Blah Blah Cafe, the Jean-Michel Jarre forum

[Andreas86]

Hi everyone, big Jarre enthusiast here!

Needless to say I was very dissappointed after the Houston DVD was cancelled. So some months ago I went on Amazon and bought a mint condition PAL/european version of the old VHS (PAL having he highest resolution / clearest picture, and without the silly interviews). After receiving it I immediately sent it away to a professional media house for DVD conversion on high-end gear, without even checking it out. When I get the DVD back, it is obvious the VHS was in pristine condition! From start to end the picture is totally clean and very sharp, with no distortion or noise whatsoever. The sound is awesome! I hardly think it has ever been watched by the seller. This is as good as VHS gets! (I have loads of video-cassettes but none as good as this, even though I take good care of them. Very, very satisfied!) The transfer to DVD appears leagues above the results I have gotten from my own vhs-dvd machine. I extracted the .VOB from the DVD to make a new one with my own made menus with background music and video in the frames. The main video remains of course a direct stream copy, no re-encode.

This must be the best version of Rendez-Vous Houston to date, unless someone else has done exactly the same. I have seen all versions from the net, and none match this. That includes the ones in the archive.

Here are some snapshots from the finished DVD, playback in VLC player. But it looks better on a real TV with DVD player.

[jarrepaul]

I transfered my video to a dvd through a dvd burner. It is on a disk with the other concerts i had La Defense, Docklands etc. So quality is no different. I t would be good to have a cleaner version.

[mikejarrenot]

Where can i obtain a copy of this concert?
I used to have the video(vhs) but i pissed my ex-girlfriend off one day and she destroyed it.
She knew how precious it was to me.HELP!!

[Andreas86]

Wow, she destroyed your concert video? Man, that's cold hearted..

[mikejarrenot]

Yeah,i hve docklands ,paris l d ,china concerts vhs video,rendezvous lyon,water for life and oxygen live in your living room,but i cant get hold of houston.
Houston -i have a problem!

[Andreas86]

PM'd.

[mikejarrenot]

Sorry but i don't understand what you mean

[Andreas86]

You have a private message

[mikejarrenot]

Oh thanks,i will look into that.
cheers mate.

[mathetes1963]

@Andreas86 :
*cough* I'd be interested too...

[tinmachine]

Wow, that looks excellent.

If it was me, I would also consider the following:

- making it a Houston/Lyon DVD, so both films are on the one DVD (to match the CD)

- adding the BBC Whistle Test special interview to the start of the Houston film (so it's like the BBC broadcast)

- having an extensive photo gallery of the Houston and Lyon concerts (which has reminded me, I was going to do a scan of the 1987 Guinness Book of Records that has a nice little feature and pic about the Houston concert)

- having the Rendez-Vous 4 promo video as an extra (*)

- having the Houston news reports (the ones you can find on YouTube about the clear-up) as extras / Easter Eggs

(* and although less relevant, perhaps also Zoolook and Zoolookologie promo videos as they are from that "era" and wouldn't really fit as extras on any other concert DVD)

I'm sure the same could be done with Docklands, La Defense, Europe In Concert etc - and you could even include the odd alternative shots where the video differs from the TV broadcast (Docklands - Magnetic Fields 2; La Defense - Calypso 2).

[Nico_Noyau]

If you are interested, I can share it on my database, please contact me

[Andreas86]

You have PM Nico

[Andreas86]

Wow, that looks excellent.

If it was me, I would also consider the following:

- making it a Houston/Lyon DVD, so both films are on the one DVD (to match the CD)

- adding the BBC Whistle Test special interview to the start of the Houston film (so it's like the BBC broadcast)

- having an extensive photo gallery of the Houston and Lyon concerts (which has reminded me, I was going to do a scan of the 1987 Guinness Book of Records that has a nice little feature and pic about the Houston concert)

- having the Rendez-Vous 4 promo video as an extra (*)

- having the Houston news reports (the ones you can find on YouTube about the clear-up) as extras / Easter Eggs

(* and although less relevant, perhaps also Zoolook and Zoolookologie promo videos as they are from that "era" and wouldn't really fit as extras on any other concert DVD)

I'm sure the same could be done with Docklands, La Defense, Europe In Concert etc - and you could even include the odd alternative shots where the video differs from the TV broadcast (Docklands - Magnetic Fields 2; La Defense - Calypso 2).

First of all, thanks!

Now, I have though about much of what you list here, and tried some of it too.

- I don't have the Lyon video in any form.

- I don't want to clutter the DVD with video footage that is ripped from youtube, .wmw compressed or otherwise sub-par to the main video, same goes for photos. There are too much difference in quality among all the stuff that is floating around. I am a purist in that way. If you want, you can just burn a full DVD with all the pictures and extras you need. Maybe in the future a DVD can be made with all these things.

- I only have the Houston video. I can not afford to buy mint ex. of all the old concert VHS videos like Docklands, La Defense, EiC, etc. and pay for professional conversion. Hell, we have to leave some work for Jarre, he is after all the one who should be doing it.

- I don't want to spend my entire summer in front of the computer. This has already taken up a lot of time.

It is possible that I will add some more to the menus before I consider it done. You will probably find it in a certain database soon.

[tinmachine]

First of all, thanks!

Now, I have though about much of what you list here, and tried some of it too.

- I don't have the Lyon video in any form.

- I don't want to clutter the DVD with video footage that is ripped from youtube, .wmw compressed or otherwise sub-par to the main video, same goes for photos. There are too much difference in quality among all the stuff that is floating around. I am a purist in that way. If you want, you can just burn a full DVD with all the pictures and extras you need. Maybe in the future a DVD can be made with all these things.

- I only have the Houston video. I can not afford to buy mint ex. of all the old concert VHS videos like Docklands, La Defense, EiC, etc. and pay for professional conversion. Hell, we have to leave some work for Jarre, he is after all the one who should be doing it.

- I don't want to spend my entire summer in front of the computer. This has already taken up a lot of time.

It is possible that I will add some more to the menus before I consider it done. You will probably find it in a certain database soon.

I agree with all that you say. If you had some of that in high quality, I would go for it, but yes YouTube or wmv files may not be particularly suitable.

I guess I was really *dream* thinking about what an official DVD release could be like. I think it's a source of constant frustration for many of JMJ's fans that the old concerts are not being released on DVD or Blu-Ray.

I'm still hoping that Mike Mansfield still has the missing footage from La Defense and Docklands, and that some full-length concertl edition DVD's can be released, with the new tracks edited in and the annoying mistakes edited out. I'm sure Moscow would be easier to source the material missing from the official video release. It may be a bit much to hope the same with Bob Giraldi and the Houston concert, or dare I say the Concerts In China!

I had hoped, with the release of the China Aero concert, Gdansk, Aero, Teo & Tea and Oxygene In Your Living Room there would be more similar DVD/CD sets of his older concerts released too.