Customer Reviews

Sara Evans: The Video Collection

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

 

 

Sara's wonderful and the videos are great, but there's a MAJOR technical problem with the audio on this disc.

The DVD contains soundtracks in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Surround 2.0 formats, but the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack has the front and rear channels REVERSED. This means the surround information comes from the FRONT speakers and Sara's singing is centered between the two REAR speakers.

Given the price point I doubt RCA will repress this DVD (I can't even find a customer service email address online or on the disc), but you should be aware of this before ordering.

The great part is that the Dolby Surround 2.0 track is the same we've been hearing until now on outlets like CMT and GAC, so the mangled 5.1 audio is no great loss.

I'll leave further comment on the irony of the "Cheatin'" track to a future reviewer...

Like other viewers before me, I have to agree that the sound is terrible. The channels are mixed up so it's difficult to hear the vocals over the instrumentals and there is almost no low range sound. For the price and for the fact that Sara Evans is so hot, it was worth it, but the sound mix-up loses its 5-star rating.

I saw the reviews warning that the sound was screwed up on this DVD, but I also saw a couple of reviews where no problem with the sound was mentioned, or that it sounded fine.

I hated to think about possibly getting stung, and all the hassle of trying to return a defective product, even if the seller would agree to take it back.

(After all, if you bought a used item, chances are that the seller only had that one copy of that particular DVD.)

Also, you'd be stuck for shipping, probably going and coming, so most people just write it off as not being worth it.

However, I really wanted this DVD, and I wanted it to be good, so I took a chance.

Alas, I did in fact get one where the sound was screwed up. As I've seen in other reports, it sounded like the two channels were reversed - what should be the background channel was loud, whereas the primary channel was muffled, or so soft you could hardly hear it.

And so I fired off an email to the seller, telling them of my problem.

In the meantime, I went back and looked at it again, and in the opening portion, where you select whatever (Play all - song selection, etc) there was also an audio selection choice.

I clicked onto this, and you could choose between Dolby 5.1, or Dolby Stereo.

I tried the Dolby 5.1 and got the terrible sound. But then I tried the Dolby Stereo. Not only was the sound OK, the sound was great! Crisp, and loud, and distinct, and terrific.

I was thrilled, because all I wanted was a good DVD of the beautiful and amazing Sara, and that's what I got.

But it answered a couple of questions I had - I've had to return two other DVDs for the same problem, and now, in retrospect, I may have been able to simply use the Audio Select to alleviate the sound problems, and save myself a lot of hassle.

But Sara sounds great, and, of course, she also looks great, and I'm very happy.

Disc #1 -- Sara Evans: The Video Collection
1. Born to Fly [3:47]
2. I Could Not Ask for More [4:07]
3. Perfect [3:58]
4. Suds in the Bucket [3:45]
5. A Real Fine Place to Start [3:58]
6. Cheatin' [3:27]

I was about ready to add this to my cart when I noticed that nowhere in the product description, nor in any of the reviews, can a customer find a listing of the videos included. There is not even a mention of the NUMBER of tracks, nor of the running time of the disc. All this, and the fact that so many people are mentioning the sound problems, means that I am NOT purchasing this, even though I am a BIG fan of Sara.

This would be an excellent video but the audio is majorly bad. I didn't actually believe another review I saw about it but it's true....the front and rear channels are reversed! I guess I could move my living room around and watch this dvd..........

I had 2 different copies of this both had the 5.1 DD incorrectly done, the front channels were in the rear on both, it was pressed this way, how can that get passed quality control, got money back on both.

This DVD is among a few I own that feature Sara Evans.I bought one of this specific DVD here and the sound sucked,so I thought it was just the DVD. I went to Wal-Mart and bought this same DVD again,and it does the same thing with the sound.All of these Sara Evan's DVD's have sound issues,the picture is fine,but there's no sound. Don't waste your money buying this from here because you'll be stuck with it,and the store will only exchange the dvd for the same one and will not give you a refund.So if you want a good DVD of her that actually works get the CMT one...

I thought this was a pirated DVD - and still wonder if it's really a Sony / BMG product. I'm taking it back.

Where to begin: on "Born to Fly" the video has visible rough edges on the right side of the screen where the copy it was mastered from is literally worn out, like an old film movie where it's been played too many times.

On other tracks the videos are alternately distorted, like wide angle video shot through a too-small sun shade or otherwise improperly framed.

The color is off, it's red hue, and the audio fades in and out. I'm using a Klipsch speaker system, and the faults are stunning. On the all videos there are noticeable faults where the volume goes up and down, like someone was manually adjusting the gain as recording to avoid clipping - and clipping is still noticeable. Think criminal in a trench coat trying to film a movie with a cheap hand camera and microphone.

I love Sara Evan's music, and she deserves far better. If Sony and BMG authorized this DVD, I hope Sara sues them for negligence.

If this is pirated and somehow got into major US distribution, then hopefully the RIAA or whoever will actually do something useful and chase down the criminals.

In any event, this is criminal treatment of Sara Evans and her talent.

I am a mobile dj/vj here in Texas with over 22,000 dvd music videos. from Promo Only, Screenplay. One thing I have learned is that RCA makes the worst music video collections. Eurythmics and Sara Evans . Sound quality is the pits. I wonder who is in charge at RCA?
I only play videos from the video services because they are far better quality than this RCA junk