Top Gear: The Complete Season 16 Blu-ray, Video Quality
Like BBC’s previous Top Gear Blu-ray releases, The Complete Season 16 features a commendable but problematic 1080i/AVC-encoded presentation that, for the most part, isn’t going to dash anyone’s hopes. The studio segments fare particularly well, with bold colors, lifelike skintones, satisfying blacks, decently resolved fine detail and little to no compression or encoding anomalies. Closeups exhibit an array of textures, edge definition is quite sharp and I doubt the image could look much better. (1080i video resolution notwithstanding.) But when Clarkson, Hammond and May venture outside of the well-lit Top Gear studio, inconsistencies and imperfections begin to take a toll. Aliasing, artifacting and noise accompany many a challenge (mainly due to the cameras being used), ringing is a frequent offender, in-car shots are rather unsightly, and ever-changing weather conditions leave a mark. Even so, there isn’t much to suggest BBC Video has delivered anything less than a solid interlaced presentation, and most, if not all, of the grievances videophiles might lay at the feet of the studio are attributable to the series’ source, not the quality of the high definition encode.
Top Gear: The Complete Season 16 Blu-ray, Audio Quality
And like Season 14 and Season 15, The Complete Season 16 sputters and putters out of the garage with a serviceable but decidedly unremarkable 448kbps Dolby Digital stereo mix. Voices are clean, clear and seemingly impervious to anything disastrous (barring heavy winds and other unavoidable environmental factors), engines are as powerful as the front-speakers can convey, and the show’s music doesn’t overcrowd the soundscape… but that’s about it. The LFE channel and rear speakers have no role in the proceedings, and directionality and immersion is a moot point. It’s a real shame too, especially considering how amazing the crew’s roaring roadsters and exotic super-beasts would sound via a lossless mix. No, it isn’t the sort of disappointment that should give Top Gear fans much pause — Series 16 was, after all, originally broadcast in lossy stereo — but that’s a poor excuse and little consolation.
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