Customer Reviews

America's Great Road Trips & Scenic Drives

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Warning: The first three discs are IDENTICAL to the America's Most Senic Drives discs (I don't mind because I always want a good backup) minus the America the Beautiful bonus disc (which is real good, but has nothing to do with the popular attraction at Disneyland). The last three discs are from a series called Road Trips. These are extremely good, and very informative. The full price of purchase is worth these three disks alone (as there is currently no other way to get the series). Furthermore, I don't regret getting America's Most Senic Drives (even though they are repeats on the first 3 disks) as the bonus disk makes it worth while. I may not regret it, but you might.

Contrary to the comments by the self designated "Artist" in another review of this 6-DVD set of America's Great Road Trips & Scenic Drives, the photography, the colors, and the picture sharpness are outstanding; and, I totally disagree with his obviously distorted evaluation. This set is well worth having and I and my family enjoyed it immensely. If you enjoy travel and nature's beauty you will not be disappointed with this set.

I am always watching for a good road trip on DVD. The "America's Great Road Trips and Scenic Drives" sounded like it had potential. I didn't expect a lot of time to be spent at each stop because there were so many places of interest listed, but I did expect great photography and it wasn't. They tried to make the southwest look as green as the northeast. The rest of the country covered was green, green, green. The over saturation of colors was sometimes nauseating. It completely ruined the visual enjoyment, greens, blues, reds, oranges, purples, etc. were too intense. I live in the southwest and love the subtly of the natural earthan colors. Besides the poor photography the narrator seemed to be frantically searching through a thesarus for desciptive words. The content was fine for what this DVD promises, but is greatly harmed visually by the saturated colors, thus the two stars. I wish they would redo these DVDs in the "Natural" colors of the region.

I was really hoping for a great production, given that this video collection was put together by Readers' Digest, a respected name in publishing. Unfortunately what I got was 6 DVDs that are basically old Travel Channel shows (and not very good ones). I love road trips, and was really disappointed to find that, rather than consisting of beautifully shot scenery much of the video was interviews with people that live in the regions as they recollect the "good ol' days". Such a product has its' place, but not in a DVD in which the package is selling the scenic beauty as its' main selling point.

Overall, this is a weird DVD set to me. On the one hand, some of the video is quite attractive, but I can not stress enough that what you are basically buying an old Travel Channel series that has had its' beginning titles and credits ripped away and replaced with poorly produced replacements. It's strange to see this conglomeration all mixed together; old and new(er), beautiful footage mixed with 20-year old dull, unfocused shots. Very strange and much different from what I expected.

All in all folks, I honestly think I could have made this series on my computer and I am a complete amature with regard to video production. The only reason I give it two stars instead of one is that there are a few (VERY few) good camera shots. If you are looking for what is basically a conglomeration of 1980s-early 90's Travel Channel shows (shows that even the Travel Channel doesn't show anymore), your prayers have been answered. If you're looking for something more than what a high-school video department could produce in a weekend, keep looking.

Blech - the video looks like it was mastered from VHS source material and looks dreadful. While no video drop outs or other source flaws, the colors are washed out and the video is grainy.

But enough of the A/V quality. I find the content to be lacking - too much sales pitch, not enough personality and flavor. It's a soulless overview of the road trips in question, and tries to cram way too much into each segment. While I wouldn't expect each state to get a huge documentary, the segments are way too short and are way too rapid fire.

Honestly, I would much rather save my 20 bucks and get the Rare Visions & Roadside Revelations DVD boxed set from the PBS station in Kansas: KCPT

Disc 1 and Disc 6 are great. Great shots of beautiful areas. This is a great way to preview a part of the country before visiting.