Four times as powerful, four times as real. With the majority of our screens equipped with Sony 4K digital projectors, here’s everything you need to know about the way we’re watching movies now.

What is 4K?
It’s the new ultra HD format available at Vue. The name comes from the number of pixels – the incredibly small points of light that are fired out of the projector and onto the screen. The more pixels there are, the more detail you see. 4K means the image is over 4,000 pixels wide by 2,000 pixels tall - a staggering eight million pixels in total. That’s four times as much as the previous standard for HD.

What’s the difference?
Here’s why detail is important. If you’re a front-row sitter (don’t be ashamed, back row-sitters don’t know they’re born), you’ll have noticed in the past that if you look really close, the picture’s made up of tiny microscopic squares. Those are the pixels. So it’s almost like reality – but not quite. In 4K, the pixels are way too small to see. However hard you look, you see seamless, lifelike detail in every little teardrop, blade of grass or twinkling star. 

How does it feel?
Big. Clear. Real. Immersive. Exactly what you want from your big screen experience. It’s even more noticeable if you’re watching a 3D film. Did you know most 3D projectors alternate between images for your left eye and right eye? The Sony Digital 4K system used in most Vue screens shows images to both eyes simultaneously. It feels much more natural. 

How do they do it?
It starts with the camera, but that’s for the director to worry about. For you, the important thing is the projector. The Sony Digital 4K projectors used by Vue are four times better than the HD projectors you’re used to, and they’re even better than other 4K systems. Why? Because the contrast ratio – the ability to reproduce super-dark black, super-bright white and every shade of lighting in between – is a stupendous 8,000:1. That’s way ahead of digital cinema standards and close to the limits of human vision. 

What films are 4K?
It’s no surprise that massive recent hits like The Greatest Showman and the Star Wars movies are in 4K but here’s an amazing fact: the chemical film used in the pre-digital age was capable of capturing just as much detail as a modern 4K camera - it’s just that there was no way of projecting it. Now there is. So film companies have begun converting the old classics to be seen in 4K cinemas. We could be in for a new golden age of ultra-high definition, totally immersive cinema-going not just for new films, but every film you’ve ever loved. Coming soon, at your local Vue.