Opera on DVD

Started by uffeviking, April 08, 2007, 12:54:48 AM

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marvinbrown

#160
Quote from: Iago on July 03, 2007, 10:27:47 AM

Is this DVD of "Elektra" in a 4:3 (standard TV) or 16:9 (widescreen-HD TV) screen size?
Is it in a 1.33:1, 1.78:1. 1.85:1. 2.35:1 or 2.40:1 aspect ratio?
Is it in 5.1 Dolby Digital  surround sound, 2 track PCM stereo, or monophonic sound?

In todays day and age, these are things which a music lover must know BEFORE he/she should make an investment in the DVD.

  Hi Iago to answer your questions:  I have played this DVD on widscreen TV. 

Format: Classical, Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, DVD-Video, PAL
Language German
Region: All Regions
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 1
Classification: Exempt
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
DVD Release Date: 19 Sep 2005
Run Time: 208 minutes

  But Iago if your DVD player and TV are PAL, NTSC and widescreen compatible as mine are you should be able to play any DVD.  Anyway, if you are in the US and buy from amazon.com then I would hope that the DVD they sell is compatible with American products as amazon.co.uk is compatible with British products.  I would like to add that this is a remarkable production of ELEKTRA, it certainly impressed me.

  marvin

Iago

Quote from: marvinbrown on July 03, 2007, 12:41:39 PM

Anyway, if you are in the US and buy from amazon.com then I would hope that the DVD they sell is compatible with American products
 

Certainly I could obtain an NTSC version from amazon.com.US.
But I have a widescreen HDTV and absolutely abhor black bars either at the top or sides of the picture. And unless the aspect ratio is either 1.78:1 or 1.85:1 black bars will appear on the top or sides of the picture, even on an HD Widescreen TV. Only those two aspect ratios will FILL the screen without distortion of any kind. Perhaps you were unaware of that? A 1.33:1 aspect ratio will produce a squarish picture on a widescreen tv, with black bars on each side. Of course they can be eliminate by placing your TV in one of several "stretch" modes. But this cretaes distortions in the images of people and things. I find that I am even less able to tolerate distortions than I am black bars either at the top and bottom or at the sides. You also made no mention of the audio characteristics of the disc.  These things may NOT be important to other viewers/listeners, but they are VERY important to me.
"Good", is NOT good enough, when "better" is expected

71 dB

Quote from: Iago on July 03, 2007, 02:36:27 PM
Certainly I could obtain an NTSC version from amazon.com.US.
But I have a widescreen HDTV and absolutely abhor black bars either at the top or sides of the picture. And unless the aspect ratio is either 1.78:1 or 1.85:1 black bars will appear on the top or sides of the picture, even on an HD Widescreen TV. Only those two aspect ratios will FILL the screen without distortion of any kind. Perhaps you were unaware of that? A 1.33:1 aspect ratio will produce a squarish picture on a widescreen tv, with black bars on each side. Of course they can be eliminate by placing your TV in one of several "stretch" modes. But this cretaes distortions in the images of people and things. I find that I am even less able to tolerate distortions than I am black bars either at the top and bottom or at the sides. You also made no mention of the audio characteristics of the disc.  These things may NOT be important to other viewers/listeners, but they are VERY important to me.

I have never understood why people hate black bars. There's just no picture information on certain areas of the screen. I want to see everything in their original aspect ratio and non-stretched. That leads to black bars on my 16:9 TV with 1.33:1 and 2.35:1 material but I don't even pay attention to the black bars. I watch the picture in between. I am lucky I have a healthy approach to different aspect ratios.
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

Iago

Quote from: 71 dB on July 03, 2007, 03:16:05 PM
I have never understood why people hate black bars. There's just no picture information on certain areas of the screen.

