AFL-The Epic Journey: Port Adelaide 2004 (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Sports	Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	169:15
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	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-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/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 Power to Win'

    Love them or hate them, it's hard not to be impressed with how much the Port Adelaide Power have done in the AFL over the past 8 years.

   Another AFL season has come and gone, so at the culmination of the 2005 season maybe it's appropriate to revisit 2004. Grand Final Day 2004 was a historic day, the first ever final without a Victorian team involved. This DVD looks at the lead up to that momentous day, not just from Round 1 of the season but all the way back to the early days of the club over 120 years ago, their domination of the SANFL and their eventual entry into the AFL.

  'The Epic Journey' lives up to its name...... it's a whopping 169:15. That's a lot of footy to keep any fan happy.

  The DVD is broken up as follows;

  History: A great way to start the program, the documentary style opening features a brief history of Port. Very informative.

  2002 & 2003 Qualifying Finals: Heartbreak for Port fans but it does a great job setting the scene as to how devastating these losses were for the club, especially after finishing on top at the end of those regular seasons.

  2003 Preliminary Final: More heartbreak.

  Round 1 and so on....: The path to redemption begins..... each Round of the 2004 season that Port beat their opponent is profiled.

  The Finals: Their classic Preliminary Final vs. St Kilda is amazing to watch. Gavin Wanganeen's freak goal in the dying moments to put them ahead is one of the best footy moments in the nearly 3 hour program.

  Celebrations: A bit of a recap of the season which shows post game celebrations and finishes off the disc.

  Being the marathon length disc that it is, there are a few moments worth highlighting;

  Round 10 - In a season where Port won most of their games by convincing (and often embarrassingly high) margins, this was a classic come from behind game to beat Geelong.

  Round 20 - Not an extraordinary game of footy, but it was the first AFL game played for premiership points in the Northern Territory.

  Round 21 - Before the game highlights there was a great highlights reel showing the animosity between the Collingwood Magpies and the other team that used to be known by the same name. There was some great footage from some classic Magpie vs. Magpie bouts.

  Round 22 - Bitter showdown versus the Crows.

  Before watching this disc I had the impression it was going to be similar to the AFL Magic Moments discs - that is, all footy and nothing else. Fortunately, I was wrong. Starting with the short doco at the beginning, there were quite a few pre-game and post-game clips of interviews with Mark Williams or some of the players that added substantially to my enjoyment of the disc. One of the clips profiled Damien Hardwick's 200th game, another was a short intro to the game in the NT, and at the beginning of the finals there was a detailed piece about how they had choked in the previous finals and were ready to atone. All in all, these extra moments gave the program a bit more personality and it is definitely the better for their inclusion.

  The only negative thing I can say about it is that at 169:15 it is pretty intimidating unless you are a die hard Port fan.

  However, I do recommend it - it highlights what a great premiership team Port had in 04 and has enough moments to keep you happy in the off season! Overall, a very good value disc.

Video

    This program was presented at 1.78:1 and the disc is 16x9 enhanced.

    Overall the footage is what you would expect from a sports reel. The opening clip on the history of the club had your typical old video grain, artefacts and colour bleeding. Nothing that bothers you though - after all, it is about the club's history.

    The 16x9 game footage, though, is a bit hit and miss. I am used to watching the AFL in standard definition and for some reason some games look better than others. The only conclusion I can come to is that some football grounds must have better set ups for SD transmission than others. Overall most games looked great aside from the occasional aliasing and edge enhancement. Also there was a bit of that SD pixelization that can occur when there is rapid camera movement. Unfortunately, the Grand Final actually looked worse than any of the previous games. Either the transfer of that game went wrong or the MCG equipment wasn't up to the task. The aliasing was worse and the edge enhancement was annoying.

    Overall, pretty good for a sports disc. Being16x9 enhanced is a plus but the Grand Final footage was a let down.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

    The English Dolby Digital 2.0 did the job well enough, but my rear speakers had the night off. Surprising, given that these games were from an SD source - where was the rear sound?

    The commentators were clear enough, but surround would have given the crowd noise a bit more depth. More depth means more enjoyment, so I was a little disappointed.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There are no extras as such, but this disc was almost three hours already in length! There were enough interviews and footage from outside of the games to keep me satisfied.

    There is no R1 version of this DVD available.

   A fitting tribute to the 2004 premiership team. Great game footage, a bit of history tossed in and plenty of interviews to set the scene left me feeling satisfied.

   The video quality was satisfactory, but why did the final come out so poorly? 16x9 enhanced... the way it should be in the 21st century.

   Audio was acceptable for a sports disc, but no rear speaker use was very disappointing.

   There were no extras, but at almost 3 hours I don't miss them.

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Audio
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