The Brian Setzer Orchestra-Live in Japan (2001)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Music	Menu Animation & Audio Multiple Angles-2 x 2 Featurette-The Documentary Of The Brian Setzer Orchestra
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	85:55
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Taro Mitsuoka
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Brian Setzer Mark Winchester Bernie Dressel Brian Setzer Orchestra
Case	Click
RPI	$39.95	Music	Brian Setzer

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English dts 6.1 ES Matrix (768Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The Live in Japan concert was recorded for DVD over two nights in Tokyo in 2001 and features 19 numbers ranging from the full big-band style of Theme from Hawaii 5-0 to the hit rockabilly Stray Cat Strut. Setzer's mastery of his signature Gretsch guitar is ably demonstrated on Guitar Rag and his stage presence comes over well on all the numbers. The DVD finishes up with a bare-bones trio version of Rock This Town ('68 Comeback Special) performed by Setzer (guitar and vocals), Bernie Dressel on drums and Mark Winchester on slap-double bass.

    Setzer certainly looks the part with his rocker coat, drainpipe trousers and brothel creepers not to mention the mullet hair-cut, sideburns and furry tumbling dice dangling from the drum kit. There's a certain informality evident, particularly during I Won't Stand In Your Way when Setzer takes the stage sporting sweaty singlet and wall-to-wall tattoos. The concert is wholly entertaining and it's pleasing to see Setzer share the lime-light by featuring solo spots with his obviously talented support musos.

Video

    A lot of trouble has gone into the production of this release and it's a good example of the 'recorded for DVD' genre with the capacity of a dual-layer disc being used for maximal resolution of video and audio recordings.

    The video transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is clean and sharp with good shadow detail and no level noise. The set is lit with the usual array of overhead colour floods but unfortunately a spotlight with changing colour filters was placed on each side of the stage and frequently directed almost directly into the cameras. This resulted in a distracting and irritating imbalance of the lighting and frequent over-saturation of the video - it must have also been a pain for the performers.

    The colours are vibrant and the sea of brightly lit red shirts of the band will soon show up any chroma bugs in your player. I couldn't see any colour bleed but there was a low level of chroma noise in the blue backdrop and a disconcerting inconsistency in colour shades. Setzer's Gretsch guitar varied from bright sky blue to night-time hues over the course of Jumpin' East of Java.

   There was mild aliasing throughout the set on the stage edge and the usual culprits of strings and cymbal edges which was surprising considering the quality of the rest of the transfer.

    There were no subtitles.

    The disc is a dual layered DVD-9 but I could not detect the transition point.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There were three audio tracks, the default Dolby Digital 5.1, a DTS 6.1 ES matrix track and Dolby Digital 2.0. I listened to the whole 2 channel track and alternated between DTS and DD 5.1 with some repeated track playing to enable comparisons to be made. The DTS track was unusually a little quieter than the Dolby Digital 5.1, the latter sounding fuller and more dynamic. The 2 channel offering was also excellent but my vote would go to the Dolby Digital 5.1 encoding.

    The dialogue and solo instrument clarity was excellent. There were no problems with lip or audio sync.

    This disc is one of the few to support a matrix encoded DTS ES track which means if your decoder supports the format, your amplifier has six channels and you have an extra speaker or two for centre rears you can listen to 6.1 music. In practice, I don't think this adds a heck of a lot as it is mainly audience applause that is conveyed. The surrounds on the whole are well used to support the reverberation and ambience without being gimmicky or intrusive.

    The subwoofer is well used to round and fill out the bass, particularly on percussion.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Documentary Footage

    Interviews on the road with Brian and some of the band members (11:37)

Multiple Angles

    Two of the tracks, Sleepwalk and Caravan are multiple (two actually) angle encoded - the camera icon pops up momentarily at the beginning of the track. Pressing the multi-angle button on your remote will change the angle view selection but there will be no visible difference to the picture until you backtrack to the beginning using your chapter skip key. There is no earth-shaking difference between the views, so it is hardly worth the effort unless you're an avid fan.

    The video is good but could have been a little better with more attention to the encoding.

    The audio tracks are excellent, with the Dolby Digital 5.1 track being the pick of the bunch.

    The documentary extra wasn't of such good quality and didn't really enhance the feature.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall