Live at the Chapel (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Menu Animation & Audio Scene Selection Anim & Audio Interviews-Cast Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	123:12
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	John Olb Sean Riley
Studio Distributor	Sony Music	Starring	Various
Case	Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI	$24.95	Music	Various

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Auto Pan & Scan Encoded	English Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 (1536Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     This takes me a ways back. Remember before the whole dance club scene you used to go to a pub and catch a gig by some local outfit who performed live music? Before all of that electronically generated music, there was the soulful crooning of some guy in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt supported by a couple of guitars and a drummer? Well, grab this DVD and go back to those days for a couple of hours.

     Live At The Chapel is an exceptional collection of live tracks played by some very famous names in good old fashioned rock&roll, at the 'intimate' (read 'small') venue of Chapel Off Chapel in Melbourne. With a good selection of artists, both local and international, we get to hear some fantastic acoustic tracks by the likes of Alex Lloyd, Jebediah, and Lo-Tel, as well as some classic performances by Something for Kate, Motor Ace, Train and Midnight Oil. A special highlight was the solo performance of "Brick" by Ben Folds (minus the regular two which constitute the band Ben Folds Five), and the live improvisation by The Living End during their crowd pleasing "All Torn Down".

     If you have ever stood in a Melbourne bar on a summer night cheering along to some four piece band up on stage giving their best, pick this DVD up. Stirring, fabulous, old school stuff.

Video

     With the exception of the tracks by Shawn Mullins and Fuel at the end of the DVD, the picture is presented in 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced. This is the original aspect ratio.

     Captured on digital video, the picture is very clear and very sharp. There is little to no background noise.

     Unfortunately, as is often the case with DV-camera work, hard edges in close-up often result in aliasing. This was certainly the case in this instance where close-ups on guitar strings, microphone stands, and pianos resulted in that odd aliasing effect. There were numerous instances of this throughout the DVD and no particular instance of note as it happens in just about every scene where you can see an instrument or a hard edge. To their credit, the DVD producers have minimised this effect fairly well, and the only reason I really noticed it was that I was looking for it especially and feeling very picky.

     The dual-layer pause is in there somewhere, I am sure, as a two hour long show cannot get away with being burnt on a single layer. But I've watched this until I'm sick and I still can't see that layer pause. If anyone out there finds it, please let me know. For now, I will just state that if it is there, it is very well camouflaged.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     There is one audio track and that is the English 2.0 Linear PCM Stereo track.

     This is a fantastic track, and kudos to Sony Music for not attempting to remix this into a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround track which would have killed it. As it stands, the PCM track captures the nuances of every performer's voice, the subtleties of their virtuoso performances, and has an extensive range in both bass and treble. Listen to the keyboard work during "Brick" and hear how it captures every keystroke, every shift in intensity as Fold's hands fall on the keys in wave after wave of diminuendo and crescendo. Hear also Peter Dempsey's arcing voice through Something For Kate's performance of "Three Dimensions". If that were thinned out across five channels and a subwoofer it would sound like it were recorded in a tin can. As it is, the sound is rich and captivating.

     As the camera is all over the place, no directional cues were used, and the sound appears to be recorded and mixed as if you were sitting in front of the stage, no matter what direction the camera comes from. This is best, I believe, as it does not give a shifting soundfield. Consequently, though, there is no surround channel use.

     The subwoofer was also not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menus

     The main menu is 16x9 enhanced with a static shot of a sketch of the stained glass windows at Chapel Off Chapel like on the front cover of the DVD. The scene selection menus were animated, with applause and snippets from each set playing over the imagery in 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo.

Conversations - Train, Neil Finn, Ben Folds, Good Charlotte, Mark Seymour, Shawn Mullins (9:14)

     In this section, the performers are asked questions by the crowd and then respond. The DVD producer has chosen some snippets, the most amusing of which is that by Ben Folds in which he discusses what he intended to do as a musical number for Ron Howard's The Grinch. There is also an amusing country and western version of "Drops of Jupiter". Most of these run at about 90 seconds each, or you can watch the whole lot through. Presented in 1.78:1 and 16x9 enhanced, except for the response by Shawn Mullins (which is presented in approx. 1.66:1), and 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo.

Credits

     These are just a series of stills indicating who was involved in the project and what their various roles were.

     There is no R1 version, making the R4 version the uncontested victor.

     Live At The Chapel is a great collection of live tracks by some brilliant performers.

     Picture quality is good barring some minor but persistent aliasing.

     Audio quality is fine, and suits the nature of the performances.

     The extra is cute, and it's good to see that this disc was not burdened by a whole lot of promotional garbage.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall