Gourmet Farmer (2010) |
BUY IT |
General | Extras | ||
Category | Documentary |
Main Menu Audio Deleted Scenes-Lots of 'em |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2010 | ||
Running Time | 250:00 | ||
RSDL / Flipper |
Dual Layered Dual Disc Set |
Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By |
Max Bourke Matthew Evans |
Studio
Distributor |
Madman Entertainment |
Starring | None Given |
Case | Amaray-Transparent-Dual | ||
RPI | $29.95 | Music |
Kyls Burtland David Cole Brad Hayward |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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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 |
In the early 2000s, Matthew Evans was a name well known amongst foodies as the restaurant critic for The Sydney Morning Herald. He famously said that most restaurants in Australia serve 'crap' food and was sued for defamation by a Sydney restaurant. In 2009 he decided to pack it in and move to a small farm in Tasmania to get up close and personal with where food comes from and the hard work that goes into it. His life, successes and failures included, are being chronicled in the television series which is the subject of this review, Gourmet Farmer. The show has now concluded its second season, this DVD set is of the first season and the second is also now available from Madman Entertainment.
The show is part travelogue, part cooking show, part investigation of organic and artisan food manufacturing, part real-life drama. We see Matthew as he learns the ways of the farm including fencing, tending animals, slaughtering, cooking his own produce and also preparing food for markets and retail. he also goes on trips around Tasmania including out to sea fishing, into the mountains to shoot deer and dig peat bogs etc. He is a generally genial host who obviously feels strongly about what he is doing and respects the artisan products of those who live around him.
This two disc set contains all 10 episodes of the first season, each of approximately 25 minutes.
This is an enjoyable series which was shown on SBS and would certainly appeal to foodies and those interested in artisan food making.
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The video quality is very good for DVD. The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced.
The picture was quite clear and sharp throughout. Shadow detail was good. The colour is very good for DVD.
There were a few minor MPEG compression artefacts and some mild aliasing.
There are no subtitles.
There were no obvious layer changes.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
The audio quality is good. This discs contain an English soundtrack in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo.
Dialogue was easy to understand throughout.
The music sounds good and adds to the show.
The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
Large selection of extra scenes.
The menus featured music and a nice chicken cursor motif.
The second disc contains over an hour of extra scenes which were obviously cut from the show. They are mostly cooking scenes with Evans cooking for the camera. They are well worth watching and there are some interesting recipes on show.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This set only seems to be available in Region 4 at the moment.
A quality television documentary series for foodies.
The video quality is very good. The audio quality is good.
Lot of extra scenes as extras.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | SONY BDP-S760 Blu-ray, using HDMI output |
Display | Sharp LC52LE820X Quattron 52" Full HD LED-LCD TV . Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
Audio Decoder | Built into BD player. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. |
Amplification | Pioneer VSX-511 |
Speakers | Monitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Sony SAW2500M Subwoofer |