Customer Reviews

Stryper: Greatest Hits - Live in Puerto Rico

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

PICTURE:Good picture quality.About an 8 out of 10.Most concert on dvd fans should be satisfied with the picture quality.There is not any overactive editing.The camera work focuses on one area for a normal amount of time before moving on.The picture goes from color to B&W for dramatic purposes i suppose,but not to the point of distraction.But it does mildly suffer from switching to different clothes and instruments from each scene.I assume this is edited from two different shows.Cant they catch this stuff in editing? SOUND:The sound options are stereo and surround sound.Should sound great on a surround sound system, but on a standard set you will have to crank the volume considerably.But the sound is crisp and clear, although i suspect a lot was re-recorded in post-production since you never get the "live vibe".Sounds more like a polished cd. PERFORMANCE:The guys in Stryper put on a solid performance. They all seem really into it, especially Michael Sweet. Brother Robert proves he is one of the most underrated drummers ever.The stage is simple:instruments,amps(yellow and black draped ones)and lights. No pyro or effects or anything like that,just their music and their message, which is totally fine. The audience really seem to be into the show and seems to know most of the songs as they sing along to almost every one.Shots of the audience are minimal, unlike other dvds that go from band to audience throughout the show. BONUS FEATURES:There are three vintage performances,a drum ,bass and guitar solo from a 1989 concert from Tokyo Japan that are fabulous .The picture and sound quality are great. This makes the dvd even better.(Check out that drum set-up!) OVERALL: None of the negative things that i have pointed out will deter your viewing pleasure,but i think that with a little more time and care these things could have been rectified.The good definitely out weighs the bad.If your a fan of Stryper as i am,or just a concert on dvd fan as i also am,at this price you cant go wrong by adding it to your collection.

The picture quality was great and the song selection is good. I give this a low score due to the sound. It is horrible muffled and way too much low end. I own a lot of dvd music and found this to be amongst the worst. I have to say i have been disappointed with all of strypers live material so far. If you're going to do something go all the way. i am a big fan and just would have liked more.

Here's a music DVD release that caught me completely off guard when I first saw it on the stands. I mean, it has been quite awhile since I've heard much about Stryper. They're like most other hard rock or metal bands that you support. Their music is good, but seeing them play live is just 'all too cool'. This fourteen track, 72 minute gig took place on March 6, 2004 in Puerto Rico. Myself, I don't remember every one of these songs but the ones I thought that frontman Michael Sweet and crew made them shine were "Calling On You", "Free", the awesome "Caught In The Middle", "Loud And Clear", "Soldiers Under Command" and their possibly anthem {?} "To Hell With The Devil". Sound and picture quality is great. Before you take the DVD out of the player, be sure to check out the extras, clips from a 1989 concert. I liked "Always There For You" (hadn't heard this tune in ages) and Oz Fox's stellar guitar solo the best. Old school Stryper fans will simply flip over this DVD.

I loved Stryper back in the day; they were a truly great and groundbreaking band. I saw that they released a DVD and thought it would be a fun trip to yesteryear. Turns out I was right, it is a nostalgic gem. Good setlist (if shockingly brief), tight band, and Michael Sweet looks and sounds great after all these years. The DVD is good evidence that Robert Sweet is the most talented drummer to ever touch professional music.

Sadly, everything good about the disc is overshadowed by two points.

Firstly: Michael - whenever he talks, it feels cheaply produced, stiff, and completely awkward. Strange, because when he sings he's outstanding.

Secondly (and the big point): this is the most dreadful audio presentation ever. I actually checked my speakers when it started because I thought the tweeters were blown. We're not talking a bad mix-job here... this is firmly into HandiCam audio territory. There is no stereo image at all; it's pretty much a mono track run through 5 channels. The LFE channel packs zero punch. It sounds like your speakers are playing through a mattress. Boo! There are no words to describe how much worse the audio is on this than everything else ever recorded ever.

I love strolling down memory lane and you can tell that Michael is in great form, but ultimately, this is a music disc and if the music has been so poorly recorded that it sounds worse than playing a wax tube from the 19th century, then it's just not something you'd ever want to put in more than once. 1½ stars for me. You're better to buy the '7 Weeks in America' audio CD where more than $20 was put into recording and mixing.

