Product Details

• Actors: Sarah McLachlan, Ashwin Sood, Brian Minato, Camille Henderson, David Sinclair
• Directors: Sophie Muller
• Producers: Sarah McLachlan, Dan Fraser, Dan Garnett, Rex, Rob Small
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Arista
• DVD Release Date: October 12, 1999
• Run Time: 114 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (109 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00001ODGH
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,436 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Sarah McLachlan - Mirrorball" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

MIRRORBALL - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding video a must own for Sarah fans, September 16, 2000

By 

Christopher J. Klugewicz (East TN, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sarah McLachlan - Mirrorball (DVD)

If you're a Sarah McLachlan fan and you own a DVD player, buy this video now. If you don't own a DVD player, go buy one, THEN buy this video. If you're not yet a Sarah fan, this is a good place to start!

Sarah is brilliant here, as she is in all her live shows. The choice of songs is excellent, and the "extra songs" (not on the "Mirrorball" CD) are a treat.

Technically, the DVD is terrific. Camera shots are varied nicely, with crane moves mixed with slow zooms, and the cinematography does justice to the sparkling staging of Sarah's shows. The audio is superb, with excellent miking of both vocals and instruments. (Audiophiles: soundstaging could be somewhat better, and the use of compressors robs the recording of some of the dynamic punch of the live event. The sound is rich, however, and the low end has much more definition than I've seen in a concert video before.)

One reviewer mentioned audio synchronization issues: on a quality DVD player, this is not an issue -- players with inferior decoders or D/A converters may be unable to keep up with the data coming off the disc, however, resulting in apparent delays between the audio and video. I use an external D/A converter with my DVD player, and I've not seen any synchronization problems with this disc.

All in all, very highly recommended!!!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Performance overcomes the poor production, August 9, 2004

By 

Neil (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sarah McLachlan - Mirrorball (DVD)

The performance captured here is tremendous as I think every would agree.

I didn't mind the visuals either, even though I was reluctant to get a 4:3 aspect ratio concert DVD. It scaled onto 16:9 not that badly. I liked the grainy film look but I suspect the visual quality and sync errors people are reporting are probably due to the DVD production house cramming 90 minutes of A/V plus extra angles into the stream. I appreciated being able to focus on an set angle on some of the tracks but I think they used 4 angles for the entire duration of the concert. I'm basing this on the fact my player was able to detect 4 angles at all times through the disc, even if those weren't 4 distinct angles. That excess material probably steals bandwidth from the overall visual quality.

Audio is another story though. I first came back here to check if my DVD was defective though because the 5.1 audio track sounded absolutely horrible - all boomy and full of echoes as if it had been recorded in a rink. It was bad enough that I had to double-check my equipment and then search here to confirm the source is the DVD itself.

I suspect the people not complaining about the audio are maybe not audiophiles or more probably they are listening to the 2 channel track, which is excellent. To my surprise and against my better judgement I find the only way I can listen to this disc is to use the 2 channel track and then let the receiver add the ambience - not a normal practice on my part and one which would ordinarily degrade the audio rather than improve it.

How does one rate this then? I'd want to give it a 5/5 based on the great peformance and the length. But a concert DVD like this needs to be rated against some of the standard bearers and I was very disappointed in how the audio stacks up. Not that it would have to exceed say Eagles DTS, but a concert DVD should not attract negative attention because of its poor sound.

I'd want to chop at least a couple of points for the poor audio and 4:3 AR, but since the stereo track serves as an OK substitute in this case I'm going to go with a 4/5

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars looks more like a music video..., October 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sarah McLachlan - Mirrorball (DVD)

i was a bit disappointed when i dropped this into the dvd player. i think sarah is one of the most compelling and dynamic performers i've ever seen, and i think mirrorball is a really great cd. i finally got the dvd and felt like i just bought a music video. the video doesn't sync up with the guitar on building a mystery, and the rest of the show just feels kind of fake. of course, the songs are great, the band is amazing and sarah is sarah....i'm sure everyone in the audience had a tremendous experience at this show, but the video doesn't make me feel a part of that. the sound is, as others have said, really compressed, and the video has a lot of overly dramatic close-ups that really take away the feel of a live performance. i own the fumbling towards ecstasy vhs tape, and would gladly buy it on dvd if it was available. i feel that the fumbling towards ecstasy tape is more dynamic, but also very intimate with a bunch of live in the studio cuts.

don't get me wrong, the dvd is worth owning just for the extra music...and it is entertaining, but entertaining like a tv show, not a live concert.