Still More on Red Sox DVDs
Well, I am glad I have them, but they were not worth the price for the quality. I already mentioned they are not widescreen, but it gets worse. It's not even in surround sound. They don't even put the Dolby Surround encoded track on there, just plain stereo. And even worse, on my 60-inch TV at 13 feet or so, I can clearly see digital compression artifacts all over the place.
And on some of the DVDs, there's a "Fox 5 NY" logo in the bottom right.
The quality is basically about as good as if someone gave you a videotape with the commercials cut out. The audio (with no surround sound) and video (with significant compression artifacts) quality both are worse than what I recorded off DirecTV onto my DirecTiVo.
The menus are also kinda crummy, with even worse compression on the video. But crummy DVD menus are common: I just got Alison Krauss + Union Station Live, and while the quality of the audio* and video of the program are some of the best I've seen, the menus are nauseatingly bad.
This should be Dolby Digital 5.1, anamorphic widescreen, with a very crisp picture. Is that asking too much for something that I want to last a long time, watch over and over, and that costs this much?
Oh, and the bonus DVD is just the World Series film I already bought, plus some extra stuff like press conferences and celebrations (different from the extras on the one I already bought).
*The audio sounds great, and comes in three formats: stereo PCM (i.e., WAV), and multichannel Dolby Digital and DTS. I use all three: PCM for ripping to my music collection, DTS for normal use, and Dolby Digital if I want to listen at night, so I can use the dynamic compression on my amp and not wake anyone up.
And on some of the DVDs, there's a "Fox 5 NY" logo in the bottom right.
The quality is basically about as good as if someone gave you a videotape with the commercials cut out. The audio (with no surround sound) and video (with significant compression artifacts) quality both are worse than what I recorded off DirecTV onto my DirecTiVo.
The menus are also kinda crummy, with even worse compression on the video. But crummy DVD menus are common: I just got Alison Krauss + Union Station Live, and while the quality of the audio* and video of the program are some of the best I've seen, the menus are nauseatingly bad.
This should be Dolby Digital 5.1, anamorphic widescreen, with a very crisp picture. Is that asking too much for something that I want to last a long time, watch over and over, and that costs this much?
Oh, and the bonus DVD is just the World Series film I already bought, plus some extra stuff like press conferences and celebrations (different from the extras on the one I already bought).
*The audio sounds great, and comes in three formats: stereo PCM (i.e., WAV), and multichannel Dolby Digital and DTS. I use all three: PCM for ripping to my music collection, DTS for normal use, and Dolby Digital if I want to listen at night, so I can use the dynamic compression on my amp and not wake anyone up.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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