Anyone have a review of this yet (street date 4/30)? How's the picture, sound, extras? I'm itchin' to get a hold of this one if only for the Rock/Hogan match! mike.
I can't bring myself to buy any WWF "event" DVDs anymore. In the past I had purchased Rock Bottom and Wrestlemania 2000 among others. Whoever puts out the WWF's DVDs seems to have problems with compression. I witnessed a lot of pixelation during some of the matches. The picture just breaks up when there is a lot of pyro going on, or when the screen is busy. I can see how this would be a problem since WWF's events are usually 3 hours or longer, and that's before the extras. I do still buy some of their DVDs, just not the events. Hell Yeah is one of their first, and best produced DVDs to date. Sorry for the rant, but this picture break up problem is the one thing that keeps me from purchasing the WWF's product. These guys need to learn quality control.
This is present on the original broadcast as well, of ANY WWF event. All I can think of is that their cameras are calibrated to the arena lighting, and the pyro just doesn't do well with it. Wrestlemania 2000 DID have pixelization problems, but once they started breaking it to 2 discs they disappeared. I got a look at the cameras the WWF uses, I don't think they're digital, as of King of the Ring 2001, at least for the guys showing things happening outside, they're running SuperBetacam with a 16:9 anamorphic lens on them (viewfinder is 16:9, arena 16:9 displays DEFINATELY show more) I only wish the DVD was widescreen....
I have become impressed with the WWF's DVD output as of late. I received the Mick Foley and Undertaker DVDs for Christmas, and while there is a little artifacting during the main feature, the bonus matches are of the best quality I've ever seen them. Also just recently rented Royal Rumble 2001, and the video quality on it was outstanding. I have heard that their older DVDs were very poorly done, with compression artifacts galore, but their newer releases have been top notch. Rock Bottom may have this problem because it is a budget line disc, and happened before DVD was even a consideration for the WWF....older events and TV footage always suffer on WWF DVDs, but the newer events shine. Basically, avoid older events, or new budget line releases of older events, and you will be a happy camper.
Thanks for clearing that up guys. I've been wanting to pick up Wrestlemania X7 and The 2 disc RAW set. Does anyone know about their quality?
I own those titles and they're both fine. WMX7 is split over two discs so it doesn't break up like WM2000(especially during the three way Jericho/Bemoit/Angle match ) They both have good extras, especially RAW, which has tons of matches and now classic moments. Plus classic Undertaker. Can't go wrong with that.
Anyone find this in their area? I live in Toronto and the biggest store here, Future Shop, didn't carry it. Weird since X8 was in Toronto!
Canada is usually slow getting discs That was a VERY fast release, usually it's 2-3 months after a PPV that the video comes out. They must've mastered it in under a week and sent it right out to the replciator
Picked it up today. It is a terrific DVD. It has over 3 hrs of extra features including the entire Wrestlemania match of Hogan vs Ultimate Warrior from the last time they where in the Skydome. Also about the picture. WWF signed a contract with Sony about 6 months ago for video distribution. The difference in picture quality from the pre Sony days is amazing. Lastly, this is the first WWF DVD to be mastered in 5.1 sound. I guess with the higher than usual PPV production cost they were able to provide a pretty impressive soundtrack. If you are a WWF fan you gotta have this DVD.
It's 5.1? If only it was anamorphic too! I might need to pick this one up, even though I found the rest of the card to be mediocre, the extras sound fantastic
