This was a local (Australian) theatre production in which my mother in law was a performer. I include it because it's a good example of how a PAL home video converts to NTSC. Basically, if you've seen a VHS or Video-8, particularly one with low lighting & shot indoors, you'll know that the picture quality is already a bit fuzzy. Well, you'll be happy to know that none of the fuzziness is lost in the conversion to NTSC. In fact, it probably suffers less from conversion flicker than DVD's. It'll just be like watching them back in Aus.

Very funny movie about an independent cinema opening & having their first film swapped for an Italian Hercules movie - without sub-titles. To avert disaster, the owner, the publicist & projectionist decide to dub all the voices themselves. Whilst Australians will enjoy this movie, I was surprised at how badly a lot of the references carried over to US audiences. Colours were generally good. Unfortunately the sound was very low & I had to crank up the TV volume to hear it comfortably. Still, there are worse ways to spend your time.

Filmed in Australia, we watch as Chris Atkins & Kristy McNichol (SIGH) sing & dance their way through "The Pirates Of Penzanze". The colours & sounds are both good but not outstanding. Watch for Rhonda Burchmore as one of Mabel's sisters & Garry MacDonald in 3 roles!!! Catchy tunes, subtle humour, Australian scenery - again, there are worse movies you could watch.

We hadn't been able to watch this tape since we came here, so it was interesting to see how out children would react. They cover most of the more popular traditional carols, and they throw in some Wiggles specific songs. Considering the age & quality of the tape (it got a good workout back home & has been sitting here unplayed for 3 years), the converted picture was excellent. Colours are nice & bright (as you would expect from the Wiggles) & there's lots of singing & dancing on screen to keep the kids entertained. The SV-5000W auto-tracks each tape you play, but I found that I still had to adjust it a little (very little) to get the correct picture. If you want some Aussie Xmas songs for your little ones, you could do a lot worse that this. (Hey, rather The Wiggles than Barney anyday!).

Dermie get's pole-axed at the opening bounce, Dipper finishes with a collapsed lung, Ablett kicks 9. This game had everything. Colours are good & the sound is as good as you need for footy. The tape is a little edited in places, but doesn't detract from what was one of the classic finals. (Plus, you've never seen so many "mullets" in your life!!!)