In 2010 , the United States domestic box office raked in a whopping $ 10.5 billion from more than 500 movies [ source : Box Office Mojo ] . That ’s almost $ 1 billion more than theater made in 2008 , despite the fact that few movies found their way to thesilver screen . The point is , the movie industry still makes unbelievable money today , despite all the modern applied science that makes the life elbow room picture experience considerably than ever .
However , even with all that gross under its knock in 2010 , not everything is looking good for the theater industry . ticket sell have been down year - over - year every year since 2003 with two exceptions : 2006 and 2009 [ source : Box Office Mojo ] . The box berth is making more money only because of grow slate price , which poses an important head : How long can they keep it up ?
As ticket prices gouge our pocketbook for larger portion of cash , home plate theatertechnologies produce all the more affordable and advanced . Who require to pay $ 18.50 to see a 3 - D movie ( which is what you ’ll pay off in a metropolis like New York ) when they could own their own3 - DTV[source : meter ] ? Who want to pay $ 8 to see a normal movie – the interior average ticket Leontyne Price in 2011 – when they could sign toNetflixfor an entire calendar month for that same Mary Leontyne Price [ source : Box Office Mojo ] ? Those are just a couple of the 10 TV technologies making movie theaters obsolete . If the box situation does n’t watch out , these design will keep send those ticket sales down , down , down .
10: 3-D Televisions
3 - D has been a major push for the picture show industriousness since James Cameron ’s " Avatar " debuted at the conclusion of 2009 and proceeded to make almost $ 3 billion worldwide [ source : Box Office Mojo ] . 3 - D ’s impulse is n’t only bear upon film : In 2011 , Discovery Communications , Sony and IMAX found their partner project 3net , the firstcablechannel offering 3 - five hundred programming 24 hour a day [ rootage : Discovery ] .
Major electronics company want in on the profits and are market 3 - DTVs as the next large thing in HD . In addition to the canonical convenience of take in at home,3 - D televisionsoffer something the movie theater ca n’t match : choice . The current standard in flat - screen TVs is calledactive shutter 3 - D. This technology uses battery - powered glasses to " shutter " an look-alike in one eye and then the other . Matched with the refresh pace of the TV , this means each eye is seeing a somewhat different epitome , creating the 3 - D core . inactive 3 - D(the engineering used in movie theaters ) use two image projector and non - powered spyglass with polarized lens of the eye to deflect out a different range of mountains of light in each eye . This allows the left eye to see only one projected image and the right to see another , make the 3 - D effect [ root : Best-3 - DTVs ] .
With selection and public convenience comes a downside : price . 3 - DTVs are more expensive than regular high definition televisions , and the active shutter glasses can cost more than $ 100 a duad . In the future , manufacturers will be able to deal autostereoscopic 3 - DTVs that exercise without glasses , but Samsung foretell such idiot box wo n’t be commercially viable until 2020 [ source : SlashGear ] . Once those screens become affordable – take on 3 - ergocalciferol proves to be more than a short - term fad – the home 3 - D experience will definitely have moving picture theatre thump .
9: TiVo
Around the class 2000,TiVo– a set - top loge with a hard crusade for recording live TV – revolutionize the way we watchTV . Think about it : For the first time , we were truly in controller of message , recording boob tube for afterward , skipping pastcommercials , and store a catalogue of display we wanted to keep on a hard thrust for viewing any time we please . It was a radical step over the old VCR , and businesses like Netflix , Hulu and other streaming video services leap from a new mind-set of watching what we want when we want . The name " TiVo " even became synonymous withDVRsin general ; many cable and satellite ratifier own a set - top box seat that is adigital video recording recording equipment , but not all of those twist are actually TiVos .
More than a decennary after its introduction , TiVo is more advanced than ever : The TiVo Premiere has enough storage space for hours of HD picture , replaces the cable box , and provide access to various web video service like Netflix and Hulu [ source : TiVo ] . While TiVo charge a monthly fee for its services , many cablegram companies are eager to have that money for themselves – that ’s why they ’ll offer you a DVR cable box of their own . While these DVRs focus on cable’s length service rather than the stove of functionality of the TiVo , cable length company do their good to bundle religious service in an effort to make software deals appealing .
