Garage Saarbrucken

        A few weeks back an MPG appeared on DaD of a transmission of part of a gig played by Porcupine Tree during their 2006 tour in Europe. This occured after the 'Arriving Somewhere...' DVD release, as Steven Wilson makes a comment along the lines of 'You've been watching the DVD then...' to someone in the crowd. The reason only this portion of the gig is featured here is that they also played the whole 'Fear Of A Blank Planet' material at the front of the set, but it hadn't been recorded yet. PT have a positive attitude to tapers and torrenting and actually alerted fans to this broadcast via their website, however, they also isist that 'current material, especially pre-release, not be shared until the authorised product is well established. Sounds fair to me.
        The problem with the initilally shared MPG, and I don't quite understand why this occured, is that it plays at an aspect ratio of about 2:3 although it reports 4:3 in every player I've played it in. Consequently, it looked laterally compressed unless you used a stretching feature the your player.
        My original intention was to create a PAL and a NTSC version, with the lateral 'squashing' corrected. In fact, it was all ready to go once I figured out how to sort the aspect ratio, which I still haven't.
        The other issue with the MPG was it looked a little pixilated. Apparently this had something to do with how it was broadcast on the German Channel that carried the broadcast. Any Germans out there?? Check out www.im1.tv. Maybe you can spread some light on this. My German allows me to say 'Hello', Goodbye' and 'I can't speak German', all of which is of no use in trying to make sense of said website.:)
        There are a couple of poor edits to do with advert breaks as well, all down to the broadcaster. Shame on them!!!

HOWEVER... HOWEVER... HOWEVER...
        SOMEONE BEAT ME TO IT WITH THE AUTHOURING, AND, THEY HAD A BETTER SOURCE. THIS DVD IS PROPPER 4:3 AND IS DOING THE ROUNDS AT PORCUVINES. THIS IS A PROPPER DVD WITH MENU. IT IS MADE FROM A DIFFERENT SOURCE THAN THE MPG MENTIONED ABOVE, SO NONE OF THAT BLOATING BUSINESS SO DESPISED BY THE TORRENTING COMMUNITY, AS FAR AS I'M AWARE.
        The picture is still pixilated on this release as it relates to the method of broadcast, however, it is hardly noticable and does not spoil the show in my opinion.
        The sound was mixed by Steven Wilson and is still of a great quality. Sounds great to me anyway.
        The filming is excelent, and at around 48minutes this is an essential download for any PT fan. I assume that the whole un-edited show exists and you never know, it may appear one day. If it airs again, next time it might get better treatment by the broadcaster. In the meantime, this is the one to get.

Added: 14.12.2008