I think is laser

stated under normal imax in tgv's website

Flexound hall is gone now from TGV?

Haha deng then

No reviews of Deadpool x Wolverine in IMAX 3D here ka?

Best RM42 i ever spent seriously. Next rewatch will probably back in ATMOS hall already. Hahahaha.

It's been a long while lol. IMAX 3D is inconvenient for me cause I wear glasses and my power too high for contacts lol. Overall yeah, this movie was awesome. Watched it in IMAX at Pav BJ and the crowd was fucking awesome hahaha. The cheers and claps during amazing surprises will always be special for a movie going experience (still remember my No Way Home trip few years back, what a time). I'm planning to re-watch Deadpoll x Wolverine as well in Dolby, but cannot decide where. Well, there's...

Pavillion Bukit Jalil TGV Dolby Atmos - Twisters



Twisters released in PLF halls and thought I should finally visit Pav BJ's Atmos hall for Twisters. I felt not worth the IMAX trip since, well save money lah haha and surprisingly, even though this hall's screen isn't that big compared to GSC's Big/Maxx Atmos counterparts, I really enjoyed this hall a lot. First of all, apparently the projector is laser (a Cristie 4K one I think) and I can see the improved image quality vs normal halls. It's not as detailed and "bright" as IMAX Laser, but it still looked great.

Of course, the main selling point of this hall is the Dolby Atmos speaker configuration, and that is definitely awesome. Last year, @khainiz94 made a review of this hall (https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=2552709&view=findpost&p=107835897) and it only took me a year later to finally visit this hall xd. The surround sound was accurate, audio levels were powerful, bassy yet comfortably loud, and just overall imo slightly better than 12-channel audio from IMAX. I mean honestly, 12-channel vs Dolby is a minor thing; Dolby has better surround capabilities while IMAX speakers are louder/stronger (sometimes to a deafening degree, so not always a great thing) but mainly comes down to how the films are audio mixed in the first place, either for Dolby or IMAX (Nolan usually).

GSC still have the most Atmos halls like the ones in 1U and Mid Valley, but prices for GSC varies depending on how popular the cinema chain is. Plus, those Atmos halls are very old now and likely have not have their speakers upgraded/increased in numbers. The projector is likely mediocre too. Overall, wah, Pav BJ TGV might be my favourite spot for movies right now as it features one of the best IMAX and Atmos halls in KV. Its PLF halls' features aren't necessarily the best: Velocity, MyTown and Starling screens are bigger for their respectful IMAX and Atmos halls, but just having these halls in one cinema chain makes it a great package altogether.

Unfortunately, weighing in the distance to travel to Pav BJ vs Velocity/MyTown makes it hard for me to make this my primary two in one PLF go-to cinema.

Closing Notes

Honestly, I'm now in the mood of wanting a great Dolby Atmos hall with a large screen, preferably close to my residence (lesser or similar distance to Velocity haha). IOI City Maxx is a joke for image quality and the ticket prices too. RM29.50 for that image quality like wtf? Starling and Tropicana Gardens are too far distance for me, even though they are the top two best Big Atmos halls in KV. LaLaport Big's screen is very small and MyTown STILL WILL NOT ADDRESS THE CREAKING NOISES IN THEIR BIG HALL! Last time, I was there for A Quiet Place: Day One and it was infuriating considering silence was integral to the film's immersion then suddenly, you hear non-diegetic sounds (I sent a complaint and they replied with essentially "nah, not there")!

Dear TGV and GSC, consider opening up a Dolby Atmos hall with a very large screen within KL/Cheras or Putrajaya, even better yet, a true Dolby Cinema hall with the trademark Dolby Vision projector and up to 128 speakers. Doing so will complete my selfish, financially risky and totally passable wish of having great cinema halls in Malaysia which lets be honest, not many movie-goers here will even appreciate aside from the niche hardcores like the people here in this Lowyat thread. While you're at it, could you launch a IMAX Laser GT hall too? 70mm as an alternative would also be lovely but a large 1.43:1 screen with Laser GT is the goal since the screen doesn't necessarily need to be as big and tall as the true 70mm halls. Yes, even though there are not many movies that will be 1.43:1 in aspect ratio, it would still be a feel good moment for us movie goers as (well... not necessarily to you companies since the estimated profits from these halls may not justify the capital needed to build them in the first place but) it would really be appreciated .

