Secrets Of Archaeology (2002/Koch)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: B
At this
point, we have seen a good few DVD releases about ancient civilizations and we
all know how popular such documentary mini-series have become. Koch has released a 6 DVD, 27 episode set of Secrets Of Archaeology from 2002 and
though it has tons of interesting fact and footage, it looks much older than
its production year for reason explained in the technical section below.
We visit
the usual key sites in Italy, Greece, Egypt, Syria, France, The Alps, Turkey
and related bodies of water in half-hour segments that are definitely sound
historically. Not that too much new is
unearthed, but it is a competent and ambitious set for those interested in and
buffs about such history. If you can get
past some technical issues, you will see what a solid set it really is, even if
some things are mixed about it outside of this set’s technical performance.
The 1.33
X 1 image originated on analog videotape and the transfers throughout are hazy
with an unacceptable amount of digititis, plus the supposedly state-of-the-art
computer graphics are barely above an Atari 2600 and look bad. The footage of the actual locations are nice,
if only we could see them clearly. It is
problem enough this is shot on a dated video format, but the transfer makes a
bad situation worse. The Dolby Digital
2.0 sound is simple stereo at best, with no surrounds and there are no extras,
though there is a weird lenticular animated cover to the solid & sturdy box
the folding DigiPaks slide into.
- Nicholas Sheffo
