Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire – Live At The
Greek Theater + Heart – Alive In Seattle + The Moody Blues – Live: Lovely To See You
(Image Entertainment Blu-ray Discs)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: C/C-/C Concerts: B/B-/B-
After
supplying some of the earliest concert titles in the now-defunct HD-DVD format,
Image Entertainment is now reissuing them in the Blu-ray format, including one
that we can call the first Moody Blu!
First,
here are the links to the three titles we are looking at again when they were
in HD-DVD:
Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire
– Live At The Greek Theater
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4968/Chicago+and+Earth,+Wind+&+Fire
Heart – Alive In Seattle
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4967/Heart+–+Alive+In+Seattle+(HD-DVD
The Moody Blues – Live: Lovely To
See You
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6498/The+Moody+Blues
All were
and still are in 1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition video. The image quality is the same in all cases,
though at a period where too many of the film releases in Blu-ray and HD-DVD
had gutted, denatured color, I was very happy with the Moody Blues picture to the point I rated it B+ when I should have
given it a B. I will not change the
previous rating for posterity and to remind us all how bad some early discs
really was. Otherwise, all are
expectedly soft for 1080i and have the same extras.
The
highlight in all three cases is that no matter what the previous release
soundtracks, DTS HD lossless Master Audio (MA) has been added to the releases. The only concert that really benefits, and
only marginally, is the Chicago/Earth,
Wind & Fire disc with its good mix sounding better in DTS MA yet also
showing its limits. Fans of any of these
acts and concerts will be happy with the new Blu-ray versions, but the 5.0 on
the Heart disc still sounds the most problematic and I still wonder how it
could sound any better on a 5.0 SACD but I have yet to hear that version.
For the
second Heart Blu-ray released, try this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7990/Heart+–+Dreamboat+Annie:+Live
- Nicholas Sheffo