AMC 34th Street 14
312 W. 34th Street,
New York,
NY
10001
312 W. 34th Street,
New York,
NY
10001
19 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 184 comments
great news. now let see Rockaway get them too.
This location is set to be renovated and receive recliners in February 2020, with construction starting this October.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AMCsAList/comments/d3u8zm/recliner_seats_coming_to_34th_street_amc_in_nyc/
Please update, the movie theatre open on November 2, 2001
Mostly all of the smaller imax locations in amcs will get the laser treatment..
Looks like they’re done with their Laser renovation. The website now lists current Far From Home showtimes for IMAX with Laser.
Now the website adds “IMAX with Laser” if it has laser projections.
have they upgraded the imax theater yet?
Attempted to see “Schinderlers List 25th Anniversary” in Dolby Vision at this location. The projector for Dolby Vision wouldn’t start.
Thanks for all the info…even with the lasers etc, and the so-called mega screens of today, it all pales to the screen size and projection of the 1950/1960’s TODD-AO to me. Real wall to wall, floor to ceiling screens and beautiful sharp & colorful images!
LARGE_screen_format: You’re welcome, glad you found it interesting.
@CF100
Most interesting. Lots of information to digest there. Thanks for taking the time to share all of that with the rest of us.
IMAX with Laser vs Dolby Cinema – let the battle begin…
To add to zoetmb’s response:
To show content supplied in DCP format, the projector must be “DCI compliant.” Almost all of these use DLP chips, which have 1000s of “micromirrors” on them that tilt in order to adjust the amount of light reflected back off them.
(Sony in particular use LCoS, a liquid crystal layer adjusts the light reflected off a reflective layer below.)
Prior to the introduction of so-called “laser” projectors, the light source that reflects off the DLP chips (one for each of red, green and blue colours) has largely been Xenon lamp(s).
There are now various DCI-compliant products offering laser light source projection, therefore some of them are lower-end and intended for use in large “PLF” auditoria, nor would two projectors be used in all cases.
Improvements to colour gamut/contrast is an area that’s undergoing rapid development; particularly in the consumer space, with a mushrooming of “HDR” formats, and in the theatrical space IMAX have their proprietary laser projection system (IMAX with Laser), as do Dolby (Dolby Vision.) I’m not clear on what additional capabilities the source format for IMAX with Laser system uses (IMAX digital releases aren’t distributed in DCP format, they use IMAX Digital Format (IDF)—an “extended” version of DCP), but certainly IMAX say they separately colour grade (in the mastering of) content specifically for IMAX with Laser.
The original IMAX with Laser projection system was designed for full-sized “Grand Theatre” IMAX venues, being intended as a replacement for the 15/70 film projectors.
It is a dual-projection system. As aligning to 2x4K projectors to sub-pixel levels is, apparently, impossible, in 2D mode, crudely, one projector outputs a lower resolution image, the other fills in the details, forming an overall “smooth” image, avoiding the “pixel grid” effect caused by the gaps between each of the mirrors in a DLP chip.
The new generation “IMAX with Laser” projection system, now being rolled out to smaller venues, and, IIRC, not capable of 1.43:1 but 1.9:1 only, is a single projector system
In any case, provided the system is capable of getting the desired look on screen, then in colour grading it can be made to look any way desired creatively—oversaturated, tinted, etc.
To add, inherently digital aspects in the “workflow” of creating any modern feature film include digital “matting”/compositing and CGI. One need only sit through the end credits to see how many people are involved!
Christopher Nolan claimed to have used an “optical finishing” process for, e.g. Dunkirk, but, I’m not clear on to what extent that means an uninterrupted “all optical” chain from the camera lens to print. (See above paragraph.)
Technically trying to compare film/digital projection is a minefield with so many variables, but I’ll say this: Neither is the perfect, “holy grail;” both have limitations and unwanted artifacts. In the case of laser light source projection, there is a “speckling” issue. Significant effort has been put into ameliorating it; IMAX bought thousands of Kodak’s patents in developing their “IMAX with Laser” projection system.
One known method that IMAX use to reduce “laser speckle” is to fit the screen with hundreds of small transducers, which slightly shake it.
IMO, digitally captured/generated material shown using the IMAX with Laser system (first generation—will be visiting a smaller cinema that’s just had the new system installer very soon) looks very good indeed.
15/70 projection I recall “back in the day,” at its best, as looking amazing—however, expectations change, and the last film I saw in 15/70 was “Interstellar,” and whilst I don’t think anyone would say it looked “bad,” film artifacts were very obvious—grainy, inconsistent colour.
In a world where Atmos exists, both are throughly obsolete. Theatrical DTS uses apt-X lossy compression, which dates from the 1980s; it, therefore, is compromised over “lossless” digital audio delivery systems.
Bobby: Theaters don’t play Blu-rays or DVD’s or even UHD’s except in some special circumstances, like a film festival or a very old film. They play what’s called a DCP (Digital Content Package) that’s provided by the studios. It’s a hard drive with lots of security that is opened by a digital key and is then uploaded to a server by the theater staff. And you’re confusing laserdiscs and laser projection. Laserdiscs were read by a laser (as are CD’s, DVD’s, Blu-ray and UHD discs). Laser projection uses a laser as a lighting source to project the image and in most cases, also uses two projectors to brighten the image. Laser projection is used today mostly only in IMAX, Dolby, Prime and other large format screens. That could change in the future as projection equipment gets upgraded.
I’d say laser is sharper than 70mm, but is it better? That’s subjective. Some people feel that film’s inherent colors and its grain structure makes for a better picture. But today’s few 70mm prints are generally made from digital intermediates, so they’re not a true representation of what Todd-AO or Super Panavision 70mm was like. And old prints are faded and damaged. Also, today’s few 70mm prints use DTS digital sound and while the specs are better than analog, I feel the old 6-track magnetic analog soundtracks when they were at their best, sounded far superior.
Is laser really better & sharper than a digital projector or a 70mm film on a Todd-AO bulb? I once bought a laser disc machine and bought videos that were the size of a LP record. It was so long ago I forgot the comparison to VHS. I wonder if a laser projector can play a Blue Ray DVD or has to have something different from the studio just for the projector.
I wonder if this will get the imax laser upgrade next…kips bay is the oldest megaplex in this city.
Cineplex Odeon, under Universal, helped make Jurassic Park a top draw in DTS in their theaters, including the Route 4 Tenplex and the Ziegfeld theater.
Another vote for Cineplex Odeon. They really knew how to put on a show, even if their finances and leadership were a mess.
Same here in Chicago Howard. CO gave us curtained screens & marble floors and really knew how to mask a film properly. It brought back a little glitz of going to the movies!
I liked Cineplex Odeon. They overspent on acquiring & furnishing theaters & could not sustain that business model but they gave theatergoers curtained screens, marble floors, custom carpets, etc, at least in the DC & NYC theaters I attended regularly.
Shall we also discuss Cineplex Odeon and their inability to run theaters and stay out of bankruptcy or the deplorable conditions of UA theaters or Clearview?
I agree. First it was called Loew’s when it owned MGM until it sold off the studio. Then in the late 60s new owners took over the company and removed the ‘ and became a huge conglomerate that would soon sell the theater division to Coke, who would sell it to sony, then have it merged with cineplex, then filed for bankruptcy protection while under ownership by Onex before AMC took over. It’s like when General Cinema was dying until AMC came in and ate it up. Same for Carmike before it became AMC Classic.
I imagine in the future LOEWS will disappear completely. Only us fans will remember what it meant. AMC may be owned over seas, but they really don’t know much about running movie theaters here!
Aspect ratio of the new Dolby Cinema screen (Theater 8) is a extremely big scope screen!
Also, I have noticed that they removed the Loews Theaters plaques that were above the movie posters around the theater. And there are paper-made directions signs all around the theater emphasizing AMC, not AMC Loews. The marquee outside still says Loews. I would surmise that this theater is next to be converted to an official AMC soon. That would leave only the Orpheum and Lincoln Square as the last two New York City theaters with Loews design and name afterwards.
I didn’t know that the Loews screen was being renovated to a Dolby Cinema, it was the biggest non-IMAX screen there. Will this Dolby Cinema be the biggest in the city now?
I saw the Dolby Cinema tonight, it is a scope screen like the Empire one. Screen isn’t that large though (I believe contractually they have to be smaller than the IMAX in a theater with both formats, and the IMAX screen here seems to me to be the smallest of the Manhattan sites), I would imagine the former Loews screen at Lincoln Square will be bigger once those Dolby Cinema renovations are complete.