Odeon Point Village & iSense

I'm going into the iSense cinema tomorrow night, so i'll try and report back. We'll see if these premier seats are actually any better than the normal ones as well (the first five rows or so are normal seats, the good ones are all premier, so kinda felt like we had to go for the premier ones to get a decent view).

Crash wrote: »

I'm going into the iSense cinema tomorrow night, so i'll try and report back. We'll see if these premier seats are actually any better than the normal ones as well (the first five rows or so are normal seats, the good ones are all premier, so kinda felt like we had to go for the premier ones to get a decent view).

Cool, let us know how you get on. I was actually planning to head to it this weekend but I'm going to wait to see if Wrath of the Titans will be in the iSense screen first.

So, just back from seeing the hunger games in screen 1 in iSense.

First about the cinema - so the entrance is directly beside the hotel, once you get to the entrance there's still about 3-4 minutes of walking and escalators to get up to it. There's a Ben & Jerrys place, a pick and mix, and 5-6 tills for food, and a couple for tickets. There's also a coffee shop (no booze though, I think). The credit card machines didn't seem to be working very well, but I guess opening night jitters are to be expected.

Upstairs, before you go into screen 1 from the top, there's some couches and tables to sit around in - they've gone for clean and simple for most of the design of the place.

as for the screen itself - looks pretty much the same to my eye as screen 17 in Cineworld - seats are at a slightly greater pitch though I think. The sound, judging by the demo they showed beforehand, is impressive but a little gimmicky (though it was a demo) but wasn't exactly pushed by the hunger games. Very immersive view though - thanks to the decent pitch you have a nice uninterrupted view of the screen.

It was pretty hard to figure out what seat you're supposed to be in though - the row markings were pretty poor, and the staff still didnt fully know where they were supposed to be (again, having worked in a cinema before, i'll forgive them )

It was probably about 60% full for the showing this evening - dont know how well/badly that really is, with it being opening night and all. I'd go back, partly because it was a pleasant enough experience, partly because I can leave at the start time of the film, and still get in there before the trailers are done. It does feel a bit painful when you're paying 10.50 for the ticket, 2 euro for the iSense screen, and 1 euro for the marginally better seats (further back, headrest, more leg room, better tilt) - but not so bad that it'd turn me off.

Also, be aware, the place only stocks nestle chocolate, so if you have to have your minstrels or M&Ms or Maltesers, be prepared :P

Thanks for the update Crash

Sounds like a pleasant enough experience and I must admit you have me slightly intrigued now and I'm looking forward to paying a visit in the future.

My main gripes are still with the location and the price. If the iSense screen is the same size as Cineworld 17 then I'd still prefer to watch a movie in a more convenient location. I was actually planning on going to see Wrath of the Titans this weekend but for €14.50 it seems abit steep considering it's only €8.60 in the Savoy (both 3D).

If it was an IMAX screen then I'd be all over it regardless of the price but it's obviously not so that does concern me and I think the cinema will suffer greatly in the long run unless they drop their prices accordingly.

I'd still like to see something like The Avengers or Prometheus in iSense for the sound quality plus the fact that there would be far less teenage messers then in the likes of Cineworld.

Just back from my trek out to the point to see Wrath of the Titans on the new isense and I have to say I'm not overly impressed.

The screen is huge, and the premier seats are comfy and there is loads of leg room. But about 1/4 of the screen at the bottom was covered by the lower rows and other viewers heads. The vertical degree isn't steep enough, and the seats are too close to the screen so there is no clearance, if you get me. We were seated in about the 4th row of the premier seats, would recommend if you go to sit n the regular seats or at the front row of the premier.
The sound is really good, and demonstrated well with a video that is way too long. But the room felt small. I kept thinking that Screen17 in cineworld was just so much better than this.

Snacks are expensive, but then that's not new and there is a lack of toilets... though maybe I missed them.

Great presentation, the place is lovely (though quite a bit of a trek after you go in the door!) but it all just felt a little... small.

My trek was kind of a dry run to see if it was going to be worth it for the Avengers and I reckon we'll be sticking with Cineworld.

I assume you have to park in the Point Underground car park? Is there any concession on the parking?

BowWow wrote: »

I assume you have to park in the Point Underground car park? Is there any concession on the parking?

I didn't notice any parking area as we took the luas (right to the door of the cinema) but there is a hotel there and maybe you could park in the hotel carpark.

e_e wrote: »

I don't get this confusion over the toilets.

They're just on the corridor leading up to Screen 1. Or you can just turn directly right as you walk into the cinema's lobby.

There are 2 doors into the isense screen.

The first is on the same floor as the cinema lobby which have toilets very close to the door.
The second is on the next floor up where there are some nice couches but only a disabled toilet.

was there yesterday evening to see Pirates/Scientists in 3D. Place was very clean, had to go up a few escalators to get to the cine. Maybe word of mouth has to get around but it was scarily empty... like employees : patrons was literally about 1:2. Anyway 3D glasses + 3D film + premier seats was pretty expensive, about €12. Since it was screen 2 it wasn't the biggest; the fancy seats were nice, less stiff, practically same seats.

Anyway only the big blockbusters would be in iSense, I can't recommend going unless you're in screen 1; but honestly location-wise (not as handy as Savoy or Cineworld), price & value isn't great, I don't know if I'll continue going, maybe once/twice more. If people aren't crazy about the screen size (i don't really care about audio) then that's about that!

People working there were lovely though.

27 Channels of sound on 54 speakers. As far as I know its about 4 times more than a regular screen.

I really appreciate good sound and it's one of the reasons why I continue to choose the cinema over home viewing. I haven't been to the Odeon yet but does anybody know how many modern digital films actually have 27 separate channels to get the benefit from iSense?

ciaran75 wrote: »

i think they take a regular movie soundtrack and process's soundtrack to 14 - 120 channels.

http://immsound.com/exhibitors

I figured they were probably using some sort of audio post-processing like that. When I last looked into it, digital films were released with 2k video resolution and 5.1 sound (with 7.1 becoming starting to become more common from 2010 on).

It seems we'll be waiting a while before mainstream films are released with native imm soundtracks (24 discrete audio channels) to get the full benefit of the Odeon's iSense.

Elmo wrote: »

Over priced for what it is. IMO

14.50 for the nice seats, and 13.50 for the really uncomfortable ones.

Just not worth it.

Yep - not to mention, the prices for popcorn / snacks are overpriced in an overpriced market. I always buy a large popcorn when at the cinema (no need to tell me to bring my own bag in, I prefer the warm stuff in the cinema!) and the Odeon's large popcorn is both more expensive and smaller than that at Cineworld. As are the ticket prices. Just can't see it being a success for this and other reasons.