Well, they're certainly hitting all the biggest theatres... that are one hour away from me.

The one in White Marsh might actually now be the closest. It still has what I think is the biggest screen/theatre I've ever sat in. I saw the second Harry Potter movie there and was amazed at how big the theatre was. Seemed more like a medium-sized concert hall.

It's too bad Kung Fu Panda will only be in IMAX for a few weeks. But at least I have another month to catch Shine a Light.

all I know is that it will have Texas Instruments technology incorporated.

Looks like they scaled back the roll out. Too bad, I was looking forward The Dark Knight in IMAX. I'll just have to travel a little farther I guess.

In what could be best described as one serious clusterfuck, the debut of the first three IMAX Digital systems seem like a duck out of water situation. I would assume Warner's wanted to debut The Dark Knight in IMAX-D, but with Nolan bucking the trend and wanting folks to experience the film in true IMAX-70mm, the digital IMAX presentations were canned. The film getting the IMAX debut will be Fly Me to the Moon (August 8th)] and then a long dry spell til Madagascar 2 in November.

well the systems debuted yesterday and I caught Space Station 3D at the Hoffman (will go back and see how Kung Fu Panda looks) - and while the image was decent - the IMAX-70mm print sourced and used to master the harddisc drive wasn't that pristine, it was the sound that was amazing - the theatre was retrofitted with a 12-channel soundsystem and it seriousily was astounding.

A quick question, are the new IMAX digital projection screens going to be in 1.37:1 or 1.78:1?

I ask that as the new IMAX screen at the Red Rock 16 here in Vegas has a 1.78:1 screen whereas the Palms has the traditional 1.37:1.

of the one question I didn't ask the IMAX techie yesterday morning (d'oh) I looked to me it was 1.78:1

Are they adding on larger auditoriums to these theaters or are the simply swapping out the projector in an existing one? It would seem kinda pointless to do the latter when they could just get DLP projectors and not have to call them IMAX.

no they retrofit the theatres - the Hoffman auditorium isn't really that LARGE to begin with, but with the expanded screen (ceiling to floor) it creates the IMAX 'entire wall' effect (which unfortunately becomes null when scope 2.35 films are DM'R for IMAX engagements) - the standout and most noticeable upgrade, as I noted before, is the sound - all 12-channels of it - eight behind the screen, two in the rear (the typical multiple side wall speakers are taken out) and two added into the ceiling, between the two rear speakers - the soundmix for 'Space Station 3D' was bone-rattlingto say the least, the shuttle lift off for example, was so loud, all the hairs on my neck stood straight up. I didn't believe this but when I asked the IMAX guy what the resolution was from the Texas Instrument DLP IMAX systems was, he said 4K - 4K, that's it... I was expecting a much higher number say.... 6K. I asked which auditorium at Tyson's was getting the makeover, but he didn't know, I'm hoping it's one of the larger two, if it's the same size of Hoffman's it will be a minor letdown, the soundlevels of IMAX films might limit which theatre can be set up as such. As I was told, the test auditorium sound levels up in Toronto's multiplex was disrupting the auditoriums next to the IMAX one, and given what I heard, that's a major factor.

wow - I'm really pissed... I know that we're in a recession and AMC might have capped it's budget in converting it's theatres to IMAX-Digital at the moment, but at this point in time, Tysons Corner's promised IMAX-Digital screen is STILL not installed. Oh well, there loss, my money's going to see 'Watchmen' over at Hoffman. Their new projected opening: 'sometime in the summer' - [sarcasm]wow! I can't wait[/sarcasm]

[footnote: IMAX Digital is 2K resolution, not 4K as mentioned in the above post of mine.]

IMAX Digital is two 2K projectors overlaying their image one on top of the other.

AMC Tysons Corner finally debuted it's IMAX-Digital system on screen #3 last Saturday (Friday the system had some gliches resulting in no IMAX screenings for that day) (hooray ) and having seen 'Alice in Wonderland' this morning, it looked and sounded fantastic. The image was bright and aptly large, it trounces the screen at Hoffman (I think it's also larger than the IMAX screen at King of Prussia, PA) - the opening trailer for 'How to Train Your Dragon' was completely in your face and the colors really jumped off the screen [pun intended]. The only negative I thought was that the sound levels were a tad too much, it was waaay too bombastic. But all in all, major thumbs up for AMC doing something right after all the negative backlash on IMAX-Digital screens