Yes-Live in Philadelphia: 1979 (1979) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Menu Animation & Audio Featurette-Review Audio Commentary DVD Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	1979
Running Time	49:46
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Jon Anderson Chris Squire Alan White Steve Howe Rick Wakeman
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$39.95	Music	None Given

Video (NTSC)		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Yes, Live in Philadelphia: 1979 captures 6 songs plus a drum solo from the group's performance on that night. I'm sure that many more numbers were performed during the concert but why they are not on the disc is a mystery to me. This concert captures Yes at what is widely considered to be the peak of their creativity and features what is generally considered the "classic" Yes line-up: Jon Anderson on vocals, Chris Squire on bass, Alan White playing drums,  Steve Howe on lead guitar and Rick Wakeman playing keyboards. While I'm sure that all of the songs will be well-known to fans, only I've Seen All The Good People was familiar to me.

    This is another Region 4 NTSC disc which means unless you have NTSC compatible hardware you can forget about watching this, which in this case may not be such a bad thing. Before I explain why, a note to all Yes fans: if you are a rabid fan of this group and must own absolutely everything they've ever released then please go out and buy this disc. On the other hand, if you're a fan but not so desperate to own everything of the band's that you can get your hands on then you'll probably want to give this title a miss. To find out why please read on.

Video

    You can sum up the video quality of this disc in two words: very bad. This appears to be due to the quality of the source materials rather than the transfer itself.

    This transfer features an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. I couldn't find any information that allowed me to determine if this is indeed the original aspect ratio.

    The sharpness of the image is all over the place. The better sections could best be described as very soft. The worst sections are just plain out of focus. In long shots what you will see are undefined blobs of colour surrounded by a sea of blackness. Shadow detail is also pretty poor and chroma noise is also evident at times.

    Plenty of colour is provided by the stage lighting and this seems to have been adequately captured.

    There was no sign of aliasing as the image just wasn't anywhere near sharp enough to allow it to be seen. There was no sign of either MPEG or film artefacts.

    No subtitles are provided.

    This disc is a single layered disc and as such has no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality wasn't as bad as the video quality but it still wasn't the best. I would describe the sound as lifeless and flat compared to the normal sound quality provided on music DVDs.

    Two Dolby Digital 5.1 audio tracks are provided, these being the music track and a commentary track by rock journalist Chris Welch. I listened to both.

    The dialogue on the commentary track was completely clear. On the other hand, the audio recording of the concert is poor and frequently results in the lyrics being lost in the music or in the cheering of the crowd. Even when the lyrics are not overshadow by other sounds they are quite indistinct. Since I'm not that familiar with this group I'm not clear on whether this is part of their musical style or also a problem with the original recording.

    No problems were noted with the audio sync.

    The surrounds provide some ambience to emulate the acoustics of a concert venue but really don't contribute a lot to the overall soundfield.

    The subwoofer is used but only at quite a low level and as such also contributes little to the musical experience.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    A few extras are provided which will be considered worthwhile by fans.

Menu

    The 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced menu features both animation and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.

Featurette-Review (2:31)

     This provides a few facts about the concert and the band. Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 with 16x9 enhancement. The audio is Dolby Digital 5.1.

Audio Commentary

    This is provided by Chris Welch on a song by song basis and provides some insight into the group as well as plenty of historical information on the band and their music.

DVD Credits 

    A single page listing those responsible for the DVD,

    The Region 4 disc appears to be identical to that released in Region 2. From the available information it seems that all versions of the disc suffer from poor video and audio.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on:

• 1.33:1 full frame version
• Mono PCM audio

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on:

• Dolby Digital 5.1 audio
• 1.78:1 16x9 enhanced picture

    Given the poor quality of all the discs I'm loathe to recommend any of them.

    Yes Live In Philadelphia is a title strictly for fans who don't care about the quality of the presentation.

    The video quality is very very bad.

    The audio quality is poor.

    The extras are satisfactory.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall