ZZ Top

Greatest Hits - The Video Collection

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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Music	Theatrical Trailer(s)	None
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Year Released	1992	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	50:39 minutes	Other Extras	Menu Animation
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Movie	Cast & Crew
Region	2,3,4,5,6	Director	Various
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision Australia	Starring	Billy Gibbons Dusty Hill Frank Beard a.k.a. ZZ TOP plus GIRLS
Case	Super Jewel Case	Starring
RRP	$39.95	Music	ZZ Top

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, 1536 Kb/s)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	1.33:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	Yes	Smoking	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Annoying Product Placement	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Action In or After Credits	No

Plot Synopsis

Okay, maybe I am not the most objective person you could find to review this particular DVD, but what the heck. This takes me back to the days when ZZ Top were the best thing around. I will always remember the awesome concert that I caught from them: they lip synched the whole damn thing, but who cared, it was pure spectacle. And I will admit that I for years had the old ZZ Top key ring jangling around in my pocket. This is a collection of ZZ Top music videos from the mid eighties mainly, that highlights how much at the forefront of music video the band was. Of course by then the videos were famous for two things - the car and the girls.

It has been quite a fair old while since I saw these videos, and it is great to return to them after so long, as they remind me how good this band were, with such great efforts as Gimme All Your Lovin', Legs, Sleeping Bag and Stages. A pity though that a few more videos were not added to the rather short length on offer, and that a few videos from the earlier part of their career, when they were really the epitome of Texas Blues, were not included.

Still, true fans of the band will need no persuasion to indulge in this stroll down the lane of those great albums like Eliminator.

Transfer Quality

Video

It bears repeating every time: one of the problems of video compilations like these is the distinct variability in the quality of the videos. It should always be borne in mind that these were shot for essentially promotional use on television, and range to well over ten years old in age.

The videos are presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Despite the variability in the quality, overall the videos are quite decent in standard, albeit generally very soft in definition. In some cases this was how they were made, in others it is simply a matter of the vagaries of time. Naturally any problems are inherent in the source material and are not a DVD problem. Detail in general is only average, and none of the videos except for the two most recent efforts (Burger Man and Viva Las Vegas) are what you would call clear. A couple of the videos were quite grainy, most notably Sharp Dressed Man, not by original design if I remember correctly. There did not seem to be any problems with low level noise.

The colours come up very variable in the videos, and apart from the Viva Las Vegas effort, none are particularly vibrant. In general the colours are a little muted, tending to washed out in a few videos. From my recollection, the videos were quite bright and colourful, so I would suspect that the problem here is degradation of the source material. There was no hint of oversaturation in any of the videos.

There did not appear to be any significant MPEG artefacts in the transfer, nor were there any significant film-to-video artefacts - apart from some minor aliasing in Stages. There were a few film artefacts present but nothing overly distracting.

Audio

There is just the one English audio track on the DVD, being a Linear PCM 48/16 soundtrack.

The music and vocals came up very well in the soundtrack.

Audio sync did not appear to be a DVD problem.

The soundtrack makes no use of the surround channels, nor the bass channel, and this is very much like listening to a compact disc, but with visuals as well. Overall though, cranked up a little, this really rocks along and it is only when listening to more recent efforts with full 5.1 soundtracks do you really miss the presence of such a soundtrack here.

Extras

Not much at all, and the menu animation is stretching things a little.

R4 vs R1

This does not yet appear to have been released in Region 1.

Summary

Okay, I love the band and I still have some memorabilia floating around the house from those heady days of the eighties. So I have no reason to complain about the appearance of this DVD from a personal point of view. However, for the non-fan there is not much to entice here, given a $40 price tag for 50 minutes of music and video. I really wish this had a half dozen or so more videos included for then it would have been a far more attractive proposition dollar wise. And it would further help if the booklet was used for something more than just advertising other DVDs.

A not so inconsistent collection of video transfers.

A good audio transfer.

A virtually non-existent extras package.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment

DVD	Pioneer DV-515; S-video output
Display	Sony Trinitron Wega 84cm. 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 EXLR; and subwoofer ES-12XL