Public Enemy-Live from House of Blues (1999)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Public Enemy-Architects Of Rap Audio Commentary-Chuck D (4) Outtakes Discography
Rating
Year Of Production	1999
Running Time	84:48
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (62:45)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Kerry Asmussen
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Chuck D Flavor Flav Professor Griff DJ Lord
Case	Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI	$39.95	Music	Public Enemy

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (1536Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.70:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Public Enemy Live From House Of Blues is, as the name suggests, a recording of a performance by the band for their US Poison tour at this Hollywood club, recorded on October 19, 1999.

    This performance features the group's front men Chuck D and Flavor Flav as well as Professor Griff and DJ Lord. They perform a number of tracks from their current album, There's a Poison Goin' On, as well as numerous signature tracks.

    There is not much that really needs to be said about this disc. The disc features an interesting collection of extras in addition to the enjoyable live performance. If you are a fan you should definitely add this disc to your collection.

Video

    The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.70:1 and is NOT 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is quite sharp throughout but some of the crowd footage appears a little softer due to the poor lighting. No low level noise was detected during the transfer. The shadow detail displayed is acceptable throughout with a reasonable level of detail visible in the crowd and off-stage shots.

    The colours displayed during the transfer are well saturated and accurately reproduced. The crowd shots often consists of high levels of blue, red and yellow due to the lighting design.

    Some minimal MPEG artefacts may be seen during the crowd scenes with examples visible at 6:52, 6:59, 62:09, 62:56 and 63:05. These artefacts are quite minimal and are not disruptive to the viewer.

    Some minimal instances of aliasing may also be seen during the transfer. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 13:42, 58:23 and 58:52. Each of these artefacts is quite small and only minimally distracting. Two instances of moiré artefacts may be seen at 12:23 and 12:35.

    As this performance was shot on video tape, there are no film artefacts visible during this transfer.

    No subtitles are included on this disc.

    The layer change occurs at 62:45 at the start of Chapter 19 and as this is between songs, the change is only minimally distracting to the viewer.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The lyrics are clear and easy to understand at all times.

    No dropouts or problems with audio sync were detected during the transfer.

    The surround mix is quite enveloping but the rear channels are often used to simply reproduce much of the front channel material at a lower volume, resulting in the lyrics being heard from the surrounds. I personally would have preferred a mix more front-focused with the surrounds used for crowd noises and audience responses, but I am sure that this mix will appeal to many listeners.

    Each of the mixes include a significant amount of low frequency information that is often only distributed to the main channels. Despite this, the subwoofer channel is also used extensively.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The animated menu is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Featurette: Architects of Rap (19:37)

    This is an interesting featurette with Chuck D describing how the group was formed and visiting locations from their early beginnings. This featurette is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is NOT 16x9 enhanced. Surprisingly this featurette provides the same audio choices as the main feature, with a dts and Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 mixes.

Chuck D Commentary

    Chuck D provides and interesting commentary for the following selection of songs: Give It Up (2:20), Rebel Without a Pause (3:50), Fight The Power (3:47) and Do You Want To Go Our Way (3:28). During each commentary, Chuck describes how the track was written and why they position the track at certain places in their performance set. These comments are quite interesting and I am sure that a feature length commentary would have been appreciated by fans. These clips are presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and are NOT 16x9 enhanced. A dts track and two identical Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks are provided for these tracks.

Outtakes

    This is a collection of three short clips with the band talking to the audience that were removed from the main feature. The clips are all provided with three identical Dolby Digital 2.0 mixes and are presented at a non 16x9 enhanced aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The following clips are included: Meet Public Enemy (2:49), Flav On OJ (5:40) and Are You A Shot Caller (1:25).

Public Enemy Releases

    This is a single page showing small images of eight Def Jam Public Enemy releases. No further information, such as a discography, is included.

    Both versions of this DVD appear to be identical and I therefore would have no preference for either version.

    Public Enemy: Live From House Of Blues is an entertaining live performance that should appeal to all fans of the band.

    The video transfer is generally of high quality but is let down by the lack of 16x9 enhancement.

    The inclusion of the dts, Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 mixes should satisfy all viewers.

    An interesting collection of extras is provided on this disc and should be enjoyed by fans.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall