Hotel Babylon: Series 1 (UK - BBC) impressions

[kannisto]

This is not a very new title but there hasn't been much in way of comments about it in the forum so I figured I'd create an impressions thread since I just received it from UK this week.

I ordered it from sendit.com and they took about 1 week to hunt it down from a supplier. Shipping cost to Japan was pretty low, 1.75 UK Pounds. It was shipped by Royal Mail (similar to Amazon UK) and arrived in less than a week from shipping. Right now they indicate that it's usually dispatched in 72 hours. Amazon UK has not had this title available at all for some reason except through 3rd party suppliers (if any).

BBC's info page for the series
IMDB

Case pics:


Technical data as reported by WinDVD9 (for disc 1):

Video Stream:
Type: VC1
Bitrate: 26.499 Mbps
Framerate: 29.970 Hz
Resolution: 1920x1080
Aspect ratio: 16x9
Audio Stream:
Type: Dolby Digital (AC3)
Bitrate: 224 Kbps
Number of main channels: 2
LFE Channel: None
Sampling Frequency: 48khz
Bits Per Sample: 16

Disc image size for disc 1: 24.6 GB (26 502 168 576 bytes)

PQ and AQ:
Picture quality is fairly decent but nothing that makes a special impression. I'd rate it as 3.5 or 4 stars. Audio bitrate is not so high and it's only stereo, but this is very much a dialogue driven drama and the dialogue is very crisp and clear on this audio track, no complaints about it.

I've watched 2 first episodes and I'm quite enjoying it as light hearted entertainment with some quirky British humor. It's easy to watch when you just want to be entertained without having to think too much, even though the humor in it is rather intelligent. I'm kind of hooked on it already and will probably finish watching all the rest of the episodes pretty soon. Each episode is about 1 hour in length. There are optional English subs and first episode comes with an optional commentary track as well.

[DrMaustus]

I ordered this on Blu as I couldn't find it on HD DVD anywhere. I've never seen the show, but I thought I'd take the chance. I like the little guy (can't think of his name) who was in Stardust, BoB, etc. I'll post my comments on it as well as I should have it tomorrow.

P.S. I spent about an hour or so making sure the Blu version was region-free. I hate myself for buying Blu but what can you do?

[ShinLupinSan]

Hotel Babylon is a great series, with some very likable characters. Along with Dr Who and Wire in the Blood I consider this to be amongst the best of current British TV shows. I wanted to pick up the HD DVD of this but given that Seasons 2 and 3 won't appear on HD I'm passing. I don't like the thought of having part of a series in one format and the rest in the other...I've had to pass on the Harry Potter films for the same reason.

[bruceames]

I watched most of episode 1 last night, and I agree with Kannisto that it's not as sharp as Sopranos or even Smallville. I'd give it around a (light) 3.5, but it nonetheless looks very nice due the colors and detail of the content in the Hotel. I'm not disappointed.

[allargon]

Originally Posted by ShinLupinSan

Hotel Babylon is a great series, with some very likable characters. Along with Dr Who and Wire in the Blood I consider this to be amongst the best of current British TV shows. I wanted to pick up the HD DVD of this but given that Seasons 2 and 3 won't appear on HD I'm passing. I don't like the thought of having part of a series in one format and the rest in the other...I've had to pass on the Harry Potter films for the same reason.

I felt like that initially. However, I nabbed "Nip/Tuck: Season 1" for $17 shipped after the Warner defection. Seasons 1-3 (I got 3 for $16 new at Fry's otherwise I would've skipped it.) are SD DVD only. Those will always be mixed format. I can get season 5 eventually on Blu. Of course, it helps that I have a combo player. But I wouldn't care if I had to stick the red into a Tosh and the blue into a Samsung, LG, Sony, Pioneer, etc.

Some versions of the HD DVD combo have playback issues. My disc 1 has issues. However, disc 2 plays fine in my A20. The PQ is soft but not horrible. It's on the softer side of "BSG: S1" IMHO.

[mcblob]

series 1 is very good, never watched it before but for the £4 I paid for it was well worth it, it was also a combo which added to the value.

their is a very notisable difference between the sd side and the hd side in terms of picture.