The Up in Smoke Tour (Warner Vision) (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Main Menu Audio & Animation Trailer Featurette-Clownin' Featurette-Snoop Love Featurette-Get That Camera Featurette-Fans Featurette-Detroit Controversy Featurette-Proof Freestyle Featurette-Crew Gallery-Photo
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	119:46 (Case: 150)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (74:55)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Philip G. Atwell
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Ice Cube Eminem Dr. Dre Snoop Dogg
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$39.95	Music	Ice Cube Snoop Dogg Dr. Dre

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, during closing credits

    This concert series was a major success, and experienced none of the violence or security problems that many people had predicted. In response to this success, a follow-up tour is planned.

    I will admit that I am not a real fan of hip hop but this turned out to be an advantage when viewing this disc. If I had been a real fan, I would have been even more disappointed with the video and audio presentation on this disc. Due to the problems with the transfer outlined below, I cannot recommend this disc.

Video

    The feature is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78: and is not 16x9 enhanced. The packaging does mention 16:9, but this obviously refers only to the aspect ratio and not to any 16x9 enhancement. The closing titles are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and are most likely a full frame transfer.

    Sharpness is acceptable during the transfer with the picture looking slightly soft on only a few occasions. Shadow detail is quite poor with little detail discernible in the poorly lit crowd scenes. An example of the poor shadow detail can be seen at 95:50 during a conversation with the crowd. The transfer has constant problems with low level noise, which is visible in the majority of scenes.

    Colours appear to be accurate during the transfer and are never oversaturated.

    There are constant MPEG artefacts during the transfer and it would be hard to find a two minute interval in which they did not occur. Most scenes exhibit some level of macro blocking which is highly distracting for the viewer. These artefacts appear so regularly that I stopped recording them after the first twenty minutes, but examples can be clearly seen at 3:15, 4:25, 5:12, 5:45, and 6:28 or during any other segment of the transfer.

    Aliasing is also a major problem during this transfer, with occurrences in nearly every scene. As with the MPEG encoding artefacts, I gave up recording these after the first twenty minutes. Examples can be seen at all stages during the performance but specific examples can be seen at 10:30, 10:58, 13:37 and 17:50.

    While a small amount of film grain is present, it is usually overpowered by macro-blocking and is therefore not really a problem. Surprisingly, film artefacts are extremely rare during this transfer.

    During a video segment that occurs during Chapters 15 and 16, there are a number of moiré artefacts that can be seen at 47:20. There is also some dot crawl present in this segment at 48:55.

    The layer change occurs at 74:55 during the introduction of a song and is quite disruptive. It could have been easily placed at a natural break two minutes earlier between backstage footage and the concert.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The disc features a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded track in addition to the default Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. I listened primarily to the 5.1 mix but also extensively sampled the 2.0 surround mix. Of the two choices, the 5.1 mix is preferable as it has better bass and better use of the surround channels but the problems detailed below are present on both mixes. The 5.1 track is recorded at a level approximately 10db higher than the 2.0 mix.

    The dialogue quality of the transfer is extremely poor and in many segments it sounds as if the lyrics had been recorded with a Dictaphone in the audience. The volume of the dialogue on stage as well as during the backstage segments is often very low and of poor quality.

    Audio sync poses a little problem with it appearing to be slightly out on a number of occasions. As this is a presentation of a large concert performance, this is not highly distracting at any stage. There are no actual dropouts of audio during the transfer but at 22:30 the recording from a microphone drops out and the dialogue becomes very hard to hear.

    The surround channels are used throughout the performance for audience noise as well as various backing instruments. As very few instruments are played live during the performances, the quality of these pre-recorded instruments is generally much higher than the live vocals. It has also allowed the instruments to be mixed into the rear channels easily during post production. Various instruments such as keyboards and scratching can be heard mixed to the rear. This is slightly distracting as it emphasizes the poor quality of the rest of the mix. The sub channel is used extensively during the performance as you would expect.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Trailer (6:06)

Featurettes

Featurette - Clownin' (0:44)

Featurette - Snoop Love (1:33)

Featurette - Get That Camera (1:06)

Featurette - Fans (1:34)

Featurette - Detroit Controversy (11:42)

Featurette - Proof Freestyle (1:25)

Featurette - Crew (10:42)

Photo Gallery

• Nothing

• 1.78:1 aspect ratio
• Featurettes
• Trailer
• Photo Gallery

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall