THX is a high-fidelity audio/visual reproduction standard for movie theaters, screening rooms, home theaters, computer speakers, gaming consoles, and car audio systems. The current THX was created in 2002, when it spun off from Lucasfilm; THX was developed in 1983 by Tomlinson Holman at George Lucas's company Lucasfilm to ensure that the soundtrack for the third Star Wars film, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, would be accurately reproduced in the best venues. THX was named after Holman, with the "X" standing for crossover as well as an homage to Lucas's first film, THX 1138. The distinctive crescendo used in the THX trailers, created by Holman's co-worker James A. Moorer, is known as the "Deep Note".
The THX system is not a recording technology, and it does not specify a sound recording format: all sound formats, whether digital (Dolby Digital, SDDS, etc.) or analog (Dolby Stereo, Ultra-Stereo, etc.), can be "shown in THX." THX is mainly a quality assurance system. THX-certified theaters provide a high-quality, predictable playback environment to ensure that any film soundtrack mixed in THX will sound as near as possible to the intentions of the mixing engineer. THX also provides certified theaters with a special audio crossover circuit whose use is part of the standard. Certification of an auditorium entails specific acoustic and other technical requirements; architectural requirements include acoustically-treated walls, no parallel walls to reduce standing wave, a perforated screen to allow continuity and rating for background noise.
THX is currently owned by Audio Equipment Manufacturer Razer, Inc.
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Trivia[edit | edit source]
- The Broadway logo can be only used on DVD, Laserdisc, VHS, VCD and Blu-Ray.
- The Moo Can logo can be only used in Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo Disc One, Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Speed 2: Cruise Control, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars Volume Two.
- The Tex logo can be only used in Cars, Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and A Bug's Life.
- The Tex extended variant logo can be only used in Finding Nemo Disc Two.
- The Tex 3 logo can be only used in District 13.
- The Cavalcade logo can be only used in The Incredibles, THX 1138, Alien, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars Volume One.
- The Amazing Life logo can be only used in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Avatar.
- The Terminator 2 logo can be only used in Terminator 2: Judgment Day
- The Broadway 2000 logo can be only used in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
- The Science of Sensation logo can be only used in Revenge of the Sith and Titanic.
- The Grand logo can be only used in Speed.
- The Cimarron logo can be only used on Laserdisc.
- The Wings logo can be only used in Return of the Jedi.
- Movies
- Disney films
- Walt Disney Pictures films
- Disney animated films
- Pixar films
- Pixar
- Pixar feature films
- 20th Century Fox films
- Wings Trailer
- Broadway Trailer
- Cimarron Trailer
- Grand Trailer
- The Simpsons Trailer
- Tex EX Trailer
- Tex 2: Moo Can Trailer
- Broadway 2000 Trailer
- Cavalcade Trailer
- Shrek Trailer
- Bounty Trailer
- The Science of Sensation Trailer
- Ziegfeld Trailer
- Tex 3 Trailer
- Amazing Life Trailer
- Horton Trailer
- Broadway 3D Trailer
- Musical Wisps Trailer
- Eclipse Trailer
- Sphere Trailer
- Genesis Trailer
- Universal Pictures films
- Touchstone Pictures films
- Warner Bros. films
- Lucasfilm films
- Paramount Pictures films
- Terminator 2 Trailer
- Columbia Pictures films