6 ms·

It won’t last. At the heart of great cinema is great audio, and you won’t find that in a vehicle.

by xwdv 7y ago

vidanay 7y ago
Perhaps movies could be made with real dialog and stories and not just loud explosions and sound effects that necessitate "great audio" (a highly subjective definition to be sure.)
- A4ET8a8uTh0 7y ago
  I happen to agree about the movie quality, but that seems to be pretty subjective too since my wife thinks otherwise. I never really understood the fixation on sound either, but each to their own. I can tell you what I want from a movie night: long island to numb me to all this low quality entertainment and comfortable seats. Drive-in won't work for my use case, but I doubt I am a target audience.
- Mediterraneo10 7y ago
  Strange that you think great audio is something only action films need. As soon as 5.1 mixing and encoding tools became cheap and widely available, even independent filmmakers writing "real dialog and stories" rushed to adopt them. And film schools emphasize how careful audio editing (and appropriate playback equipment) can bring a rich new dimension to one’s filmmaking, and some of the textbook examples that are used are 1960s auteur cinema like Ingmar Bergman’s Persona.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
bsanr2 7y ago
I don't think that's true. The audio experience in many movie theaters is markedly terrible, due to the lack of proper volume calibration these days. And for many people, their car's audio system is the best that they own. I suppose the bottleneck would be delivery, but there are high-end, low-latency networked audio solutions out there, so streaming to a decent quality should be possible.
deeblering4 7y ago
Fwiw most drive-ins broadcast movie audio over FM radio. Audiophiles could bring a good tuner and nice headphones, or a high end portable speaker and get good sound in the car or outdoors.
boardwaalk 7y ago
I think people are less discerning than you think, and even non-premium car audio systems less bad than what most people watch content on regularly (laptop and tablet speakers, etc). I see people do it and I don’t understand how they can stand tinny sound that’s nails on a chalkboard to me, but hey...
- xwdv 7y ago
  If a person is willing to watch a movie on a laptop with tinny speakers I don’t see why they’d bother going to a drive in. Is the whole point of theatres not to see a movie in a big screen with great sound? If it wasn’t for that I’d just stay home and watch a movie on my OLED TV screen and surround sound system. I would never watch a movie on a phone or laptop.
  - Cerium 7y ago
    A drive in movie is a great social experience unlike going to a normal theater. You can prepare a full fancy dinner to eat while watching. Then since you are using your car audio you get to set the volume. And if you want to discuss something you won't be interrupting anyone else. So, while it may not be an experience that idolizes technical achievements I find the drive in a fulfilling experience that offers an alternative to the conventional movie theater.
  - Swizec 7y ago
    My laptop has better sound than my high school era 5.1 system had. It’s uncanny how good those tiny little speakers have gotten. Mostly I watch on a laptop because it’s convenient. And the lack of a TV in the house discourages passively plomping my ass down and flicking through shit when I really should be doing anything else.
  - grosswait 7y ago
    Meh. For the last 10 years maybe two movies a year get me to a theater, otherwise, television, laptop or phone for me. The only movie in my life where the theater factors into my subjective memory of a movie was The Dark Knight. I'll never forget how immersive the open scene was on a giant IMAX screen. My memories of sounds in movies on the other hand are only of the bad, like some of the ridiculous sound effects in Transformers with overly accentuated bass
milquetoastaf 7y ago
Wait until you hear about these new fangled "silent films"
maxsilver 7y ago
> At the heart of great cinema is great audio, We had cinema for decades, before any audio had even been introduced to films. And for the first decade or two, audio on films sounded atrocious -- roughly like an AM-radio track. Somehow, I think "great cinema" will survive a few years of a few drive-in theaters offering stereo-FM-radio audio quality.
wl 7y ago
The audio in most movie theaters is so loud, I have to bring ear plugs. A knob on my dash that can turn it down is a superior experience.
jussij 7y ago
Some of the things that would always annoy me with cinemas would be people coming in late, leaving early, sitting near a group that is constantly talking, phones going off or people constantly checking their phones which shine bright in a darkened room. At least these kinds of problems don't exist at the drive in.
jcims 7y ago
Unfortunately 'great audio' has been replaced with those stupid butt beaters in the seats and some weird W shaped EQ cranked so high it starts clipping any time something moderately loud happens. They could just suction cup a little bluetooth job to your window and you'd be in complete control of the audio experience.
mrlala 7y ago
>At the heart of great cinema is great audio It's amazing that you, the audiophile, assume that 99.9% of people really care about audio as much as you do. Spoiler alert- they don't.

It won’t last. At the heart of great cinema is great audio, and you won’t find that in a vehicle.

by xwdv 7y ago

It won’t last. At the heart of great cinema is great audio, and you won’t find that in a vehicle.

Perhaps movies could be made with real dialog and stories and not just loud explosions and sound effects that necessitate "great audio" (a highly subjective definition to be sure.)

A4ET8a8uTh0 7y ago
I happen to agree about the movie quality, but that seems to be pretty subjective too since my wife thinks otherwise. I never really understood the fixation on sound either, but each to their own. I can tell you what I want from a movie night: long island to numb me to all this low quality entertainment and comfortable seats. Drive-in won't work for my use case, but I doubt I am a target audience.
Mediterraneo10 7y ago
Strange that you think great audio is something only action films need. As soon as 5.1 mixing and encoding tools became cheap and widely available, even independent filmmakers writing "real dialog and stories" rushed to adopt them. And film schools emphasize how careful audio editing (and appropriate playback equipment) can bring a rich new dimension to one’s filmmaking, and some of the textbook examples that are used are 1960s auteur cinema like Ingmar Bergman’s Persona.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

bsanr2 7y ago

I don't think that's true. The audio experience in many movie theaters is markedly terrible, due to the lack of proper volume calibration these days. And for many people, their car's audio system is the best that they own. I suppose the bottleneck would be delivery, but there are high-end, low-latency networked audio solutions out there, so streaming to a decent quality should be possible.

deeblering4 7y ago

Fwiw most drive-ins broadcast movie audio over FM radio. Audiophiles could bring a good tuner and nice headphones, or a high end portable speaker and get good sound in the car or outdoors.

boardwaalk 7y ago

I think people are less discerning than you think, and even non-premium car audio systems less bad than what most people watch content on regularly (laptop and tablet speakers, etc). I see people do it and I don’t understand how they can stand tinny sound that’s nails on a chalkboard to me, but hey...

xwdv 7y ago
If a person is willing to watch a movie on a laptop with tinny speakers I don’t see why they’d bother going to a drive in. Is the whole point of theatres not to see a movie in a big screen with great sound? If it wasn’t for that I’d just stay home and watch a movie on my OLED TV screen and surround sound system. I would never watch a movie on a phone or laptop.
- Cerium 7y ago
  A drive in movie is a great social experience unlike going to a normal theater. You can prepare a full fancy dinner to eat while watching. Then since you are using your car audio you get to set the volume. And if you want to discuss something you won't be interrupting anyone else. So, while it may not be an experience that idolizes technical achievements I find the drive in a fulfilling experience that offers an alternative to the conventional movie theater.
- Swizec 7y ago
  My laptop has better sound than my high school era 5.1 system had. It’s uncanny how good those tiny little speakers have gotten. Mostly I watch on a laptop because it’s convenient. And the lack of a TV in the house discourages passively plomping my ass down and flicking through shit when I really should be doing anything else.
- grosswait 7y ago
  Meh. For the last 10 years maybe two movies a year get me to a theater, otherwise, television, laptop or phone for me. The only movie in my life where the theater factors into my subjective memory of a movie was The Dark Knight. I'll never forget how immersive the open scene was on a giant IMAX screen. My memories of sounds in movies on the other hand are only of the bad, like some of the ridiculous sound effects in Transformers with overly accentuated bass

milquetoastaf 7y ago

Wait until you hear about these new fangled "silent films"

maxsilver 7y ago

> At the heart of great cinema is great audio, We had cinema for decades, before any audio had even been introduced to films. And for the first decade or two, audio on films sounded atrocious -- roughly like an AM-radio track. Somehow, I think "great cinema" will survive a few years of a few drive-in theaters offering stereo-FM-radio audio quality.

wl 7y ago

The audio in most movie theaters is so loud, I have to bring ear plugs. A knob on my dash that can turn it down is a superior experience.

jussij 7y ago

Some of the things that would always annoy me with cinemas would be people coming in late, leaving early, sitting near a group that is constantly talking, phones going off or people constantly checking their phones which shine bright in a darkened room. At least these kinds of problems don't exist at the drive in.

jcims 7y ago

Unfortunately 'great audio' has been replaced with those stupid butt beaters in the seats and some weird W shaped EQ cranked so high it starts clipping any time something moderately loud happens. They could just suction cup a little bluetooth job to your window and you'd be in complete control of the audio experience.

mrlala 7y ago

>At the heart of great cinema is great audio It's amazing that you, the audiophile, assume that 99.9% of people really care about audio as much as you do. Spoiler alert- they don't.