Kingdom of the Blue Whale Blu-ray

National Geographic | 2009 | 90 mins | Not rated | Mar 31, 2009

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Video Video codec: VC-1 Video resolution: 1080i Aspect ratio: 1.78:1 Audio English: Dolby Digital 5.1 English: Dolby Digital 2.0 English: Dolby Digital 5.1 English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (less) Subtitles English SDH English SDH (less) Disc 25GB Blu-ray Disc

Price List price: $28.99  Amazon: $17.49 (Save 40%) Third party: $14.45 (Save 50%) Usually ships in 24 hours Blu-ray rating Users 3.0 Reviewer 2.0 Overall 2.3 Based on 3 user ratings Playback Region A (B, C untested)

Kingdom of the Blue Whale

Like many low-budget nature documentaries produced for television, Kingdom of the Blue Whale arrives on Blu-ray with a problematic 1080i/VC-1 transfer that is never able to overcome the inadequacies of its patchwork visuals. Don't misunderstand, I'm more than capable of shrugging off shortcomings associated with the standard definition footage strewn throughout the film, but I can't overlook the troubling technical flaws that haunt its HD-sourced scenes. While the palette is generally bold and vibrant -- especially the deep blue hues of the rolling ocean, the stark orange and yellow coats worn by the biologists, and the multi-colored array of crates sitting atop several shipping freighters -- blacks are left unresolved, contrast occasionally wavers, and dimensionality is inconsistent. Even the CG inserts and interview segments are often soft, fuzzy, and indistinct. More distressingly, persistent artifacting combines forces with severe banding and frequent aliasing to create a variety of issues. There isn't a shot in the film that doesn't suffer from some manner of noise, ringing, or artificial sharpening. To its credit, the high definition footage boasts fairly commendable detail and effectively rendered textures.

Had the proficiency of Warner's transfer matched the documentary filmmakers' penchant for beautiful photography, the Blu-ray edition of Kingdom of the Blue Whale would at least have one redeeming factor. Sadly, it's as much a technical mess as it is a conceptual one.

Kingdom of the Blue Whale Blu-ray, Audio Quality

Kingdom of the Blue Whale features a 448kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track that isn't remarkable or involving enough to salvage Selleck's recording sessions or the documentary's terribly dreary, altogether front-heavy sound design. Despite air hiss, a few audible pops, and other environmental hindrances, voices are at their best during topside interviews and interior exchanges. Almost every line of narration is muffled and underwhelming, leaving very little to get excited about when it comes to the conversational nature of such a chatty documentary. LFE support doesn't lend any weight to effects, ambience is subdued to the point of being completely contained, and the track's dynamic range is as narrow as they come. Even when Selleck isn't speaking, the overall clarity of the mix is extremely poor, the soundfield (if that's what you want to call it) isn't immersive in the slightest, directionality is a joke, and just about every element of the soundscape sounds condensed and overly compressed. Simply put, the entire sonic experience is a bust.

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