The Corrs

Live At Lansdowne Road

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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Music	Menu Audio & Animation Featurette - The Corrs: In Blue Music Video - Irresistible Music Video - No More Cry Music Video - Breathless Booklet
Rating
Year Released	2000
Running Time	87:53 minutes
RSDL/Flipper	RSDL (52:46)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Movie	Cast & Crew
Region	2,3,4,5,6	Director	Nick Wickham
Studio Distributor	Atlantic Warner Vision Australia	Starring	Sharon Corr Caroline Corr Andrea Corr Jim Corr
Case	Transparent Amaray	Starring	Sharon Corr Caroline Corr Andrea Corr Jim Corr
RPI	$39.95	Music	The Corrs

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	No	English (Linear PCM 48/16 2.0, 1536 Kb/s) English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 448 Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	Yes	Smoking	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Annoying Product Placement	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Action In or After Credits	No

Plot Synopsis

Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I am very grateful that Warner Vision Australia keep putting out DVDs of The Corrs. This is a great band producing some fine music - a rather rare commodity from a band in the last ten years in my view. The main feature here is something special indeed as it is a one-off concert given by the band at Lansdowne Road in Dublin in front of 50,000 fellow countrymen. As such, it represents something of a dream realized for the band and an indication of how big they have become in Europe.

The music on offer in the main concert comprises:

1.	Only When I Sleep	10.	Love To Love You
2.	The Right Time	11.	Queen Of Hollywood
3.	Joy Of Life	12.	Dreams
4.	Forgiven Not Forgotten	13.	I Never Loved You Anyway
5.	What Can I Do	14.	Lough Erin Shore
6.	No Frontiers	15.	Closer
7.	Runaway	16.	So Young
8.	Haste To The Wedding	17.	Toss The Feathers
9.	Secret Life

This collection pretty much provides a greatest hits collection live. Standout tracks? Well, for me the whole thing is a standout but I still think the best stuff they do are those reworkings of the Irish jigs and the like. Certainly there is nothing here that could be considered a let down and judging by the crowd's reaction, they certainly had a great time.

Fans of the band need not hesitate, but the "artistic" choice of presentation ensures that others would be best served by choosing one of their previous DVDs.

Transfer Quality

Video

The "artistic" choice of presentation is in the way the transfer looks. Now this may be a reflection of the source material and how the concert was filmed, but the result on DVD has to be classed as mildly disappointing.

The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, and it is 16x9 enhanced.

The main issue with the transfer is that it ends up being a somewhat diffuse transfer that really does not do justice to either the concert or the band. This is compounded by the fact that there are quite a number of lapses, some relatively extended, in focus. Detail in general is not much better than average, with shadow detail being no more than what would be expected from a concert video. This is not an especially clear transfer although it is thankfully relatively free from any serious grain problems.

The other issue with the transfer is the fact that it has something of a bleached look to it, which I am presuming is quite intentional. Pity, as the overall colours lack a lot of vibrancy as a result. The colours are broadly speaking just slightly undersaturated and this really does not look like a bright, vibrant concert video at all - most unusual in many respects. There is nothing here approaching oversaturation or colour bleed.

There are no apparent MPEG artefacts in the transfer. There are only minor issues with film-to-video artefacts in the transfer, with just minor aliasing creating any sort of problem. This is the result of the usual culprits - violin and guitar strings especially. There are no issues with film artefacts in the transfer.

This is an RSDL formatted DVD, with the layer change coming at 52:46. Like so many concert videos, which tend to present little natural break for inserting the layer change, this one is just a tad noticeable as the crowd noise stops whilst the layer change is being navigated.

*Video Ratings Summary*
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain
Film-to-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

There are two main soundtracks on offer on the DVD, being an English Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 soundtrack and an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. I predominantly listened to the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, but also sampled the default Linear PCM soundtrack.

Both soundtracks provide plenty of clarity to the vocals and neither seemed to have any problems with audio sync.

The Dolby Digital soundtrack sees a rather unpleasant return to a problem that seemed to have been absent from recent music DVDs - over-emphasis of the bass track in the mixing. The result is a little past the limits for my tastes, but there is no doubting that many will appreciate this additional thump to the overall soundtrack. Other than that problem, there is nothing to quibble about here at all. The surround channels are well used, with plenty of crowd ambience being doled out of the rear channels. The Linear PCM soundtrack is positively wimpish in direct comparison to the Dolby Digital soundtrack, but in its own right is a very listenable effort. It perhaps misses out on just a little space in the sound but I doubt whether this will be of too much concern to most people - it certainly did not bother me much.

*Audio Ratings Summary*
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

For something of a change, we have a music DVD with some additional material. The only problem is that the live stuff shows up how relatively poor the main feature looks.

Featurette - The Corrs: In Blue (24:47)

This seems to be pretty much an extended electronic promotional kit style of presentation with the band offering their insights into the gestation and recording of their latest album, In Blue. Including some excerpts from songs - some of which appear to be taken from other videos on the DVD - this is not a wholly unwatchable piece. Presented in a mix of Full Frame and 1.78:1 aspect ratios, it is not 16x9 enhanced and comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. You also have options of subtitles in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. Not a bad inclusion.

Music Videos - Irresistible and No More Cry (6:48)

These are live concert efforts recorded at Fleadh 2000 and demonstrate in every way what is wrong with the presentation of the main feature. Gorgeously sharp, colourful and vibrant, this really is a quality presentation. I hope that we will eventually get the full performance on DVD as on the evidence of this sample, it well deserves to be seen. Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, they are 16x9 enhanced and come with Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 sound.

Music Video - Breathless (4:04)

The promotional video for their recent single from the In Blue album, it is a pity that this sort of fill up is not used more often on concert DVDs when there is space available for additional material. Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, it is not 16x9 enhanced and comes in Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 sound.

R4 vs R1

As far as I can ascertain, this has yet to be released in Region 1, but on the basis of previous releases the eventual release will not differ substantially to the Region 4 release. The choice would therefore be Region 4 as I would not wish to see this in NTSC format, I can assure you.

Summary

There is definitely nothing wrong with the DVD musically, but I have to confess to being unappreciative of the way the video transfer has been done. If this is an artistic choice, then I will add it to the pile of artistic failures. A decent collection of extras for a music DVD, but the inconsistent use of Linear PCM and Dolby Digital soundtracks is a bit of a puzzle: I would have thought that it would not have been that difficult to master them all in either one or the other.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment
DVD	Pioneer DV-515; S-video output
Display	Sony Trinitron Wega 80cm. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Audio Decoder	Built in
Amplification	Yamaha RXV-795. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Speakers	Energy Speakers: centre EXLC; left and right C-2; rears EXLR; and subwoofer ES-12XL