AFL-St Kilda: 2004 Season Highlights/Wizard Cup (2004) |
|
AFL-St Kilda: 2004 Season Highlights/Wizard Cup (2004) |
|
|
| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Sports |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Additional Footage-Wizard Cup Grand Final 2004 |
|
| Rating |
|
||
| Year Of Production | 2004 | ||
| Running Time | 112:00 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper |
Dual Layered Dual Disc Set |
Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By | None Given |
|
Studio
Distributor |
Aust. Football Video Visual Entertainment Group |
Starring | None Given |
| Case | Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual | ||
| RPI | $34.95 | Music | None Given |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) | |
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
 |
||
| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | None | Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
The year highlights packages that Australian Football Video put together are invariably a mixed bag. Many Port Adelaide and Brisbane fans would no doubt be happy to fork out for their team's 2004 DVD as it would actually have highlights in reasonable numbers on it, unlike the releases for the Richmond Tigers or my team, the mighty Hawks, whose last season was not so. Turn then to this title - a 2004 rundown of the Saints' season which, I'd guess, would hold a lot of appeal for supporters of St. Kilda, whose season heralded a triumphant return to form, but also held a few disappointments which admittedly tend to fall into perspective considering the state of the football club a mere three or four years ago.
Completely unexpectedly, the Saints were to begin their 2004 home and away season under a cloud - off-field controversy surrounded two Saints players, with allegations of sexual misconduct made against them by a young woman. When questioned about this by interviewer Michael Roberts, coach Grant Thomas reveals that on reflection his, and his players' ability to bind the group together was one of the most difficult things to do throughout the year. And bind together they did, with an excellent start to the season - winning game after game after game after game.
Eventually they did decide to let a few teams beat them, but only after cementing themselves at the very top of the ladder by the season's halfway mark. Fraser Gehrig was kicking bags of goals, Nick Riewoldt was marking everything in sight, and players like Lenny Hayes and Nick Dal Santo were nigh unstoppable through the middle of the ground. In the closing stages of the season, having slipped away a little from the form that had seen them gait along to ten straight wins, pressure increased on the young side and more often than not they rose to the challenge.
Highlights? Gehrig's 10 goal haul, Riewoldt taking what Grant Thomas considered the most courageous mark he'd seen, a gutsy win over the Kangaroos in Round 20, beating Brisbane in an extraordinary effort, making the finals and looking dangerous...the list could go on. Suffice it to say that the Saints should be a force to be reckoned with for a few more seasons yet!
Featuring round by round (well almost, some of the poor performances are omitted - these are highlights packages after all) analysis by coach Grant Thomas, this release would be welcome in the DVD collection of any fan of the St. Kilda Football Club.
The video transfer is generally very good. We are presented with an appropriately widescreen image, framed at approximately 1.78:1, with 16x9 enhancement.
Sharpness and shadow detail are excellent.
The interview footage intercut into the match footage is of a terrific clarity.
Colours were realistically presented.
There were no film artefacts to report.
Grain and low level noise were hardly a problem. Some MPEG artefacts were noticeable on occasion, but again, nothing serious. Aliasing is slightly more of a problem - the grass shimmers a little on occasion, and railings and signs in the stands do cause some disturbance.
All in all - what we'd expect from recent TV material.
| Sharpness |  |
| Shadow Detail | |
| Colour | |
| Grain/Pixelization | |
| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts |  |
| Overall | |
The English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track does its job well, and although the surrounds and subwoofer get little to do, there isn't too much to complain about.
Dialogue was easy to hear in all but a few instances.
Audio sync was excellent during the interviews.
There were very few moments of any sort of distortion.
| Dialogue | |
| Audio Sync | |
| Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
| Surround Channel Use | |
| Subwoofer |  |
| Overall | |
The 'extra" is the complete coverage of the 2004 Wizard Cup Grand Final, as telecast last year in March, found on a bonus disc included in the package.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This release is playable on any PAL compatible system, and is likely only available from Aussie retailers.
St. Kilda 2004 - Season Highlights is a professionally produced DVD with all the stuff Saints fans would want to see.
The video quality is very good.
The audio is suitable.
This is a two-disc edition, with the Wizard Cup Grand Final included for Saints fans' enjoyment.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Yamaha DVR-S100, using Component output |
| Display | Sony 76cm Widescreen Trinitron TV. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to DVD Player, Dolby Digital and DTS. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. |
| Amplification | Yamaha DVR-S100 (built in) |
| Speakers | Yamaha NX-S100S 5 speakers, Yamaha SW-S100 160W subwoofer |