New to Blu: November 25 – December 1

Season three of Westworld rides on to both Blu-ray and 4K-UHD this week.

The latter features 2160pHEVC encoded video and lossless Dolby Atmos/TrueHD 7.1 channel sound, reports AVSForum.

For its presentation in Ultra HD Westworld Season Three was rendered from a 2K DI and up-converted to 4K. With a noticeable increase in detail the image appears sharper when compared to the 1080p version. The plethora of close up camera shots reveal plenty of subtle refinement and textures within the image. Primary colours like blue and red are pleasingly rich while whites appear bright and punchy.

“There really is no better way to enjoy and/or take in for the very first time the now third season of HBO’s Westworld: The New World than this 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray package,” WhySoBlu said.

“I can’t imagine this looking or sounding any better than it all does here in this 6-disc package.”

According to AVNirvana, “The imagery is absolutely lovely, and Warner Brothers has certainly gotten a handle on the use of HDR to enhance the black levels and colors this year (season 1 had some issues).

“Blacks are deep and inky, though the use of digital cameras sometimes introduces digital noise, and the film grain for the vast majority of the actual FILM stock shot material is very fine and unobtrusive.

“There’s a bit of a blue/green tinge to many of the shots in the modern day world, with blinding Ipod whites and glossy blacks.”

“This is another really stunning looking season on Blu-ray,” Blu-ray.com said.

Real life futuristic environments are blended seamlessly with some rather nicely detailed looking CGI to offer some evocative visions of mid-21st century life. Fine detail is perhaps most expressive, though … There are a number of interesting grading choices made throughout the season, with blues, greens and teals especially prevalent, but what’s commendable about these stylistic flourishes is how they rarely if ever materially affect detail levels.

Common to both the 4K-UHD and Blu-ray are these extras:

➢ Disc One

• Escape from Westworld (1080p; 1:53) is a brief overview of the season.
• Creating Westworld‘s Reality are behind the scenes making of featurettes for episodes on this disc:
  • Parce Domine (1080p; 6:36)
  • The Winter Line (1080p; 7:18)
  • The Absence of Field (1080p; 6:05)
• Exploring Warworld (1080p 3:56) looks at the World War II sequences.

➢ Disc Two

• Creating Westworld‘s Reality are behind the scenes making of featurettes for episodes on this disc:
  • Genre (1080p; 3:54)
  • Decoherence (1080p; 4:48)

➢ Disc Three

• We Live in a Technocracy (1080p; 13:44) is a pretty brainy exploration of things like data mining and algorithmic determinism, featuring Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy.
• A Vision for the Future (1080p; 14:09) looks at production design.
• RICO: Crime and the Gig Economy (1080p; 7:07) is a kind of fun exploration of the supposed app.
• Westworld on Location (1080p; 11:20) profiles some of the shoots in Spain and Singapore.
• Welcome to Westworld offers an assortment of kind of fun if not necessarily deep conversations between pairs of actors:
  • Evan Rachel Wood and Aaron Paul – Analysis (1080p; 3:46)
  • Evan Rachel Wood and Aaron Paul – Who Said It? (1080p; 3:43)
  • Thandie Newton and Tessa Thompson – Analysis (1080p; 3:22)
  • Thandie Newton and Tessa Thompson – Who Said It? (1080p; 2:57)
• Creating Westworld‘s Reality are behind the scenes making of featurettes for episodes on this disc:
  • Passed Pawn (1080p; 4:09)
  • Crisis Theory (1080p; 9:03)

Also new on Blu-ray are Vikings S6 – Part I and two Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 3 box sets that compile the movies in chronological order.