Review: Halcyon DVD (Written By Crest)
The Halcyon DVD contains all the releases by the famous Finnish group
except a bbstro and a cracktro. 14 of the 15 demos and intros are DOS based,
so this DVD is a must-have not only for Halcyon fans but for every fan of
classic DOS demos (and several are hard to run even with the right hardware)!
Of course all the well known releases like Lifeforms, Karma, Saint or hplus
are included and also their only Windows demo: Chimera.
As a free downloadable DVD it comes without a fancy cover or booklet. The colorful DVD menu looks very nice and everything is well done, especially for a home-made production.
The music for the main menu was created by distance^lackluster. Three of the videos were converted by Trixter.
For the best impression you should watch the DVD on a big TV set. As always: The quality of the dvd can't be the same as running a demo directly from the harddisk. There is one music track for the main menu and another one for all the other menus; both are creating a 'mystical' atmosphere. You can simply begin to play the DVD or select a specific demo from the menu. When selecting demos from the menu you'll first see a screenshot and a short text with information about the release. Every demo/intro begins with a simple text screen which contains the name, category and the party where it was released (mostly also with a ranking). From the 'special features' menu probably the factfile subtitles are the most useful feature. The subtitles are giving you a lot of interesting info about the used effects or how they have made specific things. For example, did you know that the intro 'hplus' was the first Halcyon release which used more than 256 colors?
If you understand the Finnish language then you'll probably have a lot of fun with the audio commentary. Both the subtitles and the audio commentary are not available for the first releases, but unluckily neither for the demo 'Chimera'.
The video quality is pretty good, but in general the pictures could have been a bit sharper and also a bit more contrast wouldn't have hurt. However, don't forget that this is a home-made production.
Nothing bad to say about the audio quality. Other groups that are planning to make a DVD should watch the Halcyon dvd as a good example how to do it.
Halcyon DVD download: ftp.de.scene.org
Crest