Van Halen

Video Hits Volume 1


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Details At A Glance

General
Extras
Category Music Theatrical Trailer(s) None
Rating Other Trailer(s) None
Year Released 1999 Commentary Tracks None
Running Time 65:37 minutes Other Extras None
RSDL/Flipper No
Cast & Crew
Start Up Movie
Region 2,3,4,5,6 Director  
Studio
Distributor

Warner Vision Australia
Starring  
RRP $39.95 Music Van Halen
 
Video
Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame MPEG None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None Dolby Digital None
16x9 Enhancement No Soundtrack Languages English (Linear PCM 48/16 2.0, 1536 Kb/s)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio 1.33:1
Miscellaneous
Macrovision Yes Smoking No
Subtitles None Annoying Product Placement N/A
Action In or After Credits N/A

Plot Synopsis

    I have only every had a passing interest in Van Halen, though as a youngster I fondly remember the energetic performances of David Lee Roth. He of course left and went on to a successful if short-lived solo career, though Van Halen continued with a raft of great songs. This DVD brings back those memories for me, and Jump is certainly in my short-list of favourite songs ever. If you are a fan, you will surely love this disc because the video is solid, the audio is excellent and some of the music rocks.

    The songlist is: Jump, Panama, Hot For Teacher, When It's Love, Finish What Ya Started, Poundcake, Runaround, Right Now, Dreams, Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do), Can't Stop Lovin' You, Not Enough, Humans Being, Without You. Some good stuff here! I will also add that the packaging for these discs is excellent being a clear Super Jewel case with the a sleeve cover for all sides. I don't think we will ever see a common, uniform package for DVDs but if there was ever a contender, this would be a strong one alongside the clear Amaray case.

Transfer Quality

Video

    The quality of the video transfer starts off fairly average, and proceeds to be very good by the end. Certainly the collection is as good as we should expect given that these are video clips ranging from the early eighties up.

    The presentation is full frame, with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and it is not 16x9 enhanced.

    Sharpness and detail is lacking early on, and we must remember that we are starting from the early eighties and so the source material is the main culprit here. Things improve somewhat as time marches on, and on the whole the presentation is pleasing in this regard. Other than when purposeful, there was no low-level noise. Shadow detail is variable, but never problematic.

    The colours are at times slightly muted, and other times well rendered.

    At times there was a hint of MPEG artefacting, being some pixelization in low-contrast areas of the image. The clips are essentially very clean in terms of film artefacts, and there are no noticeable film-to-video artefacts.

Audio

    The audio is of very high quality and is most pleasing. Turn this one up and enjoy is my suggestion!

    One soundtrack here, being two-channel 16-bit Linear PCM recorded at 48kHz.

    There were occasional problems with audio sync during the early videos, though this is the fault of the source material and not the transfer.

    Now, the real reason you want this is for the high-quality audio - right! The video takes a back seat in my opinion, and turning that off lets you appreciate the very high-quality recording that is on this DVD; this is due to the high bit-rate afforded by Linear PCM, and it sounds every bit as good as CD, and is most pleasing.

    Crank this up, and the subwoofer will reward you.

Extras

    There are no extras on this disc.

Menu

    The static menu design is simple but effective, with no audio or animation enhancement, which is always a shame. Navigation is straight-forward.

R4 vs R1

    No differences here, so I would opt for the local version as always!

Summary

    Fans of Van Halen rejoice; grab this DVD and enjoy! There are some real gems here, even if you are not a huge fan.

    The video quality ranges from ordinary to quite good.

    The PCM audio is very nice indeed, and every bit as good as CD.

    No extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

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Extras  
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© Paul Cordingley
3rd January, 2000.
Review Equipment
   
DVD Panasonic A350A; S-Video output
Display Pioneer SD-T43W1 125cm Widescreen 16x9
Audio Decoder Internal Dolby Digital 5.1 (DVD Player)
Amplification Sony STRDE-525 5x100 watts Dolby Pro-Logic / 5.1 Ready Receiver; 4 x Optimus 10-band Graphic EQ
Speakers Centre: Sony SS-CN35 100 watt; Main & Surrounds: Pioneer CS-R390-K 150-watt floorstanders; Subwoofer: Optimus 100-watt passive