Music

"It's for anyone with hearts...any kind of hearts...and ears..." (2008-12-31)
Great sound quality and great performance. Probably Jimi's best performance ever.

I've read the other reviews and understand that the picture quality is not perfect because the performace is over 40 years old and was shot in 4:3 (1.33) and not widescreen. But then what is the advantage of paying for the Blu-ray then ? I'll bet the DVD picture is just as good.

Even so, I gave it 4 stars because of sound quality. And also since the Blu-ray is only a few dollars more than the DVD, go ahead and get the Blu-ray. Just don't set your expectations too high for picture quality.

The extras were good as well. Interviews with the people that set it all up.

"Didn't even rain...no buttons to push..."

Best Jimi DVD (2008-12-19)
First although this is BR, there is only so much that can be done with the poor video quality from the sixties. That said this is the best concert footage I've seen of Jimi. I have this on regular DVD as well as BR. Get the BR!
If you're too young to remember the Hendrix sensation, get this DVD and you will understand! Absolutely awesome!

Hendrix Blu-ray Screen Concerns (2008-12-11)
For those of you concerned about the HD picture not being widescreen, please note that the film was originally shot with the full intentions to be televised so it was framed essentially 4:3 (unfortunately there is no more to this picture then what you see). While 99% of most HD content will be 16:9 widescreen or wider, it is absolutely not essential that HD must be widescreen - nor is it a law or another other type of sac religious excuse someone wants to come up with. If the picture was to be made into 16:9, it would have needed to be zoomed-into or cropped on the top and bottom and then you would have complained about how could anyone crop Jimi Hendrix. This film was transferred into the highest possible definition available utilizing the full aspect of the screen that it was originally shot in. Be thankful that a film this old was remotely preserved over 40 years to be able to be transferred to HD and quite frankly, look this amazing. If you want to see this full-screen on your widescreen monitor, then as another reviewer said he did, just zoom in, but most people don't want to see Jimi looking 40 pounds over weight or his head, or worst yet guitar, cropped off.

Pretty Good (2008-12-04)
When I saw this was coming out on Blu-Ray, I had to have it. I was more interested in hearing the upgrade in sound than seeing the upgrade in video. Like Luis (previous reviewer) I too was annoyed with the black bars and that this wasn't truly in widescreen. Alot of TV channels do the same thing and it's just a shoddy, cheap way to do HD. However, I changed my settings on my TV to zoom and it filled the screen nicely. When the menus pop up things are a little off on the zoom setting but it works nicely overall and I would not let the bars keep you from getting this.

Picture doesn't really look much better than the DVD. Hey, it's an old source (over 40 years) and you can only expect so much. When they filmed these shows they had no idea how important they would become. It looks as good as its going to get. Far from anything of recent vintage but you can't expect that. However, you can see everything very nicely.

Extra features... Good enough. I'm not into extras that much but what's here is nice. Some good perspective on the Monterey Festival, multiple camera angles on some songs, some good liner notes. Sadly, no commentary that was on the Criterion release, but still no big deal.

I'm pleased to say that the audio is excellent. Truly a good mix with great separation and rich, full sound. Yes, I would say it's an upgrade in audio. So overall, I'm pleased. I think you make this purchase with the music in mind and on that score they've done very well indeed. No excuse for the black bars but again the zoom feature on your TV will take care of that adequately.

Blu Ray exactly like DVD version (2008-11-26)
I was very disappointed when I watched this Blu Ray version of Jimi's historic concert at Monterey. I had already purchased the regular DVD version of this feature so I hoped the Blu Ray version would surpass that. I was very mistaken. Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought Blu Ray technology equals true HD which, if I'm not mistaken, should be in wide-screen format, right? Well, Jimi's whole Monterey performance is presented here with those annoying black-bars and either side of my HD wide-screen tv. Trust me, it's not the settings on my tv. It's simply the way that the film is presented on this "blu ray" disc. A total rip-off. Am I missing something here? If you have the DVD version already, save your money because the Blu Ray version is exactly the same presentation.