Queen fans... Decent OFFICIAL releases to tide you over... (1 Viewer)

[Dave Mack]

Hey Y'all,

Just finished watching Queen Greatest Flix 2 and Live at Wembley on DVD. Now, before anyone has a COW, these are OFFICIAL releases from Brazil. For some odd reason, There are licensing deals in Brazil for these and they are NOT boots!!! Even Brian May mentions Flix. Vol. 3 coming out there soon on his website!
So, the quality is pretty good. Same masters that made the old VHS's it seems. 5.1 DD though which is rather Bass-heavy, (Lower your subwoofer a tad..!) but still pretty decent, MUCH better than the VHS's...
Flix 2 looks the best (and has 3 videos that were not included on the old VHS "Classic Queen"... "Invisible Man", "Breakthru" and "Friends Will be Friends" and these are OAR whereas when the inevitable "remastered" American version comes out, it's supposed to be cropped to 16x9, which will be cool for the few clips that are widescreen, but will alter the others. As someone who was not thrilled with the American "GVH Vol.1" American release as far as pic. quality goes, I prefer these videos in their OAR. I might even order Greatest Flix 1 as well. The videos of "Who wants to live 4ever" and "A kind of Magic" look MUCH better here than they do on The "Highlander" collector's DVD that came out last year.
And they both have cool photo galleries, the Flix one being about 100 photos, some I have NEVER seen! Freddie and Roger with MICHAEL JACKSON... for ex!!!!!!!!!!!

So check them out. They are pretty decent, LEGAL and rather cheap at 14.95 each. from DVDbrazil.com.

Peace!!!!! D

 

[Michael Allred]

Well, I've yet to see these comments dear Brian made about this "Flix 3" Brazillian DVD so I don't know exactly what was said, however the official fan club very clearly stated that these Brazil release are, in fact, pirates – simple laserdisc ports. Greg Brooks, Queen's archivist, has also backed this up. Queen's official web site does not mention these Brazil discs either and there's a reason, they're not official.

Brazil is notorious for piracy, I did some research last year and I was absolutely shocked at how bad it is there.

This licensing BS was just a way for the company releasing them to sell more magazines (which was how you initially could get the DVD's by getting them along with some cheap rag.)

The 5.1 mix is absolute rubbish, other than the official DVD's already out, NO Queen home video release offered a 5.1 mix so without having access to the masters, these DVD's do NOT have a true surround mix.

I don't begrudge you on the OAR issue but the only reason these pirate DVD's from Brazil are full screen is because, again, they're ripped from the older laserdiscs. Besides that, it's not as if the official DVD's were matted to a 2.35:1 ratio or anything. Sure, they're better than VHS....because they're from laserdisc.

I'd strongly advise any Queen fan to NOT buy these pirate discs from Brazil. The official DVD's will have better picture quality (GVH1 aside), true 5.1 mixes (in DTS, which is Queen's prefered surround option) and *real* extra features.

The official "Wembley" and "Greatest Video Hits 2" (Video Hits is now the title as "Flix" has been dropped, yet another hint these Brazil discs are bogus) DVD's are both scheduled for release this year, I'm sure we can hold out a few months for genuine product.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Drooling for Wembly

Great show!

 

[Michael Allred]

and for anyone interested, I just wrote up a review for Freddie Mercury's "The Video Collection" DVD over at DVD Angle;

http://www.dvdangle.com/reviews/review.php?Id=2994

 

[Dave Mack]

"Well, I've yet to see these comments dear Brian made about this "Flix 3" Brazillian DVD so I don't know exactly what was said..." Well Michael, maybe you could have at least checked before you ranted...
From Brian's website...


**Fri 07 Feb 03**
GF III DVD DUE TO RELEASE IN BRAZIL

According to the site of the magazine DVD Total, Greatest Flix III is to be soon available in the newspaper stands of Brazil.

QUEEN GREATEST FLIX III
TRACK LIST

- The Show Must Go On (Queen + Elton John)
- Under Pressure (rah mix) (Queen + David Bowie)
- Barcelona (Freddie Mercury + Montserrat Caballé)
- Too Much Love Will Kill You (Queen)
- Somebody To Love (Queen + George Michael)
- You Don t Fool Me (Queen)
- Heaven For Everyone (Queen)
- Las Palabras De Amor (Queen)
- Driven By You (Brian May)
- Living On My Own (Freddie Mercury)
- Let Me Live (Queen)
- The Great Pretender (Freddie Mercury)
- Princes of the Universe (Queen)
- Another One Bites The Dust (Queen + Wyclef Jean)
- No One But You (Queen)
- These Are the Days Of Our Lives (Queen)


Obs.:
This product belongs to next launching and will be delivered in January 2003.
TECH:
Video: Full screen (1.33:1)
Audio: Digital Dolby 5,1 - Dolby Stereo Legends: Legends in Portuguese and English (musics)
Duration: 71 minutes
Extra: Gallery of Photos - Discography
R$: 19,90 (equiv) US$5,65(bmn)

Strange that Brian would publicize this INCLUDING photos of said product on his OWN website without making any comments re: being a "Bootleg".http://www.brianmaynews.com/queen/qu...queennews.html

and from DVDbrazil.com's website..

"...Important notice regarding the leglity of DVDBrazil's products
Even some sites and newsgroups may rumor, all DVDs and CDs released in Brazil which are sold by DVDBrazil are not bootlegs neither unauthorized copies. Currently in Brazil, many major studios are leasing to independent companies the copyrights of some titles they are not interested to release themselves at this time. Therefore, the independent companies pays for a limited-time distribution, getting only the master tapes, needing to create new covers and the disc authoring. For this reason sometimes the artwork on covers are not the same from original videos / LP releases. This factor also creates a special feature for collectors. DVDBrazil do not deal with CD-R / DVD-R copies, VCDs or bootlegs, many times sold through other sources. Please feel free to contact us if you have further questions...."

Jeez, all you had to do was go to Brian May's website and check for a minute. Who knows? maybe you're right, it just seems odd that "our dear Brian..." would mention this on his own website.

And also, if it were simply a case of just porting the old laserdisc over to make a quickie pirate, why would they bother to create "photo galleries with dozens and dozens of photos , MANY never before seen? Who would bother with that?
I don't doubt that they used the same masters, but they are certainly in 5.1 as my amp indicates it, I heard surround activity and not just a slapback echo. D

 

[Kevin M]

Friendly place, the Home Theater Forum.

 

[Dave Mack]

indeed....

Good review BTW on the Freddie collection though, Michael. I agree with you about the video quality being a bit dodgy, BUT the sound mix is pretty sweet.


D

 

[Michael Allred]

Strange that Brian would publicize this INCLUDING photos of said product on his OWN website without making any comments re: being a "Bootleg"

Well see, brianmay.com isn't really "his" web site like queenonline.com's is Queen's. Brianmay.com began as a fan run web site, eventually it's webmaster became friendly with Brian (somehow) and now Brian uses it primarily for his "soapbox", everything else you see on it is put there by the webmaster with no say from Brian himself. So Brian isn't promoting or publicizing that DVD, the webmaster just considers it "news" (many fan sites have had postings/discussions on them) but that doesn't give it any credibility. Even then, Brian's soapbox isn't on the official Queen sites because his comments don't reflect Queen Productions stance, on anything really.

Dave, by all means e-mail the official fan club and ask Jacky for yourself. www.queenworld.com

Don't you find it odd that none of the official web sites promote these Brazil DVD's?

You seem like a cool guy Dave, I'd just hate for you to waste your moolah and be fooled by pirates (arrr matey!)


EDIT: BTW Dave, I hope you didn't think I was ranting at *you* specifically. I was ranting against the DVD's in question.

Anyway, the official "Wembley '86" DVD is due around May and will contain the entire concert along with the after show party and highlights from the Budapest concert. "Greatest Video Hits 2" should be this fall, another 2 disc set, extras TBA but will contain the "best of" from "Flix 3".

 

[Dave Mack]

Mike, I will DEFINITELY be getting the new R1 Dvd's, I just suggested these as a "Tiding the diehards over" solution. They may very well be dubious, but what's odd is you'd think they would have the Star Wars O.T. dvds for sale on the website if these were all just pirates. As far as Sci-Fi, they only have Flash Gordon and Running Man. Very strange....

the fact that the new Wembley will be the ENTIRE show is GREAT. About time...
Now if they could only go back and get some of the 70's Live stuff out... Rainbow, Hyde Park etc....

D

 

[Tim L]

hey guys I also bought the Wembley DVD from Brazil last Summer- and I have to agree with Michael- the picture was definitely lifted from a laserdisc source- not premuim but good enough and the sound was prety good also- I bought it for the exact reason Dave said- just to tide me over until they are available officially-Hey it beats my VHS copy! Now how about that box set?
Tim

 

[Michael Allred]

Dave, I can't speak for movies so I dunno anything about the titles you mentioned.

As for the 70's stuff.....well, lots of fans want the Houston '77 show released but Jim Beach has said it will not be released on DVD due to the poor condition the tapes are in. Erm, have they ever heard of color correction, digital mastering, etc etc etc? I think the band gets really involved in the sound mixes but seem to stay out of the whole video realm. Weird. Anyway, if this show from the 70's is considered so bad as to be unusable then that doesn't bode well for the other shows from that era.

 

[Dave Mack]

Hey Mike,

Well they should definitely release Rainbow '74 as that was released in a box set in Europe and Japan on VHS. It looks pretty good IMHO. Or how about a best of Live set from over the years ala "A concert through Time and Space" that was released in England a few years back. Just make the songs UNEDITED! Don't let the Torpedo Twins butcher this.

There is SO much old stuff that is releaseable. If you just watch Magic Years or Champions of the World, you can see excerpts from these.
Also, in Japan there was an official concert released from The works tour. 85-era.

Would be nice to get some of this stuff. Also, the Milton Keynes bowl concert form '82 was broadcast on MTV and later in a truncated version on VH-1 and that looks pretty swell to me. If they just tweaked the sound a bit...?

Also notice the Live in Budapest concert was edited down songwise and is sped up slightly to conserve tape? Pitch is off by 1/2 step approximately.. A is suddenly A sharp for "Tie your mother down" for ex....


D

 

[Michael Allred]

There were 2 Japan concerts released, '82 and '85 (which I own on official VHS, Japan is NTSC so that works out. I bought Roger Taylor's "Cyberbarn" concert that way.)

I think Milton Keynes '82 will is a strong candidate for their next concert DVD. It's not that old, in good shape, have access to all the bits n pieces (some older show, was it Hyde Park? They don't have some of Freddie singing while at the piano!) plus there's interview footage, etc. Besides, that concert was great...."Somebody To Love", "Staying Power" give me goosebumps...can only imagine how they'd sound on DVD.

 

[WilliamG]

This thread begs me to ask this question: If you could only choose ONE, which would you choose- "Greatest Hits Video 1" or the concert "We Will Rock You"? (DTS, of course)

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Actually, from what I hear the DD is superior to the DTS release

 

[WilliamG]

Jeff,

Well, OK - thanks ... and my question remains ..

 

[Brandon]

Apples and Oranges

The WWRY DVD is a tame performance by the band as the audience seems to be lacking. A good, but by no means, great show.

The Video Hits has more material, overall better quality given that the videos in question are over 20 years old and most have degraded somewhat. The commentary by Brian and Roger make up for the substandard picture.

Having bought two versions of WWRY that get little play, I'd go with Video Hits

 

[Dave Mack]

Hey again, Michael

The mystery deepens. While in Jersey, I noticed that Best Buy had Both of these Brazil Queen DVD's in their store as well as a Brazilian POLICE Greatest Hits. I also saw THE POLICE at Tower Records in NYC. And they were $24.95 with a big old IMPORT sticker on them.
I checked the BEST BUY website and they don't have them listed. What is going on? These are MAJOR chains? Would they sell boots? I've never seen any Star Wars OT discs there.

Anyways, the 2 disc COMPLETE show of Wembley will be out soon. Specs Release Date:09.06.2003
- 2 DVDs/235 minutes
- complete concert including Coverversions of "Gimme Some Loving" and "Big Spender"
- Road To Wembley
Interviews with Brian May und Roger Taylor 2003, Gavin Taylor (Concert Director), Gary Stickels (Tour Manager)
- A Beautiful Day
Backstage Documentation by Rudi Dolezal including Interviews and Aftershow Party
- Tribute To Wembley Towers
- Wembley Unseen
Concert Medley and Highlights from the second Wembley Gig
Rehearsals
Photogallery- 4 Songs Multi Angle
One Vision, Under Pressure, Now I´m Here and We Are The Champions....


Sounds like a KILLER (pun intended...) set, but I KNOW they are going to TILT and SCAN it to 16x9. I hope they do a better job as GHH1 and Freddie Tribute looked bad. Way too oversturated colorwise. And ironically, the Freddie tribute concert footage that was on Disc 2 (Documentary) was in 4x3 and looked SO much better!!!!!!


D

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Actually, Wembly is listed as 4:3 for the UK release. It may not be tilt-n-scanned

 

[Brandon]

What is going on? These are MAJOR chains? Would they sell boots?

Best Buy also sold the In Nuce boot a few years back, so selling them is not completely out-of-the question. Circuit City also sold the Gettin Smile cd, which I have been led to believe was only legal to sell in Europe due to copyright restrictions.

I want to know how these stores get the DVDs and if they were led to believe they are legal by the distributor.