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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
411VM-Snowboarding 05 (2002)

411VM-Snowboarding 05 (2002) (NTSC)

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Released 19-Dec-2003

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Sports Additional Footage-Uncut Controlled Chaos Footage
Additional Footage-Day in the Life of Dave Downing
Musicography-Featured Bands
Rating Rated E
Year Of Production 2002
Running Time 40:43
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By None Given
Studio
Distributor
Stomp Visual Starring Dave Downing
Temple Cummins
Heath Lillie
Case Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI $32.00 Music Various


Video (NTSC) Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
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 Yes, everywhere
Action In or After Credits Yes, painful snowboarding "bloopers"

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Another in the 411VM series, this is the 5th video magazine in their snowboarding set. These productions are designed to be regularly aired in a 1-hour TV time slot (just over 40 minutes, once commercial breaks are removed). For a little more info on the series, my review of 411VM Surfing 02 can be read here. The format here is pretty much the same; short segments interspersed with advertising for other 411 DVDs and snowboarding brands. The breakup of the segments is as follows:

    As you might be able to tell from the above list, there's a lot of park action, much of which is obviously at Spring/Summer camps (looking a lot like the Mt. Hood summer circus), with a little freeriding action. My personal preference is for more of the latter, since I can only watch so many big airs or rail slides without getting a little jaded about the whole thing. Of course if you live for your jibbing, then you'll really enjoy this footage.

    There is no doubt that a lot of the footage is very impressive, the stacks are appropriately groan-inducing, the powder suitably mouth-watering, and unlike the Surfing issue, when the boarders do actually talk they're semi-coherent. It's just that it did get a little repetitive watching jump after jump after jump.

    Once again this feature has too much advertising in it, some of it not even related to snowboarding (there's even an ad for the Grand Theft Auto video game), but there didn't seem to be quite as much as there was on the Surfing 02 issue. I actually found this to be a more enjoyable feature than the aforementioned, and would be more tempted to recommend it to those inclined towards going downhill fast on a single plank.

    I'd still question the value of such a short DVD, considering its cost and the rewatchability factor (which is quite low, once you've shown all your snowboarding mates). If you can find a place that rents this out though, I'd recommend a viewing to help you get through the summer drought. It'll either appease your snow-lust a little, or just make you plain frustrated because you can't go boarding (I unfortunately fall into the latter category).

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Transfer Quality

Video

    Yes, this is another Region 4 NTSC disc. Usually this narks me off somewhat, but in the case where the original source material is NTSC video, I have to concede that at least we avoid all the issues that can arise with NTSC-PAL conversion.

    This transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, hence it is not 16x9 enhanced. This is the original aspect ratio of the television broadcasts.

    Sharpness is a mixed bag, with so much variation in the source material (much of which is taken with hand-held video cameras). It varies from sharp as a tack to almost blurrily vague (such as 27:48). Nearly all the footage is recorded in daylight, and mostly sunlit as well, so shadow detail and black levels aren't really that big an issue, however the few dim interior shots do display low-level noise and don't have good black levels due to the video equipment used.

    As far as colours go, there is a lot of white! It can occasionally be an issue when it exhibits over-contrast, but again I think any problems here are all inherent in the source. Other colours are generally accurate considering the recording equipment, with only the occasional discolouration, such as the horrible green tint in shots around 27:48.

    Film to video artefacts are limited to aliasing, which is regular and often distracting. Examples can be seen at 1:11, 9:40, 17:10, and 36:33. There are no film artefacts for obvious reasons.

    This DVD has no subtitles, and is a single layered disc.

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

Audio

    There is just the one audio track on this disc; English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s).

    There is almost no dialogue except for a few comments by boarders, and during the Day in the Life segment. It's not particularly clear due to the recording equipment and location, but it's not as bad as the surfing issue was, and audio sync is not a problem.

    Music by various artists is of an appropriately loud and fast nature, which suits the on-screen action.

    The surrounds are not used.

    You can save some power by turning your subwoofer off while watching this.

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

Extras

Additional Footage - Day in the Life of Dave Downing (4:05)

    Just more of the same stuff we saw in the main feature, with Downing riding through the park doing some fairly average bits of jibbing. Gets boring very quickly.

Uncut Controlled Chaos Footage (8:54)

    Big air, after big air, after big air. There's no doubt that most of these are very impressive, but when you string 9 minutes of the same thing over and over and over again, it loses its impact very quickly. This extra has no soundtrack to it.

Soundtrack Information

    Some static pages giving info on 4 of the bands featured on the DVD.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    This disc is encoded for all regions, and all regions get exactly the same product.

Summary

    Not a bad way for the snow-hungry to while away 40 minutes, although there is an excess of jumping/park action and a deficiency in the freeriding department. Like other DVDs in this series, I question the value when charging full retail for such a short feature. Rent it if you can.

    Video is a real mixed bag. It's all taken from NTSC video source, mostly shot on hand held equipment, so don't have unrealistic expectations.

    Audio is acceptable - nothing more.

    Extras are limited to some rather ho-hum segments of extra footage.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© David L (Only my Mum would have any interest in my bio)
Saturday, February 28, 2004
Review Equipment
DVDOmni 3600, using RGB output
DisplaySony 1252QM CRT Projector, 250cm custom built 16x9 matte screen. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver.
AmplificationOnkyo TX-DS797- THX Select
SpeakersAccusound ES-55 Speaker set, Welling WS12 Subwoofer

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