R.E.M.-All the Way to Reno (DVD Single) (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio-Only Track-Yellow River (2:35) Audio-Only Track-165 Hillcrest (1:34) Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	4:33
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Michael Moore
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Peter Buck Mike Mills Michael Stipe
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$12.95	Music	R.E.M.

    Another of the back catalogue DVD-Singles makes it onto the review pile. At least this time we get to see a video that involves the actual band members - with the aid of a pile of school kids. The band is one of the best around and the single is one of the great songs from their album Reveal.

    The video clip itself is not too bad, but hardly the greatest that you will ever see. Fans of the band will no doubt indulge in this, but for anyone interested in music and its promotion, this is well worth grabbing out of the bargain bin - for that is where you are most likely to find it nowadays.

Video

    There is certainly nothing wrong with what is presented to us here in broad terms. The presentation is full frame and it is not 16x9 enhanced. The presentation is excellent, with sharp detail and plenty of definition, possibly tending a little towards too much edge enhancement on a couple of occasions. Clarity is excellent too and there is nothing in the way of grain or low level noise to diminish the presentation at all. Shadow detail is fine. Really this is quite a pleasure to watch.

    The colours are beautifully rendered, very vibrant, but looking extremely natural. There is no over-saturation or colour bleed in the transfer.

    There are no MPEG artefacts in the transfer, the slight resolution problems in the movement early on being inherent in the source material I suspect. The only issue with film-to-video artefacts in the transfer is some minor aliasing, most notably at 3:56 in the roof of the school building. There are no film artefacts in the transfer.

    This is a single sided, single layer DVD. There are no lyric subtitle options to accompany the song.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is just the one soundtrack on the DVD, being an English Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 soundtrack. It is basically terrific.

    The music comes across very well and there are no problems understanding the lyrics. The sound is obviously ADR-ed and there are minor audio sync issues as a result — but nothing more than we expect in promotional videos of this nature.

    There really is nothing wrong with the soundtrack at all. Again it would have been nice to have at least one surround sound option but what we have should satisfy most people. Nice clear and open sound.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    Similar complaints here to earlier DVD-Single reviews — the lack of real use of the format for promotional purposes.

Menu

    Not too shabby, although the presentation could have been a little more inspiring.

Audio Only Track - Yellow River (2:35)

    A remake of a rather well known song — done pretty well too. The audio is Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 and sounds great.

Audio Only Track - 165 Hillcrest (1:34)

    An instrumental track, decent enough but not exactly the finest moment of R.E.M. The audio is also Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 and sounds good too.

    While the nature of DVD-Singles means that they come and go rather quickly, it would appear that this DVD has not been released in Region 1. The same DVD-Single has certainly been released in Region 2.

    The fundamental underutilisation of the opportunities provided by the DVD-Single concept aside, this is not too bad an effort and at least gives you a chance to see the band interacting with others. The technical quality is certainly good enough and if the concept and band is to your liking then grab this one if you can find it.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall