"View From The Vault" represented official Dead releases drawn from the vault of unreleased recordings. Unlike the more recent "Dave's Picks" series (which focused on individual complete shows), VFTV collected highlights and notable performances across broader temporal ranges.

This four-CD set represents a significant commitment to exploring the archive. Each volume features different performances, eras, and musical explorations. The "vault" concept acknowledges that the Dead recorded everything, thousands of shows documented on tape, and that the real collection existed as a vast, unreleased archive.

VFTV releases were crucial for Dead fans in the late 1990s and early 2000s, providing official access to recorded performances that had previously circulated only as bootlegs or through tape-trading networks.

• Condition: 4-CD set, archive release
• Label: Grateful Dead Merchandising / official release
• Era: Late 1990s-early 2000s, vault release era