I'm truly grateful that those black bars don't bother you. I would not sleep well knowing that they did.
I paid several thousands of dollars for an HDTV 55" diagonal. and I want each and every pixel to produce "some light", (thus a picture). I did NOT pay that money to have even a small portion of the screen in a totally useless mode, unless I want to suffer image distortion.
"Good", is NOT good enough, when "better" is expected

marvinbrown

#164
Quote from: Iago on July 03, 2007, 02:36:27 PM
Certainly I could obtain an NTSC version from amazon.com.US.
But I have a widescreen HDTV and absolutely abhor black bars either at the top or sides of the picture. And unless the aspect ratio is either 1.78:1 or 1.85:1 black bars will appear on the top or sides of the picture, even on an HD Widescreen TV. Only those two aspect ratios will FILL the screen without distortion of any kind. Perhaps you were unaware of that? A 1.33:1 aspect ratio will produce a squarish picture on a widescreen tv, with black bars on each side. Of course they can be eliminate by placing your TV in one of several "stretch" modes. But this cretaes distortions in the images of people and things. I find that I am even less able to tolerate distortions than I am black bars either at the top and bottom or at the sides. You also made no mention of the audio characteristics of the disc.  These things may NOT be important to other viewers/listeners, but they are VERY important to me.

  With regards to the audio characteristics they are as follows: PCM Stereo DTS 5.1 (for the opera DVD)  the second DVD that comes with this set is a behind the scenes documentary of the making of the production, that one is Dolby Digital 2.0.  I do have stretch modes and use them because I mind the black bars much more than distortions which personally do not bother me.  But then again I do not have an HD TV.  That being said, you could try finding  a copy to rent and see if it agrees with you, or buy and return if not satisfied (I think amazon allows for that)
 
Hope this helps......
 
PS: Now that Iago mentioned it I went looking through all my opera DVDs and have noticed that pracitcally all of them are aspect ratio 1.33:1.....that seems to be the standard or am I mistaken?
   
marvin

yashin

Some other new DVDs on the market.  Anyone know anything about the new Lohengrin -With Treleavan and Magee-from Liceu.  It is the one set in a classroom.
I have the old DVD with Domingo.  I have yet to see the new DVD with Vogt from Baden Baden.
Anyone seen this new one or heard about the production?


71 dB

#166
Quote from: Iago on July 03, 2007, 03:32:40 PM
I paid several thousands of dollars for an HDTV 55" diagonal. and I want each and every pixel to produce "some light", (thus a picture). I did NOT pay that money to have even a small portion of the screen in a totally useless mode, unless I want to suffer image distortion.

You are not the only one to say so. However, you should understand that you simply can't utilisize every pixel to produce light because we have different picture formats. You just have to accept it because there is not anything we can do about it. Even with black bars non-16:9 picture is showed as well as possible.

You can't even utilisize the HD resolution with DVDs. They have only SD resolution.
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

71 dB

Quote from: marvinbrown on July 04, 2007, 02:08:25 AM
PS: Now that Iago mentioned it I went looking through all my opera DVDs and have noticed that pracitcally all of them are aspect ratio 1.33:1.....that seems to be the standard or am I mistaken?
   
marvin

Old productions are 1.33:1, Newer (roughly 2000 onwards) are mostly 16:9.
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

marvinbrown

Quote from: 71 dB on July 07, 2007, 08:27:02 AM
Old productions are 1.33:1, Newer (roughly 2000 onwards) are mostly 16:9.

  I see, and what a shame because most of the opera productions I like are pre-2000. 

  marvin

uffeviking

Quote from: yashin on July 07, 2007, 05:47:40 AM
Anyone know anything about the new Lohengrin -With Treleavan and Magee-from Liceu. 


