Steve Vai "Where The Wild Things Are" Blu Ray

[elmer]

Scheduled for Nov. 10 release date;

http://www.amazon.com/Where-Wild-Th...ef=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1255529004&sr=1-2

 

[dr. simple]

The DVD is killer. It's only Dolby Digital, but the performance is very entertaining, IMHO.

 

[elmer]

No doubt! Vai's performances on Zappa Plays Zappa and the Clapton Crossroads DVD's are unforgettable - I imagine that this will be filled with many "over the top" moments.

 

[dbmay75]

Glad to see some other Vai fans here ... I'm picking up the BD for sure after seeing this amazing show here in SF last year, but I've also got my fingers crossed that Vai and ES will cross paths somehow and release a 20th Anniversary package for Passion And Warfare, put to 5.1 of course. I was only 14 at the time, but PAW and Flying In A Blue Dream both "opened my mind" as to what could be done musically in the studio as well as what could be done with an electric guitar and two hands.

 

[jdmack]

I'm looking forward to seeing this DVD. I saw a show on this tour, but it was a standing room only venue that was sold out, and while it sounded great, I couldn't see a damn thing!

The bass player on this DVD - Bryan Beller - is also the bass player for Mike Keneally, who is one of my all-time favorite musicians/songwriters/performers.

J. D.

 

[aalloca]

Hi,

Saw the tour also. great band..... above mentions Mike K... you simply can't find a better musician than him these days..

I will be picking this up shortly.. the youtube preview looks great.

 

[daved64]

Got the Blu-Ray. Sorry to say it is Dolby Digital 5.1 only, with PCM 2.0 stereo. Also 720P, not 1080. Sound and picture are excellent, but who knows if it could have been better in lossless with 1080P. Won't give a thorough review until I've watched it all.

 

[Guy Robinson]

Got the Blu-Ray. Sorry to say it is Dolby Digital 5.1 only, with PCM 2.0 stereo. Also 720P, not 1080. Sound and picture are excellent, but who knows if it could have been better in lossless with 1080P. Won't give a thorough review until I've watched it all.

It's probably 640 kbps. I have this on order and will probably still buy it when it comes in but this makes absolutely no sense. I would have thought that Steve would have been more concerned with the audio than the video. A BR without DTS MA or Dolby TrueHD or 24 bit 5.1 PCM is "crippled" in my opinion. The 720P doesn't really matter because most BR concerts are 1080i which is from what I can see not distinguishable in any meaningful way from 720P. 1080P is a different matter though, it is better. I will have to fool with this one from an audio perspective because the PCM 2.0 using 7.1 channel stereo might be better than the 5.1 Dolby. I have other discs where this has proven to be true.

 

[elmer]

Got the Blu-Ray. Sorry to say it is Dolby Digital 5.1 only, with PCM 2.0 stereo. Also 720P, not 1080. Sound and picture are excellent, but who knows if it could have been better in lossless with 1080P. Won't give a thorough review until I've watched it all.

Picked up the DVD instead - my BD player upconverts to 1080p - not quite the same as the real thing of course, but close enough for rock n roll. With no high rez codec and Dolby only - why even bother with Blu Ray?

The show was originally shot in HD so the visuals are fine in upconvert and I can see Vai's fingers just fine - love Vai's playing and his band is great. Sonically, it is a decent live mix but not discrete. Musically, a mixed bag (IMO) - while the violin players are a nice touch and they play well, they could be used more sparsely. Visually, this is well shot with a minimum of audience cuts and the focus is clearly on Vai. Loved his work with Zappa and ZPZ - his solo stuff less so. Still, if you like/love guitar virtuosos this will do. An 8.

 

[dbmay75]

I received the BD a few days ago from Amazon - $17.99 shipped free since I included the Return To Forever BD for $16.49 and went over $25 - lowest price I could find and they arrived within 48 hours after ordering - way to go Amazon!

Anyhow, Vai comes in a less-than-favorable soft digipak case and the 2 discs overlap each other - truly an annoying design if you want to watch "For The Love Of God" and have to remove disc 1 to get to it without risking damage. The other letdown is that the 5.1 mix is not only limited to DD (shouldn't DTS or DTS-MA be the standard for BD?!), but as mentioned already, it's not as discrete as I was hoping. Thankfully, the camera work is good and while I would compare the 720p resolution more similarly to the Jeff Beck BD (so-so) than the Return To Forever BD (outstanding) the music is so vibrant and there's so much material, it's hard to find fault with it. I saw this show live two years ago and it truly was one of the best live shows I've ever attended. The band is energetic, tight and Ann Marie Calhoun is fun to watch - while introducing her on this BD, Vai openly tells the crowd how he "stole" her from Jethro Tull and pissed off Ian Anderson! I only wish Vai could have replaced his male violinist with Vanessa-Mae or one of the girls from Bond!

This BD is 3 hours and 40 minutes including bonus material. It omits certain classics like "Bad Horsie", "The Attitude Song" and "Blue Powder" in exchange for newer material from Vai's last few albums. While I still have yet to see Vai perform some of my all-time faves such as "Sisters", "The Riddle", "Viv Woman", I'm satisfied with what I've watched and listened to so far on this BD. In conjunction with the packaging, I give this release a strong 7.

If you're a big fan of Vai like me, I would also recommend picking up the 4- hour 2-disc Live In Astoria, London DVD (2003) as well as the Visual Sound Theories DVD (2007) which puts Vai amongst the massive Holland Metropole Orkest rather than his typical 3-4 piece rock band and features a better DD 5.1 mix done by Vai himself.

Cheers,
Dan

 

[daved64]

If you're a big fan of Vai like me, I would also recommend picking up the 4- hour 2-disc Live In Astoria, London DVD (2003) as well as the Visual Sound Theories DVD (2007) which puts Vai amongst the massive Holland Metropole Orkest rather than his typical 3-4 piece rock band and features a better DD 5.1 mix done by Vai himself.

Cheers,
Dan

Steve mixed the new one too.

I don't mind the mix. It has it's moments where the rears are used.

 

[Guy Robinson]

I have all his other DVD's. I don't think I am buying this new one now. If it was done properly in the video and audio on the BR format it would be a no-brainer as to whether to buy or not. However, given the way this is being delivered I guess I will stick with my other ones for now. I said awhile back that I would not be buying anymore regular DVD's and it appears like this one should be classified as such even though it is technically a BR.

 

[Guy Robinson]

So as usual, after saying that, I bought it anyway. My collection was missing it. The video is okay. Not the best concert PQ though. Close shots look pretty good and far away shots look soft and out of focus. I see no black problems really. Also, I noticed that the bit rate is really quite high for an MPEG2. It hovers in the high 20's most of the time. The audio as pointed out is I guess 640 kbps max. Considering this fact, the audio is really quite good as well. The one violin that is not electronically juiced as much sounds pretty clear and lifelike and you can hear all the instruments separately in the mix most of the time. There is still this kind of "veil" on everything though in comparison to a normal DTS MA or Dolby HD track. In total this BR release comes out as generally acceptable unless you play something like Return To Forever before it because then you will notice the difference when you put Vai on afterwards.

 

[daved64]

So as usual, after saying that, I bought it anyway. My collection was missing it. The video is okay. Not the best concert PQ though. Close shots look pretty good and far away shots look soft and out of focus. I see no black problems really. Also, I noticed that the bit rate is really quite high for an MPEG2. It hovers in the high 20's most of the time. The audio as pointed out is I guess 640 kbps max. Considering this fact, the audio is really quite good as well. The one violin that is not electronically juiced as much sounds pretty clear and lifelike and you can hear all the instruments separately in the mix most of the time. There is still this kind of "veil" on everything though in comparison to a normal DTS MA or Dolby HD track. In total this BR release comes out as generally acceptable unless you play something like Return To Forever before it because then you will notice the difference when you put Vai on afterwards.

I think there are some "Non HD -cameras" at play at times as the pic quality really varies from shot to shot. I only noticed some black issues on one particular shot.

 

[Guy Robinson]

It would be interesting to hear what this sounds like although it is only stereo.

https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=catalogdetail&valbum_code=HD690897262027

 

[dbmay75]

When everything is said and done, I'm just glad to have another live show by one of the greatest guitarists ever for my viewing pleasure. Satriani is finishing up his latest live show (I believe it's in Paris this time around) so hopefully he'll follow suit and release it on BD as well. I was just watching Satriani's Live In San Francisco DVD the other day and it looked like crap ... guess I'm already BD whipped!

 

[timbre4]

I really enjoy Live In San Francisco, but as you say, we are getting spoiled.

 

[neil wilkes]

What IDIOT decided to release a MUSIC video with 1080p video & 640kbps Dolby Digital?

 

[elmer]

What IDIOT decided to release a MUSIC video with 1080p video & 640kbps Dolby Digital?

Well actually the idiot in this case is Steve Vai himself - self produced, mixed and released via his own imprint - and it's not even 1080p BD - it's 720p

 

[daved64]

After playing the plain old DVD of the Police's Certifiable last night, I came to the conclusion that this Vai disc was a waste of time and money. It really does have a wimpy mix and the picture quality is not that impressive.

I guess some bands get it right and some don't when it comes to capturing a live performance.