Packers Road To XLV: Post-Season Collector’s
Edition (Vivendi DVD Set)/St. Louis Cardinals 2011 World Series
Collector’s Edition (A&E DVD Box Set)/2011 World Series Champions Fall Classic (A&E Blu-ray)
Picture: C+/C+/B- Sound: C+/C+/B- Extras: D/B-/B- Main
Programs: B/B+/B
Sports is
always about individual achievement, but in team sports, it is a combination
o0f that and team work, especially when it comes to winning championships. Having records are nice, but if those stars
cannot translate that into world championship victories or even one victory,
there is something very wrong going on.
Sometimes, it is that the team is unwilling or the enthusiasm is not
there because the owner(s) and star(s) don’t care, but should for the sake of
the fans. The answers could fill dozens
of sports books. However, when tram
victory does happen, it is much deserved as in the latest releases that show
the latest cases in two of the biggest sports in the U.S.
Packers Road To XLV: Post-Season
Collector’s Edition
offers up the last four games that the Green Bay Packers had to play to win
their Super Bowl victory and is the most extensive NFL set on home video we
have encountered yet. We may not get
every one of their releases, but it is still one of the better ones just the
same and shows that the league has much more to offer on home video, especially
with their extremely well-archived film records of virtually all of their
games, along with HD capture they are doing now.
Two
releases from MLB cover everything you could want to see, hear or know about
the latest World Series. St. Louis Cardinals 2011 World Series
Collector’s Edition is another massive DVD box set from A&E that offers
up 8 DVDs showing you the entire game, while 2011 World Series Champions Fall Classic is a companion Blu-ray
with a documentary film on the results and all of Game 5. Beating the many teams they had to to get
there was great, but for some reason, their victory over the obnoxious Texas
Rangers is one of the best victories I have seen in years and was very, very
happy for them beyond the game. It is
the kind of victory that reminds us that despite commercialism and other
issues, the spirit of baseball still lives and can rise up at any time, no
matter who likes it or not.
All three
sets come off of 1080i HD footage with occasional low def analog and digital
video & even film clips and the anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on
both DVD sets are tradedowns that are a bit softer, but have good color and are
watchable enough throughout, while the Classic
Blu-ray offers better 1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers
that are as good and a little better than watching the programming off of an HD
cable or satellite source having less anomalies, more stability and adds DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless sound to surpass cable/satellite audio. That works to some extent, but these mixes
are not spectacular, yet also cleaner and clearer than you might be used
to. The DVDs have Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo that is just fine for their programming, but are also lossy.
Extras
only appear on the World Series
release with the DVD offering a bonus disc that includes Walk-Off Winners, Milestones,
Cardinals Clinch NL Wild Card,
separate NLDS and NLDS Highlights, NLCS
Trophy Presentations, World Series Last Out, Celebration & Trophy
Presentation and St. Louis Victory Parade, while the Blu-ray has that 5th
Game, This Week In Baseball: Lance
Berkman, Prime 9: Tony La Rossa, Cardinals
Clinch NL Wild Card [overlap extra], Postseason Highlights and [overlap
extras] World Series Last Out, Celebration & Trophy Presentation and St.
Louis Victory Parade.
- Nicholas Sheffo
