Michael McDonald-Gathering of Friends, A (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	70:29
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Michael McDonald
Case	Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI	$39.95	Music	Michael McDonald

    This aptly titled disc really is a gathering of great "soul" artists, ranging from Patti LaBelle, Tommy Sims, Edwin McCain, James Ingram, and many more. This is a real feast for lovers of soul music, but is not really going to hold the interest of those whose tastes don't run along these lines.

    Fans of Michael McDonald will love this DVD as it certainly shows off his impressive vocal talents, not to mention the host of other talented artists that appear. Not my cup of tea - but if it is yours go and grab it now.

Video

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, this is unlikely to have been recorded digitally. If so, there has been some serious image degradation and clipping to fit the 1.33:1 image.

    Sharpness is quite poor throughout the feature, never really taking on a nice crispness. Shadow detail was acceptable but never brilliant.

    Colour on this DVD is problematic. The stage lighting used is quite powerful and either the filming technique or compression technique did not cope very well. A good example of this can be seen around 7:50 where the stage lighting really washes out the audience. There are numerous examples throughout the transfer where coloured lighting causes large halos and blooms around the artists on stage. Throughout the performance, Michael McDonald has a lovely halo as the stage lighting shines off his white hair.

    There were very few MPEG artefacts on this disc due to the high average bitrate of the video (around 8.5Mbps). Film-to-fideo artefacts were far more common with aliasing occurring frequently. Some early examples of aliasing can be found at 3:39 (keyboard) and 8:59 (music stands). There were no film artefacts throughout.

    There are no subtitles on this disc and no layer change for that matter.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are a total of three English audio tracks on this disc. I listened to the Dolby Digital 5.1 (@448kbps) track and dts 5.1 (@1536kbps) tracks throughout. The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track I sampled at irregular intervals. It was also very good for a stereo only track. The dts track was mastered at a considerably lower level than both Dolby Digital tracks, so much so that I had to listen above my reference level. In terms of clarity and definition I think the dts track was slightly superior than the Dolby Digital 5.1 track. There really wasn't much in it.

    Dialogue quality was excellent throughout, and very well defined. There were no audio sync issues at all.

    The dts and Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks gave a very enveloping musical experience, subtly using the surrounds to expand the listening environment. Apart from crowd applause, the surround usage is not at all aggressive, suiting the music very well. The subwoofer did not have a huge role as the musical style didn't call for thumping bass. It did, however, provide excellent support to the bass guitar and the (very) occasional aggressive kick drum.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    The video quality is average with several flaws.

    The audio quality is excellent.

    The extras are non-existent.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall