Watching movies at home is really convenient, but I do miss the theater, too. Especially the popcorn, so covered in butter and salt that after finishing the bucket your lips hurt. But they become so expensive. There were two franchises I swore I would always see first in the theaters and not wait for home release: Star Trek and James Bond. So guess where I'll be in a few weeks? LOL

Going to the theater was ritual growing up. The local theater allowed you to get into NC-17/Rated R movies as long as a parent/guardian signed a slip and presented that and their ID upon ticket purchase. They didn't have to sit with you during the film. That's how I got into South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut when I was twelve.

They used to have a deal where you got a ticket to the movie, a small popcorn, small box of candy, and a small pop (no limit on refills) for $5. Additional options at the concessions were basic nachos, hot dogs, and spicy jumbo pickles. That's pretty much it. Nothing too fancy. Kept it simple. If you had $10 in your pocket you were living high off the hog.

I think the last movie I saw in theaters was Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker. Paid $9.50 for the ticket which isn't too horrible. There was a surcharge of $2.50 for films in 3D, IIRC. They shut down for a few months at the beginning of the pandemic, but since the summer of 2020 have been operating like usual. Might be some spaced seating rules in place though.

Current deals are $7 matinees any day of the week and $5 movies on Tuesday's. A small popcorn and small pop will run you $5. So a $10 or $12 movie experience is still possible in these parts. I'd have to imagine a lot of places do something similar and offer various discounts. How else could they keep up with the advent and exponential growth of streaming services?

I miss drive ins ...

My favorite international movie theater experience:

Emprive Cineclub - First Class Section



Lounge where you wait for showtime...





First class seats. Fully reclining. Blankets, pillows, popcorn, snacks and beverages included.

Impressive

Friday night has become Movie night at my place. Pizza from Grimaldi's and what ever kids friendly movie my kids haven't seen yet. Last week was ET. Media room for the win. We probably have to have 3 pee breaks a movie, much easier from home.

My GF in College had a card from her brother who worked at AMC corporate. Free movies, was awesome.

Very few movies, these days, are worth the $10 ticket price. I just wait until my local library gets the DVD, and I check it out.

Streaming is still in the infancy stage with audio and interfaces sucking. Something you don't see talked about much but makes a HUGE difference is the brand of TV and the compatibility with apps. I found out after the fact that my brand new LG TVs don't have all the apps. Whereas my 2yr old Sonys have no problems. If streaming is in your future then I would recommend nothing but Sony. They own most of the movies so I think that increases the chance of compatibility down the road.

If you have a nice theatre system then blue ray is king and worth the price IMO. If you don't care about the audio then streaming will do. Those theatre in a box are only good for small spaces.

Both our TVs are SONYs, 2-4 years old. Thanks, I'm sure you're right, but I don't use their resident apps anyway, they always seem slower than our FireStick 4K's.

But I was speaking more about GUI interface - the visual listing of selections. Where are the bookmarks? Where are the reminders? Our Amazon 4K Firesticks have one 'Favorites List' only, and shockingly, those favorites do not interface with the services' listings! For example, if today - November 1 - Netflix or Prime Video started offering the movie 'Lone Star' - one I'm waiting for, on my 'Favorites List' - I wouldn't know it. I have to go into my favorites and search each title every month or two.

Another example of how bad it gets: We have "Paramount+", but we can't enter it through its icon from the main page - we can only enter it from inside 'Prime Video.' Maybe that's because we pay for it through our Amazon account, and maybe if I knew our Paramount username and password I could access it from the main page. But even so, that's a problem imho.

Also as bad as it gets: Like anybody, fairly often I leave/exit in the middle of a movie or show. Now, when I start it again, it always knows where I left off, but the title itself often gets buried in the GUI. There was a movie once I suddenly remembered having watched the first half, and wanted to see it! It took awhile to find it ... finally one day I ran across it and cursed Netflix for not including a row of leaving all the titles you've watched in descending chronological order.



Is Blue-Ray video superceded by 4K? I never jumped on the Blue-Ray bandwagon, kinda chalked it up to yet another SONY format loss (BetaMax, Memory Stick, UMD, DAT). Blue-Ray was a SONY win of course, but it seemed like optical discs disappeared the next day. I applaud you for still demanding and appreciating the highest quality - I'll bet you're under 40.... but at my age, I don't play an entire CD on .B-I-G .V-O-L-U-M-E. like I used to. Most often when I listen to music now, it's either a computer playlist or ( . . . . . brace yourself . . . . . ) a YouTube playlist!


For lotsa lotsa years I had Denon and KEF, but honestly I'm glad we moved on. Our living room is pretty big, 25' x 16' on two levels, but in 5-6 years, I don't recall ever wishing for more volume.
. .
It's an older SONY HTIB, 5.1 only, but in 2015 it was their premium unit. 1000 watts, three HDMIs, 9 pre-set sound-fields (2-ch and 4-ch stereo, plus 7 Dolby and Pro-Logic pre-sets). Unlike most HTIB front speakers, these are 2-way (3-way with sub), one is attached on a wall, the other a 2 ft high stand half behind a large artificial tree. No big pieces taking up room.

The rear speakers are substantial and have independent volume control on the remote, and the sub pumps can easily be too much. The unit is light on tone controls (high-end and low-end boosts only), but honestly I don't mind ... I wonder why tf I spent so much time frittering with the Denon 5-way EQ via remote. I must've changed those control 10 thousand times.

CORD-CUTTERS TIP:

When deciding on your "TV channels app," consider first.

Sling splits the cable tiers into two groups - conveniently for us, the ORANGE and the BLUE. They're $35 for one -(which really should be enough if you're rockin' Nextflix, DIsney, Starz, YouTube, whatever), or both for $50.

The only local channels you get with Sling are Fox and maybe NBC depending on where you're at. But your local CBS affiliate is included with Paramount+

And someday somebody's gonna figure out these terrestrial digital antennas (if you do, let me know).

Problem with . &..
is they cost $75+ per month. Yes you get all the basic cable and your locals, but that extra $40 can pay for HBO,
Starz, Paramount and a couple fast-food dinners.

I don't think age has anything to do with it. It really comes down to experience and preference imo. It doesn't sound like you've ever had a good system. That Sony system you posted looks more like a Walmart special than a high end sound system. In fact, that sub is way too small for that size room. What you hear is a struggling sub rather than one that is too powerful. Simple rule really when it comes to sound...direct correlation between size and quality of your speakers. BTW, I have 3 Sony STR-1080 receivers powering my Sonos. I have whole house audio. They're nothing compared to my Marantz.

Big sound! Nah, it gets clearer. Or at least that is what happens when you system starts getting in the 5 figures zone.

GoogleTV is the only one I could find that offered TVG.

I must disagree - with age, my cranking up the sound has happened less and less. Your taste skews more to super-high quality than mine did. I'll bet you use optical connections.

And HTIB's were louder, stronger before. This one does NOT leave anybody hangin.

And whadd'ya mean by "experience?" For 10-12 years before 2017 or so, I rocked a DENON AVR-2500, KEF Model 3's, and a Klipsch sub. KEF center and Celestion rear channel speakers, KEF 6-disc CD cartridge player.




Had this setup so long I had to order a second one of those multi-colored remotes.

Derrr.. what's TVG?

I use co-axial connections for my amp/receiver. HDMI for everything else. Optical came and went a while back.

As long as it sounds good to you...but that is a really small system for that size of room. I could see even you old system struggling. The stated wattage is really that wattage driven over 2 channels. Not the # of home theatre channels.

TVG is horse racing.

It really DOES sound good to me ... though conversations like this one cause me to question whether I'm the same connoisseur of sound I thought I was .

The sub on this really is a monster ... never use the bass-boost feature, and never crank the volume for that matter. And the feeder volumes - the TV volume is never high either.

AH! ..... An important point I haven't mentioned. For whatever reason, the speakers operate on very low resistance, just 3 ohms. Takes very little to drive them. Such a configuration does result in more volume than the raw wattage numbers would indicate.

If you know a bit about Harman-Kardon on one end, and car stereos on the other end, you know raw wattage numbers can be greatly affected by - call it "pre-amp" strength, or 'direct current.' HK's receivers and amps' specs have always been very low on total wattage, but the sound was as full and loud as systems with twice the watts. E.G. their AVR100 Receiver, at 50 - or maybe just 30 watts per channel - is/was a comparable unit to an 85 or 100 watt of another brand, because their units employ a higher pre-amp or direct current level. Car stereos on the other end, the wattage numbers are crazy high for the opposite reason.

________________________________________


A truly great American. though Lamar Hunt qualifies as such too, and he moved to Kansas City in 1963. ON HIS OWN VOLITION!

That's all that matters. But it really is a crap system. And I'm a Sony fan. Overall, they're a good value.

Bass should be felt as much as heard in HT. I have 2 SVS SB-3000 subwoofers. Yep. Game of Thrones sounds awesome.

I've always been a HT guy. My first HT receiver had just 15 watts per rear channel. The thought was who would need more wattage for the rear channels when the focus at the time was L R C. That was the good ole mail order days.

.


ALL RIGHT already!

Just one more quiz question for Omega: "MONSTER CABLES and their progeny. Other than for speakers, are they generally a) Essential to realize peak audio performance, or b) A wildly over-priced and over-hyped accessory?" There IS a correct answer, and you must complete the quiz before midnight Wednesday, November 3.

TWO powered subs? Yeah, you must be lookin to "feel" it.

LRC?

Gimme the full rundown of your gear ... from Blue-Ray to 4K.


And no comment on MacIntosh, Crown or Adcom?

Cool story

You forgot to add the word "brah" at the end.


Seriously, a great man. I was galactically lucky enough to stand next to (and just a teeny bit behind) him for an hour or two, playing in the band on the dais at the outdoor portion of the Carousel Ball when Marvin Davis still held it in Denver. He was pretty talkative, and not at all disapproving of long-hair college kids who played in bands.

Monster Cables is a brand. When it comes to cables, it's all about distance and what you're sending. Use solid copper versus braided.

IMO. the sub is the one piece(s) you have to get right for that true HT experience. My dog takes off running when the dragons fly over.

Left Right Center channels. I think my current system allows for 11 channels I'm running 7.1.... I think.

My chitty Sony (like new) Blu-Ray recently broke on me. But the brains are a Marantz SR7013, Marantz MM8077. Definitive Technology 9080 Speakers. Definitive Technology matched HT center and surrounds. I'm running this in my family room which is tricky. The room is large an open with lots of windows and high ceilings. I have to cross-over the bass so as not to cancel each other out.

What's to say? Those yours?

I hope you introduced yourself. But I have no experience with the brand. I heard they went the way of Bose (sell out). Can't say from any experience though like I can with Bose.

This thread motivated me to pull the trigger on a Sony UBP-X800M2 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player. 😁