DVD Comparisons

I decided to compare the latest release of this Queen concert (the double DVD edtion) with that previous release that I have (entitled We Will Rock you put out by Pioneer and has Freddie on the cover playing the 12 string guitar). I watch both DVDs simultaneously on adjacent screens to see what were the most noticeable differences (to me anyway). Here they are:

As far as the sound comparision goes, the drums are fuller on the latest release and the bass is much better.

I noticed that on the song Now I'm Here, the Pioneer release begins the song in the middle, where the latest release has the full version.

But here is the most interesting thing I noticed: It seems as though on the lastest release that the picture has been shifted upward, efectively cutting off some of the top picture but giving you more picture on the bottom. In other words: If you pause both DVDs at the same time stamp when, say, Freddie is standing and filling up the whole TV, the latest release will show him from his feet to about his forehead. Whereas the Pioneer release (the previous release) will show that same image beginning at just below Freddies knee to a few inches above his head. So I don't know what to make of that. I would say picture wise I prefer the previous release because the picture is shifted downward limiting the amount of time heads are chopped partly off. I would rather see feet chopped off than a head.

And lastly, the ending of the Pinoeer edition were God Save the Queen is playing and the group is taking their bows is longer because it seems that the footage is run twice but just from a different camera angle. Whereas the lastest edition runs the footage once which makes sense.

Again, I watched these on identical TVs adjacent to eachother at the same time.

It's also a shame that the latest release didn't include the Do They Know It's Christmas song from Live Aid with all the other Live Aid footage, since it does have Freddie in it.

But I bought it because it was cheap enough, and had the commentary by Brian and Roger and the Live Aid interview.