Customer Reviews

Canyon Dreams [VHS]

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

 

 

I have owned this production on VHS for several years and

primarily bought it because it features music by

Tangerine Dream. The video itself has nothing to do with

Tangerine Dream but has views of the Grand Canyon like I

have never seen before. The aerial fly over shots are

something to see.

If the Grand Canyon is what you're wanting to see, then this

DVD is worth a look and hopefully you will become a fan of

Tangerine Dream music as well.

There is another DVD about the Grand Canyon that also features

music by Tangerine Dream called "Oasis". It has some of the

great photography in it as well, but also has Thunderstorms &

flashfloods.

If you do become a fan of Tangerine Dream after watching both

of these videos, there is a CD of both titles.

The Canyon Dreams CD has 2 addtional tracks on it that are not

on the video.

I had the opportunity to see this shortly after it was originaly produced. I have personally been to the canyon several times and even went down it once. This video does a good job of bringing to light the experiences I had perviously. It is an excellent presentation demonstrating much artistry in the capturing and editing of the scenes filmed.

Even more so than the video, I particularly enjoy the music. The composition and performance is top notch. It easily ranks among my favorite pieces of music. What more needs to be said?

The only real drawback for this video is the poor quaility of the transfer. The video is slightly grainy (it can easily be ignored by the average viewer) but what I find as inexcusable is the audio being overmodulated in several sections. Particularly noticable at the start of the first and third segments of this picture. Its as if no one bothered to listen to the master after the transfer was complete. In looking at the above reviews, the concensus (and as you see, I agree for the most part) is that a spectular presentation was rendered less so by poor attention to detail in transfering the picture to DVD.

It would almost be worth it to me to buy a VHS copy, if it were availible.

This DVD contains just less than 40 minutes of dazzling imagery, filmed in and around the Grand Canyon by Camera One Productions. The material is divided into 6 chapters, each following a particular (graphical) theme and accompanied by the haunting melodies by premier synthesiser group Tangerine Dream. Originally made in 1987, the picture quality is rather poor by DVD standards and particularly so in low light situations, where the grain often becomes quite intrusive. More care has been taken with the soundtrack, presented here in PCM 48kHz 16-bit stereo and in many ways, this is more of a music video than it is a travel or nature film. Fans of Tangerine Dream's music may, therefore, get more out of this disc than will lovers of the spectacular scenery of the American Southwest. Attentive TD fans may flinch a little, though, at the clumsy overdubs to which the music for the opening chapter, `Shadow Flyer', has been subjected in order to make it cue better to the flow of images. (For a full review of the soundtrack music, check out the CD section of Amazon.)

Overall, I found this is a rather disappointing release. Both music and images are weaker than those in the later (and very similar) disc, "Oasis", from the same forces-although it has to be said that the two combine better here than they do on the subsequent release.

(Incidentally, this disc has no region encoding on it and will play on any DVD player.)

This DVD contains just less than 40 minutes of dazzling imagery, filmed in and around the Grand Canyon by Camera One Productions. The material is divided into 6 chapters, each following a particular (graphical) theme and accompanied by the haunting melodies by premier synthesiser group Tangerine Dream. Originally made in 1987, the picture quality is rather poor by DVD standards and particularly so in low light situations, where the grain often becomes quite intrusive. More care has been taken with the soundtrack, presented here in PCM 48kHz 16-bit stereo and in many ways, this is more of a music video than it is a travel or nature film. Fans of Tangerine Dream's music may, therefore, get more out of this disc than will lovers of the spectacular scenery of the American Southwest. Attentive TD fans may flinch a little, though, at the clumsy overdubs to which the music for the opening chapter, 'Shadow Flyer', has been subjected in order to make it cue better to the flow of images. (For a full review of the soundtrack music, see the CD release: "Canyon Dreams")

Overall, I found this is a rather disappointing release. Both music and images are weaker than those in the later (and very similar) disc, "Oasis", from the same forces--although it has to be said that the two combine better here than they do on the subsequent release.

(Incidentally, this disc has no region encoding on it and will play on any DVD player.)

The photography in this DVD is very good. What spoils it is the music. For some reason I find it very harsh sounding in the first half of the DVD. The second half it sounds much more relaxing. I wouldn't expect a person to be able to relax to the first half of this DVD. Many new scenes suddenly pop up as well as bold, loud blasts of music. I play it with the sound off.

I enjoy the VHS copy that I own, but the sound quality on this DVD is AWFUL. I hope this video will be eventually released by a legitimate source.

I had the pleasure of seeing this video in 1990, and it was a great experience! Very relaxing and gave you the feeling of soaring above it all like a bird in flight. Worth getting! And check out the others in the series- all worth it!

This would be a bad VHS copy too. I tested it on two separate systems and still got ghosting lines down the screen. Too bad, the subject material is very pretty and the music is slick.

An awesome subject is ruined by a careless video transfer. Very grainy appearance.

Buying the DVD version, I was expecting a big improvement over the VHS copy I had bought a few years back. Unfortunately the video quality of the DVD is only slightly better. It still has too much grain in the picture for me. Not a good demonstration DVD but the music is still good!