The Sopranos: Season Six, Part I Blu-ray

The Sopranos: Season Six, Part I

 (TV) (2006)

Crime | Drama



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.

For more details about The Sopranos: Season Six, Part I on Blu-ray, see The Sopranos: Season Six, Part I Blu-ray Review

The Sopranos: Season Six, Part I Blu-ray, Video Quality

 


The video is handled superbly. HBO serves up 1080p resolution with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio on each BD-50. Each frame is drenched with gobs of detail. In the well-lit hospital scenes, watch the IV drips, EKG monitor and other instrumentation, the bedding and characters. Every pixel resolves beautifully. The picture shows convincing depth and staging, excellent contrast and black level. In a show where the slightest raise of an eyebrow or subtle scowl or drumming of fingers can communicate more than an entire conversion, the improved resolution dramatically heightens the impact.

Even the darker club scenes are striking, with good definition and detail. I think the combination of darkness and motion may cause some pixellation momentarily, but it's a minor issue. Subtle grain noise was also visible. Overall, the picture quality of the Blu-ray set greatly enhances the enjoyment of these episodes and brings home the action to the screen in a way viewers have not experienced in all the years the Sopranos has aired.

The Sopranos: Season Six, Part I Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 


Another area where the Blu-ray delivers significant improvements is in the music and dialog. The Sopranos has always been aggressive and innovative in its soundtrack, including the signature theme song "Woke Up this Morning" by A3. With 5.1 multichannel lossless PCM, the music, dialogue and other sounds of the series bloom from the speakers with new realism and relevance. Squealing tires, explosions, gunshots and breaking glass have all the earmarks of reference-quality Blu-ray. Like seeing the characters' faces in 1080P for the first time, hearing their voices in LPCM brings the show home.

The incorporation of surround channels is engineered superbly. Off-camera voices are assigned to the appropriate speaker and gunshots reverberate in convincing manner. The close-mic'ing techniques of the audio engineer lend the actors extraordinary presence and power. Listening to the Emmy award-winning Edie Falco as a lamenting Carmella Soprano in the hospital brought chills to my spine. High-resolution audio, perhaps even more than video, delivers an emotional impact to the show.

The Sopranos: Season Six, Part I Blu-ray, News and Updates

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The Sopranos: Season Six, Part I Blu-ray, Forum Discussions

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