Visions Of Europe (2001 – 2009/Acorn Media Blu-ray Set)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C+ Episodes: B+
The new Visions Of Europe
Blu-ray set is an amalgamation of three previous box sets from the continually popular
Visions Of series that we have
covered often on both Blu-ray and DVD.
There was the Visions Of Europe DVD set with the same content but in lower
definition:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9148/Visions+Of+Europe+(Acorn+Media+DV
And just
before came two separate Blu-ray sets covering Italy
and Britain & Ireland:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8937/Visions+Of+Italy+++Visions+Of+Britai
In those
links you’ll find links to our original coverage of the separate DVDs of this
fine series that remains the best travelogue series you can get and an early,
successful HD production.
The 1080i
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image ranges from some sharp, colorful images
to some on the soft side with slight aliasing, staircasing and even shimmer throughout
the seven discs, but they are all superior to their DVD counterparts and there
are some demo shots throughout each disc.
All
Blu-rays except the Italy Blu-rays
(with PCM 2.0 Stereo with Pro Logic type surrounds) are here in DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes that far outdo the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo mixes on the DVDs, though the soundfields are limited to music with any
narration towards the front speakers and in the center channel. Sometimes, more in the center channel than I
would like, so expect some variance throughout.
Otherwise, this is as good as these are going to look or sound.
Extras
include deleted bonus footage for almost every program on the set, also in HD
and looking good, though they usually only come with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
sound. This is now the definitive set of
this series, though more installments still exist for Blu-ray release, so they
will hopefully follow soon.
- Nicholas Sheffo
