When The Dark Knight and transitioned to home video, compromises had to be made. Standard widescreen televisions use a fixed 16:9 (1.78:1) format. The Cropping Trade-off
“Done The Dark Knight & The Dark Knight Rises – IMAX 15/70 mm portable projection” When The Dark Knight and transitioned to home
In the commercial cinema world, IMAX projectors are monolithic. The classic 15/70mm film projectors weigh over two tons. The newer digital laser projectors are the size of a Smart car. The IMAX 1431, however, sits in a strange, beautiful purgatory. The classic 15/70mm film projectors weigh over two tons
The 15/70 format refers to 70mm wide film running through the projector. While standard 35mm film runs vertically with four sprocket holes per frame, IMAX film uses 15 sprocket holes per frame . This single frame is roughly 10 times larger than a frame of standard 35mm film and three times larger than standard 70mm film. This massive negative allows for an estimated visual resolution of up to 16K or 18K , compared to the standard 4K of digital cinema. The 15/70 format refers to 70mm wide film
: The editor carefully isolated the open-matte, full-height 1.43:1 sequences from high-bitrate special feature sources.
By utilizing modern encoding profiles, the project minimizes file footprints while keeping artifacts, macroblocking, and color banding imperceptible. It retains high grain detail, matching the raw look of 70mm film stock.
Most official home media releases crop the tall IMAX frames to 1.78:1 (16:9) to fit widescreen TVs. This version painstakingly re-inserts the missing top and bottom image data sourced from rare special edition bonus discs and 15/70mm film reel scans. The Review: Is it Worth the Setup? Immersion & Scale