- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,421
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
In the history of broadcast television, there have been few shows as heralded for overall quality, as the six seasons of the Carnival / Masterpiece / PBS Downton Abbey.
That quality, which affected every area of the show, does not fail in the final season.
On Blu-ray, there were some early problems with encoding, as I recall with Season Two, which duplicated frames, but this was quickly corrected by PBS.
The Sixth is the first season with which I've experimented, in up-rezzing to 4k, and the results are interesting.
More years ago than I'd like to think, I created a budget toward proving the economies of shooting in 65mm, for Nostromo, a film which unfortunately didn't get made as planned. I was given the task of creating line items for everything and anything that might affect the cost of shooting in large format, and the final numbers proved that it was very approachable.
One of those line items was extra care in makeup and hairpieces, and interestingly, it is here -- and only here -- that the uprez of Downton Abbey, shows it's HD roots. What presumably would be transparent in broadcast becomes obvious in 4k, as hairpieces must be affixed somehow. I presume that if one if working toward transparency in 4k projection, there is a different means of working.
This is not to be negative in any way toward the production. It merely shows, that for good or bad, the presumption that everything will look better in 4k, is at best illusory, unless digital changes are being made to the data files.
That said, everything else about the production works beautifully in 4k, and helps to create that special world to which viewers have become accustomed.
Image - 5
Audio - 5
4k Up-rez - 5
Pass / Fail - Pass
Very Highly Recommended
RAH
That quality, which affected every area of the show, does not fail in the final season.
On Blu-ray, there were some early problems with encoding, as I recall with Season Two, which duplicated frames, but this was quickly corrected by PBS.
The Sixth is the first season with which I've experimented, in up-rezzing to 4k, and the results are interesting.
More years ago than I'd like to think, I created a budget toward proving the economies of shooting in 65mm, for Nostromo, a film which unfortunately didn't get made as planned. I was given the task of creating line items for everything and anything that might affect the cost of shooting in large format, and the final numbers proved that it was very approachable.
One of those line items was extra care in makeup and hairpieces, and interestingly, it is here -- and only here -- that the uprez of Downton Abbey, shows it's HD roots. What presumably would be transparent in broadcast becomes obvious in 4k, as hairpieces must be affixed somehow. I presume that if one if working toward transparency in 4k projection, there is a different means of working.
This is not to be negative in any way toward the production. It merely shows, that for good or bad, the presumption that everything will look better in 4k, is at best illusory, unless digital changes are being made to the data files.
That said, everything else about the production works beautifully in 4k, and helps to create that special world to which viewers have become accustomed.
Image - 5
Audio - 5
4k Up-rez - 5
Pass / Fail - Pass
Very Highly Recommended
RAH