I have not heard nor seen this Lohengrin, but one thing I know: Stay away from anything Treleaven sings. Correction: He does not sing, he attempts! He is still looking for the right spot to place all those notes Wagner composed for Tristan und Isolde and all those other Ring operas.  ::)

marvinbrown

Quote from: uffeviking on July 07, 2007, 10:51:48 AM
I have not heard nor seen this Lohengrin, but one thing I know: Stay away from anything Treleaven sings. Correction: He does not sing, he attempts! He is still looking for the right spot to place all those notes Wagner composed for Tristan und Isolde and all those other Ring operas.  ::)


  Oh dear.... he's that bad??  thanks for the tip by the way.  Its a good thing I did not buy the Tristan und Isolde with Treleaven and Deborah Polaski....


  marvin

knight66

I agree with Lis about this singer. It is a mystery why they get the work. Perhaps he was booked when he was still green and in his salad days.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Iago

Quote from: 71 dB on July 07, 2007, 08:24:16 AM


You can't even utilisize the HD resolution with DVDs. They have only SD resolution.

I guess you didn't realize it, but you are TOTALLY wrong about that. Many "newer" DVD players will upconvert their native 480i resolution to 480p,720p, or 1080i. I have a new Denon 3930CS player which will even upconvert the picture to 1080p. But my TV cannot handle 1080p, so I select between 720p and 1080i, BOTH of which represent HD resolution standards. I usually use 720p since it provides a more movie like picture than any of the interlaced (i) settings.
"Good", is NOT good enough, when "better" is expected

71 dB

Quote from: Iago on July 07, 2007, 11:16:12 PM
I guess you didn't realize it, but you are TOTALLY wrong about that. Many "newer" DVD players will upconvert their native 480i resolution to 480p,720p, or 1080i. I have a new Denon 3930CS player which will even upconvert the picture to 1080p. But my TV cannot handle 1080p, so I select between 720p and 1080i, BOTH of which represent HD resolution standards. I usually use 720p since it provides a more movie like picture than any of the interlaced (i) settings.


Do you really think you get increased resolution in upconvert? No matter how you upconvert you don't get any new picture information. It's simply impossible. In fact, upconverting is a tricky job and tends to lesser picture quality but not much in case of your Denon 3930CS.
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

knight66

I have made an advance order for the Levine Troyens. Even if it is static and turns out to be like a concert, it will be worth listening to the cast. Troyanos, Norman and Domingo.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Iago

Quote from: 71 dB on July 08, 2007, 04:03:14 AM
Do you really think you get increased resolution in upconvert? No matter how you upconvert you don't get any new picture information. It's simply impossible. In fact, upconverting is a tricky job and tends to lesser picture quality but not much in case of your Denon 3930CS.

No you don't get an increase in picture quality by going from any interlaced setting to any other interlaced setting.  But you CERTAINLY DO get an increase in picture quailty by going from any of the interlaced (i) settings to any of the progressive (p) settings. And this is true WITHOUT any increase in picture information. It simply looks better in the progressive than in the interlaced mode.
"Good", is NOT good enough, when "better" is expected

marvinbrown

#176
  Opera fans I come to you once again for advice...I am seeking a great recording of Wagner's TANNHAUSER (I have given up on Rienzi ???)  I am considering these two recordings:

 

 


   YAY or NAY? If Nay, why? and should I look elsewhere?

  marvin

  PS: Has Rienzi ever been staged and recorded on DVD? I can not find a DVD recording of it anywhere??

uffeviking

I have the Sinopoli one and prefer it to the Levine, even though I have not seen the Levine! Shocked? Simple prejudice on my part.

No. 1: The Wolfgang Wagner direction is fresh, new, inspirational, compared to anything the Met can come up. I don't even have to see it to know the overall view of WW is perferable.

No. 2. The Sinopoli conducting beats anything Levin can come up. You got it, again: prejudice on my part.  ;D

karlhenning

Quote from: uffeviking on July 11, 2007, 10:31:36 AM
I have the Sinopoli one and prefer it to the Levine, even though I have not seen the Levine!

How can you prefer it to the Levine, if you've never seen the latter?  I ask only for information  0:)

uffeviking

Quote from: uffeviking on July 11, 2007, 10:31:36 AM
. You got it, again: prejudice on my part.  ;D

Karl, did you miss reading the above quoted part of my post? Very straight and honest opinion!  ::)