Shang-Chi CG work is mostly okay. But the opening war sequence...

About 7 seconds in, as the camera dollies out to the view of the army, you can clearly see that they are a CG army. Not only that, there appears to be only about 5-7 people that are then cloned together.

If you pause the movie before it gets to Tony Leung, you can see one guy gets cloned three times in a single shot.

Not more detail, like from HD to 4K. You see more picture.


This is an example of the Imax Enhanced version on the left. It's not the traditional Imax as it's still wider than taller. For regular cinemas, Infinity War's aspect ratio is 2.39:1.

Then there's the true Imax ratio of 1.33:1, which was used by Snyder for his JL cut on HBO Max.


The Villeneuve also preferred the Imax ratio for Dune.

For those who use an external Android device with their 4K TV and have a Disney+ Hotstar account, here's how you can watch Shang-Chi in the Imax format. At least for now.

1 - Go to your Android settings and go to Display. Change your resolution from 4K 60Hz to 1080p 60Hz.

2 - Restart the Disney+ Hotstar app.

3 - Play Shang-Chi. It'll be the Imax version but in 1080p.

It's not upscaling. Streamers have separate optimized files for various resolution. It's how you can watch this movie in 4K HDR even though the movie is available in Dolby Vision.

I logged in using Firefox. Yes, it is.

But why though? Just for the Imax format? It's not like you can do a trial version or subscribe to just one month. Disney+ Hotstar makes you subscribe to three months in advance for RM54.90.

Not a movie. Not in 1080p or 4K.

LOTR: The Appendices on the original DVD set. FOTR and will work through them until ROTK.

Dolby surround can be encoded using L+R channels back when Laserdiscs and VHS were around in analog and PCM. Are you saying YouTube now allows Dolby 5.1 on the general channels instead of their paid content?

Ideally you have either a Dolby Atmos home theater or the Sony HT-A9 to listen to Dolby Atmos.

Otherwise, even if you get to see the Dolby Atmos logo, it doesn't mean a thing. You're not experiencing the full effect.

I still can accept watching a movie on the PC since most monitors are 24". But phone...

Tried this YouTube video. Stereo only. Everything collapses into the center channel using DPL Movie mode. In the 5.1 version, at the beginning you hear Oprah in the center channel and Adele's Water Under The Bridge in L+R. When Adele sets foot on stage, the crowd cheering in L+R and SL+SR.

When you play Armageddon on Disney+ Hotstar or Forrest Gump on Netflix (movies not in Dolby Atmos), does it display DSurround or DDigital? DSurround just means Digital Surround, but may not mean true 5.1.

To be pedantic, it's not an upmixing. Once a movie/show/what-have-you has been mixed in 5.1/7.1/Atmos, the mix would then be sent into the Dolby encoder to do a digital stereo mix with surround information. It won't be in true 5.1 but simulates it. The stereo mix would play fine in just stereo but when sent to a DPL/DSurround system, the processor will decode it the best that it could. The directional discreet audio for the surrounds is lost forever in the stereo mix.

From what I've watched on YouTube, Aero height mixes work similarly. Stereo Aero mix for the score, then that mix would be used for the 7.1/Atmos mix. If you have an Aero receiver and setup, the Aero mix can be heard properly.

Not shot with 70mm/15 perf Imax cameras. Shot using Imax-certified digital cameras.

IMDB says they used Arri Alexa LF Imax and Alexa Mini LF Imax cameras.

Eternals is on Disney+ Hotstar.

The annoying thing is when you want to play the movie, there is a pop-up. You have to agree "that you are 18 years of age or above and are agreeing to view mature and sensitive content." Eternals is rated PG-13 in the US and 12 in the UK. It's rated 18 here. All because this is in an MCU movie.

Here's the kicker. You can play Deadpool and Die Hard on Disney+ Hotstar and the pop-up would not be there.

Not that I can tell.

Well...

The switch between Imax and non-Imax scenes happen when not all of the movie was shot with Imax-approved resolution; by this I mean Imax themselves determine what can be labelled Imax film. In the early days when Hollywood feature films were being shown in Imax screens using actual 70mm 15 perf, not all scenes were shot using Imax cameras. If you have Dark Knight on BD, you can see the switching between Imax scenes and non-imax scenes.

Later on when Imax redefined what Imax resolution is, 4K and 8K scenes shot with digital cameras can be considered as Imax resolution, with or without VFX. They also developed their own digital Imax movie cameras, working with Arri.

So I don't know why in Eternals the switching aspect ratio happens. But to be Imax resolution, it has to start during pre-production and budget planning because it costs more money. Not that Disney and Marvel don't have money to pay.

Also, I don't get to choose between Imax and non-Imax version on Disney+ Hotstar. Care to share a screen shot of the choice screen?

Two separate issues. The 18+ rating, while politically understandable, is fucked up. What's more fucked up is that when Eternals was released in the cinemas, it was rated 18+ and they still censored those scenes. FINAS is fucked up.

The main issue is the pop-up warning on Disney+ Hotstar. 48 hours before Jan 15, only Eternals came up with the warning. They have since enabled that pop-up on any 18+ rated content, including TV series. Of course that means that it'll pop-up every single time you want to play the content. They should already do what Netflix does which is to create profiles for kids and adults.

Content on Apple TV means 2 things: 1) Apple TV+ exclusive content or 2) content you have to pay to rent or buy.

Pacific Rim belongs to Warner so you rent or buy.

Spielberg's West Side Story, available now on Disney+ Hotstar. Amazing film. Should have had more Oscar nominations.

5G Wifi is fine for streaming services, as Android device and wifi router can deliver the data well.

If you are streaming content stripped from 4K UHD Blu-ray untouched, then you may need a wired connection.