Enhanced By IMAX

More than any other category of home theater gear, A/V receivers are subject to an ever-evolving list of “must have” technologies.

- Michael Trei

The required logos for each of these licensed features now forms a long row extending the full width of most receivers, with IMAX Enhanced counting as the latest logo gunning for real estate on any AVR that wants to be up-to-date. But figuring out just what IMAX Enhanced means can be a bit tricky, because it’s really more like an ecosystem that encompasses a number of different enhancements, and requires the participation of several different product categories.

First and foremost, IMAX Enhanced is a certification program covering both source material and hardware, so along with A/V receivers, TVs, projectors, and even content on Ultra HD Blu Ray and streaming services can carry the IMAX Enhanced logo. Unlike other certification programs—THX, for example—IMAX Enhanced is a bit vague about the technical requirements for certification. One key difference that sets it apart from THX, however, is the way the various components work together when combined in a system. For example, when you play an IMAX Enhanced movie through an IMAX Enhanced A/V receiver, a flag in the disc or stream’s metadata will automatically adjust settings like bass management and speaker levels while unlocking an additional cinematic mix that’s not available to users of non-IMAX Enhanced hardware. The same automated control can extend to a certified video display, where the picture and other display settings, will be, to quote IMAX, adjusted to “provide the sharpest 4K HDR images…as the filmmaker intended.”

IMAX teamed up with DTS to develop the audio part of IMAX Enhanced, and it’s built around the DTS:X immersive audio codec with its added height speakers. On the video side, HDR10 high dynamic range enhancement is used rather than Dolby Vision or HDR10+.