HD DVD Review: Heroes, Season 1

Hayden Panettiere as Claire Bennett in Heroes.

THE SHOW: 4 1/2 out of 5

While I received this set a few weeks ago, it is composed of 7 discs and took awhile to get through. Given that it was being given away last week with the XBox 360 (HD DVD add-on), I thought that this was a logical time to post my review. Briefly, Heroes was a huge hit for NBC last season. It involves a group of individuals who are all developing special powers and who are somehow interconnected. The powers range from the ability to fly to the ability to bend and shape time and space. It is a very original show with a great premise and some great plot twists. I must say that I enjoyed watching this box set very much and can recommend it highly for fans and non fans of the show. As I did not catch much of the show on its original broadcast run on NBC, this set was a godsend. It is amazing how fast each episode seems to fly by. Well done!

THE VIDEO: 4 5/8 stars out of 5

The box set is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:78:1 and encoded via VC-1. While I did not really catch much of the show on NBC, I did check it out briefly when it first aired and was not impressed with the picture quality. This is a common problem with NBC as I find most of their HD programming to lack the sharpness and clarity of the best broadcast HD, such as what one sees with CBS programming. I also find their HD programming to be plagued by macroblocking due, in part, by the fact that NBC refuses to broadcast using the maximum available bandwidth, due to their insistence on broadcasting their Weather Plus subchannel.

However, this self-imposed limitation is not an issue on HD-DVD and boy does it show. This presentation on HD-DVD is miles ahead of what I was able to see, albeit briefly, on broadcast HDTV. The colors are bright and very natural looking with deep blacks. The overall picture is very sharp with excellent detail and clarity. I could find no evidence of macroblocking, pixelation or video noise of any kind. Shadow detail was excellent as well. Video performance is uniform over all 7 discs. I just wish that the broadcast edition of this series looked this good!

THE AUDIO: 4 1/2 stars out of 5

Presented in Dolby Digital Plus, the audio encode is excellent as well. Dialogue is clear and distinct and well presented in the mix. The overall sound was smooth and open with all sound effects well placed in the mix. The surrounds were actively employed as well to great effect. For a television series, the audio on this series is very well done.

INTERACTIVE FEATURES

This set was the first from Universal to feature web-connectivity, featuring a web-enabled download center, Heroes Ability Test, The Helix Revealed, Character Connections and Picture-in-Picture Commentary. The Heroes Ability Test prompts you to create your own Heroes profile and upload it to an exclusive web page on the NBC.com/Heroes website. This set is just chock full of interactive features which will keep fans of the show busy for hours.

IN CONCLUSION

This is one excellent presentation from Universal and well worth a look. Fans of this show will love this set and the interactive features. Highly recommended.

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