Midsomer Murders-Season 16-Part 1 (2013) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | TV Series |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Gallery-Photo Additional Footage Alternative Version Interviews-Cast-Multiple |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2013 | ||
Running Time | 270 | ||
RSDL / Flipper |
Dual Layered Dual Disc Set |
Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By |
Peter Smith Sarah Hellings Richard Holthouse Renny Rye |
Studio
Distributor |
Bentley Productions Madman Entertainment |
Starring |
Neil Dudgeon Jason Hughes |
Case | Slip Case | ||
RPI | $39.95 | Music | Jim Parker |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | Yes | ||
Subtitles | None | Smoking | No |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
I have reviewed quite a few seasons of Midsomer Murders in the past and they have all followed a very familiar pattern, however from Season 14 things changed quite a bit. Season 14 from 2011 changed the main character from DCI Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) to his cousin DCI John Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon) but the name is really the only similarity between the characters. In this new season, No 16, a new offsider starts, DS Charlie Nelson (Gwilym Lee) completing the transition from the John Nettles era. DS Jones was promoted to DCI at the end of the previous season. The show is based on a set of novels by Caroline Graham. They are all set in an area of England known as Midsomer, consisting of a larger town, Corston where the main character lives, and numerous small villages where people seem to get murdered at an alarming rate.
This series hits 100 movie length episodes by the end of this current season. The tone has changed with the new cast with some of the folksiness of the previous stories being stripped away and the murders are delivered earlier in the story and can be more gruesome. It is great to see a show as long in the tooth as this one reinventing itself and trying something different. One addition to this series is that change is coming in the Barnaby household with his wife being pregnant with their first child.
This set includes three movie length episodes which are episodes 1-3 of Season 16. These episodes were made in 2013 and first aired in 2014. Each episode can either be watched with or without advertisement break bumpers. This adds approximately 40 seconds to the playing time of each episode if turned on. The set is packaged in two standard cases which are then housed in a cardboard slipcover.
The three episodes are of good quality. Included are
Recommended for fans of English mysteries.
The video quality is good.
The series is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, 16x9 enhanced which I would guess is the original aspect ratio.
The picture was quite sharp and clear without being really crisp. Shadow detail is decent. There is some light grain at times and some mild MPEG artefacts during fast motion.
The colour was very good.
Other artefacts included some mild aliasing and edge enhancement.
There are no subtitles.
There are no noticeable layer changes.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
The audio quality is very good.
These DVDs contain one audio option, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s. This audio transfer is perfectly suited to the material.
Dialogue was mostly easy to understand and clear throughout. There were no sync problems.
The music by Jim Parker is mostly variations on the theme tune which is distinctive and a little creepy.
The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
A few more extras than is normal with this set.
The menu is well done and allows for set-up (with or without ad bumpers) and scene selection. It includes music and dialogue.
Interview snippet with new actor.
Short interviews with two guest stars Les Dennis & Mark Heap.
A photo gallery including publicity stills.
Footage used to create less violent daytime versions of the shows.
The most substantive extra is an interview intercut with scenes from the shows. He covers the popularity of the show, the casting process and his character.
Trailer for one episode.
A photo gallery including publicity stills.
The title should give away what this extra is.
Footage used to create less violent daytime versions of the shows.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This seems to be the only release of this series in this particular format. These episodes seem to be being released differently in Region 2. For now at least Region 4 is the way to go.
The video quality is good.
The audio quality is very good.
The extras are better than usual.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | SONY BDP-S760 Blu-ray, using HDMI output |
Display | Sharp LC52LE820X Quattron 52" Full HD LED-LCD TV . Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
Audio Decoder | Built into amplifier. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. |
Amplification | Marantz SR5005 |
Speakers | Monitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Sony SAW2500M Subwoofer |