Birmingham, UK (24-Jun-98)

With Van & Bob performing together, this is a must see for any Dylan fan. the steadiness of the video is outstanding. While watching this show you get the feeling you are there or on maybe on Desolation Road.

NB: While technically a '4,' the performance merits a '5,' so, a '5' it is, imho.

3>5+/5+/4/4/4+
8-15/15/11/11/12 (avg. 12.25 B+)
Right balcony 50˙/Right floor 10˙
Total Time: 1:30:21:11
PAL

PERFORMANCE/HIGHLIGHTS/LOWLIGHTS/SPECIAL MOMENTS:
-truly wonderful acoustic set highlighted by a riveting "John Brown."
-duet w/Van on "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"/Bob lends harp to Van for great solo
-Bucky's blue suit makes quite the fashion statement

DISTANCE/POSITION: Cam 1: 8>15 (Rt. balcony 50˙) (camera zooms in and out effectively/all players represented); Cam 2: 15 (Lft. floor 10˙) (very close shots of Dylan)

AUDIO: 15 (deep, rich, clear sound)

STEADINESS: Cam 1: 11 (tough going for first three songs, but pretty steady later on; Cam 2: 8 (floor position challenged filmer, but kept steady enough to enjoy)

HEADS/OBSTRUCTIONS: Cam 1: 11 (bodies obstruct, particularly for the first three songs; cable on stage right distracting at times; Cam 2: 9 (filmer focuses on Dylan's face through crowd to good effect)

FOCUS: Cam 1: 12 (a bit blurry on extreme close-ups; color good); Cam 2: 13 (very good color but reds rather vivid; sharp focus on close-ups)

EDITING: moderate (see bracketed setlist details)

VIDEO SOURCES & LINEAGE:
Cam 1: D207.m (Masters Series 096)
DVDylan rating: 3/4/4/4/4 (Left balcony 50˙)
Taper: The Ghost
Camera: Sony Hi8 (unknown model)
Uploaded to bittorrent tracker by The Ghost.
Disc 1 replacement provided by kddylan.
D207.m > MPEG Streamclip 1.9.2 > dv > iMovie 6.0.3.

Cam 2: D951.m2 (Masters Series 041)
DVDylan rating: 5/3/4/3/4 (Right floor 10˙)
Taper: AN Other
Camera: National Panasonic Super-VHS NVS-85B camcorder
Uploaded to bittorrent tracker by The Ghost.
D951.m2 > MPEG Streamclip 1.9.2 > dv > iMovie 6.0.3.

AUDIO SOURCE & LINEAGE:
LB-4794
Taper: unidentified
Rating: A- (author of D207.msu rates this A+)
Shared by kisser & blindwilly via DropBox
flac > Toast Titanium 11.0.4 > SD2f disc images > iMovie 6.0.3.

DVD PRODUCTION PROCESS:
Produced by yassou on a MacBook Pro running Lion 10.7.5 and Apple software.
Audio and video assets edited in iMovie 6.0.3; authored, multiplexed and burned to VIDEO_TS folder in iDVD 7.1.2 (Professional Quality 2-pass variable bit rate encoding)

Coops2009 notes on D207.m (Masters Series 096):
D5 A8 S8 H8 F7
BR5
85 mins
PAL
A spirited gig, but a troubled video. The taper is having problems stopping
the scaffolding getting in the way. a problem he struggles a bit with all night
It's close and for all that fairly steady though, so take a look
TECHY STUFF
This master recording was filmed on a SONY HI 8 camcorder (exact model not known) transferred on a SONY CCD TR840E HI 8 camcorder via hi gain fire wire to PC with Magix Movie Pro 17 then menued with Tempgenc Authoring Works 4.
DVD Vob format MPEG-2 Sys Bitrate 10080 kb/s VBR
Pic/s 25.000 Frames/s 25/000 Fields/s 50.000
Pal 4.3 format
pic 720x 576
Audio AC3 48 Hz stereo

Coops2009 notes on D951.m2 (Masters Series 041):
D8 A9 S7 H7 F8
SR
25 mins
PAL
Transferred from the original camera
a National Panasonic Super-VHS NVS-85B camcorder
to a LG DRT389H in HQ mode using a super-vhs transfer
cable. The disc then menued and prepared in TempgenC Authoring works 4
DVD VOB format
MPEG-2
Sys bitrate 10080 kb/s VBR
Pal 720x576 4.3 ratio
pics/s 25.000 frames\s 25.000 fields/s 25.00

LB notes for LB-4794:
Taper: unidentified
Rating: A- (author of D207.msu rates this A+)
Source/Linage:
(Sennheiser >) DAT clone(s) > Sony DAT Deck DTC-59 ES > Marantz PMD 670 Professional
> SanDisc Extreme III 2.0 GB CompactFlash Card > Peak Pro 4.14 (sector
boundaries) > Xac
mic static d1t3 6:29 not in music begin of d1t7, a minute and half of silence at end of cd2