:strip_icc()/i.s3.glbimg.com/v1/AUTH_08fbf48bc0524877943fe86e43087e7a/internal_photos/bs/2022/H/I/50iS2hRnWQOQQARPMqTQ/imaxenhanced-2021-heroimage.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1 "What is IMAX Enhanced? Understand Home Theater Technology | TVs")
IMAX Enhanced is a seal of approval for TVs, receivers or soundbars. It facilitates movie playback with a cinema-like experience IMAX. In addition, the certificate also guarantees that films released in Blu-ray and on streaming platforms have the best possible quality, thanks to a rigorous digitization process.
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IMAX Enhanced caught attention after the streaming service Disney+ announce that some films from Marvel can be watched in this new version. But in this case, the experience is only restricted to the screen format, called IMAX expanded aspect ratio. Understand, below, what the seal is and what it takes to have a true home cinema.
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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is one of the films optimized for IMAX Enhanced.
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What is IMAX Enhanced?
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IMAX Enhanced is a certificate released in 2018 by IMAX Corporation, in cinema, and by DTS, in audio engineering. It guarantees the consumer that an electronic device meets the necessary conditions to play movies with quality close to that of an IMAX theater, only in the comfort of home.
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But first, you need to understand why IMAX is different from a traditional movie theater. In general, in cinemas of this type, productions are recorded on 70 mm film (twice as much as a common 35 mm film) or on digital cameras with very high resolution, which provides better and sharper images. To take advantage of this technical advantage, IMAX theaters have gigantic screens, measuring around 350 m² (versus 80 m² for a conventional cinema).
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IMAX Enhanced certifies products that offer cinema quality for the home environment — Photo: Disclosure/Cinépolis
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In terms of sound, the IMAX cinema has 12.1 channels distributed throughout the room, with seven channels surround traditional, a channel subwoofer and five channels in the ceiling. This creates a 360º dome around the viewer, who can hear every detail of the film from any seat.
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As you can imagine, not just any product can come close to an environment like this. To achieve this level of quality in your home, you need a TV with 4K resolution and HDRand home theaters with a minimum configuration of 5.1.4 channels (five surround channels, one subwoofer and four vertical channels) and compatible with DTS:X.
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Which products have IMAX Enhanced?
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We can divide IMAX Enhanced into two categories: devices and content. The first is focused on products electronics, which have to go through a series of tests for colors, resolution, contrast, brightness, among others. In addition to certification, approved devices also have an option called IMAX Mode, which automatically optimizes the TV and receiver settings to offer the best sound and image quality.
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For now, only TVs from Sonyyes TCL and HiSense have IMAX Enhanced. In terms of sound, the options are more varied, with models from Denon, Marantz and Onkyo among the approved list.
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Premium TVs, like the TCL 4K Mini LED C825, have IMAX Enhanced features — Photo: Disclosure/TCL
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The other category is aimed at Blu-ray discs and streaming platforms. streaming. To be played in a home environment, the films are digitized with programs that can clean the noise and grains typical of high resolution footage. The sound quality is practically the same as in cinemas, without any kind of compression, thanks to a feature called IMAX Signature Sound.
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Currently, the company has partnerships with major movie studios such as Marvel, Sony Pictures and Paramount. Meanwhile, some content is already available on streaming platforms, such as Disney+, Rakuten TV, Sony Bravia Core, among others.
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IMAX Enhanced is available on the Disney+ platform — Photo: Disclosure / IMAX
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In Brazil, you can find several movies and documentaries on Blu-ray optimized for IMAX Enhanced. For streaming, only Disney+ is available — but subscribers are only offered the expanded aspect ratio format of IMAX, without the option of IMAX Mode or IMAX Signature Sound.
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What is IMAX Expanded Ratio?
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IMAX theaters are known for their gigantic screens compared to traditional theaters. But that’s just part of what makes the system different.
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Because of the film used in the recordings, the screens of IMAX theaters adopt the 1.9:1 aspect ratio format (something close to the traditional 16:9, which is equivalent to 1.78:1). Some films, however, use the older format known as CinemaScope, which varies between 2.35:1 and 2.55:1, similar to ultrawide monitors. It seems banal, but this change can modify the impact of some scenes, since it is not the same composition originally thought by the director of the film.
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Expanded IMAX format shows more details of scenes — Photo: Disclosure / IMAX
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Thus, when the IMAX Enhanced option is activated on Disney+, the film will use the same 1.9:1 aspect used in filming and shown in IMAX theaters, at least in some scenes. When viewed on a widescreen TV, the screen is more “full” than in the ultrawide format (which would show black bars in the lower and upper corners of the screen) and still preserves the author’s vision when filming his work.
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Can I watch IMAX Enhanced movies on any device?
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Yup. Even if your television or home theater is not certified or has IMAX Mode and IMAX Signature Sound capabilities, IMAX Enhanced content can still be enjoyed as normal. In the case of Disney+, the absence of a certified product won’t even make a difference, since only the screen format changes.
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In the case of IMAX Enhanced Blu-ray movies, the content will also play normally, but possibly without the benefits of a home theater promised by the company. It is important to remember that only TVs and receivers released after 2018 have the certificate.
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Is it worth investing in IMAX Enhanced?
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The truth is that IMAX Enhanced is not yet a reality, especially in Brazil. For those who are more casual consumers, the biggest difference is in the expanded ratio of IMAX, which shows the film in a more friendly format for widescreens and with the scenes originally planned by the director. With more and more productions being filmed in IMAX format, it is possible that other streaming services will offer this option in the future, which is a plus point.
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However, betting on proprietary formats is always a risk. The biggest rival of IMAX and DTS goes by the name of Dolby. Its enhanced version of HDR, the Dolby Visionis already compatible with services such as Netflix and Disney+ and also on Xbox Series X/S, with promises of more colorful and brighter images. Also, unlike IMAX Enhanced, several TV models already have the feature.
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Netflix now offers content in Dolby Vision — Photo: Reproduction/Netflix
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The same can be said of Dolby Atmoswhich is present in most home theaters and soundbars, in addition to videogames, smartphones and PCs. The three-dimensional sound feature has been the latest bet for music services such as Apple Music e Tidal.
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