Eagles Hell Freezez Over - DVD Video

[Adz]

I have found that the music on DVD Videos is pretty weak (i.e, doesn't sound very good) even if recorded in 5.1. Then I bought James Taylor Live at the Beacon Theatre and was amazed at the sound!!

Here is my question. I heard the "Eagles Hell Freezes Over" sounds pretty good as well. When I went to buy it on Amazon, there were two different releases within a week of each other: 1. Eagles Hell Freezes Over and 2. Eagles Hell Freezes Over-DTS. One would think that the difference is that that first doesn't have DTS but on the back of the Video is states that its recorded in DTS 5.1 sound as well. So, what's the difference - does anybody know?

[Bam!]

Hey bud!

Well the one in DTS is DTS only...no pic....it is a DTS high rez cd...I have a bunch of those...

Buy the DVD video in DTS....one of my first DVD`s....actually I think that is the DVD that got me retarded obssessed with Audio..... :E

It is beyond good.....the mix is weird....but the sound and picture :E ....and as a a bonus it is musical!!! :lol:

Hope this helps!

[David Meek]

Remember, if the surround mix is too much for you to deal with, you can always watch it and listen to the PCM (two-channel) audio.

[Adz]

Thanks guys, to clarify: I thought both of these DVDs were Video discs. I'm not talking about DVd Audio or SACD. So, are you saying that the DTS one has no picture but the other one does?

[Bam!]

Thanks guys, to clarify: I thought both of these DVDs were Video discs. I'm not talking about DVd Audio or SACD. So, are you saying that the DTS one has no picture but the other one does?

Yup....I`m pretty sure here...unless there is an Eagles DVD Video out there that I am not aware of....

Hope this helps!

[Dean McManis]

The Eagles DVD that I have was a video-DVD with DTS audio and PCM only.

Most all of the DVDs that have a DTS audio mix also have DD 5.1, because it's mandated by the DVD standard, but a couple DVDs like the Eagles HFO DVD were exceptions with only a DTS and PCM audio mix.

It does sound great! :T

Other great sounding DVDs are James Taylor: Live at Beacon Hill (already mentioned) DD 5.1.
Sessions at West 54th -DD 5.1
Peter Framption: Live in Detroit -DTS/DD 5.1
Diana Krall: Live in Paris -DTS/DD 5.1

-Dean.

[NMyTree]

Okay, so the Eagles HFO in DTS only, is the one that sounds the best?

Yes?

[Burke Strickland]

Most all of the DVDs that have a DTS audio mix also have DD 5.1, because it's mandated by the DVD standard

Actually the DVD standard requires that the soundtrack on a DVD-Video disc must include at least one of following: Dolby Digital (DD) or PCM or MPEG (which was mostly used in Europe). The disc could have more than just one of those (for example, many DVD-Video discs have a DD stereo and a DD 5.1 track). In addition the disc's producer could add any optional formats (such as DTS) that would fit on the disc. :>) So a DTS disc can have a PCM track but no DD soundtrack and still be in compilance with the spec. Discussion of DVD "standard".

Note that some early discussions from 1996/1997 of the then-new DVD-Video format (offically released in 7 test markets in the US in March 1997) didn't even include DTS, since at the time, there was no equipment available to consumers that could play it. Early DVD-Video discussion.. How the world has changed in seven years!

Burke

[Burke Strickland]

Okay, so the Eagles HFO in DTS only, is the one that sounds the best?

The two "Hell Freezes Over" DVD-Video discs listed on Amazon are the same disc with different product codes. Both are video discs documenting the Eagle's reunion concert and both include a DTS and a PCM soundtrack. In the Amazon listings, the two tracks are listed in different order, depending which item you click on, but they are both there. Both sound sensational.

I think they issued the same item under two codes because, for a long time, some stores stocked DTS discs in a different area than other discs and the studio didn't want people to overlook the disc by skipping the DTS area, thinking they couldn't play it. (Remember that in the earlier days of DVD, a lot of folks didn't have DTS playback capability in their DVD players and/or receivers.)

It is fortunate that they included a high quality PCM track in addition to the DTS track on "Hell Freezes Over". Although the DTS soundtrack "sounds" sensational, in that the clarity and detail are outstanding, the DTS track "distributes" the instruments around the sound field, to the sides and behind the listener. So despite the fact that we see the percussionist up front on stage with the other performers, we hear his work coming from the rear. Similar problem with guitars. There's a "picker" standing right next to the lead singer center stage, but lo-and-behold, his instrument is sounding off from the right rear speaker (very localized). Weird.

Some musical performances can get away with this kind of "creative" rearrangement of performer positioning, (such as "Dark Side of the Moon"), but when the video clearly shows where the performers are located, it is disorienting to have the music come from somewhere else.

I actually prefer the PCM soundtrack on "Hell Freezes Over", since "what you see" is "what you get" vis a vis instrument placement. And, being uncompressed, the PCM track also sounds sensational, just not multichannel (which for reasons noted, is a positive in this case). So it is a DVD worth having; I just think they missed to boat with the DTS track by trying to be a little too "creative" with the mix.
------------------------------------------------------
Ironically, it was this very issue of perspective of where the sound is coming from versus what we see on screen that kind of put me off on the James Taylor "Live at the Beacon Theater" disc when I first heard/viewed it several years ago. On the Taylor disc. the video changes perspective quite a few times during the performance, sometimes showing the audience from the band's point of view, sometimes looking across the performers from the side wings, etcetera, and in every case, the musical perspective remains fixed at a location out in the audience at about row eleven, center of row.

I felt upon first viewing it that they should have given us the sound with the same perspective as the video, shifting the layout of the sound when they shifted the perspective of the video. But in retrospect, while that would be absolutely essential for a dramatic production, or a highly charged polemical documentary, it probably would be disconcerting :>) for a video record of a concert.

I played the Live at the Beacon Theater DVD again a couple of nights ago, and just ignored the video. That way, it played it more like a very high quality audio album, and it sure "works" in that role -- outstanding recording quality in addition to including some of my favorite songs of all time.
------------------------------------------------------
I second the recommendation of Best of Sessions at West 54th Street -- Volume One which is one of my "most played" discs, due not only to its outstanding production values but also to the eclectic mix of highly entertaining performances. I've enjoyed the performances enough that I've bought seven CDs and a DVD by the artists on this disc.

I also recommend Eric Clapton: Unplugged. That was not only the first DVD of any type I ever witnessed being played back (at a Sony demo of DVD before it was officially introduced as a commercial product), but it also stands the test of time as one of the best available recordings of a music performance -- and what a performance! These are not Clapton's early rock hits but a mellow collection of ballads and specialty numbers plus a popular reworking of an old favorite which he introduced at this concert ("let's see if you can spot this one"). :>)

Burke

[Adz]

Burke,

I gotta say that the DVD Video Eric Clapton - One More Car One More Rider DTS blows away the EC Unplugged DVD. I kid you not. Check it out if you haven't heard it.

[jimmyp58]

Thanks to ADZ's advice, I picked up the EC 'One More Car One More Rider' disc and true to his word, it is sensational.

Jim