Quality of commercial music DVD...

[Cobra]

Just thought I would share this and get a few opinions. I just bought a Chicane album/music DVD at HMV, at the usual rip-off prices. I have just watched the DVD, and I'm more than a little disappointed.

For a start, the audio is mangled. It's hardly stereo and the bass drowns everything out. The midrange is thin and the treble is splashy, a little like a bad MP3.

The video looks like it has been captured from VHS. It's full of noise, macroblocks and there are really obvious artifacts all over it. On a couple of the videos, there are obvious interlacing lines over any movement, causing further macroblocking. The colour is also a little inconsistent. That quality of that DVD is incredibly poor, and I think that "xtravaganza records" should be ashamed of themselves.

I am watching on a 17" Sharp TFT and listening through a fairly nice separates system - it's not my equipment at fault.

The only thing that's good is the audio CD, which sounds well recorded and the music is pretty good too. I could buy the album separately if I wanted, just thought the DVD would be nice too.

Should I return this hunk of junk to HMV and get my £16 back?

Cobra

[Capmaster]

Return it.

Whoever made the DVD obviously wasn't a member of this board

[indolikaa]

Return it. £16 is £16.

[northcat_8]

I would return it without question...poor quality is completely unexceptable.

[Cobra]

Hmmm, watching over it again it isn't too bad, with the exception of obvious interlace lines around movement and poor encoding. What's really getting me is that I bought a DVD, and it's just a VHS capture, not DVD at all. I buy a DVD for the quality, and a double-dose of artifacts from VHS and DVD isn't very good.

Not sure how they'll take it at HMV - I bet there are very few people who look at video with a critical eye and decide it's substandard.

Cobra

[northcat_8]

I've learned that a store's willingness to accept a return is directly proportionate to how big a scene you are willing to make.

Go calm, cool and relaxed and just explain...but keep ******* simmering on the back burner just in case.

[Cobra]

I've calmed down a bit now. It makes me angry to see "professionals" doing it all wrong, and selling it.

I want to keep this original, I think. You can't buy the simple album any more, so it's this or nothing. Sure, it's substandard but at least it's all there and I have the music which is the important part I suppose. Still, it's a bit off to sell a DVD that's substandard compared to what it should be.

I feel an e-mail to xtravaganza coming on. I want to let them know that I don't like paying that amount for a product that's had no effort spent on it. I'll settle for an apology, and listen to my music.

Never mind, eh? I'll just remember not to buy from them again!

Cobra

[offline]

Not sure how they'll take it at HMV - I bet there are very few people who look at video with a critical eye and decide it's substandard.

I know how you feel. I wish we had more of that American attitude
where if they don't like it, they do not think twice about returning it.

A militant consumer attitude is needed both in England and Australia.
We tend to put up and shut up when it comes to inferior product.

[indolikaa]

Not sure how they'll take it at HMV - I bet there are very few people who look at video with a critical eye and decide it's substandard.

I know how you feel. I wish we had more of that American attitude
where if they don't like it, they do not think twice about returning it.

A militant consumer attitude is needed both in England and Australia.
We tend to put up and shut up when it comes to inferior product.

You need 64-ounce can of Whoop-Ass and 6-pack of STFU Down Under.

[offline]

You need 64-ounce can of Whoop-Ass and 6-pack of STFU Down Under.

Great!!

You supply the product and I'll do the marketing.
I'll have to translate a few things:

2 Kilo pack of Rip You A New ******* and a quarter slab of STFU Mate!

we could even sell to England:

2 Kilos of EEC approved Kick Bottom and 4 pints of Shut it Slapper!

[housepig]

I've noticed this a lot lately - my friend works for a music company so I get wads of dvds from him. I've noticed on stuff that they are reissuing, stuff that I used to have on VHS, that the quality is rough on some of it.

I got Joe Satriani's "The Satch Tapes", and aside from being bare bones, the image quality is not too good - blocky, grainy, not clean at all. Same with the Hard 'n' Heavy Grindcore Special - looks better than the Satch disc, but still looks like it was mastered from a grungy source.

then again, some of it is such a niche market, even among music fans - I know tons of people who just want to listen to the album, they hate concert videos - that realistically, for the amount they are going to sell, it doesn't make sense to pay a lot for a nicer authoring job.

[Capmaster]

WHile doing the tourist thing overseas, we bought a VCD with the local sights on it. Paid $20 for a two-VCD set. Expensive, but what the heck.

We got it home and it was like a grammar school attempt at video production. The video was jerky, pixelated, blocky, and very poor quality. The sound was muffled, too loud, it drowned out the narration, and it was inappropriate for the subject matter, which was historical sights. It was like viewing a video of the Vatican to the sounds of "Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover" Pure, unadulterated shite.

Just because something is commercial doesn't mean it's good, not by a long shot :P

[northcat_8]

I've noticed this a lot lately - my friend works for a music company so I get wads of dvds from him. I've noticed on stuff that they are reissuing, stuff that I used to have on VHS, that the quality is rough on some of it.

