IMAX and DTS Create IMAX Enhanced – Yet Another Format!!

First a personal rant:  I am fed up with the continued abuse of the less enlightened buying public to enrich the pockets of manufacturers and their demanding shareholders.

Everytime I blink a new video or audio format arrives in my inbox. I have been on this planet for quite a while and watched the movie and music business continue to wring the very last dime out of its inventory, by searching for new ways (read formats and packaging) of getting the ‘I want the best’ consumer to buy the next great thing.

WHY?

These movie and music houses have thousands of millions of dollars of inventory sitting on their shelves, that their shareholders want an ROI on (Return on Investment). YOU the consumer are that ROI.

How you may ask?

They convince you time and time again that you must buy the next best format or packaging because it will make your life perfect and you will get so much more pleasure and enjoyement from it.

Not so!

YES, there are major leaps in technolgy that have provided the consumer with real tangable benefits to the audio/video world but we are now at the pointed end of that  transition. Our ears and eyes can now barely perceive the improvements in the quality of the sound and vision, for several reasons:

1. We cannot resolve these improvements in many environments due to the biological restrictions of our ears and eyes.
2. Many technologies haven’t even caught up to where we currently are with 4K, WCG and HDR. (8K is now here)
3. The listening and viewing environments of most users are so poor that changes to the video and audio formats are meaningless. Often creating just a different version of the same information; not necessarily better or closer to the original source.
4. Most users are insufficiently informed in order to correctly setup their HT system, even for stereo, and very few systems are calibrated to the appropriate video and audio standards.
5. The average users habits constantly strive for convenience – NOT quality.

Sorry if any of the above comments offend your sensibilities.

I am fortunate enough to have a high end, audio and video purpose designed home theatre and music room. I was brought up in a houshold that oozed music as my father was a jazz band leader, I was a professor of video and audio, the techncal manger for one of Europe’s largest independent recording studios and have been involved with the design of many of North America’s finest HD and 4K broadcast facilities. I understand what it takes, and what can and cannot be appreciated by the eye and ear.

So why have I now had enough?

It all started for me with MQA.

It looked great on paper, it even reads well in the technical descriptions but what does it buy the average user? I decided to go full out and take it all on. Having just purchased an Oppo 205 with a very high quality MQA USB DAC I subscribed to Tidal to check out MQA streaming. Their user interface REALLY sucks for MQA and searching for MQA material is a total joke. So once I found enough material I started, what was to become, the painful period of auditioning their MQA content. I won’t waste your time on all the details but compared to most of my Red Book CD’s, SACD’s, DVDA’s and especially vinyl direct cuts, the benefits of this STREAMING format was limited at best. YES it did provide an improved HF response, more open mid range and improved imaging compared to a streamed uncompressed FLAC file at 44.1KHz and 16bit. Was I wowed? Absolutely NOT. Was it better than most of my physical media? NO. So while it did improve the streaming experience it was not as dramatic as I had expected. So what is all the hoopla about? MONEY! This new streaming format, allows the record labels to re-issue the millions of tracks that they have sitting on their shelves and in their vaults. Warner Brothers Music is one of the labels that have signed a long term contract with Meridian. Why? To create ROI. Also the entire production chain, while not containing any copy protection, DOES provide the various companies and record labels with total control of the production and licensing of the process. More sources of income for them.

Don’t get me wrong. Under the correct circumstances when the MQA processing is applied to material that is studio quality or a live audio stream, it produces a lightly compressed format that equals some of my better SACD’s and on occasions has come close to a number of my vinyl direct cuts.

BUT, do we need this new  format? I do not think so. It certainly provides little benefit to those using earbuds, and based upon everything I streamed from Tidal, I heard improvements that could easily be improved upon using physical media. Some of the tracks were actually distorted and unlistenable. To say that they sound closer to the original studio recording is like saying I am on top of a mountain so I am closer to the sun! You rarely have any idea what the original available source material sounded like that the MQA encoding was applied to.  Some artists web sites do tell you from what source their MQA encoding was derived.

OK, if you are so busy, that you can’t change a plastic or vinyl disc then this is your format for streaming! If you are in such a rush that you can’t sit down and LISTEN to the music then how can you appreciate or even hear the claimed improvements? Ask yourself, do you want convenience or studio quality? You rarely get both.

My Tidal subscription is cancelled.

Now we have IMAX Enhanced.

We haven’t implemented 4K, HDR and WCG correctly yet, we have HDR10+ to deal with and now IMAX Enhanced is about to launch! So what does this new format bring us that we do not already have? From what I have read so far NOTHING, except for ROI for the manufacturers as they force you, the consumer, to go and buy yet more new hardware for a format that is not required.

So what have these companies said about the technical advantages and improvements that this  format will give you? NOTHING except a lot of hyperbole.

IMAX and DTS are partnering with Denon, Marantz, Sony, and Paramount Studios to launch a new format called IMAX Enhanced for Home Entertainment. They claim that this new format, with its associated new certification and licensing program, will give the highest-quality image and sound experiences to the home theater user. So 4K, HDR, WCG and immersive sound are apparently NOT the highest standards available to the user! I am so ill informed!

This new format is said to enhance the associated products to handle new IMAX digitally re-mastered 4K HDR content and DTS audio technologies to offer  “A new level of quality in immersive sight and sound experiences for the home!”. To be achieved by providing an IMAX signal processing mode in the newly released receivers, etc. to optimize the signal chain to meticulously process this re-mastered IMAX content. Why? Wasn’t the original 4K, HDR, WCG, immersive production that was cretaed by the director and producer good enough or do they not agree with the producers and directors production decisions thinking that they can do a better job? Who put them on this lofty pedestal?

As I said earlier, ROI. They can now re-release all their movies again and again, getting you to buy new receivers, displays and of course re-releases, the “cash cow”.

Entrance and acceptance to the program requires that prospective rip off merchants sorry, manufactures and content suppliers, prescribe to the highest of video and audio standards set by a certification committee, DTS engineers and Hollywood technical specialists. Sounds like a cash party to me.

Apparently the new IMAX digitally re-mastered material is claimed to create more vibrant colors, greater contrast and a sharper image. Together with a new and “special” DTS:X codec for a signature sound experience. Words, words, words! ROI, ROI, ROI.

So, like it or not we have yet another competing format to HDR, HDR10+, Dolby Vision and all those immersive sound formats. Or will it fizzle out –  a bit like THX has?

Their web site says nothing, but says everything. IMAX web site quote:

“While the IMAX theatrical experience continues to be the gold standard in blockbuster movie-going, the companies saw an opportunity to improve and create greater consistency in the home entertainment space. There are two challenges that we’re looking to address. First, we’ve all walked onto a showroom floor and been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of products. Other than price, how do consumers objectively know which is best? Second, as content moves downstream from theatrical to home, how do you ensure an optimized viewing experience that remains faithful to the filmmakers’ creative intent?

The goal of IMAX Enhanced is to take the mystery and frustration out of the buying process to make it easier for consumers to identify the highest-end content and consumer electronics products that will bring the most premium entertainment experience to your home.”

How is this new “standard” going to affect the buying public? Will they assume that if the product doesn’t carry the IMAX and DTS logo that it must be sub par? Possibly forcing all vendors to sign into the program creating more ROI and licensing fees for the creators. Another clever marketing strategy that seems to echo what could happen with MQA and their little green light.

The IMAX Enhanced program will launch this fall. For more information about the IMAX Enhanced program, please visit IMAX Enhanced.

Maybe I am wrong to judge before I see and hear what this new format can accomplish – only time will tell.

See here for the worlds first Denon IMAX Enhanced Receivers. (coming soon).

See here for my Review of MQA processing and here for my introduction to Hi-Res Audio and MQA.