I bought this for my brother who, 20+ years later, still counts Stryper as one of his all-time favourite bands. He was thrilled to receive it but his joy was swiftly tempered upon hearing the poor sound quality. He states that visually all is well but the audio was of a poor quality which lessened his enjoyment somewhat. So, Stryper fans, be warned. I must stress that I'm basing this review on my brother's testimony but it seems to be in agreement with others I've read. MK.

This DVD has a terrible sound, the band is great, the songs are great, the images are great but the sound is too low , too bad. Where is the quality control ? It seems a illegal copy!!

I just got this DVD yesterday and saw 95% percent of it, including some of the extra features. The picture is fantastic, but the sound is HORRIBLE! It has way too much low end and sounds way too muddy! However, if you have access to an equalizer, you may be able to fix up the sound a bit, or maybe it sounds better on a surround sound system, which I do not have set up at this time. I will update this review if I find a difference in a surround sound environment.

The picture is excellent and the song selection is decent, except that they did not include one of my favorite songs, "You Know What To Do". Otherwise, the band looked pretty tight and looked like they were enjoying themselves. It's just too bad that Michael Sweet was not playing his black and yellow striped guitar that he plays on the "Live in Japan" video.

All and all, I am glad that I bought this DVD, although I am very disappointed with the sound. Maybe if I can tweak that sound a bit, then I can ugrade its rating. If you are a Stryper fan, then buy this video for your collection.

Does anyone know if Stryper ever plans to release "Live in Japan" on DVD?

I was lucky enough to go to this exact concert and I have to say IT ROCKED!! From beginning to end it was hit after hit! Even if you don't share there beliefs, the music is just incredible! Michael Sweet's vocals are as crisp as they were back in the 80's, Roberts drumming, as always AWESOME! And you can't leave out Oz Fox's solos and Tim's bass playing. These 4 put on one of the best concerts I've seen in a while. If you like music from the 80's are into double guitar solos, then look no more this DVD is for you!

PROs: Should you or should you not get this DVD?, the answer is YES. I mean how many other Stryper LIVE DVD are there? Plus this marks the end of the classic line up as this was Tim's last show with the band. Add to that the fact that they chose the best place to film this, Puerto Rico, a country where Stryper were always one of those key bands that everyone liked even if you were not religious. A sold out show of aprx 7,000 people in a venue that usually holds only 5,000. Yeah, there were people sitting on the stairs and all.

I had gotten the first version that came out which you could only get through their website, which included a mediocre shirt that read "Live in San Juan" (nothing as special as the shirt they sold at the show).
If you're buying this version sold here, you're in luck cuz their "collector's" version was a VERY bad product. A very unprofessional cover, on the back they only credited the remaining 3 members of the band (I though in religious groups people were more ethical).

Having said all that, here comes my criticism...
CONs: My main complain was the audio. I had seen other raw versions (bootlegs) of this show and the crowd was way louder/wilder. For some reason, whoever edited this, thought it would be a good idea to make it seem like people were more calmed and quiet (I'll never know why). At points when the crowd goes "loud" you can clearly tell that it was just added while editing. In other words, the whole (or at least most of) band/crowd interaction was fake. A very annoying thing. Is like watching a movie where you can see the boom mic or the director's hand or something like that. Takes your attention away. Another thing, a lot of footage from another show from the USA was used in about 15% of this DVD. Puerto Rico's venue was an open air one and all of the sudden you can see this roof and things look different. Now you know why.

Another thing that cannot be forgiven is the fact that this DVD is titled "Greatest Hits Live...". WRONG, talk about being fake. They should've called it "Our Favorite Songs Live..." . What hits? they played several hits but the rest were a lot or rare songs. Nothing wrong with that but, where's "In God We Trust", where's "Always There For You"? or "Lonely"?

The Stryper concert itself is great. Great set list. The dvd has a good picture but not as good as it should have been considering it was filmed on 2004. The sound is not good at all. The sound is very muffled and has a very low volume. I have my surround sound system at max volume and it is only as loud as other dvds at 1/4 volume.
I played this dvd at a party at full volume and it was getting drowned out by people talking.
It is great to finally have a Stryper concert dvd in my collection but it will not be one that I will be watching to often due the poor sound.