There’s nothing quite like seeing a movie captured in glorious 70mm film projected on a movie screen the size of a small building. IMAX and DTS now want to help bring some of that glory to your own home.
The companies are launching a certification program for home theater equipment, simply called ‘IMAX Enhanced.’ Though IMAX and DTS are woefully vague on details, the goal is to “make it easier for consumers to select the products and content that will deliver the highest-quality, sharpest 4K HDR images” and immersive sound on AV devices that have been “optimized to play digital re-mastered content as the filmmaker intended.”
The certification covers 4K HDR televisions, A/V receivers, sound systems, and more. Imax Enhanced video hardware will be able to activate an ‘IMAX Mode’ to play back remastered content that will “produce more vibrant colors, greater contrast and sharper clarity.” Equipment on the audio side will use a “special variant” of the DTS:X codec.
It joins other component certification programs like Dolby, THX, and Hi-Res Audio, though this one seems to cover more equipment categories than most. Presumably, if all your components are IMAX Enhanced, you’ll have quite the home theater experience. On the other hand, without knowing what the certification involves, it’s hard to say whether it amounts to much more than a marketing tactic – especially if the IMAX licensing means driving up gear costs.
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Hopefully IMAX will soon see it fit to give us a more concrete idea of what those enhancements actually are.
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