[QUOTE=bluemonkey]
[QUOTE=Paul Campbell]
But that was different. Now the ENTIRE experience is at home, and in many cases, with much better sound than a real movie theater, because a movie theater sound system tries to pander to a large number of people, unlike a home theater, which can be focused on a small area of the room. Now that the WHOLE experience has been brought home, I can totally see movie theaters losing it one day. But only as homes with integrated systems become more common.
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That's utter rubbish. The entire movie experience at home? The cinema experience is way better than anything that can be produced on a home setup. In real life the human eye is only able to perceive a limited range of it's total possible luminance range. This window moves around as we focus. That's why in a completely dark environment you can make out far more detail than you can if you open the curtains slightly, because your eyes have shifted their detectable range and you can perceive far more at the lower luminance range. That is why when you go from low to high light levels rapidly you feel pain in the brain.
The cinema is able to replicate the full range of luminance values. Television sets cannot do this. They only output a range equal to that detectable. As a result you get a much richer visual experience at the cinema. This is taken to extremes in films such as Sin City where the home experience pales in comparison to seeing it at a theatre.
I also don't know of many building complexes where they will tolerate cranking the volume up so loud the walls shake, like you get at the cinema.
Home cinema setups still lack the massive grandour of seeing a film blasted onto a 60metre wide wall.
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I was actually referring much more to the audio side of things, mostly because I personally feel that while all you said is true, I think you are WAY exaggerating the noticeable difference that these facts offer. Sure, the Cinema can present certain hues in a more natural kind of light that reminds us of the light we see reflected off objects in real life, but it certainly is not a night and day difference. I'm sorry, but if you are in the middle of a movie on a large HDTV, you are not going to be saying to your friends, "I'm leaving. I simply can't bear to watch this movie without the proper hues and black levels represented by real film." The difference is certainly there, but 99.99999% of the populace can't tell a difference.
You make a good point about sound when it comes to apartment complexes, but as far as the average home goes, a well chosen and installed home theater, even a modestly priced one (not one that cames in one big box, for example), can outperform a theater. You just need to know where to spend your money. If you don't believe this, you have not heard a real home theater. My foundation shook when I watched War of the Worlds the other day, and the audio easily surpassed the theater, where I also saw the movie.
I do also agree with the person who said that seein a movie with a large group of people is a separate kind of experience, but I still don't know if it's enough to make the average person want to watch a movie in a theater with the aforementioned expensive snacks, sticky floors, and person-with-an-affro sitting right in front of you.