In September 2018, IMAX and DTS launched a certification program for home cinema called “IMAX Enhanced”, which includes remastered 4K HDR content and a variant of the 3D sound format DTS:X (at least as far as the original English sound is concerned). combined. At that time, Sony Pictures came on board as a major Hollywood studio and actually released suitable films on Ultra HD Blu-ray – first in the USA and later also in Europe.
However, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s commitment quickly ebbed away. In Germany, the studio released a total of only six films in the format on UHD Blu-ray (see overview), most recently the remake of “Charlie’s Angels” at the end of June 2020.
However, Sony Pictures has now announced that it wants to step on the gas again with IMAX Enhanced: According to a press release published for the current CES, the studio has committed to showing upcoming films such as “Spider-Man: Across The Spider Verse”, “Gran Turismo”, ” The Equalizer 3″, “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody”, “A Man Called Otto” and “Madame Web” – internationally.
Which medium?
The communication in question expressly mentions “UHD box sets”, although the use of IMAX Enhanced for video streaming services is also mentioned. However, only Sony Pictures competitor Disney is currently using the format for its Disney+ service – and there only with regard to the image component, since a special 3D streaming codec in IMAX Enhanced format is still a long time coming.
Sony Pictures itself does not operate its own subscription service, but only a demo channel called “Bravia Core”, which, however, also offers IMAX Enhanced (like Disney + currently without the new streaming codec). Otherwise, Sony Pictures is doing well with licenses it sells to services like Netflix. Before the start of this year’s CES, LG had just announced that it would also support the IMAX Enhanced streaming format in the future (alongside Sony, Philips and Sharp).
equipment
There are specially certified audio/video receivers for IMAX Enhanced that can process the 3D sound format of the corresponding UHD Blu-rays directly. Owners of these devices can therefore be happy about the current development. But IMAX Enhanced can also be used on ordinary home cinema systems. Depending on the existing decoder, the 3D sound format DTS:X or DTS surround sound can be heard.
However, one should not expect that the home cinema division of Sony Pictures will have a dubbed version made in IMAX Enhanced/DTS:X in German for the German market. DTS HD Master Audio should continue to represent the maximum here.
(nij)
