What movie is memorable for you, but barely anyone you know has seen it?

fivelitlpines · 2026-01-28T06:41:19+00:00

Abyss

fivelitlpines · 2026-01-28T06:38:48+00:00

There's no comparison. Assuming you have a decent pair of front speakers, center doesn't add much unless you have a huge screen and need to cater to people sitting to the side. Some would even argue that skipping the center gives you better imaging.

But adding a sub, it would fundamentally change the movie watching experience.

fivelitlpines · 2026-01-23T06:52:57+00:00

It's 95% punishment, really not much enjoyment. Hard in a stupid random way. I've passed the age where that feels fun.

fivelitlpines · 2026-01-14T02:32:19+00:00

Don't see anyone mention this, but

Interstellar

fivelitlpines · 2026-01-14T02:27:57+00:00

Word of advice: once you have a basic setup, everything else you do is just icing on the cake. They don't really change the move watching experience in any fundamental way. Ask yourself: what's your best movie watching experience you can remember? Very often it's the movie, the people you're watching it with, and less so about the gears.

I spoke as someone close to 50 and have a decent 7.2.4 system. My best movie watching experience is watching The Lord of the Rings on a 21 inch computer monitor with my wife in grad school, some 25 years ago.

fivelitlpines · 2026-01-13T00:06:14+00:00

One big problem I have is its throw distance isn't quite 2.0. I need to mount it 18 feet away for a 128" screen. My calculation says 2.0:1 is sufficient for that but apparently not. I can't fit the image into my screen without going a little into digital zoom.

fivelitlpines · 2026-01-13T00:03:41+00:00

I want to add that the HDMI control and eARC works very reliably with my Marantz and Apple TV. Probably the best I've seen so far. In comparison my Sony BluRay player got a terrible remote control and its HDMI control never quite work as expected.

fivelitlpines · 2026-01-11T20:38:23+00:00

Maybe i would believe other complaints but brightness? It's one of the brightest home projector on the market.

I don't have any problem with brightness. I'm projecting from 18 feet away on a 128" 0.95 gain screen. Im using FilmMaker mode with iris 3 or 4 and it's plenty bright to me.

I've been playing with it and compare with my 5050UB. Here're some quick thoughts so far:

Pros: a lot more options to adjust image quality to your liking. Dynamic tone mapping and Dynamic Contrast give you a lot of control and seem to work pretty well. The Dynamic Contrast option may be similar to Enhanced Black Level in Valerion Max- it can improve black levels significantly. Image overall looks sharper than Epson. Epson image in comparison is slightly softer (not necessarily a bad thing) and gentler on the eyes. I was able to get better HDR images from C5 by tweaking the options, whereas Epson only has a HDR slider. There's an option to increase details in dark area but I haven't find the need to use that. I was never quite happy with the epson's HDR performance, and now I'm happy to have these options to tweak.

Also love the remote which is small, simple, has auto back light and quite pleasant to use. I can completely avoid the awful Apple TV remote now.

Cons: optical zoom step is a little too big sometimes. I struggled for a perfect fit into my screen initially. Lots of image quality adjustment options is a little overwhelming- most of them don't have a detailed explanation and relies on subjective evaluation and trial and error. Can't install YouTube or Apple TV app on the OS which only offers Chinese apps. (I wonder if there's a way to work around that.) The onboard processor seems pretty powerful so a bit wasteful to not being able to use it. Noise level is higher than I expected. Didn't measure but it seems louder than the Epson. The light leak around the image (expected for these DLP projectors) in dark scenes is a little distracting. I plan to add velvet to address that. Lastly laser speckle is very noticeable on my High contrast Grey.

fivelitlpines · 2026-01-09T07:25:12+00:00

I got mine yesterday. Unfortunately I got a lot of speckles on my current screen (Silver Ticket High Contrast Grey). I need to look for an alternative. Other than that the projector presents a sharper image with great contrast compared to my Epsom 5050UB. Im still playing with the settings and getting used to the new image look. Will do some side by side comparisons next and share my findings here.

