Customer Reviews

NFL Super Bowl XL - Pittsburgh Steelers Championship DVD

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Steelers Super Bowl XL DVD is advertised on this Amazon page and the Steelers website as having "...a cut-down version of the live Super Bowl XL broadcast...". Nowhere on this DVD is anything "live" except the Rolling Stones. It's all NFL Films footage. If you were expecting to hear John Madden and Al Michaels call actual live plays in real-time as was broadcast on ABC, forget it. The only Super Bowl XL highlights on this DVD are NFL Films style and, for a DVD titled "Super Bowl XL Steelers", there really isn't all that much time devoted to the actual Super Bowl. There is more disc space devoted to the Colts-Steelers playoff game than Super Bowl XL Too bad really. The reason I ordered it was because I wanted the live game footage. The description of this product as I've seen here and countless other websites also indicates "Pre-game predictions and post-game analysis" are included as well. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is nothing on this disc that could be mistaken for "predictions and analysis". I was quite angered about being deceived. It's like Amazon and the other outlets simply took the disc's marketing department's pre-production description (you could order the DVD as soon as an hour after the Super Bowl, several weeks before it's official release) without making sure that these things actually made it onto the disc.

What this DVD is (and actually does quite well as) is a review of the 2005 season. I would call it a deluxe edition of what will probably the Steelers' NFL Yearbook come Summer. As a Steelers fan, I appreciated very much watching highlights and sideline stuff from this past year, quite a bit that I had not seen before and, trust me, I watch a lot of NFL programming.

What is very, very, very (did I say "very"?) disappointing about this thing is that it could have been so much more. They could have made it a two disc set, included the entire Super Bowl broadcast (without commercials), the deluxe season review (what the disc is now) and a lot more extras. The so-called "extras" on this disc are a joke. Very short snippets. It's obvious this DVD was thrown together as fast as possible in order to take advantage of the post-Super Bowl hype.

If you're a Steelers fan, I would recommend buying, if you can get it at a substantial discount. Don't pay the list price. It's simply not worth that amount.

Perhaps, somewhere down the road, they'll put out a deluxe version and get it right. I will certainly come here first to get a review before I send off my money.

Note: A day after I posted this review, Amazon removed the references to "...a cut-down version of the live Super Bowl XL broadcast...". I commend them for changing the description. This doesn't help the thousands of people who thought they were getting the live broadcast though.

Heck, after reading some of the reviews here, you'd think that this DVD is junk.

Yes, there are annoying movie previews that have absolutely nothing to do with football at the beginning of the DVD.

Other than that, I loved it. This DVD is a game-by-game review of the season that primarily focuses on highlight reel footage with audio from Hilgrove and Tunch dubbed in underneath. It begins with some footage of past failures and ends with some footage of the post-game trophy ceremony. Bettis is prominently featured throughout, but it's not all his show. You get a lot of great clips and bites of Cowher, Roethlisberger, Ward, Parker, Porter, Haggans, Russ Grimm, and Dick Lebeau.

The sideline mikes, locker-room stuff, and behind-the-scenes footage was terrific. This team is a FUNNY bunch of guys -- without this DVD, I'd never have known it. This DVD will make you laugh aloud, cringe, tear up, and cheer. Assuming you do, in fact, love the Steelers.

It's totally worth the twenty bucks. You'll watch it a dozen times before next season. How many other movies have that kind of pull?

As others have pointed out, this is not the actual super bowl xl broadcast, but an NFL Films super bowl highlight show like the ones ESPN runs. That said, it is very well made and the DVD also includes highlights of the season's games, which would have made the "Super Bowl Champions" dvd set so much better. For some reason, you cannot buy copies of the super bowl broadcasts. A shame because those would be great to have, and someone would make a lot of money. As someone else said, you can find this at a really good price if you look around and it is defintely worth having if you are a Steeler fan.

I just watched the DVD. The main program is great. It has highlights and chronicles the 2005 campaign with some behind the scenes footage and all that. Great music, and a nice program.
The bonus features are somewhat lacking. I couldn't care less about the halftime show, and I don't think anyone is going to buy this because of that. I'd rather have had the team intros or something. The SB40 promos? Eh... Media is ok as well. The Game of the Week for the Colts game is good.

My only major complaint is in the product description on this website. There is no pre-post game analysis, unless you count them saying that Pittsburgh won. And there is also no "cut-down" version of the Super Bowl. You get the highlights in with the main program. So the description is very misleading. But still a worthy purchase, especially for the price. Steeler fans will enjoy it.

If you're a long-time Steelers fan and suffered through the mid-`80s, weathering the dissapointments of super bowl interceptions and multiple AFC championship match losses.... well, then, this DVD is for you.

It has the feel of a well-conceived, well-setup, and decently written "Game of the Week" episode. The opening sequence, which sets up the recent losses in order to play up the back-story of Bettis returning for one last season, and rallying the team on to toal victory, is very well done.

The telling is totally Steelers-centric, glossing over every potentially image-tarnishing controversial moment of the playoff games and the superbowl win. Steelers fans (myself included) will not mind one bit.

If you love the Steelers' then this is an excellent DVD. If you love the NFL, then I'd also pick this up, and if you're a collector of Super Bowl memorabilia, then obviously this isn't something you'd want to miss. Beyond that, this DVD probably won't appeal to you in any way.

