Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site decwrl.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!genrad!decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-thrint!pilgrim
From: pilgrim@thrint.DEC (Alf Pilgrim, IOSG, REO G5-6, x3451)
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Cinema vs TV
Message-ID: <3661@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 17-Sep-84 15:38:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.3661
Posted: Mon Sep 17 15:38:06 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 25-Sep-84 04:49:19 EDT
Sender: daemon@decwrl.UUCP
Organization: DEC Engineering Network
Lines: 74

>What i want to know is, What are these undoubted benefits??

>How do they compare with these benefits of watching movies on cable?

>less expensive
	- true
>more comfortable
	- perhaps, but how much comfort do u want?
>less time consuming
	- God help us!
>one can smoke, eat, talk while watching
	- there is no restriction on eating and drinking in any cinemas
	  i have frequented. Unfortunately, most cinemas also allow smoking
	  (although usually in one half of the auditorium only).
	  You want to *talk* while watching a film?
>less distractions from other people
	- u mean those people who insist on talking while watching a film!
>guaranteed excellent seating
	- true, although i've never had any problems with seating in a cinema
>no standing in lines
	- (queues?) No u just have to wait 3 months (or whatever) before the
	  film becomes available on video
>no chance of the tickets being sold out before you reach the box office
	- true
>you can get up and get sth to eat or drink without missing any dialogue,
	- what's so terrible about getting what u need to eat/drink either
	  before/after the film or in the intermission?
>with the right company, you can get romantic...and take advantage of it
>	immeadiately.
	- ???
>you have control over the temperature, sound level and lighting conditions
	- this is true however the TV doesn't provide dolby sound in stereo,
	  quad or whatever nor at the quality I've come to expect
>the print you are watching will typically be of high quality and will
>	stay in focus. [nowadays, these things are hard to find in the USA]
	- I suggest you emigrate to the UK then!
>if the film turns out to be bad, you haven't lost any money
	- what about rental/electricity/heating while you watched the film
>if it's not a high-interest film, you can browse thru a mag, etc. while
>	watching.
	- hardly gives the film a chance does it?
>you can tape it
	- true providing you have a VCR
>if you have kids, you don't need to get a baby-sitter
	- true
>if you're single, and have no one to see it with, you are less lonely
>	seeing it at home.
	- perhaps

The major benefits of going to the cinema as opposed to watching the film
on TV (cable, tape, broadcast) are, for me, the quality of sound and the
sheer largess of the screen. Admittedly, these may be more important for
those films offering special effects (e.g. Alien, E.T., Star Wars, Star Trek,
Superman, etc. etc.) both in sound and vision. However, all films must benefit
from being shown in an environment designed exclusively for them, in the
dark, and where everybodies attention is focussed in one direction...at the
film showing. Lastly, there is always a sense of occasion when going to
the cinema that one doesn't get from staying at home or going to a friends
house. (Romance? How many love affairs have started at the pictures? Too
many to count!)

No, I accept that films on TV do have their advantages (especially for us
parents) but largely because they enable one to see many more films than
is otherwise likely, in particular, the older classics (and not so classic)
that long since came off the cinema distribution circuit for good.

All in all, however, give me the choice and I'd choose the cinema everytime
for *any* film.

cheers
alf
(...!decwrl!dec-rhea!decthrint!pilgrim)

Mon 17-Sep-1984 11:27 GMT