The UK Garage Project (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Booklet CD Menu Animation & Audio DVD-ROM Extras-Web Links; Photo Gallery
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	95:59 (Case: 169)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Audio Format Select Then Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	None Given
Case	Scanavo-Transparent-Dual
RPI	$49.95	Music	None Given

    The UK Garage Project is a DVD and CD collection that showcases UK garage dance music.

    The DVD is divided into two different sections with different DJs that may be played individually or in series. The main section (68:30) is presented by Masterstepz and is filmed in the UK. The second section (27:29) is presented by Bobby & Steve and is filmed in the US in what appears to be Miami. Both sections have footage from inside clubs, in the studio, computer generated images and scenes from the relevant cities. This footage is then cut and looped in time with the music. Unfortunately, I did not find that this video mixing was very effective and felt it did not fit with the provided audio.

    In addition to the DVD, a separate CD is also included in this pack. This disc is presented by Mike 'Ruff Cut' Lloyd and I found this content to be more enjoyable than that provided on the DVD. The DVD cover displays a DVD+CD logo that is normally used to indicate a double sided disc with one side being a DVD and the second side a CD audio disc. This is obviously not the case, and may be a little confusing to potential purchasers.

    I should also note that the 2 disc packaging that is used is extremely hard to carefully remove the discs from. There seems to be no easy way to free the disc and a high level of force must be applied to the inner ring of the disc. Luckily the slick fits into other standard cases so you may change the case type if you plan to view these discs a lot.

    If you are a fan of UK garage, you may find the audio mix quite enjoyable but I feel that the video provided will leave you a little disappointed.

Video

    The full frame transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is acceptably sharp throughout and appears to have originated from a high quality video source. No low level noise was detected during the transfer. During most of the dark club footage, poor shadow detail was visible but this was not distracting to the viewer.

    The colours displayed during the club footage contained large amount of blue and red but at no stage during the transfer was any bleeding or any other colour problems detected.

    Numerous MPEG artefacts were visible throughout the transfer. This became a major problem with this transfer, as minor artefacts were visible in nearly every scene. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen during the UK footage at 0:34, 0:49, 2:42, 10:21, 24:00 and 32:05. These problems were quite distracting.

    A minor instance of aliasing was seen at 19:51 during the UK footage but this was not distracting.

    No film artefacts were detected during the transfer.

    No subtitles are provided on this disc.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The small amount of dialogue was always clear and easy to understand. No problems with audio sync or dropouts were detected during the transfer.

    The 5.1 mix is focused across the front three channels with the surrounds only used to fill out the soundfield.

    As you would expect, the subwoofer is used extensively at various points during the transfer.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Audio CD (73:38)

    This 20 track audio CD is presented by Mike 'Ruff Cut' Lloyd and contains a different selection of tracks than those included on the DVD.

Booklet

    This 10 page booklet contains a very short history of UK garage, DJ and MC profiles and a complete track listing. The information included is very brief but may be of interest to some viewers.

DVD-ROM Content

    This is a short Flash presentation, for both Windows and MacOS based systems, has two web site links and displays a slide show with eight low resolution images. These images appear to just be stills from the main footage and will not be missed if you do not have access to a DVD-ROM.

    I was unable to find any details on the R1 release of this disc but as it was produced in the UK I would be surprised it there were any differences between versions. As the Region 1 version appears to be difficult to obtain, my preference would be for the local version of this disc.

    If you are a fan of UK garage you may enjoy this disc but I feel that when compared to a CD, some of the major advantages of the DVD format such as multi-channel audio and visuals are not effectively utilized on this disc.

    Even without the numerous MPEG artefacts present, I feel that the video presented on this disc would disappoint many viewers, but luckily the main focus of this disc is the audio tracks.

    The very average 2.0 mixes are improved by the inclusion of 5.1 mixes, but even these tracks are not particularly impressive.

    The only significant extra is the CD by Mike 'Ruff Cut' Lloyd, which I actually found to be more enjoyable than the material presented on the DVD and a welcome inclusion.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall