Liverpool FC-The 80's (1996) (NTSC)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Sports	Menu Animation & Audio Notes-80s Overview Biographies-Cast Active Subtitle Track
Rating
Year Of Production	1996
Running Time	60:15 (Case: 62)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	John Aldrige Barry Vennison Mark Lawrenson Bruce Grobelaar Greame Souness
Case	Click
RPI	$34.95	Music	None Given

    This is another one hour presentation of highlights and discussion by former players attempting to justify their selection of the Liverpool Football Club 80s Team Of The Decade.

    The panel is set up a little differently this time. Instead of gathering the lads together in a studio, we have four different venues for the five panellists. Barry Venison and Greame Souness are sitting together on a studio couch, John Aldridge is standing in the middle of an empty stadium, Mark Lawrenson seems to be sitting in his backyard while Bruce Grobelaar is in his living room.

    Other comments were proffered by former players Phil Thompson, David Fairclough, Steve Heighway, Alan Kennedy, presumably fresh from being panellists of the 70s LFC Team of the Decade, with a few choice words from 80s Manchester United manager Ron Atkinson.

    Once again, as each of the team selections are made there is some wonderful footage of each player in action. Following this is even more great footage from some of the FA Cup, Champions League and FA League campaigns of the 80s, including highlights of the FA Cup loss to Wimbledon and the final deciding game of the '89 season against Arsenal. Once again, the viewer could be left wanting more. An hour is just not enough time to do this awesome football team justice. The team selected comprises: Goalkeeper Bruce Grobelaar, Right Back Phil Neal, Centre Halfs Mark Lawrenson and Alan Hansen, Left Back Steve Nicol, Right Wing Terry McDermott, Midfielders Ronnie Whelan and Greame Souness, Left Wing John Barnes, Strikers Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish. The Managers over this decade were Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish. Phil Neal, Greame Souness and Kenny Dalglish were the players selected for the team of the 70s and the 80s.

Video

    Special Note: Despite the packaging stating that this disc is in PAL, it is NTSC only. You will need equipment capable of playing NTSC DVDs to play this disc.

    Generally speaking, the video presentation of this title is marginally better in all ways than the previous disc. I am not saying it is great, just that it is better than the previous effort. The source material was of the same disappointing quality which limited what could be achieved by the transfer, and it is still quite apparent that this is a made-for-television special that has been given a DVD release.

    This title is presented in 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.

    Sharpness is again a paragon of mediocrity throughout this title. It does manage to maintain some degree of moderate quality however, without the instances of very poor, fuzzy older footage. What shadows exist predominantly have little or no detail in them, but this doesn't affect the title. You can always see the ball, and that is what matters most. There is a modicum of low level noise at various times, but it isn't significant.

    The colours are fine in pretty much every scene. The archive footage doesn't suffer as badly as in the last title; it is newer of course, and hasn't been so affected by the ravages of time. I did not notice any instances of colour bleeding this time.

    Like everything else about the video on this title compared to the last, aliasing is not such a prevalent issue. It is still there if you look for it but is never obvious or invasive. Likewise for chroma noise. It is more obvious than aliasing, but is likewise never going to inhibit your ability to sit back and watch. There are some issues with grain but mostly they are dampened by the softness of the video.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    As in the last episode, this DVD offers a Dolby Digital 2.0 224 Kilobits audio track. As in the last instalment, there is no use of the rear channels except in an audio loop during the menu and theme. The panellists separation has removed the problem of them interjecting comments over each other which is a good thing. There is still the problem with underlying sound levels, however. I had to turn this title up to make out what everyone was saying. I then felt like turning it down for each musical chapter break.

    The set with Barry Venison and Greame Souness seems to have been poorly miked once again. Barry's comments particularly seem to drift away from the soundscape frequently. Bruce Grobelaar is similarly afflicted, but the other two experts sound a shade clearer. The various commentators were always much clearer and eloquent.

    Audio sync was not a problem with this transfer at all, and was completely spot on.

    There was no music in this title except for the theme at the start and end, and the occasional one or two bar grab during a cut scene. This is identical in all ways to the previous title. Even the music is the same.

    Similarly, the only use of the surround channels was the crowd roar from the front then back in a loop when you are looking at the player profile menu, exactly as in the last disc.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    The menu and extras are fundamentally identical to the last disc. The menu is functional without being inspiring. It has about 2 minutes of various clips from the feature, though these are obscured by a large Liverpool F.C. emblem over the top.

    The blurb mentions the following extra features:

Player Profiles

    These are a fairly comprehensive annotation of each player's career. A great reference!

Manager Profiles

    These are a fairly comprehensive annotation of each manager's career. A great reference!

1980s Club Profile

    A single paragraph outlining the great side. Hard to justify calling anything this sparse a profile.

Did You Know?

    Little more than an added piece of trivia on a profile, this hardly seems worth mentioning as a separate extra.

    Unmentioned are the little red soccer balls that appear at various times through the stock footage. Activating these will take you to some relevant info such as a player profile or campaign information.

    This disc is not available in Region 1.

    Another one for the fans. A slightly better offering overall. The sound and vision is of better quality overall, but it still doesn't quite deliver enough.

    The video quality is average.

    The audio quality is average.

    The extras are unsatisfactory, being little more than a few paragraphs of historic information.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall