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Category | Music | Booklet
Main Menu Animation |
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Rating | |||
Year Released | 1997 | ||
Running Time | 87:11 minutes | ||
RSDL/Flipper | RSDL (47:19) |
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Start Up | Language Selection, then Menu | ||
Region | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Director | Bob Coles |
Distributor |
Sonart |
Starring | Maxim Vengerov
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Daniel Barenboim Placido Domingo |
Case | Super Jewel Case | ||
RPI | $39.95 | Music | Jean Sibelius
Manuel De Falla |
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Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Full Frame | Audio (Linear PCM 48/16 2.0, 1536
Kb/s)
Audio (Dolby Digital 2.0, 192 Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | No | ||
16x9 Enhancement | No | ||
Theatrical Aspect Ratio | 1.33:1 |
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Macrovision | ? | Smoking | No |
Subtitles | None | Annoying Product Placement | No |
Action In or After Credits | Yes |
The overall programme is certainly entertaining enough and represents a promising start to the Arthaus range in Region 4. The overall presentation is good and the transfer is in general also good, barring a consistent problem. If you enjoy classical music, and especially that of the early part of the twentieth century, then you probably cannot go too far wrong here.
The transfer is presented in Full Frame format and is not 16x9 enhanced.
Having seen a rather wide variation in the quality of classical music DVDs over the past eighteen months, the trepidation is just a little more heightened than if it were a movie I was about to watch. I need not have worried, as this is in general a good transfer that certainly cedes nothing in terms of quality to more experienced sources. This is a generally very sharp and detailed transfer that is marred only be one minor lapse in focus during the entire program. The depth of field here was also better than one would normally expect. The shadow detail is as good as I have seen in any classical DVD, and the interesting design of the Kolner Philharmonie where the performances were recorded is shown quite wonderfully. The transfer is very clear and completely free from grain. There are no low level noise problems with the transfer.
The overall colour palette is generally very good, although there is a little difference between the shots from in front of the stage when compared to the shots taken from the rear of the stage. The latter come over just a little too bright, and this is especially noticeable in the unnatural brightness of the music sheets. Other than that minor issue, since there are not too many shots from the rear of the stage, the only other issue is that the depth of the blacks could perhaps have been a little bit deeper. Overall though, there is a nice rich tone to the transfer that would seem to capture the feel of the venue very well indeed. There is no problem with oversaturation here, nor any issue with colour bleed.
There are no MPEG artefacts in the transfer. There is however a rather consistent, and ultimately mildly distracting, problem with aliasing. The usual culprits here are the violin strings, piano keys, flutes and the like which at no time really show any solidity. This is the biggest shame here, as it is a bit difficult to ignore the problem when there are a number of extreme close ups that really highlight the problem. Other than that, there was a bit of jitter in the image at around the 25:25 mark that was a little distracting. There was no problem with film artefacts in the transfer.
This is an RSDL
formatted disc with the layer change coming at 47:19.
This is a bit of a baffling location as it is just at the start of the
first movement of Nights In The Garden Of Spain and is just
a tad noticeable as there is a noticeable halt in the motion of Placido
Domingo starting the music. About one minute earlier was what amounted
to the intermission between the two main works, and had the layer change
been placed there it would have been completely unnoticeable.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain | |
Film-to-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
The music comes up very well in the transfer, as does the brief piece of dialogue from Maxim Vengerov introducing his first encore.
There is really not a whole lot to say about the
audio side of things on this DVD. Obviously there is no use of the rear
surround channels at all, nor any use of the bass channel. There does seem
to be some use of the front channels suggesting that this has been mixed
as a definite stereo effort. It sounds good, no matter how it was mixed,
although perhaps just missing a little in the way of clarity at the very
top end of the scale on some of the violin playing. It is completely free
from distortion. The only significant difference between the Dolby Digital
soundtrack and the Linear PCM soundtrack is the slightly more noticeable
stereo effect in the Dolby Digital soundtrack. The Linear PCM soundtrack
is a nice bright sounding effort that is entirely reminiscent of a decent
compact disc recording. I really found the overall sound to be very good
on the disc, irrespective of the soundtrack being listened to.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
© Ian Morris (have
a laugh, check out the bio)
18th October 2000
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DVD | Pioneer DV-515; S-video output |
Display | Sony Trinitron Wega 80cm. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
Audio Decoder | Built in |
Amplification | Yamaha RXV-795. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
Speakers | Energy Speakers: centre EXLC; left and right C-2; rears EXLR; and subwoofer ES-12XL |