HiRez Poll Starr, Ringo - 5.1 [DVD-A]

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Rate the DVD-A of Ringo Starr - 5.1


  • Total voters
    55

JonUrban

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Please post your thoughts and comments on this DVD-Audio from Ringo Starr!!! (y):phones(n)
 

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I guess I was lucky enough to find this at Best Buy. They only had one copy in the racks today (3/4) at $14.99.

Popped it in the player and I think the mix sounds great. Slightly bass heavy but nice and full and really nice use of the surrounds for things like bground vocals and keys etc. Ringo is dead in the center with only the slightest of leakage to left and right along with bass and snare. I found it a bit overwhelming at first because you can really hear that Ringo is not the greatest singer in the world. I thought it sounded much better by lowering the volume of the center speaker slightly so that the lead vocals sit in the mix better. Just my opinion.

The other strange thing about this package is that it is called the 5.1 Collection-specifically made for the home audio and video market however it also includes a cd of the stereo mixes. That stereo cd is actually marked disc 1 of the collection and the DVD is marked as disc 2.

The disc has three surround options - DVD-A (96/24), DTS and Dolby 5.1. The DTS is not 96/24 but sounds nice. You also cannot switch from DTS to Dolby without the track starting over. You also cannot scan FF or REW through the tracks. There are no extras on the disc.

The credits list this disc as being made using the Chrome DVD-A program.

I'll give this one a 9 for the mix and about a 7 for the music. I bought this to support the DVD-A format.
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7 for content - 9 for mix - 8 overall. I'm sure there are better Ringo releases that would benefit from the 5.1 overhaul - but this is the one we've got. Still a worthwhile listen IMHO(y)
 
I'm not going to vote yet, as I have not "learned" the music, but the mix is a solid -10-, I love it. It's the way a surround mix should be, IMHO. Background singers in the back, vocal center front, support vocals in the front wings, and the musical intruments are clearly defined and spread around discretely. (I've only listened to it in the car, but it sounds GREAT in the car). The audio fidelity is top notch as well, but I want to hear it at home to judge it properly.

This release is, again IMHO, how all surround music releases should be sold. CD included, HiRez DVD-A, plus DTS and Dolby Digital for the widest surround sound distribution - everyone can hear it in surround.

The Best Buy price was $14.99!! Koch should be commended for releasing this, and I may write them a note saying it was great and they should think about doing more from their other artists.

At least SOME label is interested in pop/rock HiRez surround from a mainstream artist. MVI? Bah.
 
Received my pre-order of this and was pleasantly surprised. As Jon said, the mix is solid in surround and the audio first class. My only reservation was how well I could take Ringo since I don't think I've listened to one of his albums since "Goodnight Vienna"! I'm pleased to say that the songs are quite well written, the studio production interesting (Beatlesque in a lot of areas) and Ringo's vocals...well, better than I had expected. I don't recall a whole lot of harkening back to Fab Four days other than the tribute song for George (track 2) which I had heard before. I admit to preferring the up-tempo numbers on here but I can't say that any of them are "throwaways". I gave Ringo in 5.1 an 8, hopefully he'll attack his back catalog now! John S.
 
OK. I've lived with this (and another new DVD-A) in the car all week, and despite the fact that upon first listen I was not that impressed with the songs, they started to grow on me and today on the way home I was cranking it up and really enjoying this disc.

First off, Ringo sings the same way he's always sung, well but not great. What is amazing is that he really hasn't lost any range, and he really sounds the same as he did 30+ years ago. The songs are constructed in the old fashioned song structure, and would have had more potential had they been released in the '70s. Still, they are fun and they sound fantastic.

The surround mix is the way a great surround mix should be, and adds to the enjoyment of these tunes.

If this is indeed a short print, limited edition set, anyone slightly interested in the Beatles or Ringo or good surround sound on DVD-A should seek one out now before they get to eBay and enter the Shocker Log. Just the Beatles connection alone will make this disc a future collectable.

The disc is authored oddly, as the ELS system displays "group 2, track 1" when it plays the "bonus track".

On the whole, I am rating this an 8. 10 for surround, 10 for sound quality, and 8 for content. Lately it's too easy to just slap a 10 on a new release just because there are so few new surround releases, but this 8 is not a knock. 8 is an above average rating, and fits this disc.

It will stay in the car for a while still. I like it! :D
 
Just finished the first playback and found it to be better than expected in terms of surround playback! My rating falls somewhere between Jon's and Elmer's; it's a fun album that happens to have a great surround mix. We need more of these.

As years go by, more of Ringo's songs are reflective of the Beatles heyday and there's nothing wrong with that. Mark Hudson is a mega-Beatles fan and his hands are all over the original tracks. I'll say that the bass for this disc is AMPLE; with SW Volume at '0' it was easily the most bass heavy thing I've played in a while. Playing bass I have no problem with that, plus it's supportive and inventive at the same time.

Nice to be commenting on a *current* DVD-A release for a change. Does anybody know how to contact Ringo and get him thinking about tracking down the unreleased quadraphonic Ringo master and get it into this format? I know it's a Capitol / Apple situation but not exactly a full-blown Beatles matter, so let's have it, eh?
 
Okay, this is one great surround mix. The detailing when compared to the CD is incredible. Gone is any compression you can hear on the CD. The mix is very discrete and the sonically it's right up there with the best of them. So since we are voting on the mix and not the music, I have to give it a 9.
 
This release is, again IMHO, how all surround music releases should be sold. CD included, HiRez DVD-A, plus DTS and Dolby Digital for the widest surround sound distribution - everyone can hear it in surround.

I am sure they will be in the near future; some sort of surround will be standard for music releases. My intuition tells me so. :)

This one could actually be nice to give a listen to. I haven't listened much to Ringo, mainly beause of the obious connotations to the Beatles, which happen to be one of my favorites. I have thought that Ringo would be too much of "close but no cigar".

But maybe it is time now. :phones
 
I have to wonder if 5.1 is "pay-back" by Mark Hudson to hurt sales of the new album (Liverpool 8) that he got booted off of after all these years working with Ringo?
 
Well....have been listening to this one the past few days, giving it more time than any Ringo album since...GOODNIGHT VIENNA, probably.

First, can't imagine anyone bitching about the sound and mix, both of which are superb; the latter very appropriate for the material, and even more creative than one might have expected. And Ringo, not being much of a singer(and certainly aware of this), never seems to mind that he's kinda exposed in that regard, and here, even more so.

The problem for me remains the material, which at best I consider pleasant listening, but little more. Ringo's problem all along hasn't been with his singing(barely average)or musical talent(far better than generally believed, IMO)--it's been the lackluster nature of the majority of his material. His few compositions with the Beatles suggested this, and by the time of RINGO, his limitations were obvious, even if an earlier single, "It Don't Come Easy"/"Early 1970"(1971)was a real surprise(of course George Harrison was of no small help there; indeed, what solo career highlights Ringo has had can be directly traced to help from his other three Beatle friends, one way or t'other, or been inspired by them in some fashion).

Ringo's more recent material, while not dull, is nonetheless lackluster, IMO--and worse, fairly derivative, what with the very basic rocking sound and softer rock stylings he continues to indulge in, pushing nothing, very content, it would seem, in his skin, his place in history. For a long time he has seemed relaxed, content just to be alive, rocking, vital, just doing things, not sweating stuff large or small. Unlike Paul McCartney, one doesn't sense that he worries about much of anything, nor feel he has to keep pushing himself, as if the vast glories of his past history were always going to be a barometer of his talent, that he has something 'to live up to.' That's Ringo's blessing, of course: he isn't Paul, John, or George; he doesn't have the highs'n'lows of the others' solo output, and expectations for his work have always been correspondingly lower. That said, it's a bit tiresome to hear the continued lyrical references to the work of others, the platitudes; and the obvious nature of the arrangements and performances--nothing surprises, it's all very workmanlike. Of course, the reason we get Ringo at all is probably because he can; I'm sure than an ex-Beatle, even if a label weren't forthcoming, has the bucks to start his own and make sure his work is heard. So we can consider these projects, to some degree, vanity in nature, but a nice kind of vanity, the sound of a man who just likes to do his thing, unfettered and without worries of outside meddling. He does it with enthusiasm, and seems very happy about it all. Overall, this comp gives off very positive vibes. Unfortunately, positivity doesn't automatically translate into anything especially memorable.

The overall effect of this collection, for me, is mixed. On the one hand, it's kinda amazing Ringo even bothered, given how few performers of any magnitude are bothering with MC these days. I mean, how many copies is this really gonna sell? Ringo's been a 'niche' artist, as many aging rockers invariably become, with a dedicated following, yet out of the pop mainstream. So this was someone's labor of love, and I'm glad they did it, and hope others will follow suit, because there's a lot of worthwhile music(which this is, whatever my misgivings)out there that would garner more listeners IF there were MC mixes.

On the other hand, listening to this made me pine, more than ever, for some MC Beatles beyond LOVE; and, for that matter, something--anything--from Ringo's Apple catalog, which, while not brilliant, would nonetheless make a fairly potent compilation of tracks, from "It Don't Come Easy" and "Photograph" to "Goodnight Vienna" and others. Hell, even thrown in a few Atlantic sides like "A Dose Of Rock'n'Roll," wouldn't mind...:D

ED :)
 
Before I played the DVD-A, I span up the CD first to get a better sense of perspective on the 5.1 mixes.
Where the CD is almost brutal in the excessive brickwall limiting to, er, "gain" ever more volume and are that painful I had to turn it off almost immediately, the DVD-A is completely the reverse.
It's a lot quieter - which means it has not been destroyed by bad mastering. This is a really good thing, and the difference it makes is so clearly audible it almost makes me wonder if someone at the label is actually trying to make a point here. It really is that apparent.
As far as the music goes, it is exactly what you would expect from Ringo. He is one of the rare artists that has remained constant and stuck to what he knows best, and he has also been going through his address book here with a couple of the tracks featuring solos from Eric Clapton (Tracks 2 & 4), a guest vocal from Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders) on track 9.
Very enjoyable, all in all.
 
like others here, I am slowly getting into the songs, thanks in large part to the great surround mix. I don't know if I would have bothered with this if it wasn't issued in high res surround, especially since the CD is compressed. But I am getting a better appreciation of the tracks, and they are well selected. I think that Ringo either wrote or co-wrote all of the songs.
 
I really enjoyed the CDs that these tracks were culled from so there was no doubt I would enjoy this disc. It sounds great and makes you wonder why no one else is doing this.

My next car is going to have 5.1 sound in it. It will make the hour-long drive enjoyable, if that's possible. I'll check the forums for any threads on car choices but I'm leaning towards the Mercedes C-Class.
 
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