Friends-Series 7-Volume 1-Episodes 1-4 (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	DVD-ROM Extras-Web Links Featurette-Extended Episodes (4)
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	171:23 (Case: 176)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Sided	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Kevin S. Bright Michael Lembeck Gary Halvorson David Schwimmer
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Jennifer Aniston Courtney Cox-Arquette Lisa Kudrow Matt LeBlanc Matthew Perry David Schwimmer
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$29.95	Music	Michael Skloff

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.0 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	None
16x9 Enhancement	No
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.33:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, each episode contains one last funny scene

    When I first took delivery of this disc, I noticed the note on the back saying "Extended Version Of Each Episode Available On Side B". I thought - great, this should be a nice change from the last few seasons' discs. How silly of me. The episodes have been extended by barely a few minutes which is a lot less than I had imagined. It amounts to one extra scene which is hardly noticeable or even missed for each episode. On top of that, Season 6 included 8 episodes per disc, and now you get 4 episodes for the same RPI, so where is the consumer's benefit in that?

    Friends is an American sitcom revolving around the lives of 6 close mates. It centres on the quirky habits of each character and is primarily filmed within the confines of their three apartments. Please see Michael's earlier review of Friends Series 1 - Volume 1 if you would like to read some background information on the main characters of the show.

    The episodes present on Side A of the disc are;

The One With Monica's Thunder (20:54) - Monica excitedly reveals the good news about her and Chandler's wedding engagement only to be upstaged by Ross and Rachel kissing in the hallway.

The One With Rachel's Book (20:55) - Monica is devastated when she discovers that her parents used her wedding fund to buy a beach house. Meanwhile, Joey discovers a book of erotic stories in one of the girls' bedroom. Phoebe gives Ross a massage he will not forget after he causes her to lose a client.

The One With Phoebe's Cookies (20:19) - Chandler's attempt to bond with his future father-in-law backfires when he mistakenly get "up-close-and-personal" in the sauna. Rachel tries to teach Joey how to sail. Monica tries to replicate Phoebe's grandmother's secret cookie recipe by deconstructing the last one in existence.

The One With Rachel's Assistant (20:55) - When Rachel is promoted, she considers hiring a young hunk as her assistant rather than someone that can actually do the job. Chandler, Monica and Ross have a session where they uproot their dark past and expose each other's personal secrets.

    The episodes present on Side B of the disc are;

The One With Monica's Thunder (22:23)

The One With Rachel's Book (23:50)

The One With Phoebe's Cookies (20:21)

The One With Rachel's Assistant (21:46)

Video

    The video transfers across all 8 episodes were of a similar quality and appearance.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and is therefore not 16x9 enhanced.

    This transfer contains more grain than the Series 6 collection, which was rather disappointing.

    Shadow detail is acceptable but most scenes are in brightly lit conditions making any possible problems less apparent. There is no detectable low level noise.

    The colours were bright and clear at all times throughout all 8 episodes. There were no irregularities with the colour rendition of this transfer.

    There were minor MPEG artefacts seen and as with the previous series it is most apparent on the hallway and apartment walls than in any other areas. The aliasing when it does occur is quite subtle and less noticeable than in previous episodes. I did not notice as many film artefacts in these episodes which was a nice change from Friends Series 6.

    Compared to previous Friends discs, there was a limited collection of subtitles with only two to choose from. The English subtitles that I checked appeared close to the spoken word but were not exact. The font size is quite small, most likely to fit some of the long lines on screen at the same time.

    This DVD is presented as a double-sided single-layered DVD and therefore there is no layer change. Instead, you have to leave your chair for a moment and flip the disc manually to see the other four episodes. Yet again, this disc continues the tradition of poor Friends disc labelling. I would like to see the Side A/B information printed more clearly on the disc.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The French Dolby Digital 2.0 track that appeared on the Series 6 DVDs has now disappeared. There is now only an English Dolby Digital 5.0 track, which is an upgrade from the Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtracks that has been included up until now.

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times and I detected no hiss during any of the episodes.

    The theme and background score was provided by Michael Skloff. The short little sound ditties played between scenes match the show well.

    The Dolby Digital 5.0 track was rather disappointing and I only noticed subtle differences between the previously-presented Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.0 tracks. It would have been nice if the mix used the 5 channels to full effect.

    The subwoofer was not used by the soundtrack at all.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu has had an overhaul since Series 6. Like the show, it is in Full Screen. It is easy to navigate. If you manually select a particular episode from the menu you are returned back to the menu after it has finished playing. If on the other hand you select the "Play" option on the menu then all 4 episodes are played on each side.

DVD-ROM Extras

    When the disc is loaded into a DVD-ROM, PC Friendly is loaded. Two extra menus are available that link to the "Friends Website" and the "Friends Events" site which is really the main Warner Brothers Events site for all of their products.

    I could not find any reference to an equivalent Region 1 version of this DVD. The only ones that I saw reference to were "Best Of" collection discs.

    As always, these episodes of Friends contain quite a few good laughs and make for some nice, light entertainment. It is a shame that you now get less episodes, though.

    The audio is now available in Dolby Digital 5.0 but was not much of an improvement over the 2.0 track presented on previous DVDs.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall