Hi-5: Animal Adventures (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Main Menu Audio & Animation Music Highlights-Songs Of The Week (3) Karaoke-3 Storybook-Sharing Stories (2) Song Lyrics Trailer-Hi-5 Releases (7) Web Links
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	55:51
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 Charlie Robinson
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Chris Harriot

    If your child loves animals - and whose doesn't -  there will be a lot for them to love in this great collection of stories, adventures and songs.

Video

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

    This transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is certainly not 16x9 enhanced. Hi-5 is broadcast in widescreen digital, which leads me to presume that this is a pan and scan transfer.

    The picture is very sharp, as one would expect from such a recent television series. 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 examples of oversaturation or colour bleeding in the transfer. Some slight motion trails can be seen during fast movement on screen, such as at 6:05 as the cast are jumping up and down fast.

    There are no glaringly obvious MPEG artefacts present. A little grain is visible on some brief occasions, but is barely noticeable. Moments of aliasing are very brief and of the mildest variety, so they are similarly unobtrusive.

    English subtitles for the Hearing Impaired were activated by default on my DVD player, but not on my DVD-ROM. The titles are comprised of an easy to read font and are paced accurately with the dialogue.

    This disc is single layered.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The only audio option is a fairly average Dolby Digital 2.0 stream that manages to do the job adequately.

    As you would expect for a children's series, the dialogue is first class and very easy to understand. There were a few minor instances of distortion through the tiny headpiece microphones when the cast speaks 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 with simple, melodic songs that kids love. All the songs included in the feature are energetic, melodic and vary greatly from one to the next. 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

    As with other Hi-5 DVD discs, the viewer is able to select their favourite 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 infinitum. There is also the ability to skip straight to any of the songs or stories, also with a repeat option.

Songs With Alternate Audio (3)

    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.

Trailers (7)

    Trailers are included for a range of other Hi-5 VHS and DVD titles, including Surfing Safari and Five Alive.

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