Van Halen Donnington 1984

[FORD]

Looking at this more I think Firefox downloaded at 360p and the original was 480p so I'll try the y2mate thing again. First time I tried it didn't seem to work but it may have been because of my popup blockers and AV.

I tried downloading with the Firefox plugins and through Invidious, and 360p was the best resolution available for download unfortunately. Not that I expected 4k on footage that's 39 years old, but 720p might have been good enough.

[Seshmeister]

When I tried the https://en1.y2mate.is/CZA/ thing again I realized I had already downloaded the video 5 times already in the background.

It downloads in the background when you click the button.

It does do it at a higher resolution 680 I think.

[FORD]

I got 480 from that link. That seems to be the best possible. Even on YouTube that's the highest resolution I can see. 480 was probably considered "high resolution" in the mid 80s, before digital TV existed, so that's probably the true resolution of the source tape. If they ever intended to make this an official release of any kind, I'm sure they would do some sort of digital remastering like Page did with the old Zeppelin videos or whatever.

[Rikk]

I got 480 from that link. That seems to be the best possible. Even on YouTube that's the highest resolution I can see. 480 was probably considered "high resolution" in the mid 80s, before digital TV existed, so that's probably the true resolution of the source tape. If they ever intended to make this an official release of any kind, I'm sure they would do some sort of digital remastering like Page did with the old Zeppelin videos or whatever.

This was shot originally on film. If they ever tried to professionally release this, they would edit the (at least) three film sources together in 4K (or 1080p). Presumably, if they bothered to shoot the whole thing on film, it was also recorded on multi-track.

For all we know, this was some originally-considered concert video they were planning that was thrown away as an idea because Dave left the band. BUT...I've never heard anyone even mention before that this whole show was filmed. But clearly, with this particular camera and the others cameras seen, this was shot in its entirety.

I agree with Vinnie. This probably was leaked from the Monk tapes and I wouldn't be surprised if the Largo '84 vid drops any day now on YouTube...similar to that whole drop of KISS vids that occurred last year on YouTube under the name Sam Loomis...

[Rikk]

But yes...480p is the source we're getting because this was obviously taken from a videotaped copy of the film source.

For all we know, the original film reels were lost years ago.

[Rikk]

This download link was at idiot Brett's links, if anyone is still having trouble downloading the footage:

https://mega.nz/file/nJ1TjbBK#EZVOLgj-or5_6jKwG96Ygdr2ih0Onr1ttfHRPzYalnk

[Seshmeister]

Now impossible to look at any pics from that gig without trying to see 'our' new hero camera man guy...

[Seshmeister]

But yes...480p is the source we're getting because this was obviously taken from a videotaped copy of the film source.

For all we know, the original film reels were lost years ago.

Shit yeah that's a good point.

It must have been the early days of video screens but it seems weird that noone would think to record the feed.



I guess that the quality of those videos would have been much lower quality than the film of the guy onstage but continuous.

[Rikk]

Shit yeah that's a good point.

It must have been the early days of video screens but it seems weird that noone would think to record the feed.



I guess that the quality of those videos would have been much lower quality than the film of the guy onstage but continuous.

Shit...I never even thought of the screen vids!!

Good point. Who the hell knows if those exist in some warehouse somewhere? I don't really know if in cases of festivals, the organizers would keep the vids. I don't even know if they were always recorded. I know the Dead always archived their screen-recorded vids with stereo soundboard (that's why they have literally 100s of pro-shot/stereo concert vids in their archives). BUT...most bands weren't The Dead.

I suppose if the original film reels never showed up, one could make a really great professional concert video by using a combination of the screen vids, the on-stage film camera(s) and the BBC shot (that included, at the very least, HOT FOR TEACHER). But someone gathering all this footage and then syncing it with a professional soundboard recording is unlikely.

I still think that this newly-leaked video is part of a bigger attempt at professionally-filming and multi-track recording the entire show for possible later release. Why else would almost the whole gig be filmed? That's expensive. Bands didn't film virtually entire shows ON FILM unless there was commercial potential.

I would be very surprised if there aren't 16-track or 24-track multitrack masters of this show sitting around somewhere.

I would love to speculate on what the band could release from this...but no band treats their fans worse than Van Halen. I wouldn't expect we'll ever see anything. Wolfgang was practically bragging that fans shouldn't hold their breath for any new releases of anything from the archives. (I hate that guy now.)

[Seshmeister]

In many ways it's all been left too long now.

Firstly because so much has been lost but mainly because it's difficult to monetize now and that's always the bottom line. No one buys DVDs any more or expects to pay for any video content really. Maybe enough revenue to pay for a couple of editors to do some work but nothing much to the Van Halen's or Roth. Thinking about it the only time a professionally shot Van Halen show could have been marketed well would have been in that little 1996 window because any other time is either too early or too late?

Still who knows, in my little bubble at least this has been big news online and among some friends including my bass player whose school janitor drove half a dozen 15 year old pupils over 300 miles from Scotland to England in his old van to their first gig - different times.

Maybe the interest from this will lead to more stuff...

[Rikk]

In many ways it's all been left too long now.

Firstly because so much has been lost but mainly because it's difficult to monetize now and that's always the bottom line. No one buys DVDs any more or expects to pay for any video content really. Maybe enough revenue to pay for a couple of editors to do some work but nothing much to the Van Halen's or Roth. Thinking about it the only time a professionally shot Van Halen show could have been marketed well would have been in that little 1996 window because any other time is either too early or too late?

Still who knows, in my little bubble at least this has been big news online and among some friends including my bass player whose school janitor drove half a dozen 15 year old pupils over 300 miles from Scotland to England in his old van to their first gig - different times.

Maybe the interest from this will lead to more stuff...

Sesh, I'll tell you this...

My wife & daughter just went to bed. I've been sitting in my home theater downstairs, watching this incredible spectacle from my projector. The picture quality ain't 4K or Blu-Ray...but this is still THE SICKEST, MOST AWESOME concert video I've seen in years.

The last time I felt so adrenalized watching concert footage was 2003 when Led Zeppelin released the DVD set of professionally-released footage.

AND THIS HAS THAT SET BEAT.

Everyone always says that Led Zeppelin were the best live rock band ever. And I used to think that was possible. But watching this...the original Van Halen WAS THE BEST LIVE BAND EVER.

THIS FOOTAGE IS FUCKING INCREDIBLE!! I'm getting goosebumps just writing about what I've been watching.

I hope & pray we get a professionally-released film of the original band. I really enjoyed the Dave reunion era...but even that didn't hold a candle to 1978-1984.

IF we never get a proper home video release of the original band, I can accept vids like this leaking. This is STILL 1,000,000 times more exciting than anything we've watched before. I've watched the US Festival and South American vids 1,000,000 times. I've watched the audience-shot Montreal '84 more times than I can count. But watching the band THIS up-close and this "on fire," this is like nothing I've ever seen.

DID YOU NOTICE HOW HAPPY THEY ALL LOOK ON THAT STAGE? We all know what's going to go down in just a few months. But they were still so great at this point, they couldn't fake how good they still were.

And I'm a sucker for the 1984 album. I know it's not many fans' favorite...I know so many fans prefer the debut. But 1984 was my first Van Halen album. I got it when I was eight years old. To see the classic line-up playing material from that album and the rest of the six-pack...

...and these close-up shots of the band kicking ass on-stage...

THIS IS TRULY THE HOLY GRAIL. I still have to pinch myself watching it.

It's nice to be reminded of why I cherish this band so much.

(Let's hope there's more leaked footage to come our way in the months to come... Largo '84, let's go.)

[Silexxx]

https://mega.nz/file/2QYAXLCS#ouqyBOH4XTuWULhM-b0Ufjx8mR4LRUEd-yydpFQDB3w

Here's another one. 2.4 gb and higher quality than YT.

[Von Halen]

I would love to speculate on what the band could release from this...but no band treats their fans worse than Van Halen. I wouldn't expect we'll ever see anything. Wolfgang was practically bragging that fans shouldn't hold their breath for any new releases of anything from the archives. (I hate that guy now.)

I have said Van Halen is the worst band to their fans, for many many years now.

I hate that fat fucker too. He is so jealous of Van Halen and Van Halen fan. His lame fucking music will be long forgotten, and CVH will still be standing the test of time. I bet this release pisses him off so bad, because more poeple are interested in this 39 years after the fact, than are interested in his garbage in the present.

[Vinnie Velvet]

I have said Van Halen is the worst band to their fans, for many many years now.

I hate that fat fucker too. He is so jealous of Van Halen and Van Halen fan. His lame fucking music will be long forgotten, and CVH will still be standing the test of time. I bet this release pisses him off so bad, because more poeple are interested in this 39 years after the fact, than are interested in his garbage in the present.

Not to mention the video footage has dwarfed the recent Van Hagar remasters announcement.

Cause there's only one MIGHTY VAN HALEN!

[Kristy]

Now that's a fucking Van Halen concert!! Hell yeah!

Watched this yesterday in full. Apart from the shitty sound this was VH at its peak.