This post has been edited by Katharsis: Jul 28 2024, 10:44 PM

Deep



Next is Alien Romulus



Not the fan of Alien except James Cameron Alien 2

Maybe i love fast paced more than slow chilled traditional Alien



Bright up and coming

Just like Denis Villeneuve take on Blade Runner 2049 also is another big Ridley Scott classic

This post has been edited by skylinelover: Aug 4 2024, 08:25 AM

Early critic reviews say this film is awesome. That is great cause this film is for IMAX. All scenes apparently are 1.9:1. Gonna check this out in Velocity IMAX.

Haha chun



Remember post review here haha

Watched it in IMAX Velocity over the weekend. Yup, worth it haha. The whole film is in 1.9:1 as advertised and is exclusive to IMAX for aspect ratio. Sound was great and intense, but imo the dialogue audio level was quite low; sometimes drowned out by the bgm and considering the characters' accent, ooof haha.

Overall great. The space horizon shots and cinematography in general are spectacular and definitely excels with the larger image the IMAX aspect ratio provides. The horror and tension is great, especially the surprise in the last quarter of the film (holy shit was it grotesque). My only problem is the Xenomorphs felt underwhelming. Honestly, I would say the first 3 quarters are great but didn't excel. I really wanted to feel stressed and paranoid through it all but the film never really got to that level except for the last quarter.

Still a great Alien movie though. Brought back the horror and tension. Cinematography and sound design are top tier and again, last quarter was spectacular. Worth the go in IMAX for the immersion.

This post has been edited by Katharsis: Aug 19 2024, 01:25 PM

I'm debating between watching Alien: Romulus in IMAX or Dolby Atmos.

Normally, I'm very selective on which movies to watch in IMAX, and I'm already quite selective on which movies to even watch. Like I usually save IMAX for movies like Oppenheimer, Dune (Part One and Part Two) or even The Creator. So I'm not sure if I need to watch Romulus in IMAX.

And, if you can believe it, I've never watched any movie in Dolby Atmos before. So I'm thinking this might be a good opportunity to try it out since the sound design in Romulus is apparently very good.

If I were to watch it in IMAX, obviously it's going to be Velocity IMAX. If I were to watch it in Dolby Atmos, it'd be BIG Atmos at The Starling since it's the only option available now, excluding premium halls.

Just for future reference, how does Onyx compare with BIG Atmos or IMAX? Also never tried it before. Is it mainly just for the LED screen? How about the audio? I assume the audio isn't as good as BIG Atmos/Dolby Atmos and IMAX.

Benefits of watching Alien Romulus in IMAX is for the taller image as the 1.9:1 aspect ratio version of the film is exclusive to IMAX. Other formats, Big DA included will be 2.39:1. You will be missing some picture detail and imo, the extra image is pretty worth it since the scale of the space horizon shots are epic.

Otherwise, Dolby Atmos is the better audio experience for surround sound. IMAX is louder but sometimes can be deafening.

Onyx is mainly for the LED screen: brighter colours, better contrasts and higher definition detail. This format is the best looking of all the formats, but the screens are small. Mid Valley and I-City uses this JBL audio system while Tropicana Gardens Onyx has DA.

If you do want to visit an Onyx hall, I would recommend Tropicana Gardens. It has the largest Onyx screen among the 3 and better audio with DA. However, I think the DA set up there is weaker... At least the last time I was there for a film which was a few years back.

Edit
My recommendation on selecting which hall to watch certain films at is to search the film's technical specs online then check their aspect ratio and audio mix, not only imdb, but reddit and other promotional sources. For example, The Creator's aspect ratio was very wide, 2.78:1 or something, wasted on IMAX screens.

Sometimes, some films with 1.9:1 scenes aren't exclusive to IMAX like The Flash last year. There's a reason movie screens are slightly taller than 1.9:1 here even normal halls, so they can accommodate film's image.

Audio mix too to a lesser extend to see whether it has 12 track audio or not so you don't need to fuss to visit the limited IMAX 12 channel halls.

This post has been edited by Katharsis: Sep 1 2024, 09:12 AM

Yeah, the exclusive IMAX aspect ratio is very tempting. To be honest, I wasn't that interested in watching Alien: Romulus initially and I'm not super into Alien as well, but it seems like the reviews are pretty good compared to previous Alien films. And apparently, it's also got a lot of references to the game Alien: Isolation (which I didn't play because I'm a pussy but I do enjoy watching the playthroughs of it). So might as well just watch it now in cinema and maybe rewatch the old Alien films at some point.

And then I see people say that the sound design is particularly good and it's something I appreciate in films aside from visuals and cinematography. So might as well watch it in IMAX or finally try out Dolby Atmos, right? And so I'm gonna have to spend more money now on this film.

