Merged thread for "Band of Brothers" (1 Viewer)

[Brian Cal]

Oops...

 

[Brian Cal]

I was thrilled with the audio. The mix is very front heavy during moments of non-combat. Some may find the lack of ambiance in these scenes disappointing, but I found it to be very tasteful, with commendable fidelity. The battle sequences are sonically assaulting. Split surrounds are highly aggressive with bullets whizzing by from all directions. Bass is deep, clean, and powerful.

Those who are expecting Saving Private Ryan DTS quality should remember that few Hollywood blockbusters even come close to that audio mix. But, FWIW, Band of Brothers is an incredible audio experience, in terms of both fidelity and creative use of the 5.1 format.

What really impressed me, even more than the audio, was the stunning picture quality. I did not see the original HD broadcast, and while I'm sure it boasted better resolution, I honestly cannot imagine that it looked drastically better than the DVD. I have not yet seen the Attack of the Clones DVD, but with all this talk about how it is hands down the best live-action DVD to date, I am wondering how Band of Brothers might comapre. It's fantastic.

 

[Chad Erickson]

Ok...I've got a question regarding the video portion of the discs.

When this was shown in Widescreen on HBO, the aspect ratio (I could have sworn) was something close to 2.35:1. The packaging for this set says that it's 1.77:1. I was a little surprised when I put in a couple of the discs last night and saw what the aspect ratio was.

I did an A/B comparison with a couple of the episodes I videotaped and it doesn't look like anything is missing off of the sides. Just thought I would see if anyone else noticed that.

 

[Paul McElligott]

The original W.S. aspect ratio of BoB was 1.77.

 

[Marty M]

I have watched the first 2 episodes and I think the sound in DTS is great. In the video I noticed details on the eagle on their arm patches that I couldn't see when it was broadcast on TV.

 

[John Nelson]

Maybe I should put this in a new thread, but I'd be very interested in hearing the reactions of anyone who bought this sight unseen having not watched BoB on TV. Not your reaction to the video or sound quality per se, but rather to the drama of the series itself (which I guess means, anyone spent 10 hours in a row watching this? ).

 

[Paul W]

Listening to the 16" shells hitting in DTS is just as good as SPR in my opinion. The sound is awesome.

The detail in the uniforms is a little bit worse than I remember the HDTV broadcast being. However, the DVD has a big plus. When they were flying over the coast on D-Day (part 2), the clouds had humongous gradient effects from HDTv compression. This was much reduced in the DVD version (I would guess because of the lower resolution and more work that could be spend on compression trouble spots like clouds).

 

[DarrenA]

What about BOB??!!

 

[CaseyLS]

I bought it blind and I feel it was a wise investment.

Also our can you call SPR, BoB little brother? It's 3 1/2 times longer

Also sounds great through my new reciever(Marantz 4200)

 

[T r o y]

Casey,


I think you understood, I said Saving Private Ryan was BOB big brother because I was referring to SPR as the one that made it to the big screen as opposed to BoB being on the little screen. That is what I meant by Big brother phrase.

 

[MichaelO]

I'm another who bought this sight unseen, a very impressive series. I have only gotten through the first three episodes but I am totally engrossed.

Also, I can't tell you how impressed I am with the video. It has a three dimensional quality to it that is rare for even the latest blockbusters. Blacks are deep and solid, just check out episode two and you'll be amazed that this is TV. The sound is great too, not quite as impressive as the visuals but still very, very good. I think it sounds better than Windtalkers which I recently watched. As has already been stated, it doesn't quite get to the SPR level but few do. Still very impressive.

Did I mention how good the video quality is? Can't wait till this evening to get started on episode 4.

 

[CaseyLS]

Troy,

Oh ok I get what you meant. I was just kidding anyway.

