I noticed an earlier topic about it not being in 35mm, don't know what that is, though. But does that make a bluray release impossible?
This is by far my favorite concert and the audio is phenomenal. However, it has always bugged me that it's 4:3 instead of 16:9, and the overall video quality is sub par.
Does anyone have more information about this? Is the "master film" or whatever just as bad in video quality as the DVD? And is the original a 1.33:1 or is the DVD cropped?
It was recorded on VHS (yeah... seriously)... it took David almost 10 years to remaster it to as good of quality as it is on the DVD.
Fortunately, they must've recorded the audio on reel-to-reel (must've been at least 12 tracks), because the audio is as close to perfect as possible.
As far as the quality of the master... throw in your ten-year old copy of Star Wars: A New Hope and see how that looks... David even said he wished he would have had it shot on 35mm film. Remastering a low-quality master to LOTR quality is a very difficult task, indeed.
http://ambrandt.servehttp.com <-- it's my site... like duh!
VHS was never used for professional video recording. Most likely they used BetaCamSP or perhaps even DigiBeta (standard definition) which was brand new at the time. The DVD suffers from bad video compression due to the need to maximize the available space on the disc for the audio tracks. I have seen the original analog LaserDisc release and it did have better image quality.
I'm sure they could re-compress and remaster the video for an improved Blu-Ray release, but that is up to the record label and might involve re-negotiating license agreements related to the music. They haven't even done a Blu-Ray release of David Gilmour's Live In Gdansk concert video and that was absolutely shot in HD.
I'm sure they could re-compress and remaster the video for an improved Blu-Ray release, but that is up to the record label and might involve re-negotiating license agreements related to the music. They haven't even done a Blu-Ray release of David Gilmour's Live In Gdansk concert video and that was absolutely shot in HD.