Search - Diana Krall :: Diana Krall: The Girl In the Other Room

Great performer, great format

Jay L. Rudko | Pembroke Pines, FL USA | 05/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Diana does it again! Her smoky-voiced vocals and superb piano playing make these songs jump out of the speakers, regardless of whether you play the CD or DVD-A side. "Temptation" is a great track to show this disc's capability to your friends and to get them hooked on Diana as well. In defense of the Dual Disc format, remember that it's still a work in progress. I had no problems playing this, or any other Dual Disc I've purchased, on any player. The warning given about the CD side stems from the fact that the CD data layer is closer to the lens than is a standard CD, and some players may not be able to focus in on it. Newer players should have no trouble. The DVD layer on this disc provides the album in both DVD-Audioadvanced resolution sound, as well as Dolby Digital 5.1 and LPCM stereo, and some music videos. The inclusion of Dolby Digital is welcome for the ability to allow those who do not have DVD-Audio players to still enjoy the full surround version. And it doesn't sound bad at all. I agree that ALL Dual Disc releases should include 5.1 surround sound (after all, this is the 21st century), and that MLP DVD-Audio should be required on all discs, as well as the Dolby Digital, or even DTS track. (Are you listening, Sony BMG?) This format is still coming together. Let's embrace it and give it the chance to grow."

Have you actually tried to play this?

Peter J. Lyden, III | 05/03/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've had no problem with this or any other DualDisc. The warnings are included because the DDs are slightly thicker than the standard for CDs and thus do not qualify under the redbook guidelines to carry the official CD logo - the labels are playing CYA. While I've read of isolated problems here and there, they seem to be limited to a small handful of players and, in a few cases, authoring problems on the part of the label. Most users posting to various audiophile websites report being able to play these without trouble.



Also, you don't exactly get a "DVD" as in a full length video on this one. The appeal of this particular release is the high-resolution DVD-A layer. If you don't have a DVD-A player, the extra value of the DD here is marginal (standard-res 5.1 mix); if you do have a dedicated hi-res DVD-A player, it's doubtful you'd be playing the CD layer anyway.



Regarding the program itself, it's a good pop-oriented set from Krall, though nothing special. Special kudos go to her new guitarist, Anthony Wilson. He's been doing great stuff on his own for a few years, and is a solid addition to her band. The hi-res surround mix isn't flashy, but works well to bring you into the middle of the band."

DVD-Audio won't play in Pioneer universal players (Now Fixed

Allison Spicer | Bixby, OK United States | 09/01/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I have several DVD-Audio and SACD discs. On this one, the DVD-Audio tracks have no sound. They show to be playing, but I get no audio from multichannel or stereo playback. The Dolby Digital tracks play just fine, as do the music videos. My player is a Pioneer DV-563A and I have never had this problem before. Really a disappointment since I was so glad to see a Dualdisc with DVD-Audio content.



UPDATE: Took the disc up to Best Buy and tried to play it on several DVD-Audio players. The disc played fine on all of the Denon units, but refused to correctly play back on any Pioneer machine.



UPDATE 2: Pioneer has a firmware upgrade that resolves all playback issues with this disc, and their newer players don't have the issue mentioned above."