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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.
All Saints-The Videos (2001)

All Saints-The Videos (2001)

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Released 4-Feb-2002

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Music Menu Animation & Audio
Discography-Covers all 3 albums
Rating Rated G
Year Of Production 2001
Running Time 53:25
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Programme
Region Coding 2,3,4,5,6 Directed By Various
Studio
Distributor

Warner Vision
Starring Natalie Appleton
Nicole Appleton
Shaznay Lewis
Melanie Blatt
Case Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI $39.95 Music All Saints


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 (1536Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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

Plot Synopsis

    For those unfamiliar with the group All Saints, it is made up of Nicole and Natalie Appleton, Melanie Blatt and Shaznay Lewis. The band had a very rocky start and several break-ups before the current 4 girls settled down and perfected their current formula. They literally jumped onto the international music scene when I Know Where It's At hit number 4 in the charts. This was followed up by the ballad Never Ever which reached the #1 spot after 9 weeks of hovering in the top 10. It was also this single that netted the group their first two Brit awards for Best Single and Best Video.

    All Saints - The Videos is a collection of songs from their previous three albums with the majority of songs being from their self-titled first album and 3 from Saints & Sinners.

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Track Listing

1. Pure Shores
2. Never Ever
3. Under The Bridge
4. Lady Marmalade
5. I Know Where It's At
6. Take The Key (MTV Live)
7. Black Coffee
8. Bootie Call
9. All Hooked Up
10. If You Want To Party (I Found Lovin
11. Under The Bridge (MTV Live)
12. Never Ever (USA Video)

Transfer Quality

Video

    The transfer is presented primarily in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Both Pure Shores and If You Want To Party (I Found Love) have an approximate aspect ratio of 1.66:1. Black Coffee, All Hooked Up and Never Ever (Usa Video) are at approximately 2.35:1. No tracks have 16x9 enhancement.

    As you would expect from music video clips, each song has its own visual style and "feel" to go along with the mood of the song it is accompanying. It is clear to see that there have been numerous camera styles, directions and various lighting methods used throughout, in most cases to good effect.

    There is some mild low level noise in this transfer with the most notable sections being found at 27:23 and 39:54. In contrast, if you move forward to around 50:00 in Never Ever (USA Video), the entire song was shot in very dark surrounds and there is not a hint of any low level noise, just beautifully deep blacks.

    The colours were quite clear and well defined but not vibrant or rich. Song 8, Bootie Call, is entirely shot in black & white and Song 10 is a mixture of black & white with mild colouration. At first glance, it looks like something went wrong during the making of this clip but it is identical to the presentation that the Fox music channel plays, so it is clearly deliberately presented this way.

    There were no MPEG artefacts to be seen. Aliasing is rare and mild when it does occur. Likewise, I could barely make out any film artefacts and feel picky for even mentioning them.

    The subtitles are exact to the word, and make an ideal lyric track if you are rusty on some of the words to the songs. The only track selectable on the disc is in English.

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

Audio

    Only an English 2.0 Linear PCM soundtrack is available on this DVD, but this is not that uncommon for music-only titles.

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times.

    Lady Marmalade is affected by audio sync problems from 15:00 to 15:17 and Never Ever is also affected to a lesser extent. All other songs appeared to be spot-on.

    The best tracks to listen to would have to be All Hooked Up, Lady Marmalade, Black Coffee, Never Ever (USA Video) and Bootie Call, where you will hear a pleasant quality of sound and a nice feeling of subtle ambience is provided from the rear speakers if you engage ProLogic decoding. Outside of these tracks, there was very subtle use of the rear speakers. In the case of Under The Bridge, the tinny and flat sound left my ears wanting more.

    The subwoofer received some subtle redirected sound but the majority of the bass was provided by the front main speakers.

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

Extras

Menu

    When the disc is first loaded it starts the programme directly rather than going to the Main Menu. The main menu features an animated clip that runs in a loop lasting for 1:03 minutes and is underscored by PCM audio.

Discography

    The Discography shows the band's three album covers and a complete list of the songs included on each. The songs that are contained on this DVD can be directly accessed from these screens. Cute, but more could have been done here.

R4 vs R1

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

    I have been unable to find any reference to a Region 1 version of this disc.

Summary

    Overall, I thought All Saints-The Videos was a DVD that contained too few songs and not enough extras.

    The video quality was quite good and certainly on a par with what you will see on pay TV music channels.

    The audio quality was acceptable but there is plenty of room for improvement. Hopefully, future releases will contain tracks in addition to merely Linear PCM. Not until the surrounds are used more will listeners get to "feel" the songs.

    The extras are barely worth mentioning.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Peter Mellor (read my bio)
Friday, March 08, 2002
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer XV-DV55, using S-Video output
DisplayLoewe 72cm. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationPioneer XV-DV55
SpeakersWhatmough Audiolabs Magnum M30 (Mains); M05 (Centre); M10 (Rears), Pioneer S-DV55SW-K Powered Subwoofer

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