AC/DC-No Bull (1996)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Main Menu Audio & Animation Music Video-Hard As A Rock (4:29) Featurette-The Making Of Hard As A Rock (16:56) Menu Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	1996
Running Time	121:59
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (81:36)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	David Mallet
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Angus Young Malcolm Young Cliff Williams Phil Rudd
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$39.95	Music	AC/DC

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.0 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The track listing of the concert is as follows:
 

    This was an excellent mix of old and new. Many of the songs came across as live versions of album tracks. Tracks like Boogie Man and Let There Be Rock really stood out as examples of what gives this band such huge worldwide appeal. The crowd really gets into the show (as did I) making this a really fun disc to review.

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1. It is not 16x9 enhanced.

    Sharpness is generally good but blurring is quite common, more due to artistic licence (and choice of camera angle) than faulty processing. Shadow detail and low level noise are also generally good. Blacks are mostly solid but with the rapid chopping and changing, interspersed with differing lighting conditions, it is often hard to be totally objective. Sometimes the blacks look positively grey and in the very next shot, pristine. Grain was minimal.

    Probably the hardest aspect to review was the colour. The lighting tended to cause oversaturation in some shots, yet others were simply spectacular (the long shots of the crowd from the back of the stage are magnificent). Again, because of the editing, there was no way to 'nail down' any single instance without being pedantic. There was heavy chroma noise whenever predominately blue or red lighting was used - the introduction with the wrecking ball was a prime example.

    There were no MPEG artefacts visible in the transfer. I saw no visible aliasing, although there were a few film artefacts, mainly slight marks on the print or fine flecks of missing emulsion. Most of these were nearly invisible - I never actually noticed them until watching in slow motion, which of itself speaks volumes. The transfer was very clean and no edge enhancement was used.

    There is a good selection of subtitles available. Apart from the standard English there are Italian, French, Spanish and Dutch subtitles available. These subtitles are also available for the "Making Of" extra. The subtitles for the concert come in two formats; the song lyrics only and a second set including dialogue. They are easily readable.

    The disc is RSDL formatted with the layer change occurring at 81:36, at the end of You Shook Me All Night Long. The change was very noticeable (about 1 second) but was reasonably placed all things considered.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    Brian Johnson's vocals are sharp and clean (but given his singing voice I challenge anyone to understand a single word he sings at the best of times!). The 'between tracks' dialogue is quite clear. Audio sync was not an issue.

    The Dolby Digital 5.0 track is fundamentally two channel audio with a bitrate of 448Kb/s. It sounds almost monaural in quality. The audio is 'sliced' up into 5 channels meaning there is a lack of any true surround sound, although it does give the music an excellent enveloping quality.

    I also listened to the Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. There is at least a 10db difference between the tracks, with the Dolby Digital 5.0 having the louder sound level. You will need to pump up the volume a little if you choose to listen to the 2.0 track. The lack of rear speaker activity means there isn't the same envelope of sound present, but the clarity is the same on both tracks so if you don't own a surround sound system you won't lose out too much. Naturally, I preferred the Dolby Digital 5.0 soundtrack.

    The lack of any subwoofer activity is probably the biggest letdown. Given that AC/DC is a heavy rock band and have a thumping beat to their music, a dedicated subwoofer channel was sorely missed.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    Navigation of the menus is simple and straightforward. There are 4 options; The Concert, Lyrics / Captions, Audio and Special Features. Each subsequent sub-menu has a different static picture with music overlaid (no animation).

Hard As A Rock - Music Video (4:29)

Making of "Hard As A Rock" (16:56)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall