On Tuesday, December 4, I hosted a fact-finding discussion on IMAX Enhanced with a panel of in-the-know professionals that included Phillip Jones, director of training, Sound United; Rob Brennan, training manager, home entertainment and sound, Sony Electronics Inc.; John McDaniel, vice president, business development, ecosystems; Xperi Corporation; and Bruce Markoe, senior vice president, head of post production, DMR and operations, IMAX Corporation.
Here’s a sampling of what we learned:
- A new IMAX: DTS sound mode will be triggered on certified audio components when watching IMAX Enhanced content. (Display devices currently do NOT have an IMAX video mode, but that might change in the future.)
- IMAX Enhanced audio content will have the same full dynamic range sound mix as the theatrical release.
- Currently IMAX Enhanced content will be available on 4K UHD Blu-ray disc, but there are plans to deliver it via streaming services
- IMAX Enhanced Ultra HD Blu-ray titles will play on every 4K Blu-ray player, including Xbox One
- IMAX Enhanced titles will utilize HDR10 or HDR10+ encoding, depending on the studio. (HDR10+ content is fully backwards compatible with HDR10 devices.)
- The ideal speaker layout for IMAX Enhanced playback is 7.2.4, utilizing four overhead speakers; this layout is also perfectly compatible with Dolby Atmos.
And that just scratches the surface. The full webinar is now available for free on demand. Click here to access it.
