It has always seemed odd to me that for years consumers have been able to enjoy better picture quality in their homes compared to cinemas. It’s an observation that Gerwin Damberg, one of the brains behind the recently announced HDR by Barco system, agreed with. “It’s the wrong way round!”, he observed when I met him recently.
Previous to his role at Barco, Gerwin worked at Dolby on its Dolby Cinema system and thanks to a twist of fate, I was able to compare both on the same film, albeit a few days apart.
Having recently interviewed Damberg about HDR by Barco I was keen to get to see it, and the opportunity soon came when it was announced that the projector was to be installed at the Cineworld Leicester Square Superscreen in London for the premiere of Gladiator II — to which I was invited.
However, I had already made plans to see the movie in the only Dolby Cinema in London that I had not yet experienced — the Cinema in the Power Station, in Battersea. I stuck to my original arrangement, knowing it would give me a great opportunity to compare both technologies in action only a few days apart.
HDR by Barco: The Challenger…
In order of viewing then: HDR by Barco. The Superscreen in Cineworld Leicester Square has a modest 375 seats and is wide, but shallow, with only 12 rows of seats. This oblong shape is because it was previously the rear section of the huge 1300+ seater Screen 1 of the old Empire Cinema, which in 2014 was divided up to allow for the installation of a dual-laser IMAX auditorium and the Superscreen behind it.
A new Harkness projector screen has been installed in the Superscreen and a 20.5m wide and 11m it’s a decent size, especially considering the small number of rows. The Superscreen logo sits on either side of the auditorium, the seats are plush, the legroom is reasonable, and it has Dolby Atmos sound too.
Before the movie started a short trailer ran indicating advertising that we were about to watch in HDR by Barco and then the movie started. The impact was immediate. The image was palpably brighter than anything I’ve ever seen in a cinema and just a few seconds in I felt as if I was watching a large, high-quality OLED TV, with deep blacks, rich colors and bags of detail.
The opening scene of the movie has the ships of the Roman army commanded by Marcus Acacius, as played by Pedro Pascal, attacking Numidia, the home of Paul Mescal’s Lucius. The sea was an intense blue as were the explosions from the fiery cannonballs lobbed by the Roman onagers. Also impressive were the faces lit only the golden light streaming into the darkness of the tunnels of the Colosseum. I also felt that the overall brightness level helped with contrast and enabled me to appreciate the fine detail of the costume work. I was distracted briefly by some light reflecting on the Superscreen logo on the right-hand side, and also by people going in and out at time, causing light to enter the auditorium but overall, I was lost in the movie, which is really what it’s all about.
Dolby Cinema: The Current Champion…
It’s also a fact that the practicalities of a journey can impact how one perceives a location. A few days later I found myself at the Cinema in the Power Station in Battersea, London. The former power station, one of the city’s most iconic locations, has been converted into a large shopping center and while it’s over an hour away by car I chose to drive as on a cold day my EV was a far more appealing prospect than multiple trains.
However, things did not go to plan. Despite arriving in what should have been in good time, the car park was full and we were turned away. This meant that we had to park over half a mile away and then walk back, in the rain, to the Power Station. Once we got there, the stress was compounded by a lack of appropriate signage directing newcomers to the cinema. So instead of enjoying the ambiance of the cinema in the build-up to the movie we got there just as it started. As such, while the cinema says it offers wines, champagnes, craft beers, house-made cocktails and popcorn – we didn’t have time to sample any of it. To add insult to injury, while patrons of the Cinema in the Power Station can park for free for up to four hours with a validated cinema ticket, as we’d had to park elsewhere, we had to pay for the privilege of having to walk from and there and back in the rain.
None of this, of course, is not the fault of the cinema, or Dolby and both should be congratulated for a very fine theater. The screen has a very different look to the Odeon Dolby theaters I’ve been to; I like what’s been done here. The corridors leading to the screens are lined with cool film-related photography and inside the décor is modern and smart; plush without being over the top. The seats are comfortable and recline only slightly, which is a sensible choice: I’m not a fan of full-size armchairs that go all the way back: after all, you’re there to watch a film, not have a nap. The legroom is good too and each seat has a tray table for snacks. All very good.
And what of the image battle? Specs would say that with Dolby’s 108 nits playing HDR by Barco’s 300, it should be an easy victory for the latter – and in the end… it was. One could claim, as demonstrated by the many that appear on screen, that it can’t hold a candle to the HDR by Barco system and while that would be harsh: the Dolby system is still superior the any current standard digital projector system, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t miss the brightness and color richness of the Barco system. On the upside, I think the Dolby Atmos sound was just as impressive.
To The Victor Go The Spoils
The upshot then is that HDR by Barco has ruined Dolby Cinema for me. The latter is great, but the former is simply a step up. For me, it brings Superscreen, or at least the one in Leicester Square London, back into play, and I’ll be considering my choices between that and the sheer scale and power of IMAX. For the wider cinema-going punter though, it’s great news that HDR has finally truly reached the big screen, effectively matching it for quality while beating all but the most luxury home systems for scale and I hope that more premium large-format screens can adopt the Barco system as soon as they are able.
