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Cineworld Dublin and their cr*p sound

Everlong1

Has anyone been to Cineworld, Parnell Street recently and if so how did you find the sound levels? The last film I saw there was The Creator and the sound volume was way too low, totally spoiled my enjoyment of it. I've seen similar complaints from other Boardsies. They're showing 2001: A Space Odyssey as part of a sci-fi season soon and I'd love to go but worried they'll f*ck up the sound again. I just emailed their UK offices to complain (apparently they don't have an Irish email address).

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AMKC

I used to go there all the time then they ruined it and I have not been in ages. Another cinema I go to used to be hit and miss with sound but even since Oppenheimer the sound it it has been great. Maybe they forgot to turn tge volume down lol. Have not been to see much this month as very poor selection of films in the Cinema. Nothing worth seeing in it.

gmisk

I would go a fair bit on sat/sun am when it's quiet. No issues with sound, the screens can occasionally be too hot but no issues with sound.

johnny_ultimate

The sound is dire in multiple screens - in fact, screen 17 / the IMAX is the only one in my experience that has guaranteed acceptable sound quality. Perhaps there’s other acceptable ones in there too, but almost every one of the non IMAX screens I’ve been to in the last 2-3 years has had minor to major sound quality issues (and the projection tends to be fairly underwhelming too).

It sounds like the sound system is just outright broken in several screens. It’s bad enough that I’ve just stopped going there unless absolutely necessary as the basic quality just isn’t there.

hynesie08

Was at poor things today and anytime the score became orchestral the bleed from the speakers was unbearable.

Everlong1

Here's the reply I got to my complaint from Cineworld UK.

Dear Everlong,

Thank you for contacting Cineworld.

I am sorry to hear that you were unhappy with the sound levels in the cinema auditorium on your recent visit to Cineworld Dublin.

I can advise that our team members at the cinema endeavour to ensure that the sound levels remain at a comfortable level for our customers, and I am sorry if you feel that the volume was unsatisfactory on this occasion.

The sound pressure and noise levels within our cinema auditoria are all carefully monitored and are pre-set so as not to exceed the recommended guidelines for entertainment venues. The sound levels of the trailers and feature performances on digital screens are automatically pre-set at a level considered to be appropriate for each individual film based on the film type and content, and the auditorium in which they will be showing.

The consistency in digital cinema soundtrack levels at the time of post-production and replay in the cinema auditorium are controlled by industry standard Dolby Laboratory equipment which is calibrated and maintained by Dolby trained field personnel.

Our team members can adjust the sound levels up or down, and in the event that we receive complaints from customers who feel that the sound levels are too high or low, we would expect the cinema staff to adjust the sound accordingly. We try to strike a balance between the expectations of customers for whom the louder sound levels and surround sound speakers are part of the cinema experience and the needs of customers who are more sensitive to loud noises.

I am sorry to hear that on this occasion the sound levels were not at a level that was comfortable for you. If you do experience these difficulties again when watching a film with us, please feel free to report the problems to a member of staff at the time, as they will be able to look into the matter for you with a view to resolving it.

Thank you again for your email and I hope future visits to this cinema prove more enjoyable for you.

If you have any further comments or inquiries please feel free to contact us on 0330 333 4444 (UK) or 0818 304 204 (ROI), we are open from 9:00 - 22:00, 7 days a week.

expectationlost

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058334110/cineworld-dublin-and-their-cr-p-sound

which screen? what other boardsies?

Big Gerry

When I saw Top Gun Maverick in Cineworld the sound cut out for the last 10 minutes of the film.

It felt like there was someone deliberately messing with the sound.

Maybe it was their last day on the job.

Banjaxed82

3 times in the last few months my mate has had to turn off.the house lights himself.

(Used to work there.)

