Customer Reviews

A Night at the Opera (DTS DVD-Audio)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album - originally from 1975 - has been remastered in 96/24Khz 5.1 surround by the original engineers ( Ray Thomas Baker & Brian May ), so obviously they know the music really well. The disc contains DTS 5.1; DVD Audio MLP advanced resolution 5.1; and standard stereo tracks. On screen lyrics are available - either seperately, or as the song is playing - useful if one is a karaoke fan... Also there is a small picture gallery of Queen from the mid 70's. The booklet also includes the song lyrics and a few photos, too. The 'piece de resistance' is the inclusion of the "Bohemian Rhaspody" video in DTS 5.1, which looks pretty good for it's age and sounds wonderful...!!!
The surround makes one feel as if one is sitting in the middle of the actual recording with the central position being taken by Freddie's superlative voice.
I've heard that the members of Queen, their managers, and record company were so impressed by this surround sound mix that all of the Queen albums have been given the go-ahead for surround mixes... Wonderful news!!!!

How do you improve on the perfect cd?
Remix it into 5.1 sound.
I've been picking up DVD-A discs for a while now. Some have improved on the original material (anything by Clapton or Fleetwood Mac), and others have been a waste of a disc (Foreigner's 4 is awful). I've never heard a cd that could benefit from a multi channel mix as much as "A Night At The Opera", and it truly lived up to its potential. It seems like most sound engineers really don't know what to do with the rear channels. In the otherwise great "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mac, there are some tracks where you hear nothing but distracting cymbal crashes from behind. Whoever engineered this one made terrific use of all the channels. He truly makes it feel like you're standing in the middle of the band during a performance of "Bohemian Rhapsody", and that, even if nothing else was good here, would make it well worth the purchase price. In the original mix, Roy Thomas Baker stacked Brian May's guitars and layers and layers of harmony vocal tracks on top of each other to make for a thick wall of sound. In the DVD-A mix, those same tracks are spread over all the discrete channels in your surround system to make it even more memorable.
Hot spots-- "Bohemian Rhapsody" (obviously), "The Prophet's Song", "Death On Two Legs", and "Love Of My Life".
Important note: The surround mix will play only in DTS Mode--- Make sure your player or receiver can decode it. As with all DVD-A discs, any Dolby Digital/ DTS capable player can play them, but a special DVD-A player is required to access the special features, such as the groundbreaking "Bohemian Rhapsody" video, included here and remixed into DTS 5.1.

If I am not mistaken, Paul McCartney once remarked that lavish is vulgar, and if he did, I am sure that he made a few exceptions, one of which would be this 1975 classic with its lavish production and all.

On audio DVD, A Night at the Opera sounds so clear, so great. It's as if you can hear the chart hits You're My Best Friend and Bohemian Rhapsody for the first time, all over again. Though the rest of the tracks are not remotely as familiar to the casual fan, such as myself, they are nicely arranged and mixed in to help compile what is regarded as Queen's greatest release.

Included are song lyrics displayed on the television screen as the tracks proceed from one to the next and the video of Bohemian Rhapsody, where the sound quality is not quite so stellar as the strictly DVD audio-only version.

A musical triumph, A Night at the Opera on audio DVD rekindles and revisits the passion and the grandeur of great musicians and vocalists who would do what it took to get to the top of their game, even if it meant occasionally going over the top.

How do you review a dvd-audio such as this one?
A recording from 1975, yet it sounds as if it were recorded
only yesterday. Queen at its best, with Freddie's piano,
Brian's guitar, Roger's drums and John's great bass riffs.
The piano and bass guitar sound great, and the vocals are
fabulous. I'm afraid the standard CD will be collecting as
much dust as the LP from now on. Should hollywood records
plan to release more of these beauties in the future, than
it'll cost me a lot of money yet again to collect them all.
For all you Queen fans out there a MUST, for music fans and
sound addicts another great demo.

It's been well over thirty years since this album came out and I finally bought it for its surround mix. I've been missing out on a lot of fantastic music. This album is extraordinary in its own merit, but add the surround mix and you understand what "Queen" really was all about - the entire experience! Sure, "You're My Best Friend" was a really nice song and "Bohemian Rhapsody" defined an entire generation, but hearing it as it was pieced together in one collage of a musical experience and you'll understand what the big fuss is all about.

Capitol Records remixed the 5.1 mix (kudos to Ric Wilson and Jeff Levison along with the entire team). Each and every instrument and vocal is separated and cleaned up to appear from various places around your room. Forget about headphones - get the `feel'. There simply is no `best' song on this album. Every song is its own masterpiece, but I am partial to the anthemic, "'39". God Save the Queen!

Also, includes "Bohemian Rhapsody" video, lyrics and photo album.

They say it plays on all dvd players...or almost all.
Typicaly, all dvd-audio discs play on both DTS or Dobly Digital, and at least Dolby Digital. This one only plays on DTS and PCM stereo(which I cannot get the PCM stereo to work)
All receivers have both DD and DTS today, but the one I have does not have dts, so it looks like I am going to have to return the disk. I am just warning all of you because it does not make anyone aware of this on the front.
1/17/2004 -I got a dvd player that decodes the DTS...This disc sounds awesome. It is one of the few that uses the vocals in the surround speakers. Way Cool! I will change my star rating from 1 to 5, but I will keep the advisor atop so that if you donot have dts, don't get this disc.

Excellent album, the surround effects are excellent too, every song is good enough to let it play one after the other and then repeat the entire disc, i have nothing else to say than: if you are looking for hi-fidelity dvd-audio demonstration, this will do it very well.

The best DVD-A of my collection.Sounds like if Queen was in my room.Buy it. Now!!!

this really was an experience to hear. i've been listening to queen for many years, but when i first listened to this dvd audio, i was blown away. first because the details in all the songs it's more real, no comparison with th cd versions.and second, it seems that they have added some extra sound, you'll be turnig your head back every time to see that the sound you heard was real o came from the speakers. i have compared with the surround sound mix in Greatest hits vol 1 dvd video. although the dts 96/24 sound is quite good and the surround mixes are the same with the dvd audio. you really can tell the diference between the dvd audio and the dts 96/24 sound in the greatest hits vol 1 dvd video. the dvd audio is louder, the subwoofer works more, and the mids and highs are more real. maybe there's more diference i can't notice with my audigy 2 zs sound card and the three pair of speakers from Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0. but someone with a high end reciever and speakers, will be able to notice more diferences.
the upcoming remastered cd's versions well, there's no need to compare with them.
buy it and enjoy freddie's voice as never before.

In my humble opinion, this classic Queen album already was (one of) the best albums in the entire history of pop-music, but if you her this audio-DVD, there is definitely an ultimate dimension added, which is even far beyond the quality of the original. You just gotta hear this one!!!