain use 2K HD (2048×1080) resolution digital projection so only double that I’m used to at home on a screen many times larger. Once the movie got going there are several sweeping flights around the roof tops of the animated London sky line, which drew ooh’s and aah’s from the audience and gave a real sense of depth, creating the odd light stomach sensation (the best way I can describe it). However initially the movie appeared a little washed out and then around two thirds through I guess the cinema staff realized they had not dimmed the lights all the way and the picture gained some extra contrast. Colours where at times slightly lacking in vibrancy and seemed muted but removing the glasses to check did not make a significant difference so I hope this is the style of the movie and not any issues with the projection system, the non 3D adverts looked fine. One nice thing with the Odeon chain was that when we entered we were asked if we had our own glasses which caught me a little by surprise. We where then given our glasses in sealed plastic and where not challenged for them when we left so it appears that they are ok for you to hold onto them and re-use them which I guess saves them having to clean them after every screening. This also gave me the chance to see what impact the glasses made looking at various colours on a normal display and even though colours look OK looking at a pure white display through them turns it to more of a dirty grey. This could account for some of the washed out feeling when we were not in total darkness and helps explain that perhaps the contrast ratio on the projectors used could have been better.

So how was the movie, well it’s not my usual taste but was fun, some scenes seemed quite dark and I have to say that the movie seemed like it could not decide if it was dark or light hearted and flopped between the two. The story was adapted pleasantly enough and my son seemed to enjoy it. However his biggest complaint seemed to be that there was not enough 3D there are a few scenes where objects seem to ‘pop’ out of the screen and the flight sequences go give a real sense of flight but these are far between. Maybe living with me he’s getting fussy in what he expects from technology.

One thing that was shown was the recently released long trailer for Avatar in 3D. While some scenes again had that 3D pop many seemed no different from regular 2D however I’ll wait until I’ve seen the full movie before I comment further but its defiantly one movie we will go to see at this cinema once we have saved up. Which brings me to the cost £21 (around $30) just to get in for one adult and one child which is pretty expensive. Add onto this drinks and popcorn and it’s not a trip most families could do frequently.

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