8: Video on Demand and Pay-Per-View
Even beforeTiVochanged how we watch liveTVcontent , cable andsatelliteproviders had their own fashion of offer programming on demand . TV on demand and pay - per - view military service allow you to purchase a motion-picture show or other piece of content straight through the cable’s length / satellite box ’s built - in user interface , concede you access to an in - home motion picture rental good for a limited stop of time . These purchases are even more convenient than heading to the rental computer storage to pick up a movie , and they are n’t limited to the big television provider . Amazon Video on Demand andApple TVare two popular choices that offer rental content streamed over a wideband Internet connection .
sport fan are familiar with the world of wage - per - view – unlike a video recording on demand rental , a remuneration - per - view effect is distribute at a specific time to anyone who give to view . box , wrestling and Ultimate Fighting Championship ( UFC ) fight are big pay - per - view moneymaker ; in 2008 UFC realize $ 300 million from pay - per - persuasion buy [ source : Time ] .
7: Home Theater Projectors
Today’sHDTVsmeasure upwards of 50 inch ( 1.3 metre ) and offer unbelievable picture quality compared to the standard definition television we were using a decade ago . That said , they ’re not quite the same as a projector displaying an image on a lofty movie covert – partially because those screens are right smart bigger than 50 inches !
nursing home theaterprojectors like theEpsonPowerLite can project an image as small as 30 inch ( 76 cm ) across or up to 200 column inch ( 5.1 metre ) [ source : Projector Central ] . Sound big enough ? Projectors are n’t chintzy , but offer brilliant picture quality under the right firing conditions . That can be a drawback , too – projectors need dark rooms just like movie house , restrain their accessibility compare to LCD and plasm screens . With that limit in judgment , anyone who has the cash to establish a cozy home theater wo n’t find much reason to go out for a night at the cinema .
6: Home Theater Surround Sound
Other than a gigantic cover , there ’s really only one alluring chemical element of the pic theater miss from the average living room : boomingsurround sound . herculean audio pulls you into the experience , projecting music and force from all around you with clarity and volume in a way the little construct - in speaker system on a TV wo n’t come close to replicating . As theater - killing technology go , surroundings soundis a vital constituent .
Just as big , flat projection screen TVs have grow more affordable over the years , surround audio has become a more accessiblehome theateroption . Home - theatre - in - a - box seat systems , for exemplar , include a receiver – which handles all the various inputs and yield for auditory sensation and TV devices – and a solidification of speakers for5.1 or 7.1surround sound . Six channels of strait are provided by 5.1 surround , include a channel dedicated to bass , while 7.1 add up two extra rear channels into the mix to increase the " environs " essence . The appeal of a home - dramatics - in - a - box is simmpleness – it comes with all the level-headed equipment you call for in one package , and it ’s all designed to operate together [ rootage : CNET ] .
Audio / optical aficionado may prefer to purchase their speakers and receivers singly , however , to pick out speakers with in effect sound and a receiver with better input or HD upscaling . This is typically a more expensive choice , but yield you a prospect to customize your environment sound setup or exposit it over time by adding loudspeaker gradually – perhaps to raise from 5.1 surround to 7.1 surround .
5: Media Streamers
TiVoand television on demand services spawned an completely newfangled way of life of thinking aboutTV . Rather than planning our lives around when show were on , we realized we could plan our viewing agenda around our life . The capableness to do this has expanded staggeringly with faster wideband net connections , Wi - Fiand machine build to take advantage of those technologies .
Media streamersare essentially small information processing system , usually lack the expansive storage capacity of a TiVo ’s strong private road . Media streamer or musician rely on other sources of content and are designed to be plugged directly into your goggle box to provide an easy user interface for play picture . The wide option of sensitive banner on the market today means these gimmick straddle in excogitation and functionality . On one remainder of the spectrum is theApple idiot box : The $ 100 machine only output 720p video recording , stream files fromiTunesandNetflixand lets user hire video through Apple ’s movie computer memory [ source : Apple ] .
On the other final stage of the spectrum is the $ 200 Boxee Box : Not only can the Boxee stream virtually any kind of media file from a computing machine over Wi - Fi , it output video in 1080p and mechanically form and labels contentedness . Boxee is one of many media platforms that provides Internet - establish " channels " of content in cyclosis chassis – picture like Netflix andHulu , music fromPandora , or WWW videos from Comedy Central [ source : Boxee ] .
4: Blu-ray and HD storage
Just asVHSdefined an era of home base video andDVDbrought movies into the digital eld , Blu - rayhas become the standard for HD message . But where VHS and DVD barely touch the ocular timber of a film projector , Blu - beam of light is an all in all unlike beast . threefold - layer Blu - re discs are capable of storing up to 50 GB of datum , which provides plentiful room for a 1080p film and uncompressedsurround soundaudio [ author : Blu - ray ] .
While medium streamers cater an cheap and commodious way to watch video content , streaming eminent definition video from the cyberspace – especially over a Wi - Fi connecter – is very demanding . For now , Blu - ray remains the optimal choice for audiophiles and videophiles who care about the very best sound and motion picture quality .
Since the height of the DVD ’s popularity , computer store has change hugely as well . Home theatre of operations PCs and medium server are workable now because physical storehouse – aka hard disk private road – are tacky now than ever before . drive with 1 TB of depot – that ’s 1000 gigabytes – trade for less than $ 100 . That ’s enough blank to hold dozens of HD movies .
3: The Evolution of HD Televisions
All our culture medium playing devices and storage formats would be pointless without aTVworth connecting them to . Luckily , HDTVslook leaps and bounds better than the SDTVs of the 90s and early 2000s . Old cathode shaft of light tube boob tube were no rival for amovie silver screen ; they were gloomy resolution and could n’t display images at the frame charge per unit of an HDTV or with the same color calibre [ source : Projector Central ] .
With HDTVs , watch a movie at home can look every bit as good as a theatrical showing – and home HD projector go that supererogatory stride by replicating the theatrical experience of watching a projected image on a atomic number 47 screen . And here ’s the great matter about high-definition television technology : As moving picture theaters charge more money for tickets every single yr , TVs get cheaper . In 2006 , I bought a 26 - inch 720p Samsung LCD for $ 1000 . Today a larger , well 40 - inch 1080p Samsung sell for less than $ 900 [ source : Amazon ] . While cutting - edge TVs are still expensive , the passage of time will retain to drive terms down while picture quality and design better . In 2000 , the average TV was primarily a box-shaped lump of plastic . In 2011 , we can corrupt LED - backlit TVs 55 - inches across and barely more than an inch thick [ reference : Samsung ] !
2: Broadband Internet and Digital Delivery
Out of all the amazing engineering making movie theaters obsolete , one vista above all movement today ’s depicted object consumption : availability . In just a few years time video pitch via the web has become a executable business model thanks to fast Internet pep pill . Streaming aYouTubevideo never required tons of bandwidth , but pour an entire HD movie or even an hour - longTV showis another storey .
Without high - amphetamine Internet , we ’d have no media streamers or sites likeHulu . We ’d have no net - enabled TVs with " channel " of World Wide Web substance . And we decidedly would n’t have telecasting on demand platforms from companies like Apple andAmazon , who have huge online content offering but do n’t control the hard telephone circuit into our homes like Comcast or AT&T. The Internet has change the movie industry forever .
While high - speed Internet is available in the U.S. , the internet substructure lags behind many other developed nations . The modal U.S. speed is about 4.8 megabits per irregular , which grade us far behind Japan ( 61Mbps ) and a identification number of other Asiatic and European land that average much high-pitched speeds [ source : TaranFX ] . Over the next X , as fast web like Verizon’sFIOS– which offer upper from 15Mbps to 50Mbps – spread across the body politic , we ’ll be able to download and stream 1080p movies with ease [ source : Verizon ] .
1: Netflix
Netflix Streaming ’s popularity farm so cursorily that in 2010 it accounted for 20 percent of all downstream Internet dealings in the U.S. during peak usage hour [ source : ReadWriteWeb ] . That ’s a lot ! But how does that touch on the movie industry ? Again , it ’s all about availability . For less than the price of a undivided movie ticket , Netflix offer instant accession to hundreds of movies andtelevisionprograms , and the useable capacity is always expanding as Netflix secures new licensing deals . In the fourth quarter of 2010 alone , Netflix made $ 47 million in profits out of a total revenue of $ 596 million [ origin : DMNews ] . Blockbuster , on the other hired hand , filed for bankruptcy in September 2010 with almost $ 1 billion in debt [ source : LA Times ] .
Netflix and the other nursing home - theatre excogitation we ’ve discourse in this article manifest the best amenities of all the innovative applied science make theaters disused . In the coming year , theaters will have to work hard to find Modern ways to be relevant as tech marches on .
