The upgrade to Blu-ray is worth it
The Blu-ray version of Season 1 boasts significant video quality improvements over the 2000 DVD release.
Season 1 used a grainier film stock than subsequent seasons. This was problematic for the 2000 DVD release because MPEG II encoding has a difficult time handling grain, HBO squeezed 4 episodes onto each discs (except the last one) resulting in a high level of compression, there was a lot of edge enhancement applied to the video, and that this was a relatively early DVD release -- MPEG II encoding has significantly improved since then. As a result, the video on the DVDs had a lot of artifacts -- and the larger the TV you have, the more obtrusive the artifacts and edge enhancement are.
The Blu-ray release pretty much fixes all of those problems. You can really see the difference in the closeups on the actors' faces. The image is clear with a film texture. You'll also notice a lot more details in the background.
The pilot episode doesn't look as good...
Absolutely fantastic!
I'd been hearing about The Sopranos all last year but honestly, I just never have time to catch a series every week. I just don't watch TV with any regularity and I'm not crazy about missing episodes or seeing them out of order when I know there's continuity. When I saw that whole first season of The Sopranos was coming out, I figured that would be just right for me.
I wasn't disappointed. Matter of fact, I was blown away. It's a great show, at times hysterical, at times very dark. The characters are sometimes over the top but they stay close to basic story, unlike a lot of shows where, struggling to fill 60 minutes and having run out of any sensible ideas, they'll have doctors from an ER show caught in an improbable plane crash in the Andes or whatever.
The most interesting thing for me is the way they've used Tony Soprano's sessions with his therapist as a way to stitch everything together and let you get inside Tony's head. The actors playing both Tony and the therapist...
Larger than life and full of humor, irreverence and humanity
I didn't have HBO when The Sopranos came out in 1999, and so I am delighted that it is now on a set of DVD discs. I'm a big fan of books and movies about the Mafia and so I was prepared to love it. I must say that my expectations were all met, and more. There is nothing like being able to watch the series, in its entirety, all at once, at my own pace. And there is nothing like watching several video interviews and behind the scenes featurettes on the discs to enhance the viewing experience with background information. This series has won many awards. I can understand why.
James Gandofini stars as Tony Soprano, a very human individual, who just happens to be a gangster. He's living in modern times though, and so he's plagued with depression and goes to a therapist, played by Lorraine Bracco. Tony's domestic scenes, which include his wife, Edie Falco, his daughter, Jamie-Lyn Sigler, his son, Robert Iler, and - especially his mother, Nancy Marchand, are all unique and slightly...
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