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reviews: halcyon dvd + mindcandy 2 preview
 for the best impression you should watch the dvd on a big tv set. as always: the quality of the dvd can't be the same than running a demo directly from the harddisk. there is one music track for the main menu and another one for all the other menus, both are creating a 'mystical' atmosphere. you can simply begin to play the dvd or select a specific demo from the menu. when selecting demos from the menu then you'll first see a screenshot and a short text with information about the release. every demo/intro begins with a simple text screen which contains the name, category and the party where it was released (mostly also with ranking). from the 'special features' menu probably the factfile subtitles are the most useful feature. the subtitles are giving you many interesting infos about the used effects or how they have made specific things. did you know that the intro 'hplus' was the first halcyon release which used more than 256 colors? if you understand the finnish language then you'll probably have much fun with the audio commentary. both the subtitles and the audio commentary are not available for the first releases, but unluckily also for the demo 'chimera'. the video quality is pretty good, but the picture can be in general a bit sharper and also a bit more contrast wouldn't hurt. but don't forget that this is a home-made production. nothing bad to say about the audio quality. other groups which are planning to make a dvd should watch the halcyon dvd as a good example how to do it. mindcandy 2 - "the preview review" also this free downloadable dvd comes without a cover or booklet. the dvd menu looks like the amiga workbench 1.3 and instead of a background music you'll hear the emulated floppy drive sound. but note that the menu in the final product will look completly different (and there will be surely music). for 3 of the 5 demos it was partly needed to use an emulator or to kick the demo at all. in the final product there is only one more demo where an emulator was used. trixter had a damn hard time with the capturing process, but the result looks and sounds simply great.  also mindcandy 2 is mainly made to be watched on a tv set. the preview is available in pal and ntsc format. you can select any single demo from the workbench menu, play them randomly or you can create a playlist in the jukebox (of course this makes more sense with the final product). the only special feature is a teaser about a video portrait of a well known scene party: breakpoint. the video and audio quality are just perfect. a crisp and sharp picture with an excellent contrast at any time. you can clearly see how much work was put into this dvd. in the audio setup you can switch between the original amiga sound or a 5.1 remix for the ultimate sound experience. or you can listen to the english audio commentary. after watching the preview you probably can't await the final product :-) halcyon dvd download: ftp.de.scene.org mindcandy 2 preview: pal ntsc (scene.org) |
