Hootie and the Blowfish-Cracked Rear View (DVD-Audio) (2001) (NTSC) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Music |
Booklet Credits Discography Music Video-Drowning (Live) |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2001 | ||
Running Time | 46:45 | ||
RSDL / Flipper |
Dual Layered Dual Sided |
Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By | Gloria Gabriel |
Studio
Distributor |
Warner Vision |
Starring |
Darius Rucker Mark Bryan Dean Felber Dean Sonefeld |
Case | DVD-Audio Jewel | ||
RPI | $32.95 | Music | Hootie and the Blowfish |
Video (NTSC) | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Full Frame |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Linear PCM 96/24 2.0 (4608Kb/s) English MLP 96/24 5.1 English MLP 96/24 2.0 |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | None | ||
16x9 Enhancement | No | ||
Video Format | 480i (NTSC) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.33:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | None | Smoking | No |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
Cracked Rear View, released in 1994, was their first and most successful album and singles released from the album include "Only Want To Be With You" and "Let Her Cry", which won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance. Since then they have released 3 further albums and Mark Bryan released his solo album "30 On The Rail" in 2000. This is an ideal album to undergo the high-resolution DVD-Audio treatment which fills the gaps of timbre and definition that more 'lossy' compression systems leave open - I have found that this latter quality is most important for acoustic material, especially vocals and stringed instruments. Electric guitars and synthesisers seem to fare better with Dolby Digital and DTS, perhaps because their sonic signature is less complex than their acoustic equivalents. This album is rich in acoustic guitar, piano and high profile lead vocals from Rucker often with minimal accompaniment as on Goodbye. The playlist on Cracked Rear View has been well constructed - starting with the unremarkable Hannah Jane we are quickly followed with Hold My Hand which starts off with some nice acoustic guitar, counterpointed (in surround) by its electric partner. The slightly downbeat Let Her Cry is followed by a sumptuous rendition of Only Wanna Be With You which just sounds gorgeous with rich full-bodied vocals and a delicate mandolin overlay. If you have any doubt of the richness and quality of Darius Rucker's voice then a listen to the uncredited final track (Chapter 12) rendition of "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child .." will soon put you right!
This disc is dual sided and dual layered. As is usual for this format, direct playback of the feature, without dwelling on the menu or needing a video monitor, is possible by inserting the disc into the player tray and pushing the 'Play' button - initially pushing the 'Eject' button takes you to the menu and requires further input.
1. Hannah Jane 2. Hold My Hand 3. Let Her Cry 4. Only Wanna Be With You 5. Running With An Angel 6. I'm Goin Home | 7. Drowning 8. Time 9. Look Away 10. Not Even The Trees 11. Goodbye |
The 6:33 live video of the band playing Drowning is presented at 1.33, and is not 16x9 enhanced. The quality of this NTSC video is good and is available on both the DVD-V and DVD-A versions (which is unusual but how it should be).
This is a fabulous audio transfer in 4 different formats with something for everybody! The disc is two-sided and both are dual layered - so 1 format per layer. On the surround sound side we have 5.1 high resolution DVD-Audio in PPCM at 96/24 encoding. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is on the other layer on the surround side and is recorded in 48/24 resolution. Turning the disc over we have a stereo DVD-Audio layer in 96/24 PPCM and for those interested in high resolution stereo from their DVD-V player we have an LPCM 96/24 track also (excellent!). Technical note - most DVD-V players will not output 96/24 resolution via the digital output so if you are hooked up to your processor by a digital link you will have to change to analogue outputs or else configure your player to downsample the digital to 48/24. Most Sony and Pioneer players can be set up to output 96/24 digital (software permitting) whereas all Toshibas, Panasonics and Harmon Kardon players will only output 48/24.
In brief, there weren't any big surprises comparing the differing formats - the surround mixes were immersive with depth to the soundstage whereas the two channel versions sounded flat and confused by comparison. In stereo, some of the fine detail was lessened or lost such as the chink of glasses in Not Even The Trees or the mandolin in Only Wanna Be With You. The surround was imaginatively mixed to provide separation of instruments, notably acoustic from electric. For example, Hold My Hand starts off with a nice acoustic guitar intro from the right rear which is soon counterpointed by electric from the front. Whether you like this arrangement or not is up to you - I find it works very well with some music and not so well with others. Personally, I thought this was a great surround mix!
In terms of resolution, the DVD-A was superb - this (with SACD & vinyl of course) is the medium for vocals and acoustic. The Dolby Digital surround mix sounded thin and harsh by comparison and on Goodbye, Rucker sounded like he was singing through a mouthful of saliva! The piano on Goodbye sounded like a Grand Piano in DVD-A, whilst in Dolby Digital it sounded more like your upright Joanna from the local pub! I found Rucker's lyrics a little hard to decipher but this is due to his style and diction rather than any shortcomings in the audio transfer.
For those with 'just' a DVD-V player all is not lost, however, as the LPCM stereo mix is excellent and although losing some of the sound depth of the DVD-A surround mix, it gave the DVD-A stereo version a close run for its money and I think on many home theatre setups would be indistinguishable. If I was a big fan of Hootie and Co I would buy this disc for the LPCM version alone!
The subwoofer was excellently integrated into the overall soundmix and was supportive, giving depth to the sound without drawing attention to itself. Incidentally, there has been a load of twaddle written on the perceived bass management problems of DVD-A - on over thirty discs that I have now listened to, I have never once had a problem with this. By way of contrast, on the DVD-V audio track on this disc, I had to turn the volume down as it was encoded a good 3 dB louder than the DVD-A mix and also had to turn the subwoofer level down a couple of clicks for comfort and to restore balance.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
Though advertised as an extra, these are just stills for each track available from the Page button on your player. Inclusion of song lyrics would have been more helpful.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This multi-region disc is the same in all countries of release.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | EAD 8000 Pro, using RGB output |
Display | NEC MP3. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Ultimate DVD Platinum. |
Audio Decoder | Naim AV2. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Theta Digital Intrepid |
Speakers | ML Aeon front. B&W LRC6 Centre. ML Script rear. REL Strata III SW. |