Shambles

homerun_homer

I'm probably one of the Boardsies you've seen complain about the Cineworld experience and sound issues in recent times. The only guaranteed good experience is paying extra for their IMAX, but obviously this only covers certain films, and you've to pay extra just to not have the film ruined by bad sound. Is it just me or is Surround Sound just not a thing anymore in Cineworld except for Imax? You never, ever hear surround sound noises from the movie around the room, like a creaky door in a horror, spaceships passing behind you, crowds of people heard from other parts of the room in a busy scene. It all just seems to be audio from the front.

It seems any time I post about a film seen there I have to add another paragraph to say how bad the sound was and say that I'm ready to cancel my card, and I truly am. I'll sum up all my recent experiences in one go, noting previews for the sake of it since you could argue that maybe they just hadn't their sh!t figured out, but that was never an issue in the years before.

Killers of the Flower Moon: Saw this is a revamped screen with the nice leather seats, down the right hand side of the corridor. You'd expect audio and video quality to match. The trailers were loud/expected cinema volume, then the film starts and I am wincing trying to hear the dialogue. The music would then overpower it, so it was all off somehow. Two punters behind me kept whispering throughout the film and they were louder than anyone talking in the movie.

Saltburn (Preview two weeks before release): The sound for the trailers/adverts was excruciatingly loud, worse when it got to their own advert with the most annoying twins since Jedward. Then like KOTFM the film was low volume. Not as low as KOTFM but still a massive drop from the adverts. Just before the film got to the birthday party scene, someone had gone to complain (a little late, but maybe done on a toilet break), and suddenly the audio was back to the excruciating levels. From then on in any music or parts that were loud had many, including myself covering their ears for how bad it was. I e-mailed Cineworld after to complain and got a bog standard answer.

I am sorry to hear that there were problems with the sound during your recent visit to Cineworld you found the sound of the trailers not being adjusted to the sound of the film.

We appreciate that poor sound quality does detract from the cinema-going experience and we regularly monitor the audio quality in all our auditoria so that problems can be spotted quickly and resolved.

In response to your email, I have passed your comments on to Cineworld Dublin's Management Team to make them aware of the problem that you have reported to us.

Godzilla Minus One (Preview) in Screen 11: Started with no subtitles, no one was present to check all was alright until someone complained. Audio wise what stood out from trailers and into the movie was that voices sounded like they were coming through a tin can. Music and sound effects were fine, but voices were awful. You get over this easier on a foreign film since you're paying more attention to the subtitles.

Poor Things in Screen 11: Same audio issues with people's voices. It was very annoying and jarring to listen to. It does ruin the enjoyment of a good movie.

Everlong1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121745843#Comment_121745843

Wow. Thanks Homer, that's some catalogue of ineptitude alright. No subtitles for the Godzilla film FFS. I'm no technical expert but I would have assumed that the print would have the subtitles embedded. Interesting that you got a response from Cineworld to say that your comments would be passed on to the Dublin cineworld management. As you can see from the reply I posted, their UK office made no mention of contacting the Dublin cinema.

homerun_homer

What’s funny with the subtitle issue is we could see lathe tops of letters appear onscreen. The film’s aspect ratio left top and bottom of screen blank, yet the subtitles were not below the image, like how you might get watching a subtitled widescreen movie at home.

When it was being fixed the subtitles were being moved up and down, like it was a separate projection, until in a position they settled on. Daft.

johnny_ultimate

AFAIK subtitles are usually a separate file in a DCP rather than hard-coded, and I've definitely seen cases of them being missing in the past. It's more practical as then you can add additional language options, hard-of-hearing captions etc... more easily. The are a couple of options for it, though, so would differ from film to film or site to site, and I'm not an expert on DCP formatting either.

Not sure why they'd be aligned separately to the film file though like a separate projection. That's certainly a weird one, as usually I'd have assumed the overall image was mis-projected to be cutting off subtitles.

homerun_homer

Separate projection might have been wrong choice of words, more like dragging the text on a laptop to get into the right place. It was a stupid mistake but that is fully what I expect from them since quality control clearly isn't something they care about.