30 October - It is definitely ugly
The number of reports that the new Bexley Council owned three screen cinema In Sidcup is
a bit of
an eyesore had reached the stage when a photographic expedition was required.
The only spare time round about now was this morning so I left home just before
eight, umbrella and water resistant lenses in the boot of the car.
Usually it is possible to park early on a Sunday a few yards to the east of
Waitrose, but not this morning. The road was dug up; pretty much the norm for Sidcup one might say.
I do not know Sidcup very well, it is the sort of place one wants to get through
quickly, Thames Water permitting. The visibility was poor but I toured the back
streets looking for a parking space but without success. All I found was road humps every
few yards, an incredible number of No Entry and No Through Road signs and temporary traffic lights.
Without
stopping I headed home which is a shame because I had intended to watch a film
at the new cinema and I now realise that may not be possible. A combination of
Bexley Council’s parking policies and Southeastern’s withdrawal of the Abbey Wood to Sidcup train service.
In my youth I was the projectionist’s occasional assistant in an Odeon but I
have never in 35+ years been to a Bexley cinema. A review of Bexleyheath’s Cineworld gave graphic descriptions
of flying popcorn and urine soaked seats. I would hope someone was exaggerating but I played safe.
Occasional forays into cinemas elsewhere - nothing since Midway and 1917 so not
very often - has found me complaining to my companions about the indifferent
sound quality and if I ever get inside the Sidcup fleapit it will mainly be to check that out.
I have read all the planning documents relating to acoustics and I hope the
insulation is good enough to protect adjacent screens. A modern cinema
requires at least twelve speakers and the sound pressure level needs to reach
85dB or more to keep me happy. (Films are generally designed for that level.) Imagine something like Top Gun Maverick playing
next door to a Hitchcock classic.
Where a cinema might win over a blu-ray disc on the best TV is in screen brightness.
At the moment, if you spend enough money, you can buy a TV which is colour
accurate and approaching cinema brightness. But not for much longer.
The European Union has decreed that the power consumption of TVs must be further
limited. Bigger ones will be allowed to use more electricity but the effect will
be that all 8k screens will be banned as will all the 2022 models from Sony and Samsung that
use the latest QD-OLED technology. As yet no other manufacturer does.
8k TVs are probably a big waste of money because there is next to nothing of
that resolution to show on them. With four times as many pixels as 4k to be
illuminated there is no way they can get under the EU imposed limit but - good
news - the Americans are understandably up in arms about the limitations especially as the
best 4k sets will be banned too. The manufacturers appear to be unwilling to split
their production lines but maybe they will rebel against European dictators by
hiding something in the engineering menu.
My 4k disc of Top Gun Maverick complete with IMAX sequences and Dolby ATMOS sound is due here tomorrow, Royal Mail strikes
permitting, so if you hear any low flying jet planes hereabouts you may safely blame me.