Blu-ray Review: Chris Botti Live
By
Jon Liu Video Format: 1.78:1/1080i
Audio Formats: English Uncompressed PCM 96kHz/24-bit 5.1, English 5.1 and Stereo Dolby Digital
Starring: Chris Botti
Directed by: Jim Gable
Release Date: May 29, 2007
General
Concert videos are interesting really only to those who are interested in 1) watching a concert in the comfort of your own living room and/or 2) fan of the artist(s). At least that's the case most of the time. I wasn’t too familiar with Chris Botti but I do enjoy jazz on occasion, so this was an interesting watch for me. For those not familiar with Chris Botti, he’s a jazz musician whose instrument of choice is the trumpet. There are a lot of familiar songs in this concert. They are as follows:
Someone to Watch Over Me
When I Fall In Love
A Thousand Kisses Deep
What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life?
Good Morning Heartache
My One and Only Love
The Look of Love
Cinema Paradiso
Pennies From Heaven
Are You Lonesome Tonight?
Lover Man
My Funny Valentine
Why Not
One For My Baby
I must say that it was definitely enjoyable, even though I am not necessarily a fan of Chris Botti. There are several guest artists as well, which helps with the musical familiarity. But, the biggest incentive to watch this disc is the audio, which is described below.
Tech Specs
Video: As far as concerts go, this one is one of the better-looking concerts I’ve seen on video. Colors seem to pop and the sharpness was pretty good. Since the video transfer is 1080i instead of 1080p, your respective deinterlacer will have to work it’s magic to make sure that the source material comes through properly, otherwise you’ll get jaggies and some slightly funky motion blur.
Audio: This is the reason behind the review. Most of the reason I enjoyed the disc as much as I did was because of the Uncompressed 96kHz/24-bit track. This is the first, to my knowledge on any format to utilize such a high bitrate for audio. Standard audio tracks that have 48kHz/16-bit produce 4.6MB/Sec for the sound. The higher bit 48kHz/24-bit produces 6.9MB/Sec, and this one produces a 13.8MB/Sec. That’s a lot of information for an audio track! Anyway, this is the best I’ve heard any concert sound on any video format. It comes close to some of the high-resolution audio discs, too! There’s a great sense of airy-ness to the sound that simply sounds more real. The instruments and especially Chris Botti’s parts sound amazing and the sound stage experience seems simply massive!
Extras
Included in this disc is a “Behind The Scenes: Chris Botti Live” and “The Musicians” Featurettes. There’s an extra song not broadcast with the rest of concert by Chris Botti and Sting, “Message in a Bottle”, and an “Interview With Chris.”
Menus/Navigation
Menus are very straight forward, with a static menu system that looks exactly like a standard DVD release. Navigating during the concert, you are able to choose what song you want and such, but it’s not a very fancy menu system.
Overall Impressions
While I am hesitant in recommending this to everyone, if you are somewhat of an audiophile, or you enjoy Chris Botti’s work, or if you simply like Jazz, this is definitely a concert video you will want to check out. With the Uncompressed 96kHz/24-bit track, I hope this sets a new trend for studios to follow after.
Linear Mode
