Pat Metheny Group: The Way Up – Live (Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: C Concert: B
When DVD
first arrived, the surprise boom besides the usual film sales was in
music. Concerts and Music Video
collections were surprise sellers and more than just the record labels took
advantage of that. With the introduction
of HD shooting, everyone has been rushing to make new state-of-the-art concerts
in the format and cash in on what they hope will be the next boom. On standard DVD, one of the latest best is Pat Metheny Group: The Way Up – Live from
Eagle Vision, who has become the leader in concert discs.
We have
looked at many of their concert DVDs and now, they are releasing this material
in both HD-DVD and Blu-ray. The Way Up is the first concert being
issued in both formats and we got the Blu-ray version to look at first. I liked the concert and loved the sound
fidelity in particular, as covered in my review at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4360/Pat+Metheny+Group:+The+Way+Up+–+Live+(DTS)
HD-DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4674/Pat+Metheny+Group:+The+Way+Up
Now for
the technical details on this new disc. The
16 X 9/1.78 X 1 image turns out to be shot in HD 1080i, though this format is
1080p. That makes somewhat of a
difference in these new formats, but not as dramatic as if it were
film-to-HD. As predicted, the shoot was
so nice that I figured they would do an HD version and immediately, it is one
of their first release choices. Color
and definition are improved enough over the standard DVD to be noticed and
makes it even more engaging as a result, even more so than the differences
between the DVD and Blu-ray of Alice
Cooper – Live At Montreux 2005 reviewed elsewhere on this site.
Then
there is the sound, again here in strong PCM 2.0 24bit/48kHz Stereo and better-than-usual
Dolby Digital 5.1. This time, the
articulate DTS 5.1 is here in a DTS HD 5.1 mix that I swear is even better. The articulate standard DVD’s DTS 5.1 is here
in a DTS HD 5.1 mix that is once again better, as was the case with the Blu-ray
version. It was a high watermark for
music audio in the HD formats when we first covered it, but that time has
passed, though I still enjoy hearing it.
As noted
in the DVD review, this is a top rate recording that audiophiles will be
impressed with and home theater fans will be stunned by. Like Eagle’s Chick
Corea & Gary Burton – Live At Montreux 1997 also reviewed on this site, The Way Up
is the kind of demo-quality concert disc and Blu-ray title in particular that
shows how great the format can be. We
hope to see and hear at the HD-DVD version soon to compare.
- Nicholas Sheffo
