Disclaimer: I'm a bigtime (ahem) Gabriel junkie, so consider this as you read...
I bought Play:The Videos last week, and although I've only listened to it a few times, I'm rather impressed for the most part. The sound quality of the mix is simply amazing, and rivals some SACD multi mixes I've heard. The mixes though are very, very aggressive. The video quality varies from okay (Games Without Frontiers) to stellar (anything from 1992 to the present.)
Like I said, the sound is impressive. Depending on the title, I can usually tell the difference between the DTS and Dolby Digital mixes, but on this one the line between them is less blurred- the DTS simply is amazing. The bass coming from the DTS version is about as tight as anything I've heard via multi-channel. Those extra bits really make a difference.
More about the mixes: from what I've read about it, I believe the remixing was intended to put the listener "inside" the music. This is very different to the mixing done by someone like Elliot Schneider, who seems to provide the music up front with little or no center channel and mostly creating a larger soundstage in the rear channels. Play seems to have something coming from everywhere most of the time. For example, the horns in Sledgehammer are placed in the rear channels. Is this overused, like the early 1960's stereo recordings as a gimmick? Perhaps. But seeing that this was the intention, it works most of the time. The start to "Games" reminds me of Floyd's "Money", but with a drumbox instead of a cash register of course.
Each surround mix also adds or subtracts instruments and sounds too, so don't expect the same audio as the CDs just placed in a surround soundstage. Note that the "original" two-channel mixes are available in Dolby Digital 2.0, which are true to the CD or the original audio that was heard with the video. For example, the drum tracks on Big Time don't come in on the surround tracks as they do on the CD or the original video.
My favorite track is "I Don't Remember", with Tony Levin's Stick starting out the song from all around, and then the punch of the kick drum throughout. The difference between the DD and the DTS is clearly heard and felt on this one.
For Gabriel fans with a 5.1 system (or better- I see the DTS-EX flag comes on my preamp) this is a no-brainer. Otherwise, I'd say it's at least worth borrowing or renting for the audio quality.
-Marty
