Pat Metheny Group: The Way Up, Live Blu-ray

Pat Metheny Group: The Way Up, Live

 (2005)

Music



From the beginning, this band has been on a mission. Throughout the group's history, there has been a sense of potential and an abundance of ideas that have been thrilling to explore. The Way Up is a long form piece that describes in detail many of the most pressing issues in our musical lives. The original recording (2004) was a milestone for us, but the tour that followed allowed us the opportunity to discover the piece in front of audiences around the world over the course of a 6 month tour. This film, shout during the Asian leg of that tour in Seoul, Korea, is an accurate and special documentation of the group at its best, performing The Way Up - Live.

For more details about Pat Metheny Group: The Way Up, Live on Blu-ray, see the Pat Metheny Group: The Way Up, Live Blu-ray Review

Pat Metheny Group: The Way Up, Live Blu-ray, Video Quality

 


Presented in 1080p with the MPEG-2 codec - framed in a 1:78:1 visual window, The Pat Metheny Group: The Way Up Live looks gorgeous to the eyes. Detail is outstanding as facial features, detail in clothing, and even the names of the different keyboards are well rendered. Images are sharp, edges clean, and not a sign of compression artifacts to dog the presentation. Black levels are inky deep without a hint of crush. Contrast is dead on, and along with deep blacks gives images a punchy three dimensional look that is exceptionally impressive. Colors are vibrant and sometimes dramatic, but tend to stick towards primaries as the simplistic lighting effects do not allow for much mixing. The lighting while simplistic, gave each movement an appropriate if not dramatic mood.

Pat Metheny Group: The Way Up, Live Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 


The Way Up Live features three audio tracks; a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track at a 16/48khz bit and sample rate, a Dolby Digital track encoded at 448kbps, and a PCM two channel track at 16/48khz bit and sample rate. I listened to all three, but focused on the excellent DTS-HD Master Audio track and heard subtle difference in all three. Audio fine detail is first-rate, with the high end sweet, open, and airy. Every nuance, whether it is a triangle, the incredibly complex sampled horn effects, the quick transients from the plucked strings on the guitar, or the individual samples from the keyboards were all very well represented. Bass is clean and even from the top down; never sticking out of the mix. All instruments are expertly mixed and clearly heard even when the volume gets pumped up.

The DTS lossless track had imaging that was slightly blurred when compared to the less spatial but more stable two channel PCM track. The DTS track also sounded more front focused than the Dolby Digital track. The Dolby Digital track sounded a bit lifeless in the front hemisphere, but livelier and better delineated in the surround field when compared to the DTS track. Overall I preferred the DTS lossless track, but not that far was the two channel PCM mix.

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