I just got a reply from Kent at Lucid Lounge. I have nothing but respect for Kent and I am happy with the final product given the short production time and budget limitations of the project.
Glenn
********************************
We are sorry to hear that any of you are experiencing problems with your ProgPower USA VII DVDs
Big budget Hollywood releases even have their share of bad discs pressed
My manufacturer does their best to ensure all discs are working properly before they are shipped.
If you suspect a bad disc please try playing the disc in several other DVD players. Some players (approximately 3% - usually but not always-older players) have a compatibility issue with some discs. If it plays well in any other player or computer; the disc is not faulty, and a new disc would not fix your problem (another player would obviously).
We do expect a small percentage of defective pressings, considering the huge amount of discs shipped only an extremely small percentage of fans have indicated any trouble at all.
If you truly have a defective disc that wont play in any other player. Return the defective disc. And after a review to confirm its un-playability. We will gladly replace it at no charge.
To address a couple of items directly...
---Audio dropout during Epicas: Consign To Oblivion. At about 1:25:00.00
The potential for this is on every disc pressed the reason being is that these are dual layer DVDs; meaning that video and audio data covers the entire disc twice, the laser re-focuses for the second pass at what is called the layer break, it is the time your players laser takes to re-focus to the second layer that creates the dropout. Most DVD players (latest generation) do this so fast it is unperceivable others are not so quick. This is not a disc defect. Ideally the layer break could be in a blank section of the disc, but due to the huge amount of data and extra features (i.e. Dolby Surround Sound, DTS Surround Sound and a few interviews) we produced into this DVD, it was not possible to shift it to a blank section without reducing the quality to a point below our standards. We weighed the options and chose to include all the extra audio features and keep the video quality as high as possible.
--- Perception of some double looking images or smeared Images or ghosting lines
Most notable on medium to fast camera or subject movements and some video transitions on very large screen televisions (much like sitting in the front row at the movie theatre). This is an artifact of the film quality frame rate we produced the video in. it is called 24p (same as motion picture film) as opposed to the standard video rate of 30i. You may notice a more film like quality to this DVD rather than the harsh stale feel of many concert DVDs. It is purely the directors artistic license at play.
Again, not a disc defect.
---Some random soft pixilation of video,
This is purely an artifact of the video compression needed to include all the wonderful concert footage and features on this DVD. You may notice it more in scenes that contain that cool fog effect in the foreground; historically concert video has a little trouble with fog plus compression, combine that with radical concert lighting and we are pushing the limit.
Again not a disc defect.
If you have received a disc damaged from shipping i.e. crack or other wise, please make a claim with the post office. If a disc took a blow hard enough to crack it through its packaging and case, a little extra micro bubble packaging as in media mailers would not have helped much if any. Your items were shipped with insurance and are covered. Be prepared to show them the damaged packing materials also.
I hope this clarifies some minor issues with the DVD
Everyone deserves props for their extreme patience in taking delivery of this project.
Normally a project of this dimension would take a year or better to produce.
We have plans to produce the PPVIII in extreme fashion much closer to this years original shipping expectations.
Your satisfaction is of the most supreme importance. We all thoroughly enjoyed producing this project.
Hope to see you all again this year.
Yours truly,
Kent Smith
Executive Producer
ProgPower USA VII The DVD/CD
Glenn
********************************
We are sorry to hear that any of you are experiencing problems with your ProgPower USA VII DVDs
Big budget Hollywood releases even have their share of bad discs pressed
My manufacturer does their best to ensure all discs are working properly before they are shipped.
If you suspect a bad disc please try playing the disc in several other DVD players. Some players (approximately 3% - usually but not always-older players) have a compatibility issue with some discs. If it plays well in any other player or computer; the disc is not faulty, and a new disc would not fix your problem (another player would obviously).
We do expect a small percentage of defective pressings, considering the huge amount of discs shipped only an extremely small percentage of fans have indicated any trouble at all.
If you truly have a defective disc that wont play in any other player. Return the defective disc. And after a review to confirm its un-playability. We will gladly replace it at no charge.
To address a couple of items directly...
---Audio dropout during Epicas: Consign To Oblivion. At about 1:25:00.00
The potential for this is on every disc pressed the reason being is that these are dual layer DVDs; meaning that video and audio data covers the entire disc twice, the laser re-focuses for the second pass at what is called the layer break, it is the time your players laser takes to re-focus to the second layer that creates the dropout. Most DVD players (latest generation) do this so fast it is unperceivable others are not so quick. This is not a disc defect. Ideally the layer break could be in a blank section of the disc, but due to the huge amount of data and extra features (i.e. Dolby Surround Sound, DTS Surround Sound and a few interviews) we produced into this DVD, it was not possible to shift it to a blank section without reducing the quality to a point below our standards. We weighed the options and chose to include all the extra audio features and keep the video quality as high as possible.
--- Perception of some double looking images or smeared Images or ghosting lines
Most notable on medium to fast camera or subject movements and some video transitions on very large screen televisions (much like sitting in the front row at the movie theatre). This is an artifact of the film quality frame rate we produced the video in. it is called 24p (same as motion picture film) as opposed to the standard video rate of 30i. You may notice a more film like quality to this DVD rather than the harsh stale feel of many concert DVDs. It is purely the directors artistic license at play.
Again, not a disc defect.
---Some random soft pixilation of video,
This is purely an artifact of the video compression needed to include all the wonderful concert footage and features on this DVD. You may notice it more in scenes that contain that cool fog effect in the foreground; historically concert video has a little trouble with fog plus compression, combine that with radical concert lighting and we are pushing the limit.
Again not a disc defect.
If you have received a disc damaged from shipping i.e. crack or other wise, please make a claim with the post office. If a disc took a blow hard enough to crack it through its packaging and case, a little extra micro bubble packaging as in media mailers would not have helped much if any. Your items were shipped with insurance and are covered. Be prepared to show them the damaged packing materials also.
I hope this clarifies some minor issues with the DVD
Everyone deserves props for their extreme patience in taking delivery of this project.
Normally a project of this dimension would take a year or better to produce.
We have plans to produce the PPVIII in extreme fashion much closer to this years original shipping expectations.
Your satisfaction is of the most supreme importance. We all thoroughly enjoyed producing this project.
Hope to see you all again this year.
Yours truly,
Kent Smith
Executive Producer
ProgPower USA VII The DVD/CD
