Ray Charles – Live At Montreux 1997 + The Strat
Pack – Live In Concert + Tori Amos -
Live At Montreux 1991/1992 (Eagle Blu-rays)
Picture: B Sound: B Extras: D/C+/D Concerts: B/B/D
Eagle
Vision is back with three more concerts on Blu-ray, all of which have already covered
on DVD-Video. Here are the original
reviews, followed by the improvements with the new versions:
Ray Charles – Live At Montreux
1997
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6460/Ray+Charles+–+Live+At+Montreux
The Strat Pack – Live In Concert
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2265/The+Strat+Pack+-+Live+In+Concert
Tori Amos - Live At Montreux 1991/1992
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7561/Tori+Amos+–+Live+At+Montreux
The 1080i
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image in all cases was shot in that older
interlaced digital High Definition video format, but all have their strong
points with the Amos concerts
looking the oldest and despite color consistency, looking the most
strained. The Strat Pack was lensed in 2005 and looks almost the best of the
three, though some the detail in long shots render the crowd softer than HD
would now and certainly film would not unless manipulated otherwise. That brings us to Ray Charles and how great it is to have Charles in HD of any kind,
still capable of holding an audience.
In
Blu-ray, seeing the real Ray Charles is more compelling in HD here than even
seeing Jamie Foxx’s stunning performance in the Ray feature film, also showing us how accurate Foxx was and how it
is the most improved from all the previously released DVD versions of these
titles. The audio in all cases includes
DTS HD Master Audio (MA) lossless 5.1 and PCM 2.0 Stereo mixes, but the third
Dolby options are different between the Blus which all have standard Dolby
Digital 5.1 mixes except Ray Charles
in Dolby TrueHD 5.1. I liked the DTS
best in all cases, though the TrueHD on Ray
Charles makes for an interesting alternative and audiophiles will enjoy
that. Only The Strat Pack has any extras, repeating the bonus tracks from the
DVD, but Eagle continues its winning ways in getting this kind of impressive
material on Blu-ray.
- Nicholas Sheffo
