Hi-5: Five Alive (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Main Menu Audio & Animation Music Highlights-3 songs +/- vocals Web Links
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	47:37
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Ian Munro
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Kathleen De Leon Nathan Foley Tim Harding Kellie Hoggart Charli Robinson
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Chris Harriott

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (320Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.59:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.59:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired English Song Lyrics	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    There's also plenty of dancing throughout the show, making it virtually impossible to sit on your Gluteus Maximus at all. Three songs are performed on this DVD; Boom Boom Beat, Friends Forever and Rain Rain Go Away. There are also plenty of stories, games and activities to keep the kids out of your hair for at least 45 minutes.

Video

    This is a great video transfer for a children's series.

    This transfer is presented in a ratio of 1.59:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. This is contrary to the disc's packaging which lists the aspect ratio as 1.85:1.

    The picture is beautifully sharp and looks absolutely superb on a 16x9 monitor. The entire production is so colourful and well lit that there are literally no shadows or dark scenes to speak of. I did not note any low level noise during the transfer.

    Absolutely everything is bold and colourful - the sets, costumes and lighting are very bright and eye-catching. There were no instances of oversaturation or colour bleeding in the transfer, which was a relief.

    There are no obvious MPEG artefacts present. Moments of aliasing are very brief and of the mildest variety, so they are barely noticeable.

    English Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired were activated by default on my DVD player, but not on my DVD-ROM - so this could be a brand specific problem. The titles flowed accurately with the dialogue and were cleverly placed under the person who is speaking at the time.

    This disc is single layered.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    Our audio track is a very unspectacular English Dolby Digital 2.0 track that manages to do the job without making itself too well known..

    As you would expect for a children's series, the dialogue is A-grade and very easy to understand. There were a few minor instances of distortion through the tiny headpiece microphones when the presenters spoke too loudly, but this was only an intermittent problem stemming from the decision not to use overhead boom or lapel microphones in the studio.

    There were no problems with audio sync whatsoever.

    Composer Chris Harriot does a splendid job as always, making simple songs that kids love. All three songs included in the feature are energetic, melodic and catchy - what more could you ask for? The instrumentation is mostly electronic, but sounds better than one would expect.

    There was no surround activity or subwoofer response. I attempted to engage Pro Logic II processing but it didn't do this soundtrack any favours.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Scene Selection

    I had to make a mention of this, the most elaborate scene selection system I have seen of late. The viewer is able to select any presenter and watch one or all of their segments from the feature. A repeat function is also available so the kids can watch their favourite presenter over and over again. There is also the ability to skip straight to any of the songs or stories, also with a repeat option.

Songs With Alternate Audio

    All three songs from the feature are available with music only, enabling the kids to sing along to titles on screen. Some of the titles move pretty quickly, so it may be hard for very little ones to keep up.

Web Links

    Pop the disc into your DVD-ROM drive for links to the official Hi-5 website and Village Roadshow.

    This disc is only available in Region 4 at the moment.

    The audio and video transfers are adequate, and there are a couple of little extras included on the disc.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall