MVI - Why? (a look at Rush's Snakes & Arrows)

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JonUrban

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I finally got around to getting one of these. Best Buy seemed to have quite a stack of them on the shelf. They were in with the CDs, however, I wonder if anyone who might have picked one up noticed that in small print on the front it says

NOTE: DOES NOT PLAY IN CD PLAYERS :eek:

I found it odd that there was no large DVD logo warning buyers that this was not a CD.

Anyway, here's a peek at the front
 

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So, I opened it up. It comes in a nice box, very similar to the box the short lived WEA Gold discs came in. Inside is a very nice glossy booklet with pictures and lyrics. However, the DVD is what allegedly makes this release "special".

I popped it in the PC to see what it was made of. Here is the file structure. Notice the AUDIO_TS folder. It's empty. That's bad..... :(
 

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OK, so there's no DVD-Audio, not even 24/48 5.1. That really sucks. Why couldn't they just put it on there? There's a place for it. Was it a space issue.

I listened to the surround tracks. I looked at them on the PC. They don't look compressed or loud, but they just don't sound that good. I am not sure if I am spoiled by getting used to HiRez, but the surround tracks sound muddy to me.

The songs are actually quite good. It's a shame that they could not go the one missing step and put the DVD-A tracks on this disc. It would not have hurt at all. Very odd, especially from the company that championed DVD-A.

I mean, they spent the money on the 5.1 mix, they could at least have given us DVD-A. I guess the MP3 files are there because it's not a CD and iTunes can't rip a DVD.

A very odd format. I wonder how long it will last..............:mad:@:

Here's a look at the wav files of "FAR CRY":

(1-FL; 2-FR; 3-C; 4-LFE; 5-SL; 6-SR)
 

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Just got done watching the Making Of documentary and really enjoyed that as a long time fan. But the main attaction is clearly missing and MVI is a convoluted format that will probably die pretty quick.

Must've been a hard sell by somebody and the band organization did a weak job of reasoning out what to do with this project. $22.99 at Best Buy and didn't include a CD? That's not going to fly very well in the face of $15 DVD videos. I think they're going to stump consumers with this nonsense...

I chimed in on another consumer's Rush MVI thread at BSM and re-posted it here under the BSM thread... What might have been (and still could be)
 
I just received this yesterday and the 5.1 tracks sound murky to me. No real definition or attack. It's not a bad mix but something isn't right. The stereo tracks have a better sound to them.

It's a shame because I watched the video first and it got me pumped up for the album---only to be let down.
 
I looked at them on the PC. They don't look compressed or loud, but they just don't sound that good.
As you can see the loudness doesn't change much once the song is started, that usually means quite some compression. However the (CD) album is not as badly compressed and clipped as the previous one (Vapor Trails), so there is hope we're past the peak of the loudness war.
 
Yeah, I'm not terribly impressed with the surround mix or the sound quality.

Try turning down your front speakers and listen only to the rear speakers. I'm surprised there's not a whole lot ONLY in the rear speakers.
 
Hi guys, sorry to ask such a stupid question, but what does MVI stand for?
THANKS.
 
Music Video Interactive. I wouldn't have known either, but it's written on the sticker of the Rush disc.
 
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The same thing was done with the new Linkin Park album. its not really "high resolution audio", is it....
 
Music Video Interactive. I wouldn't have known either, but it's written on the sticker of the Rush disc.

Thanks for the answer. I agree with Dave64 that WTF would have been a better and more descriptive name. :confused::confused::confused:
 
The same thing was done with the new Linkin Park album. its not really "high resolution audio", is it....

Well the Linkin Park hi-res is 24-bit/48k stereo. That's probably as good as you'll ever hear it.

The Rush MVI is 24-bit/96k stereo. It's all numbers, but in the end product you almost can't tell the difference.
 
Too bad the Rush MVI sounds a little 'off'.

I will tend to agree with those who have said MVI won't last long in it's current incarnation. Too expensive to not at least include a CD. And by not including a CD, most customers will likely be confused. I looked at the Linkin Park MVI and didn't realize that there wasn't even a CD in there. Honestly, the packaging and the extras can be really neat; but a CD+DVD 2 disc package is really the way to go.

FWIW, I just hope to seem more of these come out with at least high-quality surround mixes in DTS. (Though, I do wish they'd throw in the hi-rez DVD-Audio, too!). However, I fear most will simply be 2-channel like the Linkin Park MVI.

Oh, well... hopefully that Donald Fagen MVI comes out with DTS or DVD-Audio 5.1 surround mixes of Nightfly, Morph The Cat, and the other album (I forget). I need those since I wasn't a big enough fan to actually buy them when the DVD-Audios were easily available. If I could get all 3 for $25.00 or less would seem like a good deal. But I'm a surround fanatic. I'm guessing most consumers will ignore it unless they're hard-core Donald Fagen completists.

Edit: Maybe I was wrong about the Linkin Park MVI not including a CD? Amazon seems to say it has one? Oh, well... without any 5.1 surround mix of the album, I don't really care.
 
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Not sure if this was mentioned yet, but... Amazon.com is taking preorders for the Donald Fagen MVI set.

The bad news is that they are asking over $50.00 for it. (I had hoped to see it closer to $25.00). Potentially good news is that the Amazon description currently says it is 3 DVD-Audio discs (but I'll wait and see until I belive). If it is indeed hi-rez, then maybe $55.00 isn't so horrible--though, it's a bit much to stomach seeing as how I never thought enough of the music to buy it the first time around and the savings is pretty much non-existent compared to if I had bought them originally on DVD-A.

Supposedly comes out tomorrow (July 10th) per Amazon???

http://www.amazon.com/Nightfly-Trilogy-MVI-DVD/dp/B000M06SVS/ref=pd_bbs_3/104-9968783-1023949?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1184035933&sr=8-3
 
My apologies for dominating this thread with talk about the Donald Fagen MVI. Y'all know how it goes, right? One brief comments turns into something more and it just gets a bit out of hand.

That said, I hope y'all pardon one more tid-bit I just located. Donald Fagen's own site says the MVI has been delayed and has no specific release date. Also, it doesn't mention anything about multi-channel DVD-Audio. :(

But on the plus side it mentions DTS (for those of us who prefer that format over Dolby Digital).

Here's a link:
http://donaldfagen.com/news.php
 
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