8.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.3 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.3 |
Drama | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1, 1.33:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Twenty-disc set (20 BDs)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Columbo: Seasons 1-7 (1968-1978) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include optional music & effects tracks for each episode and a shorter cut of Nicholas Colasanto's Etude in Black. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for each episode. Region-A "locked".
No watch, but it must be time to go to work again.
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Columbo: Seasons 1-7 arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.
Despite some minor fluctuations, the overall quality of the episodes from the first seven seasons of the iconic TV show is very good. All episodes have been remastered in 4K by Universal, but they have not been fully restored in 4K, which is why the fluctuations remain. What does this mean exactly? Some episodes reveal density fluctuations that affect delineation and depth, so the consistency of the visuals is not the same across the board. Some episodes simply look a little healthier than the rest because time has been a little more forgiving to them. While very good and very convincing, color reproduction is not identical in each episode either. To be clear, I do not refer to lensing preferences that affect color temperature. In select episodes, color reproduction -- both in terms of saturation levels and balance -- is simply a bit better. The discrepancies are particularly easy to spot in darker areas with different ranges of nuances, but elsewhere the primary settings can reveal the shift in quality as well. In some episodes, grain exposure is a bit more pleasing. It appears that some work was done to rebalance content that may have looked uneven, even rough, but I did not see any traces of problematic degraining/denoising work introduced by automatic settings. Image stability is either very good or excellent. Finally, various episodes reveal tiny nicks, blemishes, and even a few scratches. You do not have to worry, they are never distracting. However, a proper 4K restoration would have eliminated all of them. To sum it all up, while not perfect, I think that the content that is gathered in this big box set looks very, very good in high-definition. My score is 4.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
Each episode comes with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided and can be accessed via the main menu.
I mentioned elsewhere that the first seven episodes of Columbo have been remastered in 4K, but not fully restored in 4K. You will find more evidence confirming that it is so in the audio department. Indeed, while most of the lossless 2.0 tracks are very good, possibly even excellent, a few reveal minor and bigger issues. The minor issues range from balance and stability inconsistencies that most viewers will not even notice. The bigger issues range from background hiss to noticeable buzz that affects clarity and dynamic stability. The most obvious such issues that I encountered are in the second half of Steven Spielberg's episode "Murder by the Book". I am being very honest when I write that I did not find them distracting, but a proper 4K restoration, which would have included complete remastering audio work, would have addressed these anomalies. I did not encounter audio dropouts to report in our review.
Peter Falk's Columbo is one of the all-time greatest American TV characters, and this is why he will always be remembered. Throughout his career, Falk appeared in some pretty special feature films and played other memorable characters too, but it is not an exaggeration to write that he was born to play the odd lieutenant from LA. There is some incredible talent around Falk as well, so there is top-quality acting practically everywhere in Columbo. While I had a very difficult time keeping up with other viewing duties over the last couple of weeks, I had a blast going through the newly remastered episodes of the first seven seasons of Columbo. Some things could have been done differently to make them appear even more attractive, but I could not be happier to have Kino Lorber's massive box set in my library. Hopefully, while we are waiting for the remaining episodes to arrive, Banacek and McCloud are being considered for similar releases. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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