| The film tells the story of the rise of
William Randolph Hearst who began mining silver in California and from here built a
publishing and film making empire to rival all others. From many trips to Europe came his vision of the most majestic castle ever built
in the most impossible of places. See the creation of this masterpiece that pans 127 acres
and the majestic European art works that influenced it.
So How Does This Transfer Hold Up?
VIDEO
This 4:3 transfer is a big improvement on "Genesis". It is however riddled with
little problems. There is some major pixelisation in one of the very opening scene’s
of William riding up on his horse and the ground has completely gone to pieces. Shadow
detail is nice but could be improved at times, especially in scenes of the building
interiors in Europe.
There are also some consistent problems with ailiasing and
shimmering throughout the film. Two instances, which stuck out, were the stained glass
windows and the building plans for the castle where I had to actually close my eyes and
refocus.
Colour saturation was generally good. Most scenes showed
very natural looking colours but at times they were a little bland for my liking.
My only other criticism of the transfer is the closing
scene of a sun-setting horizon and the horizon appears to sway back and forth.
AUDIO
Apparently this is a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, but forgive me for thinking that
something is missing. There is practically no use of the surrounds or bass at all. Purely
Narrative dialogue, and not even any good score to mention. Some occasional mood music,
but not enough to even mention.
While the dialogue was prevalent even then it wasn’t
great and sometimes sounding a little muffled especially dialogue from anyone other than
the narrator. Oh and of course the lack of language and subtitle selection was also
disappointing.
EXTRAS
Extras are scarce once again. Another painful menu where you can’t tell what you are
selecting. Also the DVD Rom aspects which basically take you to the website for slingshot.
And of course the obligatory trailer.
Not exactly a selection I would commend but an interesting
doco all the same.
| PICTURE QUALITY |
7.5/10 not too bad (except that one
scene of pixilization) |
| SOUND QUALITY |
6/10 a bit sad |
| FEATURES |
1.5/10 ok for what it is |
| OVERALL |
6.5/10 Informative |
Review Equipment
TV: GE 68cm (16:9 selectable)
DVD: Samsung DVD907 (via S-Video)
Receiver/Proc: Sansui A505/Sony Amp & Yamaha DSP-E390
Speakers:-
Fronts: Wharfdale Diamond R6 (on a pair of custom made stands you'd KILL for)
Centre: Venturi
Rears: Sony bookshelf
- Reviewed 24th February 2000 |
