- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A
- Rating: Not Rated
- Discs: 3
- Studio: A&E Home Video
- Blu-ray Release Date: September 28, 2010
- List Price: $49.95
[amazon-product align=”right”]B003JQZY6C[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Battle 360: The Complete Season One on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Series
[Rating:3.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
The Series
[Rating:3.5/5]
Battle 360°: The Complete Season One is The History Channel’s ten episode series that follows the story of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise through its four years of battle in the Pacific during World War II. The series makes extensive use of CGI graphics to swoop viewers right down into battle on the open seas or into the air against the Japanese forces. Archival footage, stock photos, and some reenactment are also spliced in alongside narration and reminiscence from Enterprise crewmembers, historians, and military personnel.
The 360° series from The History Channel, which also includes Patton 360°, is an energetic new take on looking back at the World War II era battles, revitalizing the history and allowing viewers to feel a part of the combat, even if the CGI is at times a little amateurish is design. The visual effects are always engaging, as is the narration and the added bonus of actual veterans makes it all the more authentic. This should be a real pleaser for war-era aficionados.
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
The quality wavers given the various sources, but Battle 360° still looks strong, for the most part, absent any major compression or post-processing issues. Some of the new HD material looks a little soft, but it doesn’t particularly stand put next to the highly stylized visual effects of the series.
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio is simply an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo soundtrack that sometimes buries the narration just a tad, but is effective nonetheless. Sound effects sound good, midrange is solid, lows are deep despite no sub, but it still would have been nice to hear the sounds of battle in surround, this is called “360” after all.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]
There is twenty minutes of unfinished “bonus scenes” that also includes a brief “making of” included on Disc 3. It’s all in standard definition and run continuously, so not much replay value there.
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
This is an interesting series from The History Channel; one that war historians are sure to appreciate. Personally, I preferred the Patton 360° series to this one, but either one offers a unique take on history.
Additional Screen Captures:
[amazon-product align=”right”]B003JQZY6C[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Battle 360: The Complete Season One on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
