Imax vs Dolby Vision

I was asked over the holiday which is the better one, IMAX® and Dolby Cinema™. I'm not going to compare 3D options in these two, but let's look at what you can expect from your money. In both cases, the experience is being managed and guaranteed by the license holder, so you are guaranteed a good experience regardless.

I'm also going to compare two versions of IMAX® because they have been around for a while and this means you could end up in a film version of the cinema. The Dolby™cinemas are newer and are a partnership with Christie, so they are digital.

	IMAX® 70mm Film	IMAX® with Laser	Dolby Cinema™
Projection	65mm Film (12K) 35mm Film (6K)	2x 4K Laser Eastman Kodak (4K) 2x 4K Laser Eastman Kodak with half pixel split (8K)	2x 4K Laser Christie 6P
Aspect Ratio	1.43:1 or 2:1	1.43:1 or 2:1	2.20:1
Screen width	36 or wider	36m or wider	14m or wider
Frames Per Second	24fps	60fps	48fps
Color Gamut/Space		Rec. 2020	Rec. 2020
Contrast Ratio	2500:1 contrast	5000:1 contrast	5000:1 contrast
Foot-lambert		22	31
Audio Channels	7	12	64

So in summary, when they both show you their promo video before the movie...

I do believe the white dot showing black in Dolby Cinema™, just wins for me...



Sources:

https://www.imax.com/news/engadget-imaxs-laser-projectors-are-worth-pricier-ticket, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMAX and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Cinema