Several crises threaten Tony and his crew; for starters, rival boss Johnny Sack (Vince Curatola) is in prison, and the always-tense relations between the New Jersey and New York families are strained through the unpredictable behavior of Sack?s surrogates. Then there are the inevitable power struggles that ensue when certain family members are eliminated, by natural and other causes.Running Time:
Several crises threaten Tony and his crew; for starters, rival boss Johnny Sack (Vince Curatola) is in prison, and the always-tense relations between the New Jersey and New York families are strained through the unpredictable behavior of Sack?s surrogates. Then there are the inevitable power struggles that ensue when certain family members are eliminated, by natural and other causes.The Sopranos, Season 6, Part 1 is the most contentious release yet in the acclaimed series’ history. While many fans think it jumped the shark at the exact moment Vito said “I love you, Johnny Cakes” , this season also contains some of the series finest moments and plumbs new depths of character, while continuing to add to the body count. Things get started with a bang, literally, that unexpectedly sends Tony (James Gandolfini) to the hospital and into a coma where he experiences an alternate reality while in limbo. At one point he awakes and asks “Who am I? Where am I going?” encapsulating this season’s ce
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Great series and great Blu-Ray transfer, January 16, 2007
By
J. Miller “Heresy” (Frisco, TX USA) –
Amazon Verified Purchase(What’s this?)
This review is from: The Sopranos: Season 6, Part 1 [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)
The Sopranos in HD, what could be better? The transfer is great and befitting such a great series.
Now HBO just needs to release the rest of the series on Blu-Ray and it’s other great properties as well (please oh please let us see Band of Brothers on Blu-Ray soon!)
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
As someone who has actually bought this set I thought I might offer some real opinions as opposed to those of some idiot who’s only contribution is he hates HD.
(note: at this time I have only watched the first two episodes)
The Audio
Audio is in Dolby Digital Plus and is sublime. As a drama series, dialogue is paramount and every syllable can be clearly discerned. Tony’s signature laboured breathing comes through crystal clear. Background dialogue adds atmosphere and sounds like actual conversation, not just noise.
Surround information is not a strong point of this series, however, when needed it is there. In episode 2 the helicopter (of Tony’s subconscious) utilizes all channels to great effect.
A strong point in the series is it’s use of modern classic music. This is used to great effect and on the HD-DVD release is output evenly through all channels. The music here is better than any SA-CD or DVD-A I have heard and really gets me excited as to the possibility of music through the new format.
The Picture
I am a big fan of television on DVD having collected many series. That said, I am usually disappointed with the transfers afforded television series. Most suffer from artefacts due to over-compression to fit as many episodes on a disc as possible. So with that in mind I’ll discuss the bad first.
There is some moiré effect in the background of some scenes. Early in the first episode I had one instance of a freeze which put the audio out of sync. Pausing and un-pausing fixed this and I could not replicate this effect so rather than blame the set, I suspect it is one of those bugs that comes with early technology and Gen 1 machines. There is some grain in the image, however, given the previous season’s, this is an intentional decision on the makers part (it will be interesting to see what the advent of HD in the home will do to this practice as it is not very HD friendly). At one stage on the first episode the Picture quality faulted for a period of about ¼ of a second where in a dark scene it became almost SD standard. This was very quick but noticeable.
Now for the good, and boy is it good. The detail is spectacular (almost too good – these guys are getting on in age, and they never were the most attractive people, and that hole in Tony’s stomach – I though it looked bad before but this is truly disgusting). I have never seen TV look this good – not even the so called HD broadcasts of these very same episodes on Australian TV came close to this. Most of the action is in the foreground of this series and as such the detail in background shots is not as sharp as some film releases, however, when the background is relevant all that detail comes back. Again I think this is a conscious decision on the makers part to keep the focus up close and on the characters.
Final Thoughts
Is this release perfect – no, it has some slight issues that could be improved upon. Was it worth getting in HD – absolutely. Even at a premium price over the SD release I will happily pick up more of my favourites on HD-DVD. Universal has given a tentative commitment to Battlestar Galactica on HD-DVD, BBC has stated a HD-DVD release of Torchwood is in the works (which means we will probably also see Dr Who as well). MGM has hinted at a release of Stargate: Atlantis on Blu-ray and I would highly suspect the 2 new SG-1 movies (in lieu of Season 11) will be released on Blu-ray around April/May. It is almost inevitable that Paramount will release Star Trek to High Definition (especially the re-mastered and re-worked High Def Original Series).
