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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.
NBA Street Series-Dunks!-Volume 2 (2005)

NBA Street Series-Dunks!-Volume 2 (2005)

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Released 5-Oct-2005

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Sports Main Menu Audio
Rating Rated G
Year Of Production 2005
Running Time 66:37
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4,5 Directed By None Given
Studio
Distributor

Warner Home Video
Starring None Given
Case ?
RPI $19.95 Music None Given


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.70:1
16x9 Enhancement
Not 16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio Varies Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
German
Italian
Greek
Dutch
Hungarian
Polish
Turkish
English for the Hearing Impaired
German for the Hearing Impaired
Italian for the Hearing Impaired
Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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

Plot Synopsis

    Street Series Dunks? None of the dozens of dunks shown in this 60 odd minute presentation take place outside of an NBA stadium. That said, this is a pretty sweet, if somewhat generic line-up of NBA dunks.

    The show is hosted by the 'world-famous' DJ Clue. I'm sorry, but I don't have a clue who he is. He does his best to give the show some 'street' credibility as he hosts the show from the 'hood'. That's the closest thing to Street in the show - the rest is all stadium.

    The show is divided up in a lot of chapters...you could say dunks, dunks and more dunks;

    - Intro: shows a lot of dunks from some up and coming players

    - Rookies: Le Bron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade are interviewed while some very impressive footage is shown

    - More seasoned players: Richard Jefferson, Steve Francis and crew

    - Slam Dunk comps: Highlight reel from the last 10 years of the All-Star Weekend Dunk Competition - some winners become NBA stars and some fizz out after a season or two in the league. Great viewing.

    - Shaq, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett all get their own highlight reels

    - International players: Brief reel showing the impact some overseas players have made in the NBA.

    - Blocks: This was as good (if not better) than any dunk reel. Some fantastic defensive plays!

    - Final highlight reel

    I enjoyed watching this DVD, but even as an NBA fan I found there to be limited replay value.

    A great rental, but only a purchase for serious NBA fans.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The feature is presented at an odd aspect ratio of 1.70:1. The transfer is not 16x9 enhanced, and overall the picture quality is good considering the source material.

    Like many sports shows, the video quality ranges from good to bad. Given that most of the show is taken from live NTSC game footage, there is a lot of washed out colours while other footage has over-saturated colours with some cross colouration and colour bleed.

    There is a fair bit of aliasing, but given the original footage you tend to forgive it. Edge enhancement tends to be an issue too.

    The interviews and cut scene footage doesn't suffer from these issues and tends to look much better than the game reels.

    Overall, for a sports show the video quality is pretty good.

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

Audio

    The English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192 Kb/s) does a pretty good job overall.

    There was a considerable amount of background hip-hop music which came through sounding great and added a lot to the atmosphere of the show. The interview audio came through softly in the centre speaker and game footage (players, crowd noise and commentators) came through loud and clear, adding a lot to the feature.

    I did find that I needed to put the volume up a bit higher than usual. Upon re-watching certain sections, I realized the interview audio was considerably softer in volume than the music and game tracks.

    There is no sub-woofer or surround activity, but it was not expected.

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

Extras

Main Menu Audio

    No special features = me very disappointed.

R4 vs R1

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

    There are no real differences between this and the R1 version.

Summary

    The video is good for this kind of presentation.

    The audio is good, except for the interview track being a little soft.

    There are no special features. Disappointing.

    Overall, good for NBA fans, but not much long-term value for the casual fan.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ben Smith (boku no bio)
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Review Equipment
DVDMarantz DV4300, using Component output
DisplaySony VPL HS10 projector on 100 inch 16x9 screen + Palsonic 76WSHD. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderSony STR-DE685. Calibrated with THX Optimizer.
AmplificationPioneer
SpeakersDB Dynamics VEGA series floor standers + centre, DB bipole rears, 10" 100W DB Dynamics sub

Other Reviews NONE