34 replies to this topic

[MichaelCPE]

Finally, the Pink Floyd DVD, Pulse, is released.

This is the DVD of a Pink Floyd concert from 1994. It was previously available on VHS.

I bought my copy of the DVD from JB for $24.

It is a two disc set. Disc one has the first half of the concert, and extras. Disc two the second half, and extras.

The back of the DVD says that the total time is 4 hours, incuding the 145 minutes of concert.

So far I have only played the concert on disc one.

The picture is 4:3. This is the original aspect ratio. If the DVD had zoomed in and given us a 16:9 picture, we would often miss things from the top and bottom. So this is one reason why 4:3 is appropriate.

The picture is extremely noisy. It looks like an old video which has been fixed up. It is.

This concert would be extremely spectacular if the picture was really crisp. Unfortunately no such picture exists. All they could do was fix up the old video. It is still exciting to look at, but I have become so accustomed to excellent pictures from DVD that it was always noticable that the video quality is not up to today's standards.

As the 4:3 picture is so noisy, if they had zoomed the picture to fill the 16:9 screen the picture would have been even worse. So this is the other good reason we have a 4:3 picture.

There are three audio tracks, Dolby Digital 2.0, Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 kbps (the default), and Dolby Digital 5.1 at 640 kbps. The booklet advises "We make no guarantee on compatibility with earlier players".

Unfortunately my 4.5 year old Onkyo 797 AV Receiver could not decode the 640 kbps audio. More suprisingly (and dissapointingly) my 2 month old Pioneer 989 DVD player also could not decode the 640 kbps stream.

So I can only listen to the 448 kbps audio.

The surround works very well. Pink Floyd used surround at their concerts, so some of the effects going around the room, or just at the rear, recreates the concert sound.

Unlike the concert (I suspect) the rears are also used for some of the wash sounds such as some keyboards.

There is good separation of the parts, and each is usually easy to hear. Vocal are clear (and all mainly come from the left and right speakers (ie not the centre)).

I thought the audio quality very good, but not outstanding (but perhaps this is because my definition of outstanding has been set by DVD-Audio and SACD).

I felt that the peformance in the first half suffered a bit from the "play well and get it right because we are being filmed" syndrome. So it was slightly dead.

The songs from A Momentary Lapse of Reason, and The Division Bell (which make up most of the first half) are, in my opinion, not the best Pink Floyd songs. So for me the best bits of disc one were the Shine On You Crazy Diamond opening, and the Another Brick In The Wall and One Of These Days closing tracks.

I shall post more as I view the rest of the package.

Cheers,
Michael

PS Now that this is the DTV forum (and not part of DBA), there should be a DVD and Music Review section.

[wheelz]

MichaelCPE, on Jul 11 2006, 01:36 PM, said:

The picture is 4:3. This is the original aspect ratio. If the DVD had zoomed in and given us a 16:9 picture, we would often miss things from the top and bottom. So this is one reason why 4:3 is appropriate.



PS Now that this is the DTV forum (and not part of DBA), there should be a DVD and Music Review section.

Micheal the dvd is zoomed in to fill a 16;9 screen and there has always been a thread for music dvd reviews

http://www.dtvforum....showtopic=14928

[MichaelCPE]

I know that there has always been a thread for Music DVD reviews.

I thought there would be enough interest in this release for its own thread. If you do not like Pink Floyd it is easy to skip, and if you like Pink Floyd, and want to find out about this DVD in the future, you do not need to look through 25 pages of the Music DVD thread just to find the info on Pulse.

As I said above, now that this is no longer the DBA forum, there should be a topic on DVD reviews.

Having just watched all the concert footage, I am certain that it is all 4:3. The back of the DVD cover says "Original 4:3 aspect ratio".

I have now watched part two of the concert (on disc two).

Musically this is much more interesting (for me). It starts with all of Dark Side Of The Moon. The surround works very well. No big surpises if you are familiar with the surround recordings. If you are not, you are in for a treat.

The concert concludes with the songs Wish You Were Here, Comfortably Numb, and finally Run Like Hell.

It continued to feel a bit dull, so in the end I turned the treble up a bit.

The DVD does not really bring out the improvisation that they did during some of the numbers. For example, Comfortably Numb runs for 9:13. When they performed this in Melbourne in 1988 it ran for 10:27. The improvisation in the middle of Money has also had better nights.

Run Like Hell brought back very fond memories. In Melbourne I was only about 8 metres away from David Gilmour when he played this. In Melbourne it was a real show ender. On the DVD it is, like the rest of the DVD, too tame.

Even before viewing the extras, I am pleased I bought the DVD. It is a pity that the picture is so noisy, and that the performance is a bit tame. But it is great to have a visual record of this concert, and it is probably the best this will ever look.

What I am really looking foward to is the DVD of the recent London concert by Dave Gilmour. The first half includes most of On An Island, and I enjoy the live versions of this more than the Momentary Lapse of Reason etc stuff. The second half of his recent concerts has lots of old Floyd stuff which comes off very well.

How for the extras.

[wheelz]

Micheal i know the dvd is filmed in 4:3 but it is enhanced to fill the 16:9 screen infact watching on a widescreen tv the pic is squashed and people are fat(very annoying).

"I thought there would be enough interest in this release for its own thread."
If you look in the off topic section at the bottom of the main menu you will find there is a pulse thread  

[MichaelCPE]

I have just watched the DVD. There is a big round screen in many of the shots. In 4:3 this was round. Dave did not look slim, but I think that is a food intake problem for him rather than a DVD fault of mine.

And, as I said, the back of the DVD says "Original 4:3 aspect ratio". Further down it says "Steroe.Colur.Aspect Ration 4:3"

The concert of Pulse is presented in 4:3 on DVD.

I just discovered the other thread on Pulse in the Off Topic section as well. Which just goes to show the problem we have when there is no clear place for DVD reviews. (The other big confusion is that PVRs are more talked about in the STB thread than the Hard Drive thread.)

[MichaelCPE]

I have now watched the extras.

Bootlegging the Bootleggers, on disc 1, is 21 minutes of amateur filmed concert of songs not included in the main concert. Of course the video quality is much worse than the main concert, and the audience hand held cameras are often shaky.

The big surprise, for me, was that many cameras were used, and it has been edited together very well.

The sound is not too bad.

I felt that some of the solos had a bit more umph than we got with the main concert.

The next extra is the Screen Films. These are the films that were shown on the round screne during the concert. And they appear in a circle on the DVD. As this part of the DVD is sourced from film, the quality leaps out at you. And most of it is worth watching.

The music for the screen films is the concert soundtrack. We only get the parts of the songs where the films were shown. The Screen Films for each half of the concert are on the same disc which has that concert part.

Be warned that if you do Play All for the Screen Films on disc two, you do not get the Alternative versions.

There are two videos included - Learning to Fly, and Take it Back. Learning To Fly has a great audio surprise half way through.

The other extras are not that great, but worth watching once.

The photos are rather boring, but they have a great ambient surround soundscape which is lots of fun.

For me this is not the perfect Pink Floyd release. The concert video is not great quality, and the playing is missing some energy. Perhaps it will seem better on my second viewing.

Even so, it is recommend for Pink Floyd fans.

[wheelz]

MichaelCPE, on Jul 11 2006, 08:15 PM, said:

For me this is not the perfect Pink Floyd release. The concert video is not great quality, and the playing is missing some energy. Perhaps it will seem better on my second viewing.

Even so, it is recommend for Pink Floyd fans.

Good review micheal and i totally agree with the above statement

[holo]

Great review. I am a fan and whilst I recognise some of the short comings you mention, I will still have to buy it

Thanks for the review.

[Dlite]

Just for the record my Denon 2900 would not do the 640k stream either.

Well worth the $24.

[holo]

just read Syd Barrett has died read here

[norseman]

Dlite, on Jul 12 2006, 07:54 AM, said:

Just for the record my Denon 2900 would not do the 640k stream either.

Well worth the $24.

The Denon 1920 will play the 640K DD audio. The SQ is excellent taking this into account. My sub woofer was really getting a workout in parts and the use of surround is very appropriately done.

I had a most enjoyable night watching this performance. Dave Gilmour is just a joy to watch. He makes it look so easy.

Sure the PQ is about 3/5 and the ratio is 4:3, but this DVD is a must have for anyone who appreciates this style of music.

I just wish I could have attended that concert.

[AdrianW]

wheelz, on Jul 11 2006, 03:35 PM, said:

Micheal i know the dvd is filmed in 4:3 but it is enhanced to fill the 16:9 screen infact watching on a widescreen tv the pic is squashed and people are fat(very annoying).

wheelz You need to set your widescreen TV to 4:3 (or normal) mode when watching 4:3 DVDs.

[hifi007]

Quote

ust read Syd Barrett has died read here sad.gif

He was very gifted, but boy was he was a very troubled guy.
The more creative you seem to be the more troubled you seem to get !!

[hypnotoad8128]

wheelz, on Jul 11 2006, 05:35 PM, said:

Micheal i know the dvd is filmed in 4:3 but it is enhanced to fill the 16:9 screen infact watching on a widescreen tv the pic is squashed and people are fat(very annoying).

"I thought there would be enough interest in this release for its own thread."
If you look in the off topic section at the bottom of the main menu you will find there is a pulse thread  

The DVD is NOT 16:9 enhanced. It is presented in 4:3 full frame, like has been said, you need to adjust your television's aspect control to 4:3, then people will not look squashed... Just because you're television says 16:9, doesn't mean the disc is.

