Green, Al GREATEST HITS [DVD-A]

[JonUrban]

Post your thoughts and comments on this title. :thumbsdow

[Ed Bishop]

A '7'....great music, no doubt about it, but the old Quad mix remains my reference point, and this one isn't a very imaginative mix, though the sound quality is good enough.....

ED

[neil wilkes]

Where can I get this in the UK?
None of the usual places even have it mentioned.
Play.com = nothing
Amazon = Nothing
And it is not worth even bothering with the record stores.
As for 101CD.com, they do not even admit the existence of DVD-Audio.

[ChristopherLees]

I gave this one an 8 It's great stuff..and with the bonus tracks I was tempted to go to a 9 but the old quad mix is even better.......
actually the old quad mix is awesome...

[Ed Bishop]

The big irony of this collection is that "Belle," the most recent of the songs, is in stereo only, they didn't even bother to fake it...meaning the earlier multis still exist but we can presume the BELLE album multis are MIA? Wow..they were honest and up front about it, but that was a surprise when it came in the mail.

ED

[neil wilkes]

But where can I BUY the thing?
Cannot find anywhere at all in the UK who have even heard of it - and nothing online yet either. I really want this disc, yet nobody wants to sell it to me in the UK.

[ssully]

Can't help you wiht UK dealers, but amazon US has it:

[neil wilkes]

Amazon UK say they cannot get it.
And having it shipped from the US is prohibitively expensive.

[ssully]

What's it cost to ship a DVD-A to the UK these days?

[neil wilkes]

Depends on the store.
Amazon wanted to charge me almost as much as the DVD-A cost. The only way to do this is to get a stack at once, and if any are damaged on arrival, I'm screwed as Amazon UK will not help out. They will not even get the title!

Total cost would have been over $40 for the disc.

[neil wilkes]

FINALLY!!!
I managed to get a copy sent from the states.
And well worth the wait it was too - I particularly liked the fact the same engineer from the original sessions seems to have been involved with this release as well.

There is really nothing I can say about the music, apart from how wonderful this sounds in High Res - and it's a shame that one of the tracks is stereo only due to the multitracks being lost. Makes you wonder how many others have gone missing. Oh well.

The quality of this title oozes from the speakers. Pure delight.

[beached]

How can this sound so good and yet my player is telling me its only LPCM 48k/?. All my other DVD-A discs show PPCM either 44.1/48/88.2/96/172.4/192k. The player can't tell me the bit depth however . I thought this would mean it can't be called a full on DVD-A so this one might not technically qualify for this section but it still does sounds great. To start this disc is a pain cause its like ya gunna watch a movie and it goes through all these opening credits. This was one of the earlier DVDA's after all. Another thing is all my other DVDA's play "Title 1"' this one starts "Title 2". I can select all options in the setup menu (Ad Rez 5.1, Dolby 5.1, DTS, Ad Rez Stereo) and the Ad Rez 5.1 still sounds the best. The Ad Rez Stereo reads LPCM 2.0 48k also not PPCM. What's this Linear / Packed spec all mean?. Could Neil or somebody with a bit more analytical equipment check this out and get back to me here. Thanks.

[Chris Gerhard]

A DVD-A can be 48kHz/16-Bit or even 44.1kHz/16-Bit. My players sometimes show LPCM for a DVD-A. I think LPCM is just not compressed using MLP, it is lossless. I think either MLP or lossless uncompressed LPCM can be used on a DVD-A. Most use MLP for space requirements. I don't have this DVD-A and can't check it.

Chris

[ssully]

Chris G is exactly right regarding MLPCM vs LPCM.

The Al Green DVD-A is indeed 48/24 LPCM. The stereo DVD-A tracks at least, have also undergone pretty extreme dynamic range compression...just like the CD version.

[neil wilkes]

A DVD-A can be 48kHz/16-Bit or even 44.1kHz/16-Bit. My players sometimes show LPCM for a DVD-A. I think LPCM is just not compressed using MLP, it is lossless. I think either MLP or lossless uncompressed LPCM can be used on a DVD-A. Most use MLP for space requirements. I don't have this DVD-A and can't check it.

Chris

The way it works is like this.
DVD-A resolutions in surround go from 16-44.1 to 24-96.
DVD-A resolutions in stereo go from 16-44.1 to 24-192
MLP usage is determined by 2 factors:
1 - Do I need the space reduction that MLP will give me?
2 - What is my data rate?
MLP will give - approximately - a 50% reduction from the original, depending on the mix and it's complexity. It's impossible to say as it is a VBR stream, not a CBR stream.
Also - and this is the cruncher - you have a data rate maximum of 9.6Mbits/second. 9,600 kbps is your limit.
24/96 5.1 or 24/88.2 5.1 both exceed this, so the use of MLP is mandatory for those streams. 24/96 4.1 will also - usually - exceed the data rate limitation. It's a borderline one, like 4.0 at 24/96 - sometimes some apps will allow this, other times not. When in doubt, use MLP - the output is bit-for-bit identical to the input. There is no degradation.
PPCM = Packed PCM, and is the same as MLP. Just a different acronym for the same thing.
LPCM = Linear PCM, and is what we all know of as PCM WAV or AIFF files.

[Ed Bishop]

This is one of those 'how the steak got to the plate' comps. Further reading:

http://www.quadraphonicquad.com/foru...ead.php?t=4754

The bottom line is not only that this DVD-A was remixed irrespective of the original Quad album, but the sound was mixed too 'modern' in nature--loud, compressed, not like the original stereo mixes Willie Mitchell made back in the day. It's *honest* 5.1, to be sure, but not faithful to its source.

[beached]

Thanks guys. I never realised that a DVD-A could remain lossless without MLP and that the overall size issue could dictate whether MLP is necessary and that LPCM can suffice and remain lossless. The less interference the better I say. Good Info.

Chris, Can you check (only if you can recall easily of course) which other 5.1 DVD-A titles are done without MLP ie:LPCM and get back here. I am now gunna start checking closely this end. Thanks

[ssully]

Thanks guys. I never realised that a DVD-A could remain lossless without MLP and that the overall size issue could dictate whether MLP is necessary and that LPCM can suffice and remain lossless. The less interference the better I say. Good Info.

LPCM is not 'better' than MLPCM. Lossless encoding is not 'interference'. If it was, it wouldn't be LOSSLESS.

[beached]

I have been checking the audio on all my DVD-A's and this one is still the only one I can find with LPCM 5.1 output (normally PPCM). Its an oddity thats all.
Might have been the label's decision (Hi records, Capitol/EMI or The Right Stuff)?.

[ssully]

I have a couple of 'classical' DVD-As where the multichannel tracks are LPCM.

[hoplaman]

This Al Green dvd-a get stuck everytime I put it in my newly purchased denon dvd 3930 multiplayer. (In fact the whole machine freezes and I have to restart, before I can take the disk out). In earlier days I played it several times on my 2910 denon dvd multiplayer without any problems...... Anybody out there familiar with a simular problem? Let me know. HELP!!!!
Thanx,
Hoplaman

[woody]

This Al Green dvd-a get stuck everytime I put it in my newly purchased denon dvd 3930 multiplayer. (In fact the whole machine freezes and I have to restart, before I can take the disk out). In earlier days I played it several times on my 2910 denon dvd multiplayer without any problems...... Anybody out there familiar with a simular problem? Let me know. HELP!!!!
Thanx,
Hoplaman

I had to get mine serviced under warranty twice to remedy these issues. Thankfully it now plays like a dream

[Fourplay]

Hi All,

Just got this recently after a long hunt. I am very glad to have it, although reading this poll makes me want to hear the original quad.

On sides of head value, I give it an 8. The surround mix has definite discreet elements, which is half the battle. I take points off for the compression that leaves the sound a little crunchy and not as clear as it probably could be. In general the fidelity is decent other than the compression artifacts, which are more noticeable on louder mix elements. Pity, because this is probably a mastering choice rather than a master tape limitation. Still, I quite like the use of surround, and am glad I have this in my collection. My girlfriend just flew through the sweet spot and with an untrained ear responded well to the music and the mix.

Ken