Six of the Best-New Zealand V Australia (2006)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Sports	Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	2006
Running Time	87:34
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	EMI Music	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$19.95	Music	None Given

    When I put my name down to review this disc, I knew it was entitled Six of the Best - New Zealand Vs Australia and that it was a Rugby DVD. Although the order of the two countries in the title should have been a giveaway it was not until I received the disc that I noticed the legend, Official All Blacks DVD across the top of the front cover. Feeling vaguely uneasy, I began to read the back cover and soon realised to my horror that Six of the Best did not mean six of the best games or six of the best contests but rather six of the best floggings of the Wallabies by the All Blacks in the history of the Tri-Nations. To be fair, Region 4 includes both Australia and New Zealand so I suppose I should have realised that DVD releases specifically aimed at the New Zealand rugby public were a distinct possibility.

    Anyway, this show includes highlights of six games from the last ten years, all of which were chosen due to the fact that the All Blacks won. About 15 minutes of highlights are included for each game. Four games include New Zealand commentators (what is a 'chup kick' anyway?) and the other two are Gordon Bray and the Channel 7 team. The team line-ups for each game are included as are some post match interviews. The games are:

1. Wellington July 1996
2. Brisbane July 1996 - A very close contest
3. Melbourne July 1997
4. Sydney July 2000 - Admittedly, this was a great test match
5. Sydney July 2003
6. Auckland Sep 2005

    I am sure All Blacks supporters will love this disc but I found it just a little nauseating. Wallaby supporters with strong constitutions who feel like a little self-flagellation may also be interested.

Video

    The video quality is average.

    The feature is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, non 16x9 enhanced.

    The picture was generally a bit on the soft side showing its video origin, with no evidence of low level noise. There was some light grain throughout.

    The colour was decent but a bit dull and lifeless.

    Artefacts included some minor tape tracking errors, bits and pieces of aliasing and some mild shimmering especially on camera pans.

    There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at a slightly odd 160 Kb/s.

    Commentary was clear and easy to understand.

    The surround speakers added some crowd noise when played using Dolby ProLogic II.

    The subwoofer was not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    Nothing, Nada, Zilch.

Menu

    The menu included music, motion and the ability to select different All Black victories.

    This DVD is only available in Region 4.

    The video quality is average.

    The audio quality is good.

    No Extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall