Divas Live '99

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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Music	Theatrical Trailer(s)	No
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	No
Year Released	1999	Commentary Tracks	No
Running Time	73:02 minutes	Other Extras	Biographies-Cast Menu Audio and Animation
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region	2,4	Director	Michael A Simon
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Tina Turner Elton John Cher Brandi Whitney Houston Leann Rimes Faith Hill Mary Jane Blige Chaka Khan
Case	TBC	Starring
RPI	$39.95	Music	Various

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	MPEG	None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	None	Dolby Digital	5.1
16x9 Enhancement	No	Soundtrack Languages	English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 448 Kb/s) English (Dolby Digital 2.0, 256 Kb/s)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	Full Frame	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	Yes	Smoking	No
Subtitles	Danish Dutch Finnish German French Italian Norwegian Portuguese Spanish Swedish	Annoying Product Placement	No
Subtitles		Action In or After Credits	Yes, in credits

Plot Synopsis

What is that golden rule we should always remember? That's right - avoid sequels like the proverbial plague. Why did I not listen to that golden rule ringing in my head when Michael D enquired whether I would be interested in reviewing this DVD in view of also doing Divas Live? In the inevitable comparison, this falls somewhat sort of that DVD from most perspectives, not the least of which is the talent. Aside from the fact that I still do not see why it can be Divas Live '99 when you have a male in the cast, I am afraid that Brandi and Mary Jane Bilge (err, sorry, Blige) hardly rate with Mariah Carey, let alone Aretha Franklin. As for Whitney Houston, her interpretations have now got so pretentious that they possibly stink more than Keanu Reeves acting - I Will Always Love You used to be a really great song.

The selection of songs on offer is again not huge, and since this is a test pressing I have no cover to refer to, so hopefully I have the song titles right:

Simply The Best - Tina Turner
The Bitch Is Back - Tina Turner and Elton John
Proud Mary - Tina Turner, Cher and Elton John
I'm Still Standing - Elton John
How Do I Live (Without You) - Leann Rimes and Elton John
Turn Back Time - Cher
Have You Ever - Brandi
Everything I Do (I Do It For You) - Brandi and Faith Hill
This Kiss - Faith Hill
Ain't No Way - Whitney Houston and Mary Jane Blige
I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
I'm Every Woman - Chaka Khan and the rest of the gang

The high points here are definitely Tina Turner, Elton John, Cher and Faith Hill - the rest you can cheerfully forget about. Tina Turner is a seasoned trouper and can always be relied upon for a decent show, and that is what you get here, even though I am not as enamoured with her rendition of Proud Mary as she is. Much the same can be said for Elton John and it is always noticeable when you are watching established artists such as Tina Turner and Elton John (and indeed Cher) - they simply know what is required to put on a show. Faith Hill gets a mention here for the simple reasons that (a) I love that song and (b) after two weeks in Austin, Texas last year listening to the best radio station in the world (KASE101 - Austin's New Country Radio), where she was prominent in the play rotation, I got to enjoy her other stuff too.

As for the rest? Forgettable indeed, especially the squeaky-voiced Brandi - I simply cannot believe that she is actually considered worthy enough to be considered a singer. I would rather listen to a squeaky flyscreen door. I have never understood why Chaka Khan was considered such a major artist, until now: in this company she is, even if her performance is barely above mediocre. It is sad to watch the decline of the career of Whitney Houston, but histrionics finally catch up with most people and she has now become enough of a joke that I can barely recall her first two solo albums, which were actually quite decent efforts. Her mother she definitely is not (a fine gospel/soul singer she was). Indeed, such is this collection of questionable performers that it is probably wise to mention the fact that Elizabeth Hurley and Sarah Michelle Gellar make little intros to a couple of the performances - definitely high points of the evening here.

Overall, this simply does not attain anywhere near the heights of the earlier concert and really if you need to indulge in just one Divas DVD, make it the earlier version.

Transfer Quality

Video

Whilst the talent on offer is simply not up to the standard of the original concert, at least the quality of the video transfer is. This is yet again a very good-looking concert video.

The transfer is presented in a Full Frame format and is of course not 16x9 enhanced.

The transfer is another nicely detailed effort and is a nice sharp and clear effort that at least is close to the equal of the earlier concert. There is once again no hint of grain in the transfer to interfere with the nice shadow detail on display. There were no low level noise problems in the transfer.

The consistency in the video transfer is also highlighted by the consistency in the rendering of the colours. Again it is a nice, richly toned transfer that captures well the interior charm of The Beacon Theatre. There did not appear to be any problems with oversaturation of colours, not were there any problems with colour bleed.

There are no apparent MPEG artefacts in the transfer. There are no apparent film-to-video artefacts in the transfer. There are no apparent film artefacts in the transfer. The only problem that some may have, and I must admit that I found it mildly off-putting is that certain of the lighting effects create a blocky type of look to some shots of the audience. It is, however, definitely the lighting effects and not a problem with the transfer.

Audio

And now we get to the real disappointment of the DVD - apart from the musical content that is.

There are two audio tracks on the DVD, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack and an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. I listened to the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack predominantly, as well as sampling the Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

The dialogue and vocals were clear and easy to understand throughout the Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. Unfortunately, the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is a different matter altogether.

The real problem here is that the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack has a very recessed vocal track, as well as a very low volume level overall. It is so recessed that I ended up turning up the volume about 25% above my normal listening levels in order to get anything like a decent amount of activity out of the speakers. The lack of punch is especially noted when you switch to the Dolby Digital 2.0 track without changing the volume level - it is a much more present soundtrack that really conveys a lot more vibrancy than the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack also suffers somewhat from poor surround channel usage, most especially from the rear channels which really reinforces the lack of presence in the soundtrack. There was not a huge amount of use out of the bass channel, and the end result is a very poor Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.

On the other hand, the DVD is blessed with a fine Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack that suited me just fine.

Extras

Matching the earlier concert, there is not much of a package here - although it has to be said that there is some ingenuity and originality in the package provided here.

Biographies - Cast

This is where the originality shows up, and a welcome change of style it is, too. Each of the main performers (Tina Turner, Elton John, Cher, Brandi and Whitney Houston) is blessed with a short bio/vitals detail (basically name, place of birth, date of birth), a discography (not exactly hugely detailed I might add), a filmography (mostly short of course), an awards listing (brief totals of whatever they have won) and a short interview segment. A most interesting concept and one that should perhaps be pursued more often instead of the usual, blandish page or three of notes. It has to be said that some of the interview material however is not great (not mentioning any names but an alcoholic beverage springs to mind here).

R4 vs R1

As far as can be ascertained this is identical in content to the Region 1 version, except in one respect: the Region 1 version has an additional DTS soundtrack. Assuming that it is a decent soundtrack, this would make the Region 1 release the version of choice.

Summary

A disappointing DVD in most respects, from the poorer quality concert through to a poor Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. As indicated earlier, this is definitely the poor relation of the two Divas Live concerts and really this does not deserve much consideration at all in comparison.

A very good video transfer.

A disappointing audio transfer, mainly due to the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.

A slightly better than nothing extras package, noteworthy more for the refreshing change in style than anything else.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment

DVD	Pioneer DV-515; S-video output
Display	Sony Trinitron Wega 84cm. 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 EXLR; and subwoofer ES-12XL