No Right Answer: Home Theater vs Movie Theater

Firefilm

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Home Theater vs Movie Theater

Can the smell of popcorn and the bright lights of the theater experience still hold a candle to the instant streaming intimate home experience?

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TitanAura

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Ahh, The Escapist.... why do you keep giving us so many mixed messages about piracy?

"Hey, you can pirate this thing! But we don't condone piracy so we won't link it to you.... *psst* but you should totally google this thing you were completely unaware of previous to this post."
 

madwarper

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TitanAura said:
Ahh, The Escapist.... why do you keep giving us so many mixed messages about piracy?
No, not really.
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So, what the NRA crew say in their video is a separate entity of what we can discuss on the forums.

OT: Home theater. If you want to have a communal experience, then invite some of the community into your home.
 

Ikajo

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Talking to strangers in the lobby? Yeah, if I did that, people would think I'm weird. More weird than usual that is. Because, well, we are extremely reserved in Sweden... Talking to strangers...yeah, that wont happen.
 

Chris Pranger

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anonymity88 said:
The piracy gag at the end was clearly meant flippantly. I mean, I assume.
Correct. Flippant joke meant as a stinger/acknowledgement of a point some people would make about home movies.

Honest and boring truth: I don't pirate.
 

Ishal

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Kyle's points were pretty flimsy this week. Though credit where it's due, I don't think I could have done better were I in his position.

I'm just not a fan of theaters. It's an annoying practice we do because of being social creatures. When dissected it really doesn't hold up. Granted, I have friends who love to go to the movies, and I go with them on occasion. But the experience I look forward to is being with them, not being with them at the movies. One of them is a cinema snob fan. He is a firm believer of the cinema experience and can even enjoy it by himself. The seats, the popcorn and candy bar in his lap, his girlfriend with him (or not). The sound, the big screen, the opening credits. It's part of experience, or so he keeps telling me.

I don't care for it, and I don't really care for film in general either. Oh I have my movies that I enjoy, and I will be going to see Avengers and Star Wars when they come out. But that's as far as it goes for me. I'm a casual, a neophyte. On top of that I'm an entitled millennial who increasingly is able to get what I want when I want it. Why would I have it any other way. See, to me it's like upgrading something, only to be periodically asked to downgrade because social reasons. I can watch something in the comfort of my own domicile, with my preferred settings, with total control of the experience. I can pause for the bathroom, I can rewind, blah blah.

Yahtzee said it best in an extra punctuation article

Fuck cinemas. I'm an entitled Generation Y prick and my willingness to partake in any form of mass market entertainment decreases significantly the further away I am expected to move from my couch. If you're also asking me to share space with a roomful of noisy strangers, and earn my way to the entertainment I want through several trailers and advertisements for local Indian restaurants, then enjoy being completely ignored.

Comedian Doug Stanhope has a great line: "If marriage didn't exist, would you invent it?" And I find it's a useful question to apply to a great many other things. If the cinema system didn't exist, would you invent it? If films had been invented yesterday, do you think anyone would be saying "Hey, I think no one should be allowed to see this brave new concept of non-interactive entertainment until it's been blasted at full volume to roomfuls of simps for about a month." Surely, if the films were truly good, we'd let them stand up for themselves, and not give a toss whether people wanted to see them streamed or bought from a DVD shop first.
I realize the experience can be fun. I've been there when it was, but those moments were vastly outnumbered by moments where it really, really wasn't.
 

FPLOON

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Globdamn pirates winning everything... Have they learn NOTHING from the fourth third movie?!

Anyway, unless you have the dough to simulate (not recreate[footnote]Because I'm thinking more in terms of quality and not quantity...[/footnote]) the movie theater experience as well as, maybe, a somewhat lack of empathy for the latest blockbuster releases[footnote]Because all other releases could probably be streamed before and/or during "Oscar Season", maybe...[/footnote], then there would be no difference to watching a movie in the theater and to watching a movie at home outside of how many "strangers"-based strangers[footnote]I'm referring to strangers you see for the first and, probably, last time and not the strangers you see every day at your place of residence, I guess...[/footnote] you're willing to tolerate while watching a movie you choose[footnote]Or, at least, are legally allowed...[/footnote] to pay for... For me, there are only a few movies that I would rather see at home because I would probably laugh so loud that it would, more or less, drown out the voices of the characters on screen for someone who probably did not find it as funny as I did... Also, after a particular incident at a certain movie theater near me, I refuse to go to the movie theater by myself unless I feel that the movie's that good not to miss out on during its movie theater run...

Overall, once Chris mentioned "streaming", I tuned out harder than Russell Crowe in Les Misérables... Sorry, but I'm still not on board with that and I'm, supposedly, the target demographic for that shit in the first place...
 

zombiejoe

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But what about going to the theater when there's no one else around? The whole place to yourself? That's the ticket right there.
 

Ishal

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Chris Pranger said:
anonymity88 said:
The piracy gag at the end was clearly meant flippantly. I mean, I assume.
Correct. Flippant joke meant as a stinger/acknowledgement of a point some people would make about home movies.

Honest and boring truth: I don't pirate.
Still that got a good laugh out of me. You guys continue to be my favorite content on the Escapist aside from Yahtzee :)
 

Jacked Assassin

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I'm leaning towards Home Theater as there are movies below PG-13 I haven't seen. Due to the noise usually caused by children. Even in some cases PG-13 movies aren't immune to that as I have had movies ruined for me by mentally handicapped individuals who also don't know better.

As for cell phones with screens theaters really need bouncers or something to get rid of people who won't turn them off during the movie.

I still like going to the movie theater as its one of the closest thing I have to human interaction. But any of the above just kind of ruins it for me.
 

Ramus

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The right answer. Home theater, with or without friends.

I mean, if you have a home theater. There is the entry point. I am "privileged" enough to have a pretty nice home theater. It's not high end by any means, but combined with not having to sit in a theater, deal with people in a theater, pay for a theater, or.. well unless I was 16 again I really couldn't think of any reason I would want to go to a theater. Dating late 20's it's more impressive that you aren't living at home, or on the street, rather than where you can take someone for overpriced popcorn. Dinner + home theater is the way to go, just make sure your couch doesn't suck.
 

tzimize

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zombiejoe said:
But what about going to the theater when there's no one else around? The whole place to yourself? That's the ticket right there.
Yep.

Also, I NEVER go to the theater to watch anything that needs me to be 100% on. I'd never watch The Sunset Limited in a theater for example. Talkies, thrillers and certainly not dramas. The odds of someone fucking up my experience is too great, and thats when I'm living somewhere where 10 people in the theater is more or less the norm...

I'm not paying that much 16$ (which is how much movies are where I live) to have my experience fucked up. If I'm watching anything in the theater its gonna be something that is loud enough to drown out any morons around. Like a marvel movie. Or Avatar. Or Jurassic Park. Or something in that vein.

Also, the streaming option fails for me for the same reason. There are too many things that could go wrong. The speed messes up for a second, the hardware, whatever. There is nothing as jarring to me as a movie suddenly going low res for a few seconds because the speed hit a bump.

I NEVER stream movies unless its for background noise or something.

My home theater is for movies with half a brain. My local theater is for popcorn flicks.

RatGouf said:
-snip-
As for cell phones with screens theaters really need bouncers or something to get rid of people who won't turn them off during the movie.
-snip-
YES PLEASE. It is so unbelievably rude to text during a movie. There are WAY too many people addicted to their phone nowadays. They dont even have to be 14 year olds. I have a few friends that constantly check snapchat or text while we're on a restaurant or similar. I find it exceptionally rude. They're simply saying that the current company is not interesting enough. RUDE. I've started calling it out though, in a rather loud manner. It pisses me off to no end. The same in theaters. I will call people out on it, loudly. Until they stop.
 

Scarim Coral

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Naa I with Kyle with this one wholeheartedly!

I too find that going to the cinema is a solid reason to go out ever (it's why I always meet up with my mates for in the city althought we can just hang out in general without the film) and my living room is not to the standard of having the full blown experience that a cinema provide (shut up with your puny sensitive ears, it suppose to be loud and in surround)!

Even then, I was raised to watched a film in one sitting however I am very distracted when watching a film indoor and alone since at the cinema, I got no computer to check my message or a site update on nor am I a douche to used my phone during the film!

Heck I am even the oppersite to Christ statement about making the time to go to the cinema to watch a film as I always make time to go to the cinema (with my mate) while I give myself no time to watch a film most of the time. Heck I still got to rewatched Guardian of the Galaxy and The Lego Movie since I bought the DVDs!
 

Chris Pranger

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Ishal said:
Chris Pranger said:
anonymity88 said:
The piracy gag at the end was clearly meant flippantly. I mean, I assume.
Correct. Flippant joke meant as a stinger/acknowledgement of a point some people would make about home movies.

Honest and boring truth: I don't pirate.
Still that got a good laugh out of me. You guys continue to be my favorite content on the Escapist aside from Yahtzee :)
I think we're fast becoming the ONLY content on The Escapist aside from Yahtzee. ;)
 

Attercap

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Jun 22, 2012
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I much prefer the home theater. I see the occasional blockbuster to get together with friends or just because I can't wait, but I much prefer the home theater even with friends--because sometimes you just want to be able to pause or go back to dissect something you may have missed.

Sub-debate based on the win... For home theater, which is better: The immediacy of streaming or the bonus features of disc?
 

Firefilm

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Chris Pranger said:
Ishal said:
Chris Pranger said:
anonymity88 said:
The piracy gag at the end was clearly meant flippantly. I mean, I assume.
Correct. Flippant joke meant as a stinger/acknowledgement of a point some people would make about home movies.

Honest and boring truth: I don't pirate.
Still that got a good laugh out of me. You guys continue to be my favorite content on the Escapist aside from Yahtzee :)
I think we're fast becoming the ONLY content on The Escapist aside from Yahtzee. ;)
Chris. Chris. My day. You've. You've made it. Hahahahahahaipeed
 

Yozozo

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Mar 28, 2009
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Can home theater do the Hobbit movies in HFR?

Guess I'll still go to the movies, at least every once in a while.

Also, streaming is an awful point. The visual quality is so terrible, even in "HD".
 

Kenjitsuka

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So, that's like 9 points for home theater vs 1 for movie theater?
Because Kyle never mentioned the ultimate selling point: movie theater get's it waaaaaaaay earlier than -legal- home theater!

Plus, you have to admit IMAX looks damn good. But so does my 4K 3D tv. ( ? 579! very affordable nowadays!)
 

Darth_Payn

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Chris Pranger said:
Ishal said:
Chris Pranger said:
anonymity88 said:
The piracy gag at the end was clearly meant flippantly. I mean, I assume.
Correct. Flippant joke meant as a stinger/acknowledgement of a point some people would make about home movies.

Honest and boring truth: I don't pirate.
Still that got a good laugh out of me. You guys continue to be my favorite content on the Escapist aside from Yahtzee :)
I think we're fast becoming the ONLY content on The Escapist aside from Yahtzee. ;)
What about MovieBob? Dude has 2 video series, 3 columns, and wrote I don't know how many regular news articles. But Jim left a great big hole to fill.