Customer Reviews

Christmas In New York

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

When I first played this DVD, I wasn't expecting much more than some cliche images of classic New York Christmas scenes. Boy, was I surprised when I found myself sitting there through the entire 90 minutes -- even though the packaging suggests playing it in background at holiday party or while opening presents. The images are beautifully shot and edited to a great selection of Christmas music as varied as the images themselves. I would expect to pay this price for a CD of the music alone!
It conveys a real festive Christmas air! Christmas In New York Great value!
UPDATE: I recently returned to order some copies as gifts and discovered the original DVD's been updated with several new 'bonus' scenes. Even greater value!

I just bought a 42" plasma screen and was looking for some 'wallpaper' video I could play on it when not watching TV or entertaining. I have a video of the Yule Log buring in a fireplace and was looking for something along that line.

This DVD is that, but it delivers much, much more. It's an hour and a half of great images that never repeat. The shots are edited to flow with the music and they've managed to put about 20 or so great xmas selections that seem drawn from many different sources, from full orchestras to choral to simple woodwinds. I'm going to order a few more as gifts because I have some friends, who when they see this, will want to have their own copies.

I got one of these last Christmas and just ordered five to give as gifts this Christmas. Anyone who's visited New York at Christmas time will want to have this and anyone who's never visited New York at Christmas time SHOULD have this!

Although I haven't seen most of the scenes in this video, somehow it gives me a feeling of nostalgia for NYC at Xmas time. Last Xmas my whole family wound up sitting and watching it when we shoulda been preparing Xmas dinner. It is beautifully photographed and much of it has great snow scenes in Central Park as well as more familiar landmarks like Rock Center and so on. Great value.

A MUST for anyone that comes from NY or NJ or remembers a visit to NYC at Christmas time

Awesome! I wasn't expecting live video, I just thought it would be a slideshow to music. Boy was I wrong! I have it playing on my 55 inch plasma and feel like I am back home. My 3 year old especially loves the part showing the citicorp train set up, it was awesome to watch! I also loved the neighborhoods showing snow and lights and decorations, made me feel like I was looking back at my old street, just gave me that magical feeling like you only have as a child. :)

Of coarse I didn't live in the city, we lived on the island, but we would go to the city at Christmas when I was little to see the Nutcracker, and Rockefeller Plaza, and window shop. just to see the snow, the decorations the trees, the people, just brought back such warm memories for me, as I am homesick for snow here in the south. I am planning to play it all night for my Christmas Eve company, and than bring it with me to my sisters for Christmas Day, of coarse I am sure the guys will turn it off to watch football. lol... Anyway I didn't get it here at amazon, cause I found it at CD universe for $6.99. What a bargin! Highly recommended!!!!!!

PS: The only thing I would have liked to see done differently, but is ok as is.. would be some actual classic Christmas music, performed by original artists, but I guess that gets into copyright issues. Anyway my work around when I get tired of the music on disk (which is nice and very relaxing btw) is to dub my direct-tv XM holly channel 107 through the receiver, so I see the video of the dvd but the audio of the Christmas channel which has all the classics... awesome!!!! I am ready for Santa now :) lol....

I have bought a few of this style of DVD, in the tradition of the video yule log, it's nice sometimes to have some Christmas sights and sounds droning on in the background while dealing with holiday tasks.

This one, sadly fell a little flat. The cinematography is a bit uninspiring, the music - well, I always mute the sound and listen to my own music with ambient videos, so I can't really weigh in on the soundtrack. The snippets I recall were like elevator music - pretty generic stuff.

I much preferred a video that's been playing on the HD channels the last few years, titled simply "Christmas Lights". This one features much better footage of Rockefeller Center, as well as the decorating of an Alaskan cabin, trimming a tree in coastal Maine, etc. I can't wait for this one to be available - I might be prompted to finally spring for an HD DVD player when it gets published. Maybe by next Christmas, the prices of the HD boxes will finally come down to earth!

But I'm rambling. Bottom line, Christmas in New York is just plain mediocre.

The good news: There's really nothing quite like Christmas in New York: the snow, the lights, the shop windows, Rockefeller center, FAO Schwartz, the Bronx Zoo, etc. All of these things are represented in this DVD. As long as you're planning on playing as "ambience," you might not be too disappointed, especially if you do not have a widescreen TV.

The bad news: I took a chance on this video, as the product description did not include the aspect ratio. I'll spoil the surprise for you: it is 4:3. Aaaargh. It looks quite bad (pixelation & ghosting) on my 40" LCD TV, as does everything that's not shot in HD/widescreen. The music is not good, but that's no problem; I'd planned to play the DVD on mute with my own Christmas A.M. playlist through the iPod/stereo for the Big Day. Some not-so-interesting footage (holiday flags, lamp-post decorations, etc.) is worked into the loop far too often, and the editing is fast and choppy in places. The camera was not held level for many of the scenes, so scenery with a horizon looks out of kilter.

I just wanted some snow as background for my 50 degree Christmas morning. Darn you, global warming, darn you. This DVD will have to do, but I wouldn't recommend it. Happy Whatever-You-Celebrate!

This dvd is wonderful. Scenes all over New York City. You can almost feel the cold and see your breath as you experience wonderful holiday scenes from the famous Angels to Central Park, which is a dazzler!
The music is perfect and seems to be coreographed to fit the scenes at times. There is amazing footage of a miniature New York City (historical)
set up in a beautful atrium with a great train running through , a babbling brook , green grass , trees and shrubs. Macy's windows, carriage rides, lights, trees , fountains, wind, snow ... in short all the things that make Christmas and winter the wonderful season that it is. Buy it, and you may be back to purchase some as gifts!!

I lived in New York during 10 years (1964-1973) and enjoyed the Christmas
seasoon very much. I have visited New York several times but never at christmas. Regarding the video, it is good in general, but found that many
scenes were held perhaps too long, so that when I show it to my friends
they loose interest. I am talking about the scenes with the trees and some
locations that are repeated. But in general, I enjoyed it.

Thank you