XIII: The Conspiracy Blu-ray

XIII: The Conspiracy

 (TV) (2008)

Action | Crime | Mystery



This high-octane series opens with the assassination of America's first female president. Then, a man (Stephen Dorff) known only as "XIII" is found in the woods, and he might have information about the murder. He has no memory and doesn't know his identity, but he displays uncanny reflexes and a killer instinct, leading investigators on a mission to discover who he is.

For more details about XIII: The Conspiracy on Blu-ray, see the XIII: The Conspiracy Blu-ray Review

XIII: The Conspiracy Blu-ray, Video Quality

 


Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 15Mbps), XIII: The Conspiracy offers a presentation that remains entirely average. The unremarkable level of fine object detail is the main culprit behind my lack of enthusiasm, displaying varying degrees of clarity from shot to shot. Part of the problem could be related to the low-budget production values (allowing out of focus shots to make the final cut), but given the wild swings in the bitrate meter, I’m willing to bet the transfer is at least partially to blame. From a coloring standpoint, the spectrum demonstrates a consistent push toward yellows and greens in the outside world, while incorporating icy blue tones within the government’s tech-heavy command center. The coloring isn’t necessarily off-putting, but the nature of the drab hues never presents a great deal of improvement in the upgrade to Blu-ray. Black levels create further problems in the depth of the image, with the darkest elements in most shots descending only as far as dark gray. The weak blacks combined with drab coloring, wreak havoc on contrast, creating a level of shade variance that often produces only high-level shadow detail. Lastly, I noticed a subtle use of edge enhancement in a handful of scenes, adding an overly-digital appearance to several shots.

There’s no question this is superior to a standard definition presentation, but the marginal production values dampen the potential for improvements in the leap to 1080p.

XIII: The Conspiracy Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 


Despite including a lossy 5.1 mix, the audio presentation rarely incorporates a shred of surround use. XIII: The Conspiracy isn’t an action heavy film, so the main elements in the mix are restricted to dialog and the musical score. Beginning with the dialog, every spoken line is appropriately clear and distinct, with volume levels that never drop below ideal levels. Even during moments when the actors whisper into cell phones or speak with extremely low vocal tones, the volume of the mix retains an appropriate balance, removing the need to constantly grapple for the remote control. From a music standpoint, this is as generic as it gets. The synth-heavy score is laced with face-paced bass lines meant to ratchet up the tension at specific moments of the film, creating a certain level of unease. The results would be far more effective if we weren’t already bombarded with this type of musical selection on other television productions such as “24”, so the end result winds up sounding a bit cheap. All in all, this is a mediocre audio presentation that remains serviceable, but doesn’t offer a value-added component to the overall technical quality of the disc.

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