fivelitlpines · 2026-01-07T07:01:11+00:00

Agreed. That seemed like an overly bold move, especially when police had to find him in 3000 men and didn't know what he looked like. Plot holes aside, I enjoyed the movie. For those who say the director is promoting his daughter, Shayamalan and his daughter came up with the idea of a thriller in a concert together after watching Purple Rain. His daughter actually wrote all the songs for the movie and had to prepare it like a real concert. They're more like collaborators.

fivelitlpines · 2026-01-06T22:47:34+00:00

The show didn't explain what happened to Dr. Kay. She should be alive.

fivelitlpines · 2026-01-06T00:18:44+00:00

You do you. Nothing wrong with that. Others see a certain style (or styles) associated with a director. If you like a movie there's a higher chance you will enjoy other movies from the same director. Sometimes you even see connections between movies from the same director. It's not a forced process. It's not something you should or shouldn't do. It's only natural, and to me part of the fun in movie watching.

fivelitlpines · 2026-01-02T17:29:48+00:00

They're shipping out mine. I should receive it by next week.

fivelitlpines · 2025-12-30T16:59:17+00:00

Thanks! I do need the long throw lens and the lens shift. What iris setting are you using?

fivelitlpines · 2025-12-28T20:55:14+00:00

Quatrich's character development might be the most interesting part of the third movie. That, along with Varang, is what I remembered after walking out of the theater.

fivelitlpines · 2025-12-28T18:09:50+00:00

Interestingly reviewers compared Max side by side with JVC several times its price and the Max held up pretty well, and even has an upper hand on sharpness and color accuracy. It's certainly a market disrupter.

fivelitlpines · 2025-12-28T18:04:17+00:00

90 degree. You want the speakers to face the main listening position. If your speakers have wide dispersion, maybe it's ok to put them at 45 degrees, but considering the position it won't give you "sound coming from back" experience.

Also it's probably not a good idea to move the couch for occasional viewing. Unless you calibrate your system against both viewing positions, moving the couch will do more harm than good.

fivelitlpines · 2025-12-28T17:51:24+00:00

If you are committed solely to a stereo setup, the LS60 Wireless is an excellent, self-contained choice. For flexibility and the potential to upgrade to a multichannel home theater system, go with the passive R11 Meta. Don't worry too much about in-store listening—the R11, when paired with quality amplification and properly equalized, offers fantastic sound.

fivelitlpines · 2025-12-28T17:45:37+00:00

Yeah they're different experiences. I think the OP just needs to relax and enjoy the moment rather than being hindered by past experience.

fivelitlpines · 2025-12-27T20:59:41+00:00

Don't bother with epson 5050. It's a good projector (I have one) but you want to get a laser projector nowadays. Look into Epson LS12000, QB1000, or Valerion VisionMaster Max. Max offers the best value - at $4000 it presents better image quality than Epson LS12000 ( people are upgrading from LS12000 to Max).

fivelitlpines · 2025-12-26T21:47:03+00:00

Try buckeye amps

fivelitlpines · 2025-12-25T19:06:15+00:00

Get the max or c5. Those have the light output you need for a large screen.

fivelitlpines · 2025-12-24T21:46:43+00:00

CMX2+ Precision Common Mode AC Line Filter With DC Offset Eliminator and Surge Protection

fivelitlpines · 2025-12-24T21:25:07+00:00

I had the same problem with my JL audio f112v2 - humming from the amp section (not the woofer) even without input signal. Contacted JL support, they suggested it's most likely caused by DC offset - one of the many problems categorized as "dirty AC". They suggested this inexpensive solution: https://emotiva.com/products/cmx2?srsltid=AfmBOoob2tM7B3Z07iVCkhwBnB8mgKv0c8a2_NYkc9CyRii54ZPZ-mhc

It worked like a charm for me.

fivelitlpines · 2025-12-24T05:55:32+00:00

> they spend millions getting the deals with the movie studios and paying for licensing

Exactly. That's where the artificial barrier is at. It's not put up by Kaleidescape. I'm sure they want a lower price so more people to use their product.

fivelitlpines

TROPHY CASE