I collect more Television series than movies these days (well, television and anime) and I gotta say, if this is the future of serialized programming, then I am happy to have a HD-DVD player and should Blu-ray get their format specific series out, I’ll be grabbing one of those machines too (you listening on those Stargate movies and series?).
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
J. Miller "Heresy"
April 6, 2011 at 5:55 am
Great series and great Blu-Ray transfer,
The Sopranos in HD, what could be better? The transfer is great and befitting such a great series.
Now HBO just needs to release the rest of the series on Blu-Ray and it’s other great properties as well (please oh please let us see Band of Brothers on Blu-Ray soon!)
Was this review helpful to you?
Momaw
April 6, 2011 at 5:27 am
A review from someone who has actually seen the product – who would have thought it?,
As someone who has actually bought this set I thought I might offer some real opinions as opposed to those of some idiot who’s only contribution is he hates HD.
(note: at this time I have only watched the first two episodes)
The Audio
Audio is in Dolby Digital Plus and is sublime. As a drama series, dialogue is paramount and every syllable can be clearly discerned. Tony’s signature laboured breathing comes through crystal clear. Background dialogue adds atmosphere and sounds like actual conversation, not just noise.
Surround information is not a strong point of this series, however, when needed it is there. In episode 2 the helicopter (of Tony’s subconscious) utilizes all channels to great effect.
A strong point in the series is it’s use of modern classic music. This is used to great effect and on the HD-DVD release is output evenly through all channels. The music here is better than any SA-CD or DVD-A I have heard and really gets me excited as to the possibility of music through the new format.
The Picture
I am a big fan of television on DVD having collected many series. That said, I am usually disappointed with the transfers afforded television series. Most suffer from artefacts due to over-compression to fit as many episodes on a disc as possible. So with that in mind I’ll discuss the bad first.
There is some moiré effect in the background of some scenes. Early in the first episode I had one instance of a freeze which put the audio out of sync. Pausing and un-pausing fixed this and I could not replicate this effect so rather than blame the set, I suspect it is one of those bugs that comes with early technology and Gen 1 machines. There is some grain in the image, however, given the previous season’s, this is an intentional decision on the makers part (it will be interesting to see what the advent of HD in the home will do to this practice as it is not very HD friendly). At one stage on the first episode the Picture quality faulted for a period of about ¼ of a second where in a dark scene it became almost SD standard. This was very quick but noticeable.
Now for the good, and boy is it good. The detail is spectacular (almost too good – these guys are getting on in age, and they never were the most attractive people, and that hole in Tony’s stomach – I though it looked bad before but this is truly disgusting). I have never seen TV look this good – not even the so called HD broadcasts of these very same episodes on Australian TV came close to this. Most of the action is in the foreground of this series and as such the detail in background shots is not as sharp as some film releases, however, when the background is relevant all that detail comes back. Again I think this is a conscious decision on the makers part to keep the focus up close and on the characters.
Final Thoughts
Is this release perfect – no, it has some slight issues that could be improved upon. Was it worth getting in HD – absolutely. Even at a premium price over the SD release I will happily pick up more of my favourites on HD-DVD. Universal has given a tentative commitment to Battlestar Galactica on HD-DVD, BBC has stated a HD-DVD release of Torchwood is in the works (which means we will probably also see Dr Who as well). MGM has hinted at a release of Stargate: Atlantis on Blu-ray and I would highly suspect the 2 new SG-1 movies (in lieu of Season 11) will be released on Blu-ray around April/May. It is almost inevitable that Paramount will release Star Trek to High Definition (especially the re-mastered and re-worked High Def Original Series).
I collect more Television series than movies these days (well, television and anime) and I gotta say, if this is the future of serialized programming, then I am happy to have a HD-DVD player and should Blu-ray get their format specific series out, I’ll be grabbing one of those machines too (you listening on those Stargate movies and series?).
Was this review helpful to you?