Neil Young-Red Rocks Live (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Main Menu Audio DVD-ROM Extras-Web Link, Wallpaper, Screensaver Gallery-Photo
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	120:57 (Case: 122)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (58:27)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	L.A. Johnson
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Neil Young Ben Keith Spooner Oldham Donald "Duck" Dunn Jim Keltner Astrid Young Pegi Young
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$39.95	Music	Neil Young

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 (1536Kb/s) English dts 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    I myself have only become a fan of his work relatively recently, so I was looking forward to the prospect of checking out a live show in the next best way to being there: on a dts encoded DVD. Recorded over two nights (September 19 and 20, 2000) at Red Rocks, Colorado, the set list contained a number of songs that were unfamiliar to me, as well as a few that I know well.

    As usual, Neil Young has surrounded himself with some excellent musicians (including his wife and sister on backing vocals). They move through the set list (which is something of a walk-through of his career) as if they had been doing it with him from the beginning, despite the interruption of howling winds and torrential rain. Each is excellent on their particular instrument, in particular pedal steel player Ben Keith (who unfortunately isn't really featured at all in the footage), and together they put on an excellent showcase of themselves and the songs of a great singer/songwriter.

    This DVD is thus essential viewing for any fans of Neil Young, and would also be good for anyone that has been curious to give him a listen to see what the fuss has been all about.

Video

     I was impressed at the level of sharpness on display: this is probably as good as I have ever seen a video source turn up on DVD. There was no low level noise to be seen, and shadow detail was very good bearing in mind the extremely stark nature of stage lighting. The only time that I noticed a little grain was in the opening scene where the cameras follow some patrons along a dark pathway to the concert venue.

    The representation of the colour palette was only limited by the video medium upon which the concert was recorded. Although the colours weren't as warm as film would have been, they were still represented well, and as with the transfer overall, this aspect was as good as I've seen any video transfer to DVD.

    Impressively, I spotted no MPEG artefacts or film artefacts whatsoever: the dual layer formatting allowed a healthy video bitrate despite the presence of the three sound tracks. There were, though, some mild instances of film to video artefacts, namely some aliasing. This occurred on the bass guitar strings (5:56, 22:30, 33:00, 44:35) on the xylophone (13:14, 30:00, 56:55) on the keyboard (13:34) and on a guitar (50:49, 52:14).

    This DVD is RSDLformatted, with the layer change placed between Chapters 12 and 13 at 58:27. It is placed between songs, and thus is hardly distracting to the flow of the concert.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The first thing to note was that I didn't detect any specific defects in any of the tracks, and audio sync was not a problem. I thought that I detected some problems, but with some investigation I realized that this was the effect of the wind and rain which buffeted the stage, particularly towards the end of the set.

    The Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 track displayed excellent clarity, and a nice, wide soundstage. The sound was full and rich, and exceeded the quality of any CD recording I've heard through my system, live or otherwise. There was no action from the surrounds or the subwoofer with this track, but as I've said, the sound was nonetheless rich and full, and the absence of the subwoofer went almost unnoticed by me.

    The first thing that struck me about the default Dolby Digital 5.1 track was that it was a little duller than the Linear PCM track. The surrounds were employed mainly for crowd sounds, and a little echo of the music, as well as for a little more from the backing singers. One problem, though, was the use of the subwoofer to enhance the bass. It sounded a little unnatural: this was especially so with the bass drum, which seemed to thud a little too loudly for my liking. Overall, it probably enhanced the viewing experience by making it more enveloping, but from a pure sound quality perspective, the Linear PCM track is preferred.

    For me, the dts track provided the best of both worlds. Firstly, it restored the brightness of the Linear  PCM track that was lacking in the Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Secondly, the bass wasn't as thumping, but rather, it was crisp and smooth, and more tightly integrated with the balance of the sound. And thirdly, the sounds emanating from the surrounds were a little more natural than the straight echo from the Dolby Digital 5.1. As would occur if the viewer was there, the reflected sounds emphasized the upper frequencies a little more than the lower, resulting in a more enveloping experience. There was not a huge difference between the Dolby Digital 5.1 and dts tracks, but it was nonetheless quite noticeable, and hence significant.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

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DVD ROM Features

Video
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Extras
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Overall