Dream Theater - Live At Budokan DVD (1 Viewer)

Just got this in the mail today. Was very pleasantly surprised to find it's anamorphic widescreen. I've been previewing it in my PC at work and it looks and sounds great. This should be a no brainer for any DT fan.

Best Buy has an insanely low price on line for pre-order-9.99! Their ad lists it as 14.99, which is still good. This one should sell well.

I didn't know about this one. I also saw one the other day that has Live at the Marquee and 5 Years in a Livetime, 5.1 surround.

I just watched the DT Double Feature set you mentioned, and I thought the A/V was great on that set as well. Haven't seen Live In Tokyo in a long time-it was good to see it again. The 5 Years In A Live Time disc was a little disappointing in terms of song selection, but still enjoyable.

5.1 and widescreen!! I am all over this one.

I can't wait to here stuff off the new album live, especially In the Name of God.

thanks for the heads up.

I see Mike is talking about a different disk that has 5.1. Is the one that is released today in 5.1? It just says "stereo" at Best Buy's site. This would be very disappointing.

You would think that a band like DT would make sure that it would be released in the best sound format possible...

The new one has 5.1 and stereo. I seldom rely on Best Buy's info-they are wrong often.

I just remember seeing 5.1 on the packaging, which is why I didn't buy it, because I'll wait until I move into a new place and set up my surround sound.

Mike,

Are you talking about the double feature disc? I think that had 5.1 and stereo. I remember the 5.1 sounding much stronger, but the 2.0 was definitely adequate.

Yes, that's what I saw in the store.

I looked at the back of the packaging, and it does only say 5.1-not sure why. I wish concert DVD's had the same spec standards as films.

UPDATE:

Anyone who has this new disc and has a 5.1 setup, you may want to check your disc. I think there might be a major audio glitch on it. On my disc, at 95:30, during the beginning of New Millenium, the 5.1 mix screws up big time. It's almost like everything moved one speaker over to the left. For instance, the right rear goes dead. The sanre and kick are now very prominent in the left rear. The vocals seem to only be coming out of the left main. It's not my setup, as I re-tested all my channels and they work fine. Also, going back to an earlier song, the sound goes back to normal. I'm going to pick up another copy from Best Buy since it's cheap just to see if it's just one disc, but again, if you have it, definitely check it out. Sucks too, becuase the 5.1 mix was awesome until the glitch. The 2.0 track was ok but paled in comparison.

UPDATE 2:

I tried it on my upstairs 5.1 setup which is smaller, and the glitch is still there, but this time instead of my right rear going dead, it seems to be playing the exact same thing as the left rear. Up until 95:30, all you hear out of the left rear is crowd noise and some guitar, maybe keys. After the glitch, the kick snare magically appear. Very strange. I've read on the Mike Portnoy forum that one other use who already has his heard a glitch in New Millennium as well, so I'm starting to become worried that it's not just my disc. If it affects all the discs, this would certainly seem to be cause for a recall or exchange program. Nuts.

UPDATE 3:

Nuts. I got a second copy from Best Buy (my first was from DVDEmpire), and it did the same thing. If you don't have a 5.1 setup and don't plan to get one, I'd still recommend the disc, but make sure you pick the 2.0 track because the DVD defaults to the defective 5.1 track.

Hmm, I didn't notice that on mine but coincidentally I had to stop the disk right in the middle of New Millineum so maybe I'm not to the spot yet.

Wow, this dvd looks (and more importantly sounds) incredible. I also love some of the extra parts that the band put in. They turned Hollow Years into a much better song, that new guitar solo is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard.

These guys can play circles around all of my other favorite bands...

Sheldon,

You'll only notice it if the 5.1 track is selectd and you are listening on a 5.1 system. If you are, a number of users have confirmed on the Mike Portnoy forum that essentially, the rear right and subwoofer channels get reversed, and the center and left rear get reversed at 95:30. This would explain why I'm not getting anything but low low noise out of my right rear and snare aplenty out of my left rear.

I noticed the obvious skip in both the audio and video in "New Millennium," but the sound seemed fine after that. I'll have to listen more closely for the things you mentioned.

I have to agree that this DVD is fantastic; DT is my favorite band, so it's hard to be objective, but for audio/video quality, I think this is up there with Roger Waters' In the Flesh and Peter Gabriel's Growing Up. I'm especially impressed with the video -- it looks as good as a feature film.

Rob,

Do you have a 5.1 setup? There is even a hiccup on the 2.0 soundtrack but the sound stays relatively consistent. However, the change is night and day on my 5.1 setup.

I listened last night and mine also has the glitch at the same part in 5.1. ah well.

Word on the DT and MP forums is that Portnoy has been made aware of the issue and they're looking into it.

Yep, and I noticed the "hiccup" on first viewing. However, I was watching kind of late in the evening, when other people were trying to sleep, so I really didn't notice any problems after that. I have since listened again with the volume up (considerably), and I can definitely hear the difference. I hope they take care of this, but I'll be patient. The 2.0 track sounds fine for now.

Don't pass this up for 10 bucks at bestbuy.com.

Yeah, the 5.1 mix is an error. MP is aware of it as well as Kevin Shirley, the guy who mixed the concert in the studio. He says it's definitely not how it sounded when they got the final mix done.

On top of that, the dual layer change is DURING Trial of Tears. Jeez.

I hate to say this, but after watching it a couple of times James Labrie's voice is really bugging me. I like how he sounds on the studio albums, but live he very often sounds flat or like he's really straining, and sometimes he has a nasal sound. Maybe his mistakes are so glaring because all of the other band members are so accurate. I'm sure they notice this, I wonder what they think of their lead singer.