Rage Against the Machine-Rage Against the Machine (1997) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Notes-Reading List Notes-Contacts Audio-Only Track-The Ghost Of Tom Joad
Rating	?
Year Of Production	1997
Running Time	78:34
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Sony Music	Starring	Zack De La Rocha Tim Bob Brad Wilk Tom Morello
Case	Amaray-Opaque
RPI	$34.95	Music	Rage Against The Machine

    Rage is a band from Los Angeles, California who have been producing music since 1992. The band is known for their politically conscious songs where they express their leftist views. Rage is also known for their support of various political and social organizations who also try to raise awareness of political oppression, censorship and numerous civil rights issues.

    The disc comprises approximately one hour of live footage from four different concerts, followed by six uncensored video clips. The addition of the video clips is a nice touch, given the limited amount of live material on this DVD.

Video

    The NTSC full frame transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. It is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is quite soft throughout and often looks similar to an old VHS image. The video clips towards the end of the disc exhibit higher levels of sharpness but at no stage does the transfer display the levels of detail that we can expect from DVD. During the live concert footage, low level noise is obvious during many scenes but I believe this to be intentional. Shadow detail is quite poor for the transfer due to the poor lighting and video source materials.

    The colours displayed in the transfer are rather muted but are suitable for the rough-looking transfer.

    Numerous MPEG artefacts, mainly macro blocking, are visible during the transfer with many of these intentionally placed. In addition to the intentional artefacts there are a number of occasions when artefacts are visible that would presumably be unintentional. Gibb effect artefacts can be seen at a couple of points in the transfer, most notably around titles at 61:16, 64:27 and the final titles from 76:18.

    Aliasing occurs at a few points in the transfer with examples visible at 24:08, 37:17 and 70:29 but at no stage is this distracting to the viewer.

    Constant film artefacts are present during the transfer but these appear to be all intentionally placed. If genuine film artefacts are present, they cannot be detected in the transfer.

    During the introductory graphics at 0:10 some dot crawl can be seen around the logo but further occurrences of this are not apparent. Two analogue tape errors can be seen at 62:35 and 65:44 lasting only a single frame and not disruptive to the viewer.

    The single subtitle track includes lyrics for the songs as well as the introductions by the band. This is quite helpful as the subtitles also include the lyrics sung by the crowd which are often difficult to hear. Lyrics are not included for both the live and music video versions of Killing In The Name and Zapata's Blood - no reason is given for their omission.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The lyrics are easily understood during the live performances. On a few occasions, some song lines are performed by the audience and these can be quite difficult to hear. Luckily these lines are included in the subtitle track.

    The audio sync during the live performances exhibit no obvious sync problems at any stage. During the music videos there is some slight sync audio issues that are always present and expected with music videos. These slight sync problems are never distracting to the viewer. At no stage during the transfer were any dropouts detected in either audio track.

    The PCM track does not appear to contain any surround information. The 5.1 mix makes extensive use of the surround channels, using them for crowd noises as well as some instruments. This mix is quite effective and would be my preferred track for the live performances. The 5.1 mix for the music videos is mainly focused on the forward channels with an occasional obvious use of the surrounds. I did not find these mixes to be particularly effective and preferred the high quality PCM track during the videos.

    The sub is used constantly during the performances but at no stage does it draw attention to itself.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Notes: Recommended Readings

Notes: Contacts

Audio-Only Track

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall