I finally picked this disc up after all the recommendations from fellow forum members (over at Sound & Vision) and it was definitely worth it. I wasn't too familiar with Porcupine Tree's music, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. In fact, I was a little bit worried about the prog-rock classification---if that is even correct---because many bands in that sub-genre aren't exactly my favorites. However, "In Absentia" is a heavier and much more rock-oriented album than I had expected. At times it reminded me a little bit of Radiohead (what doesn't these days?), but it was often heavier and usually different enough for the band to not be classifed as a clone. At other times maybe it reminded me of the band Tool, but never too heavy to the point where I didn't like it. I don't really know how to best describe Porcupine Tree, I guess. Let's just say it rocked!
Surround Sound at 48kHz/24-bits
This brand new 5.1 surround sound remix was done by Elliot Scheiner, who has done some other incredible 5.1 remixes before for The Flaming Lips, Steely Dan, and Queen to name a few. This time is no exception. It's just an amazing disc and the surround sound treatment here adds and doesn't detract. It's not too gimmicky. In fact, I like it very much.
Disc Navigation
The music and wonderful 5.1 surround mix are so good that most any negatives regarding disc navigation can be easily overlooked. Nonetheless, I'll list some of the pros and cons that I see.
Cons: The worst aspect is that you are required to use a television monitor in order to select tracks directly. This is regardless of whether you press 'play' or the 'tray' button to insert the disc. At least you can still listen to the disc by selecting tracks incrementally without a television monitor because the first track starts playing upon insertion. Another dislike I have is that the music stops playing whenever you choose to go to the screen that allows you to select a different track. I'd have preferred it if the music would keep playing until I select a new track.
Pros: The on-screen menus are attractive and easy to use. Each track greets you with a new picture. Whatismore, fans of 2-channel will be glad to hear that switching between the 5.1 mix and 2.0 mix is possible via the 'audio' button on your DVD player---so a television monitor isn't an absolute requirement. (Though the 2-channel tracks are barely better than the CD version since they are at 48 kHz / 16-bit.)
Bonus/Extras
There are 3 music videos that are actually interesting to watch. And let's give three cheers to DTS Entertainment for providing a 5.1 DTS soundtrack to go along with each of the music videos. (It is one of my biggest pet peeves regaarding bonus music videos on DVD-Audio releases when companies fail to provide a surround mix and I am forced to listen to them in stereo.) For those who actually prefer the stereo mixes, though, DTS has graceously provided a seccond audio track for the videos in uncompressed 44.1 kHz / 16-bit PCM. You can even switch on the fly between the two soundtracks.
You also get 3 bonus audio tracks that I assume are not available on the CD version. All 3 tracks are mixed into surround sound and are enjoyable.
Conclusion
Porcupine Tree's "In Absentia" might be one of those 'must have' discs for fans of surround sound. I'd even recommend this disc to those who don't yet have a DVD-Audio player because the DTS tracks still sound pretty good. Go and get it!
