kal
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| Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:22 pm Post subject: Game of Thrones: Season 3 [Blu-ray] |
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Game of Thrones: Season 3 (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) (2014)
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| Quote: | 'Game of Thrones: The Complete Third Season' is an example of television storytelling at its absolute best. With peerless production design, fantastic performances, exceptional writing, and incredible direction, the series easily remains one of the best shows on TV. HBO has once again delivered a top-tier release with demo worthy video and sound, and a comprehensive collection of interesting supplements that fill out the show's already expansive world. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but this set is every bit as impressive as the series' previous collections. Once again, this release is a true must own!
The Video: Sizing Up the Picture
The show is provided with a series of 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfers in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Viewers of 'Game of Thrones' know exactly what to expect here, and thankfully HBO does not disappoint. One of the most beautiful shows on television once again receives one of the most impressive video presentations that the small screen has to offer.
Clarity is absolutely exceptional throughout the season, offering an impeccable sense of texture and fine detail that brings all of the series' varied locations, intricate costumes, and staggering sets to life. The production design is really second to none when it comes to television, and the work done here easily rivals many feature length Hollywood efforts. Depth is also breathtaking, giving Westeros a life-like level of dimension. Color temperatures vary depending on the location, washing the screen in cold, icy blues and whites north of the wall, warm reds and yellows in the deserts across the sea, and lush greens in the beautiful gardens of King's Landing. Ranging from appropriately dreary to gorgeously sumptuous, the colors pop from the screen and always suit the content perfectly. Contrast is also wonderfully balanced, with bright whites that don't bloom and very solid blacks with strong shadow delineation. With that said, however, black levels do have a tendency to veer a bit toward blue in several dark and nighttime scenes. And as undeniably impressive as the entire video presentation is, unfortunately the transfer is not without some very minor encoding issues. The digital source is mostly clean and pristine, but there are fleeting, isolated instances when banding, noise, and faint signs of compression are visible. These artifacts usually pop up during transitions or darker sequences, and while very minimal, brief, and rare, they can be noticeable when they do occur.
Though there are some very small technical issues here and there, this set remains one of the most visually stunning releases available on the Blu-ray medium. I found the brief encoding issues to be slightly more noticeable than on previous seasons, so I've marked down the video score just a bit, but fans should know that there really is very little to complain about here. For all intents and purposes, this is another stellar, demo worthy video presentation for the show.
The Audio: Rating the Sound
The series is presented with English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes, along with a few additional foreign language tracks and subtitle options. Every bit as immersive, nuanced, and impeccably designed as previous seasons, the mixes here are among the best the Blu-ray medium has to offer -- from TV or film.
For those who have read my past 'Game of Thrones' reviews, I fear I may simply be repeating myself here, as all of my previous praise from the last two seasons applies to these episodes as well. Everything about the sound design is exemplary, working in tandem to create an organic, natural world full of texture, subtlety, and grandeur. Speech is clear and precise, giving every quotable insight ample presence, and while the cast does have a tendency to whisper certain lines, most of the important bits are balanced well. The soundstage is wide, spacious, and completely enveloping. Every location is full of different layers of effects that cascades sounds far off into the unseen background and edges of the frame with seamless imaging, panning, and surround activity. Galloping horses, piercing blades, screeching dragons, crashing waves, flying arrows, and howling wolves all boom from the speakers with crisp fidelity and precise directionality, fully encompassing the audience in Westeros' varied landscapes and characters with a wide range of clean high frequencies and deep lows.
Flawless and absolutely reference quality, season three of 'Game of Thrones' once again arrives on Blu-ray with a 5-star audio mix. It really doesn't get much better than this. |
Kal
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