Does anyone know if the BoB cast went through the same type of training that the SPR cast went through. With Steven Spielberg as the Director I am sure they went through something similar

 

[KrisM]

I have watched the first six episodes and have been very impressed with the sound. Not quite as good as SPR but very close. I watched the entire series when it aired with a pro-logic soundtrack(which was pretty good for pro-logic)and was eagerly awaiting this release.
I far as video goes, I too remember the drop scene on D-Day looking very poor. I use a Starchoice dish and the picture was very blocky, if thats a word. The DVD video is very impressive.

Regards
KrisM

 

[Paul McElligott]

Does anyone know if the BoB cast went through the same type of training that the SPR cast went through. With Steven Spielberg as the Director I am sure they went through something similar

Absolutely. In fact, the guy who does that training (Dale Dye) plays Col. Sink in the series.

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

It carried 5.1 in it's HDTV transmission too I believe...

It was and it looked and sounded fantastic.

 

[Shawn C]

Does anyone know if the BoB cast went through the same type of training that the SPR cast went through

Yeah, that's in one of the extras. Ron Livingston did a video diary of their training. It was weird how they all called each other by the names of their characters. From the diary, I got the feeling that they had about a month or so of training.
It was pretty wild to see them actually go through map reading and tactical training.
I assume we will have an OFFICIAL HTF review up soon?
BTW: The discs are fantastic and the metal tin that they come in is VERY nice. I actually have three of these sets at home right now. 1 for me and 2 for father & father-in-law.

 

[Francois Caron]

I had the chance to watch one of the episodes at my favourite audio/video store. The set-up was a SharpVision 9000 16x9 DLP projector, 110" Da-Lite screen, Integra DVD player, ATI amplifier and Paradigm Studio speakers. I don't remember the name of the processor or the subwoofer, but they weer powerful enough for the task at hand. The episode I saw was "Breaking Point", the one with the heavy shelling.

The anamorphic image is very beautiful. To enhance the atmosphere of the series, the colors are washed out, there's a decent amount of grain, and the shutter speeds on the cameras were so high that there's very little motion blur during the battle scenes.

The DTS sound is nothing less than outstanding for an HBO series. I must admit though that the system wasn't fully calibrated considering the processor alone was new out of the box and no one had a chance to check out the manual. So I made the best adjustments I could perform by ear and just went along with that. I can honestly say that some of the shelling scenes scared the living hell out of me! I take a short break, I come back to continue the viewing, two guys talk on the screen, then BAM!!! The shelling started up again! I almost fell out out of my seat!

I've seen this series on TMN last year in nothing better than analog satellite Dolby Surround. Hearing and seeing the same series on a powerful HT set-up transformed the viewing experience from simply watching the war to almost becoming a part of it!

This DVD set is definitely worth the cash!

 

[Stephen A]

I bought this unseen and have now watched all 10 episodes. I thought it would be very good. I'm not dissapointed, it was even better than I had hoped.

Picture quality is great, the photograhpy is similar to SPR but a little more varied. The battle scenes have the same look, but other things like the alps look very prestine, as they should. The compression looks to be as good as it gets. Having only 2 episodes per disc with a higher bitrate is the way to go. Beautiful video.

The sound is also great. I listned to the DTS track. The quality of the recodings is as good as any movie. The use of channels: In non combat scenes the surrounds are used moderatly, ambient sounds and music to expand the sound field. It might not be as 360 degres as SPR in those scenes. In the battle scenes all channels are used to full effect and the 5.1 is full of pans and sounds from all directions. What suprised me the most was the extreme dynamics of the sound. Sometimes people were just walking around talking and BAAM a granate hit and it was as loud as it gets. Huge contrasts, it made me jump up a few times. This is how sound should be used, to put you in the situation. Through all of this, dialog was allways intelligable. A really great mix.

 

[RobertW]

picked this up yesterday, anmd watched some of the extras included. what does everyone think of this set?

 

[T r o y]

Francois/ Stephen A
Thanks for yall's input/comments on the video/sound of BOB.
Yall have definately wetted my appetite for buying this set.
Although, My wallet will disagree with me :frowning: