2008 Olympics: Beijing 2008 Highlights - The Games of the XXIX Olympiad

This piece is divided into two parts that are vastly based on selected live NBC television broadcasts during the games. The first part presents overall but general commentary and presentation of the finals in the events as they came along (but the bias toward showing United states triumphs is singular). The second part is more specific, and starts with a chapter on the colorful Olympic ceremony..this is spectacular. The other chapters are on finals in events that the United States (and let us say Jamaican sprinters notably Usain Bolt) excelled. Hence, the DVD is biased toward finals and medal wins in the track sprints and hurdles, swimming (Phelps is there, of course), women's beach volleyball Walsh and Treanor...the finals with China is shown in its entirety), gymnastics, and women's soccer. The obvious demerit is the bias toward the United States, the significant events in which the nation participated and achievd medals. Consequently, items like the middle and long-distance running track, men's soccer, weightlifting, wrestling, boxing, and less traditional sports are left out. You also get the impression that the DVD was hastily put together, and commercially targeted. Nevertheless, the editing is excellent, and the DVD was put out comparatively quickly. It is a fact, for example, that a definitive DVD on the Games in Athens 2004 has never emerged, to this day. I still give this Beijing Coverage 5 points, but would wish that a DVD that covers the events more broadly and internationally would be created. After all, is not that what Olympic Games are about? We do want to see the performances of the Ethiopians, Iranians, Greeks, Sri Lankans, etc...the peoples of the world! The DVD "The Olympic Series," offers more broad perspectives on the Olympic events from 1920 to 2002, and it is one I would recommend to sports enthusiasts. And I would wish that this Beijing 2006 DVD were fashioned in that manner, or that a piece that is in the making would give us a more comprehensive presentation of the Games. Nevertheless, this Beijing DVD is excellent, though it will continue to generate negative notes, mostly depending on which events one prefers and what part of the world the reviewer is from. I rest my case!

I was pleased with the quality of what was contained in the video but I expected highlights of the games not a michael phelps homage and a female child gymnast pouting to be half of the contents. There were many events at those games and almost all were over looked - even the majority of track and field events.It was not possible to know this when ordering the dvd. I expected more ; a lot more unfortunately. This situation has not been the case at prevoius olympics post-event coverage.Is there no package available that does truly cover all the highlights? I am disappointed as a sports fan and an armchair critic.

It was great.

The quality of the video is worse than an SLP Video if you remember those tapes. The sections of video are short and not very meaningful if you saw the whole thing. You will not see the spectacular opening and closing ceremony, so if you are looking for that, don't get this. There are no stories of the city, the construction of the venues or athletes either.I would not recommend you buy this.

I ordered this item for a collegue of mine, she love the olympics games! She told me how much she appreciate the DVD.

This was not what I thought I was getting; a very short DVD. Not worth purchasing. Save your money and buy a different one or go on youtube and find much more then was on this DVD.

Good DVD

Great DVD bouoght back found memories well done and excellant price. I would buy it again and give it out as a gift.

As the UK have not produced a Beijing Olympics Highlights yet I purchased the US version. Apart from an obvious US bias the DVD is very good and focusses on many of the highlights, not just the US successes. It does take a little bit of navigating however to find the individual sport highlights. Initially I thought I could only start at the opening ceremony highlights but by chance stumbled on the next menu listing the sports. This may be the software my PC was using as it is an encoded DVD with the US region.All in all, a good Olympic Games compilation.

Llego antes de tiempo. A quien le gusten los jjoo es un dvd muy interesante.

It was not great but not bad either