[Jeff Guidry]

If you haven't heard, the film Koyaanisqatsi (with ground breaking score by Philip Glass) has been released from its legal stranglehold and is now available on DVD! Koyaanisqatsi and its sequel Powaqatsi are now both available in remastered formats. I bought the DVD's today, they look and sound fabulous. They are available right now as a twin package for 29.98 SRP or seperately for 19.98. I got the twin pack for 26.99 at Amoeba in Hollywood.

This release is in advance of the final chapter of the Qatsi trilogy Naqoyqatsi. A trailer is available on the DVD. Suffice it to say the new visuals are stunning, you owe it to yourself to seek out this film when it is released in October.

The titles of the films are Hopi words. Koyaanisqatsi means life out of balance, Powaqatsi means life in transition, and Naqoyqatsi means war life. The trilogy explores the unnatural world that man has created, without words, characters or scripts; it is a paegant of visual images and beautiful music that clearly demonstrate how our human presence has obliterated nature.

The theme of the new film Naqoyqatsi is the propostition that there is no more nature, there is only technology, and that everyday life is war. An especially poignant theme given the current climate in our civilization.

I encourage you to explore www.koyaanisqatsi.org to learn more. These are great films that you will really enjoy, I am sure.

 

[Sol_Zhen]

Not to plug or anything, but my review of the DVD has been up on DVD Angle for a couple days. -> Koyaanisqatsi

Order it from DVDExpress.com

[/shameless plug]

Too bad I didn't have time to review Powaqqatsi over the weekend as well... Will do it soon.

Recommended.

 

[redshifter]

jeff and sol_zhen,
i just got my two-pack at tower for $23! what a deal. these are somewhat barebones dvds, but the transfer looks good and the soundtracks are a real improvement over the cd's. i also picked up the new recording of "koyaanisqatsi" on cd, and it is also quite good. much closer to the live performance i saw philip glass do last year. btw, the dvd has the original recording, but it almost sounds like a new recording the remastering is so good.

tower also has some good the doors and led zep remasters on sale. i picked up "l.a. woman" and "houses of the holy" for $8 and $14.

 

[daycart1]

I've been waiting a long time for this since I can't get decent sound from vhs.

 

[Jeff Guidry]

Now that I have had a chance to listen to the full soundtrack, I must say I am EXTREMELY disappointed that there is no 2.0 mix option. There is only the 5.1 mix, and using the L/R outputs from my Sony DVP-NS500v yields a sound mix that collapses in the middle. In order to listen to the soundtrack properly, I had to hook up my old JVC DVD, which does not have bad sound, but is not in the same league as the 500v. The JVC deck has only stereo outs, so it squishes all the information into the two channels. Not a perfect mix, but certainly better than NOT hearing half of the mix.

I suppose us two channels fans are going to lose the the 5.1 crowd, but I must say that I just don't like any surround mix over a good stereo mix.

 

[Sol_Zhen]

Well considering that most will buy the DVD for use in an entertainment center that will include a surround setup, like me, I'm not surprised.

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Guidry Now that I have had a chance to listen to the full soundtrack, I must say I am EXTREMELY disappointed that there is no 2.0 mix option. There is only the 5.1 mix, and using the L/R outputs from my Sony DVP-NS500v yields a sound mix that collapses in the middle. In order to listen to the soundtrack properly, I had to hook up my old JVC DVD, which does not have bad sound, but is not in the same league as the 500v. The JVC deck has only stereo outs, so it squishes all the information into the two channels. Not a perfect mix, but certainly better than NOT hearing half of the mix. I suppose us two channels fans are going to lose the the 5.1 crowd, but I must say that I just don't like any surround mix over a good stereo mix.

jeff,
do you have a surround system?
on mine i enjoyed the spaciousness of the soundtrack. there is little discrete surround effects, it is more of an enveloping sound. some things i noticed on the pow soundtrack are that not only is it a longer mix of some of the music than on cd (which is expected), some of the playing and orchestration are different than the cd. at times (besides the longer cuts) it sounds like a different performance. for example, on the openning sequence, there is a section where drums take over near the end of the openning. on the cd, the drum hits have more dynamics than on the dvd, and almost sound like they were mixed or played differently. overall i would say the dvd soundtrack for pow is softer and less dynamic than the cd, but much warmer, more detailed and of course, longer with more music.

doesn't your sony maxtrix the 5.1 to 2 when you use the stereo analog outs? or are you connecting to the front-right front-left analog outs on the sony? if the latter is the case then yes, you will be missing the lfe, sr, sl, and center channels. later i am going to connect the l+r analog outs on my panasonic rv80 dvdp to my sony jb930 minidisc deck and make a copy of pow. since i am so familiar with the cd i'll post my impressions of the 2 channel matrixed version.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Quote:

Originally posted by Sol_Zhen Well considering that most will buy the DVD for use in an entertainment center that will include a surround setup, like me, I'm not surprised.

I disagree completely -- I know many people bought the OOP laserdisc on eBay just for the soundtrack. I agree that the movie is great (it's one of my top ten favourite films of all time), but the soundtrack is just sublime. They shoulda had a high-res two-channel version.

 

[redshifter]

dusty is right. a 2 ch uncompressed pcm track should have been included. i'll bet there was plent of space on the dvd's for it. the video anyway was encoded at a very low bitrate (but still looks pretty good). with the 3rd in the series coming out soon i predict there will be a 3-pack re-issue of the trilogy in the future. perhaps a dts 5.1 and 2ch pcm track will be included this time.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

It also gives us audio nuts the opportunity to listen on an external DAC, which I think is mandatory with the DVD players that I have.

 

[Jeff Guidry]

Quote:

Originally posted by redshifter dusty is right. a 2 ch uncompressed pcm track should have been included. i'll bet there was plent of space on the dvd's for it. the video anyway was encoded at a very low bitrate (but still looks pretty good). with the 3rd in the series coming out soon i predict there will be a 3-pack re-issue of the trilogy in the future. perhaps a dts 5.1 and 2ch pcm track will be included this time.

Frankly, that would be friggin sneaky of them...

 

[redshifter]

jeff,
there are plenty of "double dip" dvd issues out there. "amadeus se" is coming, and although i already own it, i'll be buying the new extended cut. i already have "the fellowship of the ring", but will buy the extended cut in november. i have "jurassic park" on dts dvd, open matte dvd, and thx cav laserdisc. i am a completist, which to most people means "nuts".

dusty,
i run a toslink from my dvdp to my jb930 mindisc deck because it has those nice sounding current pulse dacs (and digital filters), and often listen to 5.1 mixes matrixed to 2 channel by the setting the dvdp digital output to pcm. it sounds very nice through the cha47->cd1700 headphones that way. i mean, getting chills nice.

 

[Sol_Zhen]

Sometimes that's what a CD soundtrack is for.

If you make a petition and some noise, I'm sure they'll include a 2.0 mix on the next release. Warner simply has to be made aware of a 2 channel audiophile market.

 

[archosman]

Haven't seen the movie yet, but the soundtrack for me is only so-so. Has some good points... but it's not a favorite of mine. I'm more of a Baraka/Chronos fan (Michael Stearns). I'll probably buy the DVD anyway...

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

Originally posted by archosman Haven't seen the movie yet, but the soundtrack for me is only so-so. Has some good points... but it's not a favorite of mine. I'm more of a Baraka/Chronos fan (Michael Stearns). I'll probably buy the DVD anyway...

there are people out there who actively hate philip glass. i knew a viola player who thought philip glass was from hell. i can understand, his music is pretty difficult to play. i transcribed some of his opera music to piano, and playing it does a real job on your hands and wrists.