As for the audio... Yikes!, the 640k Dolby track sounds brilliant. Shame about the video quality, but you can understand it considering the source material. Nevertheless, this is a must have purchase if you appriciate music, brilliant. This goes right next to my DSOTM SACD. Yeah!

[hifi007]

Quote

This goes right next to my DSOTM SACD. Yeah!

DSOTM is simply a classic and one of my all time favs.

[ae93gti]

Anybody playing this on an Oppo 971 or 970? Can you play the 640k 5.1 sound track?

[fawlty99]

Disappointing DVD case. Surely they could have done better for such an anticipated release from a classic band. Haven't watched the concert yet but am sure to enjoy it.

[rob3827]

MichaelCPE, on Jul 11 2006, 03:36 PM, said:

.... The picture is extremely noisy. It looks like an old video which has been fixed up. It is.

The "Pulse" concert was recorded on video. However, the previous concert tour, "Delicate Sound of Thunder" was recorded on film.

It is a pity that DSofT wasn't released on DVD too, so the transfer quality could be compared.

"Delicate Sound of Thunder" and "Pulse" were released on Laserdisc in 1989 and 1994.

http://japanld.free....27500/27483.jpg
http://japanld.free....29800/29731.jpg

Perhaps the video noise is a result of the "Pulse" DVD just being a re-release of the laserdisc transfer.

:-)

[Neon Kitten]

rob3827, on Jul 14 2006, 01:31 AM, said:

Perhaps the video noise is a result of the "Pulse" DVD just being a re-release of the laserdisc transfer.

Well, there's no "transfer" to be done - just the (presumably analogue) video master. Aside from some delicate noise reduction and colour timing there's really not a lot they can do with video-based masters from that era.

[fawlty99]

Finally watched the DVD last night. What can I say - fabulous. As said the video was servicable but not spectacular. I couldn't play the higher bitrate audio but the default one was very good. Pity they didn't include a DTS version however. Gilmour was in top form technically as were the others. Loved the background screens too - very imaginative and I think it will be well worth viewing the screen only version of the concert available under extras (esp after a few bevvies or other substances). I also got the Roger Waters dvd which is excellent as well. Pity they (Gilmore & Waters) couldn't get together for a concert.

[ken s]

fawlty99, on Jul 17 2006, 09:42 AM, said:

Finally watched the DVD last night. What can I say - fabulous. As said the video was servicable but not spectacular. I couldn't play the higher bitrate audio but the default one was very good. Pity they didn't include a DTS version however. Gilmour was in top form technically as were the others. Loved the background screens too - very imaginative and I think it will be well worth viewing the screen only version of the concert available under extras (esp after a few bevvies or other substances). I also got the Roger Waters dvd which is excellent as well. Pity they (Gilmore & Waters) couldn't get together for a concert.

They did get together for the "live 8 " concert.....good pq and sound too......check it out!


cheers Ken s

[fawlty99]

Yep thanks I'll check that out.

One other thing. I found the lack of use for the centre channel a bit puzzling. Why would they have centre stage sound coming from left & right if you have a centre channel? I guess the DVD producer had a reason but I would have preferred a centre stage voice (for example) coming from straight in front rather than from the front right.

[ae93gti]

fawlty99, on Jul 17 2006, 01:44 PM, said:

Yep thanks I'll check that out.

One other thing. I found the lack of use for the centre channel a bit puzzling. Why would they have centre stage sound coming from left & right if you have a centre channel? I guess the DVD producer had a reason but I would have preferred a centre stage voice (for example) coming from straight in front rather than from the front right.

I find a few music dvds don't have much coming out the centre channel.

[SilCol]

On the weekend I also bought the Pulse DVD and played it that night.  I am not exactly sure about the various posts here regarding picture quality etc, but I thought the pic quality was very good, and I was displaying it on my 100 inch screen in 16:9 format to great effect using my Z4.  In fact it was better qaulity than I had expected.  I chose the higher bit rate audio quality, and it was superb.  I played both DVDs straight through, and was very impressed.  I would rate the quality as good as that of Roger Waters In the Flesh.

Cheers

Silcol

fawlty99, on Jul 17 2006, 09:42 AM, said:

Finally watched the DVD last night. What can I say - fabulous. As said the video was servicable but not spectacular. I couldn't play the higher bitrate audio but the default one was very good. Pity they didn't include a DTS version however. Gilmour was in top form technically as were the others. Loved the background screens too - very imaginative and I think it will be well worth viewing the screen only version of the concert available under extras (esp after a few bevvies or other substances). I also got the Roger Waters dvd which is excellent as well. Pity they (Gilmore & Waters) couldn't get together for a concert.

[AdrianW]

SilCol, on Jul 17 2006, 10:14 PM, said:

...and I was displaying it on my 100 inch screen in 16:9 format to great effect using my Z4...

But it is a 4:3 transfer isn't it? - so were you zooming in and losing the top and bottom, or were you just stretching the image so everyone was short & fat?