McCrutchy
Well-known Member
So, I'm always on the lookout for any interesting Blu-rays from Japan. This week, Sony Music Japan released a disc (SIXC-18) featuring a recital from Japanese pianist Ikuyo Nakamichi. I believe this is actually the first disc in their SIXC-xx series to be domestic only, as most Sony Music Blu-rays from Japan are duplicates of New Year's concerts, or other discs that they also issue in Europe and/or the US.
I screened the disc tonight with the DTS-HD MA 5.0 track, and it is really wonderful. This was my first time really listening to any Chopin, and I can't claim to be any sort of classical expert, but it's obvious that Ms. Nakamichi is talented, to say the least. The concert is also smartly edited, so that you can actually watch and enjoy her playing. Instead of quick cuts, there are lots of close-ups from multiple angles. The video quality is excellent, with no compression artifacts, and only a hint of aliasing on some of the lines of the piano. In terms of A/V quality, the presentation is top notch.
Afterwards, I sampled the LPCM 2.0 track for comparison. I didn't expect much difference, but it's definitely more "front" oriented, from what I heard, and I would describe the 5.0 as more open. Tomorrow, I'll watch the program in full with the 2.0 track.
One of the things I like to do with my Blu-rays is run them through the BDInfo program, which reveals the bitrates of audio and video, as well as other technical data. The audio tracks are tagged as "Japanese", but the program is dialogue-free, with English credits. There are no video extras, but there is a nice booklet, which unfortunately, has mainly Japanese text, but also some pictures.
If you want to order the disc, it's available here at Amazon.co.jp, which is where I would recommend, or here at CDJapan, who have an English translation of the tracklist.
I screened the disc tonight with the DTS-HD MA 5.0 track, and it is really wonderful. This was my first time really listening to any Chopin, and I can't claim to be any sort of classical expert, but it's obvious that Ms. Nakamichi is talented, to say the least. The concert is also smartly edited, so that you can actually watch and enjoy her playing. Instead of quick cuts, there are lots of close-ups from multiple angles. The video quality is excellent, with no compression artifacts, and only a hint of aliasing on some of the lines of the piano. In terms of A/V quality, the presentation is top notch.
Afterwards, I sampled the LPCM 2.0 track for comparison. I didn't expect much difference, but it's definitely more "front" oriented, from what I heard, and I would describe the 5.0 as more open. Tomorrow, I'll watch the program in full with the 2.0 track.
One of the things I like to do with my Blu-rays is run them through the BDInfo program, which reveals the bitrates of audio and video, as well as other technical data. The audio tracks are tagged as "Japanese", but the program is dialogue-free, with English credits. There are no video extras, but there is a nice booklet, which unfortunately, has mainly Japanese text, but also some pictures.
If you want to order the disc, it's available here at Amazon.co.jp, which is where I would recommend, or here at CDJapan, who have an English translation of the tracklist.
Code:
Total Video
Title Codec Length Movie Size Disc Size Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track Secondary Audio Track
----- ------ ------- -------------- -------------- ------- ------- ------------------ ---------------------
00001.MPLS AVC 1:12:16 19,575,935,040 20,149,294,845 36.11 28.36 LPCM 2.0 2304Kbps (48kHz/24-bit) DTS-HD Master 5.0 3594Kbps (48kHz/24-bit)
Code:
DISC INFO:
Disc Title: CHOPIN_LIVE_AT_SUNTORY_HALL
Disc Size: 20,149,294,845 bytes
Protection: AACS
BD-Java: No
BDInfo: 0.5.8
PLAYLIST REPORT:
Name: 00001.MPLS
Length: 1:12:16.365 (h:m:s.ms)
Size: 19,575,935,040 bytes
Total Bitrate: 36.11 Mbps
VIDEO:
Codec Bitrate Description
----- ------- -----------
MPEG-4 AVC Video 28356 kbps 1080i / 29.970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
AUDIO:
Codec Language Bitrate Description
----- -------- ------- -----------
LPCM Audio Japanese 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
DTS-HD Master Audio Japanese 3594 kbps 5.0 / 48 kHz / 3594 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
FILES:
Name Time In Length Size Total Bitrate
---- ------- ------ ---- -------------
00003.M2TS 0:00:00.000 1:10:50.913 19,233,118,272 36,195
00014.M2TS 1:10:50.913 0:01:20.447 337,152,000 33,528
00004.M2TS 1:12:11.360 0:00:05.004 5,664,768 9,055
CHAPTERS:
Number Time In Length Avg Video Rate Max 1-Sec Rate Max 1-Sec Time Max 5-Sec Rate Max 5-Sec Time Max 10Sec Rate Max 10Sec Time Avg Frame Size Max Frame Size Max Frame Time
------ ------- ------ -------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- --------------
1 0:00:00.000 0:00:33.633 22,674 kbps 27,591 kbps 00:00:30.630 26,050 kbps 00:00:28.628 25,368 kbps 00:00:23.623 94,474 bytes 388,722 bytes 00:00:00.000
2 0:00:33.633 0:05:59.959 26,824 kbps 34,382 kbps 00:06:31.691 31,965 kbps 00:04:48.254 31,132 kbps 00:04:46.552 111,878 bytes 225,933 bytes 00:05:40.139
3 0:06:33.593 0:03:29.809 28,848 kbps 36,615 kbps 00:08:39.452 34,630 kbps 00:08:35.481 34,424 kbps 00:08:30.476 120,321 bytes 226,406 bytes 00:08:40.119
4 0:10:03.402 0:10:58.758 28,112 kbps 38,080 kbps 00:12:46.999 34,898 kbps 00:12:42.995 34,512 kbps 00:12:37.990 117,249 bytes 388,749 bytes 00:20:41.740
5 0:21:02.160 0:00:22.856 32,491 kbps 36,659 kbps 00:21:13.639 34,450 kbps 00:21:09.701 34,079 kbps 00:21:04.696 135,513 bytes 201,340 bytes 00:21:24.216
6 0:21:25.017 0:01:59.786 31,549 kbps 36,764 kbps 00:21:38.597 34,645 kbps 00:21:34.593 34,400 kbps 00:21:29.621 131,584 bytes 233,905 bytes 00:21:39.431
7 0:23:24.803 0:03:57.403 29,738 kbps 36,884 kbps 00:24:32.938 34,665 kbps 00:24:28.900 34,432 kbps 00:24:23.929 124,032 bytes 232,170 bytes 00:24:33.672
8 0:27:22.207 0:04:40.179 29,903 kbps 35,276 kbps 00:30:43.908 34,354 kbps 00:30:39.904 34,237 kbps 00:30:34.933 124,719 bytes 211,238 bytes 00:28:31.876
9 0:32:02.387 0:09:32.338 30,824 kbps 37,630 kbps 00:39:10.581 34,868 kbps 00:39:06.577 34,557 kbps 00:39:01.572 128,563 bytes 388,749 bytes 00:41:29.520
10 0:41:34.725 0:00:19.152 23,886 kbps 25,785 kbps 00:41:44.068 25,240 kbps 00:41:48.606 24,990 kbps 00:41:43.601 99,623 bytes 180,984 bytes 00:41:48.739
11 0:41:53.878 0:08:33.880 28,374 kbps 36,347 kbps 00:43:32.242 34,584 kbps 00:43:28.272 34,393 kbps 00:43:23.233 118,343 bytes 232,904 bytes 00:45:04.268
12 0:50:27.758 0:02:45.365 27,943 kbps 34,785 kbps 00:52:00.817 34,263 kbps 00:52:00.817 34,208 kbps 00:52:13.630 116,544 bytes 216,478 bytes 00:52:00.917
13 0:53:13.123 0:08:02.482 27,245 kbps 36,751 kbps 01:00:50.647 34,693 kbps 01:00:46.643 34,437 kbps 01:00:41.638 113,635 bytes 231,480 bytes 00:56:28.017
14 1:01:15.605 0:06:21.614 27,459 kbps 36,444 kbps 01:07:30.646 34,393 kbps 01:04:53.689 34,268 kbps 01:04:53.456 114,528 bytes 388,749 bytes 01:07:33.616
15 1:07:37.219 0:03:13.693 25,414 kbps 36,569 kbps 01:10:15.778 34,345 kbps 01:09:34.537 34,255 kbps 01:09:29.732 105,998 bytes 388,749 bytes 01:07:37.620
16 1:10:50.913 0:01:25.452 30,967 kbps 35,212 kbps 01:11:42.831 33,246 kbps 01:11:38.927 32,196 kbps 01:11:33.822 66,568 bytes 396,594 bytes 01:10:50.913
STREAM DIAGNOSTICS:
File PID Type Codec Language Seconds Bitrate Bytes Packets
---- --- ---- ----- -------- -------------- -------------- ------------- -----
00003.M2TS 4113 (0x1011) 0x1B AVC 4331.227 28,001 15,159,734,231 82,465,245
00003.M2TS 4352 (0x1100) 0x80 LPCM jpn (Japanese) 4331.227 2,310 1,250,896,768 6,930,176
00003.M2TS 4353 (0x1101) 0x86 DTS-HD MA jpn (Japanese) 4331.227 3,597 1,947,182,972 11,258,063
00014.M2TS 4113 (0x1011) 0x1B AVC 80.314 26,711 268,156,287 1,458,755
00014.M2TS 4352 (0x1100) 0x80 LPCM jpn (Japanese) 80.314 2,314 23,232,516 128,712
00014.M2TS 4353 (0x1101) 0x86 DTS-HD MA jpn (Japanese) 80.314 2,807 28,181,796 165,789
00004.M2TS 4113 (0x1011) 0x1B AVC 4.872 4,106 2,500,388 13,671
00004.M2TS 4352 (0x1100) 0x80 LPCM jpn (Japanese) 4.872 2,390 1,455,552 8,064
00004.M2TS 4353 (0x1101) 0x86 DTS-HD MA jpn (Japanese) 4.872 1,999 1,217,228 7,566