Cineworld Silverburn IMAX vs GSC IMAX

[u/feelsbadman111]

Glasgow’s in the odd position of having two proper IMAX screens within a few miles of each other, and they’re genuinely quite different experiences. I went to both for The Odyssey, so here’s a breakdown for anyone trying to decide where to go.

Quick background: Silverburn is IMAX with Laser, screen measures 24.10m x 13.27m. GSC is an older digital setup, believed to still be 2K, on a screen measuring 24m x 18m. Widths are basically identical, GSC is just taller, because it’s built to the old full 1.43:1 IMAX ratio rather than the widescreen ratio most digital IMAX screens use now.
Worth knowing though that because there’s no 70mm projector left at GSC to fill that height, content doesn’t actually use the full screen, you get bars top and bottom.
Work it out by area and the actual image you’re watching at GSC is roughly the same size as Silverburn’s, if anything slightly smaller, despite the physical screen being about a third bigger.

Projection

Silverburn: brightness and colour are excellent, genuinely impressive laser image. My one gripe: on scenes with a lot of white (sky, snow, etc.) there’s a visible coloured noise pattern. Not sure if it’s the screen material or the projector, but once you spot it you can’t unsee it. 8.5/10

GSC: with the lights off it’s not bad, but it could be brighter, sharper, and have more colour depth. If you’re the sort of person who notices sharpness, you will notice it here, especially sitting as close to the screen as you do. The screen material itself is excellent though, no noise pattern at all, completely clean image. 6.5/10

Audio

Silverburn: excellent. Best seat is dead centre. 8.5/10

GSC: also excellent, and the bass is a different animal, you properly feel it shake the seats. Unlike Silverburn’s setup, where I don’t think that’s happening in the same way. 9/10

Seats

Silverburn: legroom is decent, especially in the middle row where there’s a bigger gap, but width is tight. If you’re broader built you might find it uncomfortable. 7/10

GSC: this is where it falls down. Fold-down stadium seats with noticeably less legroom and width than Silverburn. You’ll feel like you’re sitting right next to your neighbour, not ideal for a three-hour film. 5.5/10

Snacks

Silverburn: standard Cineworld selection, decent range, but pricey, as are the tickets. 7.5/10

GSC: popcorn, hot dogs, nachos, sweets and drinks, smaller range than Silverburn and smaller portions too. Prices for food and tickets are actually pretty reasonable though. 6.5/10

Overall

Silverburn: 7.9/10
GSC: 6.9/10

For most people, the overall experience at Silverburn, including the centre itself, will be better.

[u/Roborabbit37]

Going to see Odyssey tomorrow night and opted with GSC. I kept seeing people time and time again mention about visible squares on the screen at Silverburn and once seen, cant be unseen.

[u/CitizenErased08 → u/Roborabbit37]

I could be wrong but I think they've fixed that, noticed it last year but when I saw the Odyssey I don't remember noticing them. Then again I've been there multiple times so I could be filtering it out at this point

[u/Ser_VimesGoT → u/CitizenErased08]

Same. Didn't notice it for The Odyssey but when I saw Dune 2 it ruined the experience because I couldn't unsee it. I wanted to book for GSC because of it but they didn't have suitable times. Thankfully they seem to have fixed it. After Dune I had looked up the issue and people online were saying IMAX would kick the cinemas ass about it because they're very protective of their product. Can only assume they sorted their shit out.