Customer Reviews

The Official Review of the 2007 FIA Formula One Championship / F1 / FOne/ Formula 1

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well first things first - this is a must-have for any Formula 1 fan, since 2007 was one of the most exciting and dramatic seasons in years. Needless to say it was wonderful to see Kimi win a championship at last, despite my disappointment at Hamilton's bad luck in the last few races which cost him the honor of being the first rookie champion, decided by a single point. This season also saw a return to newly refurbished circuits at Spa in Belgium, as well as Fuji in Japan after something like 30 years. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the new personalities in the paddock as well (even though I miss Michael Schumacher). Finally, this year there were some scary equipment failure crashes by Kimi and Hamilton, an error by Alonso which destroyed his car at Fuji, and who could forget Kubica's horrifying crash at Montreal which absolutely shredded his car - even his feet were visible sticking out of the end of the tub! That no one was seriously injured in any of these is a testament to the safety standards of today's technology... but there were plenty more scraps that injured no one out of pure luck.

The main thing I am most proud to report - the 2007 F1 review was released as a 2-disc set. The footage looks absolutely fantastic and has finally achieved a quality truly worthy of presenting the highest echelon of auto racing in the world. No bad compression issues at all - even the in-car footage looks clear as a bell in most cases (when there are problems with the footage it is source and not post-production). The funny thing is that when you split the season into two discs it can create a nice cliffhanger, since half-way was about the time that the publicized tensions between Alonso and Hamilton were starting to stir into a full-fledged media excrement storm...

The footage itself did a good job also of clarifying a few things that were not apparent or that I had not noticed from watching all the footage on tv. One such moment was Scott Speed's collision and exit from Silverstone just moments after receiving the Alonso Shaking Fist. Another was Webber's vomiting during his race at Fuji (such a trooper for gutting it out even with food poisoning and horrible downpour conditions, only to crash out by being rear-ended by Vettel!). And of course the second disc contains some other extras.

I am very pleased. I would absolutely recommend this purchase.

F1 is not very popular in the US. This is probably due to the limited tv broadcasting and the unpopular time slots on the Speed channel. Despite this annoyance, I believe we are blessed to have four of the best F1 commentators, who consist of Bob Varsha, David Hobbs, Steve Matchett, and Peter Windsor. They project F1 passion and knowledge, and they're just fun to listen to - like partying with your best buddies.

And so there was a slight hesitancy in purchasing this dvd set because I knew my favorite quartet would not be included in the show. However, I enjoyed the 07 season so much that I decided to fork over $20 and take a chance. And what a pleasant surprise the commentaries turned out to be. The story is told using a sarcastic & humorous, but professional narration.. revealing some interesting behind-the-scene inquiries and subplots. Some examples include the near-disaster incident between Coulthard and Wurz, Flavio's take on why Hamilton is good for the sport, the McLaren Spy scandal, and the Alonso-Hamilton feud. It was also nice to see the different personalities walking through their qualifying laps.. from Hamilton's detailed analysis of each turn to Kimi's restrained and general description of his pole position.

Overall an excellent DVD set, looking forward to 2008!

Thanks to a heavy workload and travel, I basically missed the 07 F1 season. I was hoping to just watch this DVD and live the excitement of the season. That is exactly what I got! And my goodness what a season it was!

Not only does the DVD cover highlights of practice, qualifying and race but also takes time to interview drivers, team leads, engineers and even throws in some stuff about the McLaren spying scandal.

The video quality, although not great, is fine. The narration is great and to the point. The choice of camera angles is very good. The editing is excellent. All in all, I really felt like I was living the whole season in few hours. I've watched this thing many, many times and just can't get enough.

If you are looking for a great season review both on and off the track, go ahead and buy this DVD and it will keep spinning in your player for a very long time.

Finally, they put the season review on 2 DVDs. This season was great all the way to the finish. No compression problems on this release like last year (I wish they would remaster the 2006 disc, but that would be asking for too much). We got what we asked for....better quality... making this DVD a must purchase for any F1 fan.

A few things I didn't like was the cheesy music over the top of the racing (though they didn't do this consistently). I like racing sounds. I don't know why they insist on trying to create "tension" or "excitement" with lame techno music on racing DVDs.

Also, the pole lap video with on-board-view watched by the driver on a flat screen tv was kinda annoying(not consistently done either). Show me the lap with a voice-over, please. Seeing the driver point at the tv was useless.

Recommended DVD.

F1 DVD Reviews are not created equal unfortunately. The initial 2000 F1 Review dvd was decent with exceptional video quality. They skipped ahead 2 years until the 2003 F1 DVD review came out and it was kinda short, but again had exceptional video quality. The 2004 DVD Review was much better in terms of length and the video quality was awesome once more. 3 for 3! Then the 2005 Review came out.... We have problems. Blocky pixelated video. The season was cool but the presentation just awful and unwatchable, unless you're blind. Alonso's back to back achievement 2006 DVD Review was the same, BAD! More blurry pixels and another wasted season review. I hate Alonso and love Schumacher so my favorite reviews were spared from the 2005-2006 DVD lack of quality fiasco. The 2007 DVD Review came and I expected the same trashy presentation and was mad cause Kimi took the title for Ferrari and I'm a tifosi nut. Lo and behold... The 2007 F1 Review was a DOUBLE DISC release and therefor had the picture quality of the first 3 F1 reviews(2000,2003,2004) which is to say AWESOME! Thank god! The producers of F1 DVD entertainment have finally gotten it right! Buy this dvd review if you can only buy one believe me. The 2008 Review? Uh Oh! The 2008 release was dreadful again for the same reasons as before. Terrible DVD picture quality! Here's hoping the 2009 dvd is like the 2000,2003,2004, and 2007 reviews if they even release one this year in the USA. Too many Nascar fans in love with dumb oval racing I guess. Circuit racing takes way more skill people!

I love F1 needless to say. This is a must have for every F1 fan. It is also a good record material. Captures all the important moments and facts.

Exhilarating I must say.

Being a fan of Formula 1 and living in the US where it is really hard to find F1 related things, it is nice that Amazon carries these DVD's. I really like the quality and contents of this DVD. To be able to rewatch the season when Kimi wins the Driver's Championship for the first time is really nice as well. I look forward to the 2008 Season DVD.

Easy to read and can be used as a reference for this year in Formula One. If new to the sport it can give you leads for further reading or research. If a long time fan it puts the year in your hands and then on your bookshelf.

This season is on 2 dvds and has much more content that the previous years.

I watched most of the season on television, but missed a few of the races. This DVD is an excellent and inspiring recap of the season. It includes information about each team, that I never learned from watching the races (new info!), plus it analyzes technical and strategical aspects of each race that, also, I do not recall from the regular season. All in all, I found this video very inspiring and a great recap of the season.
It starts off slow during the first ten minutes (I thought, "did I just waste my money?"), but then it becomes great, and I was "glued" to the television for the remainder of the DVD. I didn't want to take a break ... it was like a captivating book ... I had to know how it ended, and I had to know now!

I gave it four stars because I think it could be better (I hope the 2008 version is better though ... hint, hint ... I think it could and should be made better), BUT I would definitely recommend it to my friends! Great video! If you are an F1 fan, and watched the 2007 season unfold, this is a must-have video!