Stevie

Hi Rob S, just as an aside, I have posted that Akram Khans Giselle is on BBC4 this coming Sunday at 7:00 pm. I already have it on blu-ray, but worth watching

Just to let everyone know, Akram Khans Giselle, English National Ballet is being shown on BBC 4, next Sunday 31st March 19 at 7:00pm. I already purchased the blue ray, so I guess its the same cast, but it is certainly worth watching for those who have not already.

Then you will definitely enjoy the interview extra with Yuhui. She is great fun, looks so cheeky and always so upbeat and happy. Kicking her partner up the but, and poor Beatrix being told off for expecting it coming. I suppose that after the ROH have missed so many opportunities to bring out this masterpiece on blu-ray, we should be pleased that they have at last presented us with it.

I can feel your deep pain, but I have to say in her favor, that Fumi does a great job and at what may have been short notice. Pretty much as she did when she stepped into the Gypsy role, in The Two Pidgeons. I don't think you will be disappointed when you watch it. 😃

She was replaced in the performance by Fumi Kaneko. There may have been an injury or just a sharing of the role, but not sure why. It is Yuhui in the rehearsal extras, with Beatrix Stix Brunell, who does appear in the performance and Darcy interviewing the rehearsal. Hope that clear s it up.

Should have read Yuhui Choe. Not used to spelling Korean names, unfortunately. Anyway, she is in the rehearsal extras, but replaced in the performance by Fumi Kaneko. Copied and pasted this time, so hopefully she will forgive me for the typo.

I can confirm that anyone buying this will not be disappointed. The production, costumes, sets, stunning music and of course the dancing are all as I remember from the Cinema streaming. However I have noted a great deal more from the acting ability in the roles and particularly the lead casting. Vadim has mastered the depth of the role of lovelorn Des Grieux, clearly knowing that he is 'punching above his weight', with a beautiful Manon. Miss Lamb completely identifies with the Character of Manon, from innocence at the beginning to her coquettish best as she gradually develops the role. Not in love, but totally captivated with the idea of love, she imperceptibly changes the mood, scene by scene, through to its dramatic conclusion. The extras are a worthy addition, with rehearsal of the Courtisan's, just one change of Juhui Choi to the performance and Darcy's interview of Deborah MacMillan.

Best buy of the week should be the box set, 'The Art of Svetlana Zakarhova at the Bolshou', on Blu-Ray, in HD. It contains her, Swan Lake, La Bayadere, Sleeping Beauty and La Fille de Pharaon, discs, all four complete ballet's on Bel-Air Classics, for a total price of £13.99, inclusive of p&p. These are all retailing it an average of about £20 each. It is on ebay, MusicMagpie and only one left.

Polunin is slightly taller and heavier, but not a lot of difference. Oleg Ivenko is the same height and weight as Nureyev, but could this be sufficient to tip the balance, they would have needed to stand side by side for anyone to notice.

No doubting his talent and ability, but the question of his temperament, tact and reliability may have ruled him out ?

There must have been a problem in some Cinemas, since our Cinema and the TV broadcast was fine in colour, brightnessd and contrast. A month since I watched the new Onegin, but from what I recall it was overly bright. It sounds like some experimental TV adjustments may be worth while. Try the brightness first until you are satisfied, then try the contrast and then colour.

I am going to get it. I already have it on hard drive and copied to disc, from BBC4 Christmas day TV and it will bring my Swan Lake collection up to 12 versions. One may have to go to make space. I will take a majority vote on the one to go, from the attached list. Swan Lake 2 DVD Kirov 3 Royal Ballet Nunez Blu-Ray 4 LAC Ballet de Monte Carlo Blu-Ray 23 Mariinsky Lopatkina Blu-Ray 37 zurich Ballet Semionova Blu-Ray 42 Makharova Kirov DVD Box set 58 Svetty la Scala DVD 96 Bolshoi Svetty Blu-Ray 98 Swedish ballet DVD 156 Royal Ballet Osipova Blu-Ray 160 POB Letestu Blu-ray

As an aside, the earlier, 'Dance to Freedom' starring Bolshoi principle Artem Ovcharenk is on BBC4, Monday 25th March at 10:00 pm. White Crow doesn't appear to be available at a Cinema near me.

Is this fundamentally any different to the earlier BAFTA nominated version, 'Dance to Freedom' starring Bolshoi principle Artem Ovcharenko. The trailer and clips appear to cover exactly the same ground.

Alison, I should have pointed out another problem with DVD recorders. Although most play PAL & NTSC, when you program anything to record, the DVD machine automatically defaults to PAL and will not play NTSC, just a message saying Incompatible TV. Since most classical DVD's are in the American NTSC format, this can be a problem. You can cancel the record program and reset it later, or wait until recording has finished. Since my wife 'chokes' up the machine to record all the rubbish of the day, it means I have to watch mine on another machine.

I think its called thrifty. Frugal is when you go without and mean is when you don't buy your round at the bar. Enjoy it.

For anyone considering the pre order of Manon, Royal Ballet, blu-ray, there is a current promotion on Amazon, for undisclosed, limited period of £5 off, for selected items over £25, which means that it becomes £20.09 and qualifies for free p&p. There appears to be no catches, such as joining Amazon prime etc.

Very disappointed with this schedule. With the exception of Raymonda, rarely performed, there appears to be three encores, R&J, Nutcracker and Corsaire and three others which have been done to death in recent years, Giselle, Swan Lake and Jewell's. Time to shake the bag up. It's interesting that they can decide this schedule before the New Season has even been announced.

Alison, I suppose that the DVD Player/Recorder would satisfy your needs and without buying a load of other piggy back equipment. Just remember though, there are certain things for ease of use and just be patient when using. 1. Always buy the same format recordable discs and keep the recorder set to that format. 2. Stick to whatever format the unit is already set, i.e. DVD-R 3. For economy try to keep to the 120 min, 4.7 GB discs 4. Be prepared to lose a little resolution and rip at lower speed for programs over 120 mins You can buy a wallet that holds 90 DVD's for about £8.00 on ebay, they keep them clean and very well worth having

I suppose there could be many reasons, such as with a DVD recorder hard drive having limited capacity, there may be those which one would want to keep copies whilst clearing up the hard drive, for space for new recordings. It saves on CPU. You may just wish to back up your hard drive with a hard copy, similarly to any work you have done or valuable documents. It may be that you would want to watch them on another player or in another room. The hard drive is not a particularly secure storage space, recordings are very easily deleted, by mistake by oneself, or other users and some wife's have an obsession about deleting program's already watched. You may want to show a friend (although a grey area legally, so don't tell). It is called a DVD for a very good reason, that's why we buy them, its a great format if they are looked after. Not sure why members here want them, but there are many valid reasons for them to save to disc.

It is a common problem for Amazon to list the wrong region code against a listing, for both DVD and Blu-ray. Clearly they only guess at it, because if they had the item to hand, they would see the correct region code on the rear artwork. So never rely on Amazon for this, always double check via the artwork illustration or other sites first.

😠 Those are just the good points, wait until people tell you about their bad experiences. Like trying to get it out of 'jammed' mode when there appears to be no response whatever keys you press, and you still have a DVD stuck in the machine. That ones a lot of fun.

Mine is a Panasonic DMR773. There is no blu-ray or DVD recorder that will record directly to disc. It first has the be copied to hard drive and than transferred to disc after, if copy is required. The discs for over 120 minutes are very expensive, but longer programs can be copied very slowly onto a 120 minute disc at lower resolution. You also have to format the player for the right disc (i.e. HD+R or HD-R etc) and once formatted it won't play the other until formatted back. Both the TV and DVD/Blu-Ray recorder have to be tuned in to the latest channels or it will not take. When you update to the latest channels, everything you have set timer to record is deleted. So often you miss the program. The whole thing is a pain, so we now use the SMART TV to play 'catch up TV' and find it far superior than trying to record programs. Extract from manual attached. How do I copy from HDD to DVD on my Panasonic DVD recorder? Please follow the steps below:- Put your DVD disk into the recorder unit and make sure that this has been formatted. Put the unit into HDD mode by pressing the Drive Select button on the DVD remote until you see HDD on the DVD LCD screen. Press the Function menu button on the DVD remote, select Others, and press OK. Then select Advance Copy and press OK. The first option should be "Copy Direction", which should display HDD to DVD. Then select the second option which says "Copy Speed". Press the right arrow button and then select "Recording Mode" and press OK. Then select the mode you wish to copy in, XP, SP, LP, or EP depending on how long the program is. Go to "Create List" and press the right arrow button which will take you to a blank table. Press OK to access your HDD. Find the program(s) that you want to copy from your HDD and press the II (pause) button. These will be added to the list. When you have selected them all, press the OK button to confirm, press the left hand arrow to go back to Create List and then press down to "Start Copying", and then press OK. You will then be asked if you want to finalise the disc (so the disc can be played on other DVD units). Once you have selected Yes or No, then the copying will start. Please note that during this time you will not be able to watch or record a program while the unit is in Copy mode. But you are right, the 550 cant burn to disc, which will be a relief to those owning it.

I have a Panasonic DVD recorder, and I wish that I had never purchased it. However, if there is anyone who wishes to buy a blu-ray recorder, Currys/PC World have a PANASONIC DMR-PWT550EB currently on offer at £249.99, with good reviews. They also have a higher spec one at £329, also with good reviews. They both do 4K, HDD and 3D.

Sadly, I don't think this forum can help with all of that. I have a DVD player/recorder and I can't recommend them. It has the benefit of being able to burn recordings to disc, but otherwise it is more trouble than it is worth. We have 32 inch TV's in each bedroom, with a blu-ray player to each, for when the Grandchildren stay with us, so everyone can then watch what they want, without argument, so that is easily resolved. The 12" indoor 'Labgear' mini log digital aerial is a brilliant reception and so easy to fit up. If your TV has an optical link, it will be a small socket on the back, clearly marked up as 'optical link'. Some TV.s have 2 x phono links instead, but optical carries better sound. Clearly of no value without a HI-Fi system. Can't suggest how to get an empty Theatre, but have found the Cinema streaming's not to be as well attended as they deserve, so it would probably be possible to find a secluded part part of the Cinema. I like to see Theatre's and Cinemas full, tending to think that they can't continue without being fully supported.