Foo Fighters-Hyde Park (2006)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Main Menu Introduction Menu Audio Booklet
Rating
Year Of Production	2006
Running Time	79:51
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Nick Wickham
Studio Distributor	BMG	Starring	David Grohl Taylor Hawkins Nate Mendel Chris Shiflett Lemmy Kilmister Brian May Roger Taylor
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$29.95	Music	Dave Grohl Lemmy Kilmister Queen

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Unknown	English Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 (1536Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/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	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    Recorded at Hyde Park in London, June 17th 2006, this 76 minute performance sees the Foo Fighters rock through some of their most popular material in front of a massive crowd, quoted in some media as nearly 100,000 people. At the time of this show, the band were touring in support of their excellent double album, In Your Honor. There have been a number of different members come and go in this band, however their current line-up has been the most stable. The musicians performing here include:

• Dave Grohl (vocals, guitar)
• Nate Mendel (bass)
• Taylor Hawkins (drums, vocals on Tie Your Mother Down)
• Chris Shiflett (guitar)

    There are a number of highlights that make this show worth seeing. After a blistering performance of Breakout, Dave welcomes Lemmy Kilmister (Motorhead) on stage for a rendition of Shake Your Blood, a song on which they collaborated for Dave's Probot project. It is fantastic to see the song performed live, almost as much as it is to see the glee on Dave's face as he shares the stage with his hero. Later, Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen join the lads for a run through Tie Your Mother Down, featuring Taylor Hawkins on vocals.

Video

    This would be an A-grade transfer, if it were not for the high level of video compression that has been applied.

    This concert was captured digitally, in an aspect of 1.78:1. The image is 16x9 enhanced and relatively tight to the frame.

    The performance begins in daylight, and as the atmosphere gets darker the lighting, big-screens and other stage effects become more effective. The bright colouring is well carried, as are the darker areas of the stage. Much of the stage is very well lit, so despite the good level of shadow detail there are rarely any dark, shadowy moments to be concerned about.

    MPEG artefacting is consistently visible and highly distracting, particularly on a big screen. When I couldn't bear to view the concert on my projector any longer, I switched to my 76cm CRT, which was slightly less irritating but still noticeable. There is way too much activity, camera movement, bright coloured flashes and detail in this concert to be laden with such heavy MPEG compression. When there isn't macro blocking present in the movement on screen, most foreground objects are surrounded by ugly washes of MPEG grain. Given that the DVD format has been around for over ten years now, this is a very disappointing presentation of a recent production. This feature should have been produced on a dual-layered disc, no question. Alternatively, the PCM audio could have been dropped for a stereo Dolby Digital stream.

    This disc is comprised of a single layer (DVD5 format) and does not include any subtitle streams.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are two soundtracks accompanying this concert on DVD. The default soundtrack is stereo PCM 48Khz. A Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) mix may be selected from the setup menu or on the fly.

    The vocals are always distinct and never obscured by other elements in the mix. I didn't notice any audio sync issues at all.

    The PCM audio is significantly louder and, as one would expect, much more crisp when it comes to cymbals and guitar crunch. The 5.1 mix is active and nicely enveloping, with the rears occupied by crowd noise and some atmospherics.

    The subwoofer is surprisingly active in the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, accentuating the kick drum and bass guitar nicely.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Booklet

    Before you get too excited, this is only a single folded sheet, in colour, with photos, credits and track listing.

    Aside from PAL / NTSC formatting, this disc is identical across all regions. Given the disc's poor transfer quality, the short length of the feature and the el-cheapo DVD5 formatting, I would suggest paying $15AU at the absolute most. Better still, wait for it to be released on one of the HD formats – I'm certain it will eventually.

    Hyde Park is a short, but interesting live show. The guest appearances are a highlight. However, we may have to wait for a HD version to appreciate it fully.

    The video transfer is heavily compressed and looks terrible on a big screen. The image is so bad, it compelled me to write this review.

    The audio transfer is great.

    There are no extras worth noting.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall