DVD Fireplace (PAL) (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Screensaver	Interviews-Crew-Mark Denning (Director) Gallery-Photo Featurette-The First Flame Trailer-DVD Aquarium
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	20:00
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Mark Denning
Studio Distributor	Holborne Australasia	Starring	None Given
Case	Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

    Plot Synopsis, mmm let's see. Take a fireplace, combine a flame, some fuel, and air and we have a fire. It burns. That's the plot. I must admit that the only reason that I selected this title for review was to determine exactly why anybody would actually make a disc like this, let alone buy it.

    DVD Fireplace is a screensaver disc that provides you with the opportunity to simulate a real log fire on your television. Put this on in the background and your whole house will suddenly become warmer. OK, so I'm stretching the truth a bit there. You have a choice of three fires to select from. The first two, Roaring Log and Ambient Embers are presented in 1.33:1. The third choice is an anamorphic widescreen Roaring Log fire presented at 1.78:1. All fires run for approximately 20 minutes before looping around to begin again. There isn't a huge amount of log burn in the two roaring log fires so it isn't too obvious when the video restarts. The ambient embers are even less obvious.

    Oh, and as a real plot spoiler - the log gets it in the end!

Video

    The usual analysis seems to be a bit of overkill for this type of title, but I guess it can't hurt.

    The transfer is presented in two aspect ratios; 1.33:1 and 1.78:1. The widescreen fire is 16x9 enhanced.
   
    Sharpness is difficult to determine from the video presented, but the logs and flames are serviceable. Shadow detail is fine. There appears to be no low level noise.

    Colours are limited to various fire shades of orange, red, and yellow, but these are nicely rendered with no oversaturation or bleeding. Black levels are nice and deep.

    There are no apparent MPEG or video artefacts present.

    There are no subtitles available.

Audio

    Each fire comes with a choice of two soundtracks. You can have the real fireplace sound of popping and crackling of the wood or a piano melody. They are both presented in Dolby Digital 2.0.

    There is obviously no dialogue and there are no audio sync problems.
   
    There are three separate piano pieces that accompany each of the different fires. There is no choice of track - each fire has its own melody.

    Obviously there is no surround or sub use.

Crew Interviews

    A tongue-in-cheek interview with the Director, Mark Denning (a very loose title - exactly how you direct a flame is anyone's guess). Presented Full Frame, it is obviously not 16x9 enhanced and comes with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. It runs for a total of 4:20 minutes and provides an insight into his passion for fire and the search for the elusive perfect flame.

Gallery-Photo

    Six photos of the crew setting up to film the fireplace.

Featurette - The First Flame

    I'd use the term featurette very loosely here. Shows 30 seconds of footage that barely moves, supposedly filmed on a Super 8 camera of a flickering candle. Has a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack featuring the sound of a Super 8 projector.

Trailer

    A trailer for the other DVD Productions title, DVD Aquarium. Runs for 41 secs and is presented Full Frame and in Dolby Digital 2.0.

    Despite being a multi-region disc, I can't seem to find any reference to it for sale anywhere else.

    I'm still no closer to working out why anybody would actually purchase a disc like this. It's fun, but at the price being asked, I think a little more value could have been included.

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