I think I'll watch it in IMAX and save DA for another more appropriate film in the future. If I do watch it in IMAX, it'll be my first horror film in IMAX and I don't usually watch horror films.

Not sure if I'll watch any film in Onyx since I'm not too particular with that kind of display quality in a cinema, and I already don't watch films in PLF that often. BIG Atmos seems to offer a better experience with a bigger screen with similar (or even better) audio. Or IMAX simply with a bigger screen. Maybe films like Avatar might benefit more with that kind of display quality with so much attention to the world?

Yeah, I'm gonna have to check the technical specs for films in the future. While I still enjoyed watching The Creator in IMAX because of the visuals, I think watching films like The Creator or Furiosa in DA might've been a better choice. It's not really because of the aspect ratio, but because they didn't place as much emphasis on IMAX visual quality as films like Oppenheimer and Dune, so it might've been better to appreciate the sound quality more in DA which were already pretty good in IMAX.

Thank you very much for all the information, by the way!

Enjoy

Watched it at Velocity IMAX and it was great! I think it was one of the last IMAX timeslots at Velocity, so it's great that I caught it. The aspect ratio probably makes a big difference especially on those space shots.

On the other hand, is anyone going to watch the OG Godzilla 1954 and Godzilla Minus One? Yup, GSC is showing them in cinemas as part of JFF 2024.

Unfortunately, it seems like there's very limited showtimes and only at Mid Valley and 1U, unless you want to watch Minus One at Aurum TRX IMAX. It's to be expected because it's part of JFF but it'd be great if there are more showtimes and cinema locations. You can also watch both in a movie marathon, but you have to buy both tickets manually which is strange.

They're also showing Akira. Yes, that Akira.

Anyway, I'm planning to watch them all. Not sure about the other JFF films since I'm not familiar with them but it's going to be great to be able to watch these in the cinema. I actually haven't watched any of these films yet and was thinking of watching them at home especially when it was expected that Minus One wasn't coming to the Malaysian cinemas, but I guess it was a good idea that I saved them until now.

This is all actually thanks to a recent partnership between GSC International Screens and Goggler (and also The Japan Foundation KL as usual for JFF) so I think we can expect to see more of these international films in cinemas. This is great for us cinephiles and you can follow Goggler on IG for news.

The tickets are already on sale now so better get them quick.

GSC is also showing Harry Potter 1 and 2 soon but I'm not super hyped on that. We'll see.

This post has been edited by LightKeyDarkBlade: Sep 5 2024, 08:26 PM

Hello fellow lowyat!

I was looking for the BEST IMAX experience (with specs) that you could possibly find around semenanjung??

I'm planning to watch Joker: Folié a Deux in another 30 days so I better prepared some ammo 😆

This is gonna be my 2nd time of IMAX experience!!

For the long answer, you can get a very detailed breakdown and review from Katharsis here: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...#entry109116763

But the short answer is TGV Sunway Velocity IMAX.

It's one of the few IMAX with Laser and 12-channel audio in Malaysia and it's got the biggest screen out of them all. I always go there for IMAX now.

Except if you're looking for a premium and luxurious experience, which would be GSC Aurum Theatre at The Exchange TRX, but with apparently smaller screen.

@nnannon24 essentially yeah, what @LightKeyDarkBlade said. This is actually a good time to update, since East KL Mall GSC opened up an IMAX hall few months back along with TGV KLCC Suria.

Pure spec wise, IMAX's 12-channel audio which means having 12 speakers is not a massive feat, especially if compared to Dolby Atmos which has up to 64 speakers for better surround sound. However, IMAX speakers are strong, and the audio quality there is still top notch. 12-channel is mainly an upgrade of IMAX previous 6-channel audio; essentially doubling the amount of speakers in those specific halls.

Do note, TGV offers better tiered pricing for IMAX GSC and the former is the only one to provide student tier price: TGV Kid and Senior ticket at RM12 vs GSC's RM17, and TGV student ticket at RM20 vs GSC not having student tier. If you're an adult, it doesn't matter as prices are fixed at around RM35, but if you have kids or go to the movies with your parents, the tiered pricing is a great value.

There are 6 IMAX halls in KV that has both Laser Projection and 12 channel audio:

1. Sunway Velocity TGV IMAX
- Largest screen in Malaysia with a massive 1.43:1 aspect ratio screen

2. 1 Utama TGV IMAX
- 4th largest screen in Malaysia with a 1.9:1 aspect ratio. The 2nd and 3rd largest screens of Vivacity and I-City lack Laser Projection and 12-channel audio. However, despite being 4th, 1U's IMAX screen is still massive, surprisingly so considering it was the 2nd digital IMAX screen to be introduced in Malaysia, a year after Sunway Pyramid being the 1st back in 2011.

3. Pavilion Bukit Jalil TGV IMAX
- Screen is the same type as 1U but at a smaller size. It is still slightly bigger than IOI City Mall 2's (which was the first IMAX Laser hall in Malaysia, but doesn't have 12 speakers) and I believe TRX Aurum.

4-6 I personally haven't visited, I am planning to visit East KL Mall's IMAX hall eventually, just it is quite far. However, with some research, I can surmise their ranks on their technical feat and price.

4. East KL Mall GSC
- From the finite pictures online, the screen size looks pretty modest, similar to TRX Aurum and IOI City Mall. It is placed higher than TRX Aurum mainly due to ticket price being reasonable at RM33.50. It looks like a fine hall and the adult price is actually a few ringgit cheaper than the usual IMAX halls. Comes down to your convenience of travel to this hall and dealing with GSC limited ticket price tiers.

5. TRX GSC Aurum
- Mainly a luxury hall. It is RM70 for a ticket but most of the seats are twin seats, so you'll likely spend RM140 here. Screen looks modest, similarly sized to IOI City Mall 2

6. KLCC Suria TGV
- Pathetically the smallest IMAX screen in Malaysia despite its recent opening. Only saving grace is it having 12-channel audio and laser projection. Would not recommend this place, instead, take the time to visit either 1U or Velocity via vicinity for a better IMAX experience.

IOI City Mall 2 is omitted due to it not having 12-Channel audio. It was the first IMAX hall in Malaysia to have Laser IMAX, and held the dominance of being the best for a good portion of early to late 2023 until TGV came swinging back with introducing 12-channel and laser projection at new and existing KV IMAX halls.

Other IMAX halls use the old dual Xenon projectors and have 6 speakers only. Their image quality is weaker than laser projection and have weaker surround sound (depends on the film's audio mixing though, so 12 speaker halls may be useless sometimes as they may use 6 only). However, I still do recommend 2 non-laser halls.

Central I-City IMAX hall as it has the biggest 1.9:1 screen in Malaysia with fantastic seat legroom and hall aesthetics. This hall deserves to be upgraded to IMAX Laser and 12-channel audio. If it does, it becomes the 2nd best hall, strongly competing against Velocity. Another one is Vivacity as that one is a 1.43:1 screen surprisingly, but this hall is in East Malaysia.

All IMAX halls are viable (except KLCC Suria and Sunway Pyramid. Screens are too small. Go to 1U instead for PJ people but), just visit the ones that is the most convenient to you.

Yo LightKeyDarkBlade, I checked out the JJF stuff at GSC and man, I wished I knew sooner as the tickets were already sold off like hotcakes. The tickets are cheap as well at RM10. I mainly want to watch Godzilla Minus One in IMAX, or at least Mid Valley's Hall 18 as it is their DA hall, but the latter hall is booked through while the former's ticket price is RM50 (OG price is RM70 but still). You're not required to book a whole twin seat unlike the hall's usual booking MO, they separated the twin seats this time around.

However, I have already watched Godzilla Minus One (gotta love vpns), so I'm not in the hype to watch it. I still do want to watch it in a cinema hall, mainly DA since the film is properly audio mixed for DA. IMAX not really worth since the film is 2.39:1 and mainly, it doesn't have 12-channel audio config, only 6-channel.

Conclusively, all the JFF films are almost fully booked already, so I also missed my chance for Akira, OG Godzilla. I think Aurum IMAX still have decent seats for Minus One, but RM50 is eh... I mean, I could finally tick off my "visit all KV's IMAX hall" bucket list, but I do have standards of price value and not motivated enough to tick this list off (KLCC Suria IMAX is the smallest screen in Malaysia, surprisingly taking that spot away from Sunway Pyramid, and East KL Mall is pretty far).

I was interested in the Harry Potter films, but they are mainly in the Velvet halls, and a ticket cost RM60... so no. I'll probably check them out in streaming instead (if I'm bothered to).

@LightKeyDarkBlade @Katharsis Well thank you for the utmost responses.

To clarify more about the student fee ticket on TGV, I don't see any viable options to choose as student when I'm buying tickets via online. Is there any other way how to do so or I just fail to spot.



This post has been edited by nnannon24: Sep 7 2024, 05:58 PM

If I'm not mistaken, student pricing is only for shows on weekdays before 6pm.