Les Miserables - The Dream Cast in Concert (Superbit) (1 Viewer)

[GlennH]

I have the previous DVD release of this 10th anniversary concert. I've never been too impressed with the video quality. I haven't watched it for awhile, but I think it's fullframe (or at most non-anamorphic letterboxed). I'll have to check on that at home.

Now I see that a Superbit version is being released October 7, with anamorphic widescreen video and DTS sound. Does anybody know anything more about this release? Will there be any more content? Seems like this may be a worthwhile upgrade.

I'll be interested to see some reviews on this.

 

[Adam_WM]

I can't wait. The day I read the announcement of this disc, I sold my original release for more than I paid for it.

 

[Brendon]

I'm not sure if the video quality can be improved so much. The footage shot seemed to be of extremely variable quality (one particular camera being much worse than the others). I don't think throwing more bits at the video will help much.

The audio, on the other hand, I have great hopes for. The LPCM stereo track on the laserdisc was lovely, with the DD2.0 track on the DVD sounding rather thin to my ears. Assuming the original recordings from the concert are still available, I'm sure a good multichannel mix could be derived.

Either way, it's going to be a no brainer purchase for me. I love this musical to death, and a multichannel rendition of Colm Wilkinson & Lea Salonga is just too good an opportunity to pass up.

Cheers,

Bren

 

[Ronald Epstein]

One of the best musicals I have ever seen, and
I have seen it on Broadway twice.

The concert DVD captures everything so wonderfully!

Have owned this on laserdisc, bought the original
DVD release, and just upgraded to the forthcoming
SUPERBIT release.

 

[Ryan Wong]

I agree with Brendon. I don't think they can fix up the camera noise that appeared on a particular camera.

There is also a particular mic that recorded several broken voices. I wonder they will be fixed on the Superbit version.

I own the Region 2/4 PAL version and the arnamorpic widescreen picture quality is very good. I wonder if the NTSC Superbit version can top that. (I assume it was recorded in PAL so it doesn't has speed up problem.)

I am sure the audio part can be lot more better in Superbit.

 

[Brian Kidd]

Was this concert filmed in hi-def? If not, then a higher bitrate will do next to nothing to improve picture quality. You can't raise a video's picture resolution. As for the sound, I think they must have recorded this on multitrack as the concert was released on cd as well as video. There's more hope for the sound, although I'm not convinced that a multichannel mix for this type of concert is really needed.

 

[GlennH]

I guess I thought maybe it was recorded on film, but apparently it was video. In which case it probably can't be improved too much.

 

[Jeff_HR]

One of the best musicals I have ever seen, and
I have seen it on Broadway twice.

I agree. I'll be buying this version. I saw it once on Broadway & once in a roadshow version.

 

[Marty M]

One of the best musicals I have seen, also. I got a chance to see this in Chicago. I own 3 different versions on CD and the original DVD.

My favorite CD version is the Complete Symphonic Recording with Gary Morris as Jean Valjean. I recall that A & E showed a documentary on the recording of this CD. I would like to see this on DVD, as well.

 

[andrew markworthy]

One of the best musicals I have ever seen, and I have seen on Broadway twice

It was even better in the original London production. [I've seen it three times, and to be honest, IMHO it improved after they dropped 'Little People' which always grated on my nerves].

Anyway, back to the topic. Excellent news. I have the original DVD, but never had a particularly high opinion of it sonically or visually. I hope the new version does manage to clean things up a bit.

 

[Brendon]

Do you think they'll add rear channel ambience to the balloon burst noise during Castle on a Cloud ?

Seriously though, I'm hoping more can be done with the recording than has been done in the past. Whilst the CD et al features wonderful performances from a frankly stunning cast, the actual recording quality was fairly average.

I recall that A & E showed a documentary on the recording of this CD. I would like to see this on DVD, as well.

Would this be the Stage by Stage video ? Filmed around 87/88 or so during the recording of the Complete Symphonic ? The show featured bits on the recording, as well as various openings of the show worldwise and interview snippets with Mackintosh, Boublil & Schonberg.

Bren

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Seems like Superbit is a dubious prospect for something shot on video....no matter how many bits you throw at it, it's still video. But marketing is king, so there you go.

 

[Carlo_M]

There is an awful lot of crackling on vocals on both the original DVD and CD of this. Makes me think it is on the master tapes (i.e. the mics/setup was not done properly and the singers made the equipment clip). This is not the sort of thing a DTS or Superbit transfer is going to take care of, since the problems (I am guessing) are on the masters.

What I'd really like them to do is restore and extract the best Colm Wilkinson parts in all of the recordings he did (original London, Broadway & Dream Cast) and replace Gary Morris on the Complete Symphonic Recording.

Then release that as an SACD and I'll be sound as a pound!

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

[I've seen it three times, and to be honest, IMHO it improved after they dropped 'Little People' which always grated on my nerves].