TV shows in HD is a broader topic that I'll get to soon enough, but the recent arrival of the Blu-ray edition of Rome: The Complete Series pushed this notecard up in my priority stack. HBO has been doing something different on TV for a while now, and it's certainly paying off with the few Blu-ray releases they've put out there. They filmed Generation Kill and various other miniseries just as you would a movie in terms of scale, but with the depth afforded by a 6-hour-plus running time. When you transfer that proportion to HD, it's like you're watching something completely new.
Please take for granted that the picture and audio are beyond compare on all of the following titles so that I don't have to invent new adjectives to describe them. All sets feature solid docs, behind-the-scenes and making-of pieces, as well as commentaries. John Adams notably has no yack track, but I don't really miss it.
The reason I feel so strongly that 1080p really changes the experience is that the Band of Brothers promo that auto-plays on the Adams set made me choke on my wine and nearly punt a dog. I barely missed Lucy (my Beagle) in my moment of surprise. She lay at my feet. I sat up to get the remote and all of a sudden, "Wham! Boom!" went the TV. "Glurg! Kick!" went I. "The? Fuck?" said Lucy's eyes.
The first time I watched Band was on a 27" tube in college. At that point in the life of DVD, I was impressed that it was in original aspect ratio and came in a metal case. The idea of investing the 12 hours back in to it actually seems appealing now, but who knows when I'd have time to do that.
The first season of The Sopranos is on Blu as of just last week. Considering that I never watched the show, I could see digging right in to it right away. Yes, I realize that I'm probably the only person in the world who hasn't watched The Sopranos. I was in college during most of its run, and I didn't have a trust fund to buy me HBO like others did. I've had the "ending" spoiled for me already. I'm sure I'll love it if only due to my deep-seated affection for perpetuating ethnic stereotypes. Eyyy!!
The new generation of shows, like John Adams, Generation Kill and True Blood, have been shot with HD presentation in mind from the get-go. HBO is actually making the "BonusView" (pop-up trivia) option on these titles moderately interesting (glad someone is!).
They're designing these to cater to the diehard fans of the particular program, which is why they work. They don't cast an impossibly unfocused True Blood's is all about gossip, backstories, and revealing info. Kill's has a military glossary, a chain of command chart, and mission maps. Adams' includes historical facts and biographies relevant to the real people and events going on in fictionalized form. Why isn't anyone else doing this as well as HBO on other TV or film releases? I guarantee that it's lack of effort or caring. Most studios are using the capabilities of the format on auto-pilot. I should mention that CBS/Paramount is the exception with their Star Trek: TOS sets.
I apologize for the terrible quality of this Google-Image-Searched shot. I will remedy this in a Screen Candy post tomorrow that features this and some other notable packaging of late.
I really can't explain why it's so satisfying to me that the case for the Rome full series Blu-ray set is shorter and thinner than the case for only my Season 1 DVDs. Even more disgustingly materialistic is the fact that I love the hard-bound leather book styling of the case. It goes so far as to include a bookmark ribbon. The BonusView for Rome features an extremely thorough guide prepared by the series' history consultant. All the other extras are the same as the DVD sets: 13 commentaries and a big pile of featurettes.
The biggest deal, for me, was finally seeing my favorite modern (22 hour) Roman epic in HD for the first time. In the interest of not getting myself into trouble, I set a strict limit of 20 minutes to taste-test it. I first popped in the DVD (for a then/now comparison) and gave it a good 15 minutes. The moment I got really comfortable, I jumped right up. In went the Blu-ray. About an hour later, I realized I was running hopelessly late for the day. I hope rumors of a feature film prove to be true. Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson (Vorenus and Pullo) haven't gotten enough of a career bump out of this property just yet.
Angels in America, From the Earth to the Moon, and Deadwood have all been mentioned for Blu-ray release, but without dates attached. I consider Angels one of my favorite films of 2003, and the other two are among my favorite shows HBO has ever done. As long as they get these out before Carnivale, I'll be fine.
All this stuff comes in at better pricing than equivalent DVD sets did back when they were the hot new thing. I have, however, had it mentioned to me more than once by owners of existing HBO sets that they'd love to see something like Warner Bros.' DVD2Blu program in place to defray cost for loyal customers. Here's to that, but HBO is a separate home video outfit than WB, so no one should get their hopes up.
I'll follow up with future installments as HBO broadens their offerings down the line. I'm currently toiling away on a multi-part set of Guide entries on Criterion's releases in a slightly different vein.
The HD Guide is an ongoing series focusing on the evolving world of HD in the home: getting started, understanding the lingo, and appreciating the best (and worst) discs that are out there.