The Lovers' Guide

The Essential Lovers' Guide

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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Documentary	None
Rating
Year Released	1995
Running Time	87:27 Minutes (not 63 minutes as per packaging)
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region	3,4,5	Director	Robert Page
Studio Distributor	Lifetime Vision Limited Warner Home Video	Starring	Andrew Stanway
Case	Transparent Amaray	Starring	Andrew Stanway
RPI	$39.95	Music	Malcolm Ironton Matthew Faddy

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English (Dolby Digital 2.0, 256 Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.44:1
16x9 Enhancement	No
Original Aspect Ratio	?1.33:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	Yes	Smoking	No
Subtitles	None	Annoying Product Placement	No
Subtitles	None	Action In or After Credits	No

Plot Synopsis

The Lover's Guide: The Essential Lover's Guide is a compilation of snippets from previous episodes in this series. Exactly why the producers chose to create this chopped up "best of" when they could have tried to make a more substantial feature, I don't know. Once again, the narration is bland and uninteresting, and the visuals are of dubious quality.

Transfer Quality

Video

The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.44:1, and is not 16x9 Enhanced. We've already established that 16x9 Enhancement is a good idea for films in the ratio of 1.66:1 or higher, but as to whether a transfer of this ratio would benefit, I'm not entirely sure. I think some slight vertical squashing and windowboxing would help this video transfer, if only by making the artefacts appear smaller.

The transfer is reasonably sharp, the shadow detail is vague, and low-level noise can still be seen in any expanse of colour, especially during the opening logos.

The colour saturation in this transfer is acceptable, and about on par with the previous disc, but composite artefacts are still a minor problem. Dot crawl is visible in the edges of some colours, but this is relatively minor compared to the previous transfers, especially that of the first episode. Since this footage is mostly truncated from the three previous episodes of the series, the level to which composite artefacts are present is variable, but overall, this transfer seems noticeably cleaner.

MPEG artefacts are a problem in one section of the transfer, but this is because the footage in question is borrowed from the first disc in the series, where MPEG artefacts were rife throughout a shot of a woman on a pool sofa. Some posterization is still apparent in skin tones from time to time, but the artefacts are mostly well controlled in this regard. Film-to-video artefacts were also not a problem, although the lack of resolution in the picture does a good job of minimizing the potential for aliasing. Film artefacts consisted of some scratches on the picture, but these were very occasional.

Audio

The audio transfer is utilitarian in nature, serving a definite purpose without expanding beyond it.

There is only soundtrack on this DVD: the original English dialogue, encoded in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo at the higher bitrate of 256 kilobits per second. The dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times. Audio sync is not a problem because all of the speech occurs off-screen.

The score music is pure cheese, and turns this entire documentary into a comedy. Much of it is recycled from Malcolm Ironton's score from a previous episode, with new pieces being added by Matthew Faddy. Neither composer's work left any real impression upon me except for how it reminded me of an extremely bad porn film.

The stereo activity of this soundtrack is reasonable, but there is no surround presence to speak of. The subwoofer briefly supported one shot in a nightclub that was complete with bad drum machine noise, but little else was heard from it.

Extras

R4 vs R1

Again, I couldn't find any resources to even suggest that this title is available in Region 1 or Region 2. If you really must have this title, I doubt that importing it from overseas is going to yield a significant improvement in the transfer quality, anyway.

Summary

The Lover's Guide: The Essential Lover's Guide is a truncation of some documentaries that leave little to no impression upon me for their educational or entertainment value. The DVD ranges from awful to acceptable.

The video quality is passable.

The audio quality is acceptable.

There are no extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment

DVD	Grundig GDV 100 D, using composite output; Toshiba SD-2109, using S-video output
Display	Samsung CS-823AMF (80 cm), using composite and S-video inputs, calibrated using the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Audio Decoder	Built In (Amplifier)
Amplification	Sony STR-DE835, calibrated using the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Speakers	Yamaha NS-45 Front Speakers, Philips PH931SSS Rear Speakers, Philips FB206WC Centre Speaker, JBL Digital 10 Active Subwoofer