With that out of the way, this is a well-produced DVD dedicated solely to the Steelers' 2005 season from their first regular season game to their final Super Bowl victory. And because it was made by the guys at NFL Films, the quality of the camera work and the narration is top notch, and the sound is amazing. You hear the hits you wanted hear during the season. Also contained on this DVD are a few note-worthy extras, including the Game of the Week from the NFL Network "Steelers at Colts." This was probably one of the greatest games in playoff history mainly because of all the strange happenings, so it's nice to actually have it contained on this DVD. There are also some wired for sound tracks following some key Steelers players as well as Bill Cowher and the Bus. To add to what I thought was already a heap of extras, there is the half-time show (which was terrible, if you ask me), media day (which is useless, if you ask me), and numerous promos and tv spots to watch.

All in all, this is a solid DVD for Steelers' fan and an excellent addition to a dream season. But as I said, few outside of the collector's circle will find anything worth interest here. Personally, I wanted to give this a five, but had to settle with a four (I did the same for the Sports Illustrated book as well).

The regular season & the playoff games were covered VERY well...especially the game against the Colts.

But the actual Super Bowl itself is BARELY represented on this DVD. While I understand that the game against Indy was the better game, this was supposed to be a DVD of the freakin' Super Bowl itself. The playoffs & regular season should be extras, not XL itself.

If you enjoyed this past season with the Steelers, you'll really love watching this video which recaps all of the games that led to the Lombardi trophy. The coaches and players are miked and it is great to hear some of the behind the scenes dialogue that you didn't appreciate during the actual season. Well done.

This Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl XL highlight package is very nicely done and should be a real keepsake for Steelers fans. In fact, it may be the most well done highlights package I've seen among this video series. It even evoked emotions in this viewer - and I am a New England Patriots fan. The biggest disappointment in this DVD however, is that the bonus features are awful. There really is only one good segment and the rest is just terrible. And, worst of all, unlike the past two years, it does not include the entire Super Bowl game! Steelers' fans should be quite disappointed with the bonus features given what was included in the last two Super Bowl videos for the New England Patriots. More on that later.

The feature of this DVD is about an hour long highlights reel of the Pittsburgh Steelers 2005 season. It includes highlights of every regular season and playoff game. The highlights for the playoffs and Super Bowl are quite extensive. It closely breaks down the crazy, topsy-turvy Pittsburgh victory over the Indianapolis Colts in the divisional round of the playoffs, which featured a dramatic Jerome Bettis fumble at the end of regulation that could have cost the Steelers the game. The video also contains sound bites from coaches, players, and from the locker room during the course of the season.

Overall this highlights package is very well done. I especially liked the opening montage showing Pittsburgh Steelers' mistakes and losses in several AFC Championship games (some of which they were heavily favored in) and Super Bowl XXX against Dallas - reminding us just how close this team has come to winning it all the past ten years but fallen just short. It ends with Hines Ward weeping in front of the camera after last year's loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, setting the stage for a season that saw them win it all in tough circumstances. As noted, special attention is given the Steelers' victory over the Indianapolis Colts in the Divisional Playoff Game, which was quite well done. I also liked many of the close-up on the field shots that bring that action right into your lap.

The drawbacks to the highlights package, to me, is that for individual games often the drama and key important plays are just not quite brought out enough. I felt they did a better job with the playoff games than the regular season games, at least better than most previous additions. Also, a lot, maybe too much, attention is given to Jerome Bettis, who really becomes the central focus and story of the video at times. I am not sure how Steelers fans will feel about this but I thought it might have been a tad overdone at the expense of other players. And finally, and this should not surprise anyone given this is an NFL product, there was not much talk about the poor officiating in the playoff games, which was a very large part of the overall tenor of this year's post season play and the Super Bowl. It is unfortunate that officiating was such as issue, but it was, and that this video mostly ignores the issue makes this an incomplete, maybe even inaccurate, historical record.

Now for the big letdown, the Bonus Features. The Bonus Features, frankly, are just not very good. If I weren't spoiled by the Bonus Features of the past two Super Bowls I probably wouldn't have that much of a reaction to them because they are, after all, add-ons. But I am spoiled. It does not contain the entire Super Bowl game and it does not contain post game analysis or interviews. It mostly contains a lot of tripe.

The best, and actually very well done bonus feature, is an even more detailed highlights reel of the Pittsburgh victory over the favored Indianapolis Colts in the playoffs. It goes through all the drama - to the erroneously overturned interception by Troy Polamalu, Bettis's goal line fumble, and the big choke by kicker Mike Vanderjagt who badly missed a makeable field goal that would have tied the game on the last play or regulation. It's quite a well done piece.

You also get little snippets of video about Bill Cowher, Jerome Bettis, Willie Parker, and Steelers' history that are very short, and frankly not very good. There are media day player interviews on the DVD, as well as the entire half time show, which for me I could care less about. And finally there are Super Bowl promo videos. Who cares about that!!!

Despite my disappointment in the Bonus Features, overall I give this video a high recommendation for the highlights reel. If you look at the Bonus Features as freebies, then it's hard to complain too much about it. But compared to last year's DVD, some will be disappointed. Congratulations to the Steelers for a great season.

After 26 years, it is nice to see the "Real America's Team" win their fifth Super Bowl title. A nice DVD putting together the entire Steelers Championship season, with the playoff games having more detail. Of course the playoff win over Indianapolis was exceptional. Steelers fans across the world can celebrate what a good organization can do. The emergence of Big Ben, the story about the final season for Jerome Bettis, Bill Cowher getting his trophy, and the STEELERS NATION make this a great DVD. Nice job and hopefully, number six won't be too far away.