You know it may be entirely possible that the original was stored on VHS and the poor quality you are seeing is the best quality they still have

I got Joe Satriani's "The Satch Tapes", and aside from being bare bones, the image quality is not too good - blocky, grainy, not clean at all. Same with the Hard 'n' Heavy Grindcore Special - looks better than the Satch disc, but still looks like it was mastered from a grungy source.

I have Joanne Satriani's "The Snatch Tapes" and they are hard 'n' heavy grinding bare bone specials also Er..umm..you were talking about music weren't you? :P

[zzyzzx]

A lot of older things (pre 1990) the video quality of the original source medium just plains sucks or isn't up to today's standards.

Was this junk new or old source?

[Cobra]

Chicane are a pretty huge band. This was from late 2000.

There is no excuse - I ripped it with DVD Decryptor to find out how big it was - menus and all it came to 1.26GB. They've used a low bitrate for it, resulting in video that's even worse than it should be given their halfhearted attempt.

Cobra

[SatStorm]

This is usual with some groups.
Bands like Chicane have changed plenty record companies, so the videos are from not so proffecional sources. Their own that is....

[Cobra]

Not a fan, eh SatStorm?

I've decided I'm going to register a complaint with them, and if they don't reply to the e-mail I'll perhaps give them a ring and have an explanation. They may have had a bad source, but they obviously haven't put much effort at all into cleaning it up before putting it on DVD. It wasn't anything VirtualDub and TMPGEnc couldn't handle!

Anyway, I'm listening to the music right now and enjoying it. Sorted.

Cobra

[SatStorm]

I don't know if we talking about the same group actually.

Chicane is a spanish DJ with huge "Ibiza" house music hits in Europe, including "Saltwater" feat Marire Brennan. Not a bad house producer, but terrible DJ...

[Cobra]

You've got it! I don't know why I love that album so much, because I'm normally into rock/metal but I tend to listen to anything that I find interesting and if I like it then I like it.

Thankfully, I don't like the Village People. I've got a big hifi in my room (it's a squeeze, I'll tell you) and I don't think Macho Man at full volume would go down too well with my housemates!

Cobra

[SatStorm]

I like "Offshore" from Chicane. Both versions (original and the 97 vocal rmx).
Actually, my favorite music style is Vocal Trance and chicane is pretty close to this music style (progressive house).

You can catch up plenty chicane videos on "rapture tv" you know... Late night, after midnight.
Same sound with chicane, but some how more "house" like, with original break beat influances, is DJ Tonka. His latest single (I don't know if it is released in UK) is pretty good actually. The Perfect entry for the summer that comming....

[Cobra]

Thanks for the channel suggestion. Now, if only I had a TV!

I'll have a look the next time I'm visiting home.

Do you ever notice that music changes a bit in style as winter and summer approach? I've always found it quite interesting, and I've wondered if it's just me!

Cobra

[flaninacupboard]

For a start, the audio is mangled. It's hardly stereo and the bass drowns everything out. The midrange is thin and the treble is splashy, a little like a bad MP3.

thats cos you have two floorstanders and a sub, and you're using a software dvd player! seriously though, is it a 5.1 mix, and if so what downmix settings are you using?

[Cobra]

Sound is stereo on the DVD. Other DVDs and music sound just fine on my system. It's a different setup to what the audiophiles would have but it works well and sounds rather nice.

It's just bad audio on the DVD, that's all.

Cobra

EDIT - It's worth pointing out that the audio is Linear PCM so it can't be bad compression to the DVD. Perhaps it's still a problem with the source?

[SatStorm]

@ Cobra: Your objervation is a huge issue and we might discuss one day.. In short terms, this happens because the last 30 years, UK follows a specific music indestrly model, which only recently replaced by alternatives in some parts of Europe.
There are 2 models currently in Europe: The UK and the German distribution model. Huge difference: The first is based on sales and the second on events. With the current situation, it seems that the German model works better for the artists and the fans. But it doesn't support things the first model support for almost 30 years: Lifestyle, fashion, TV/Radio, etc.
You see the problem here: People like the German distribution model, but the interests are based on the UK distribution model.

[Cobra]

I might try to clean up the video myself and produce a better-looking DVD, but since the source isn't good quality I don't fancy my chances. Rubbish in, rubbish out.

Cobra

[alstatr]

This was an interesting post. I've bought a few CDs that came with DVDs and found that even big name bands (at least in the US) sometime shave poor quality DVDs. For example Dashboard Confessionals latest CD/DVD album had a poor quality video but awesome audio. I just figured they only really cared about the audio so I didn't think too much of it. But it was kinda annoying that the video wasn't at least DV quality because it was produced in 2002 and I know they had DV cameras then!

There is no excuse - I ripped it with DVD Decryptor to find out how big it was - menus and all it came to 1.26GB

I agree with this statement. There is no excuse. 1.26GB of 4.7GB??? Why not just fill the whole DVD up with the highest quality they can get? Does it cost more to let it encode for a few more hours and then press more data?

This sucks that the music industry is trying to squeeze every cent or euro out of their products at the expense of quality and the consumers happiness.

alstatr