• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
• Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
  
• Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1(48kHz/24-bit)
• Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
  
• Region: A (Region-Locked)
  
• Rating: Not Rated
  
• Discs: 3 (3 x Blu-ray)
• Digital Copies: N/A
  
• Run Time: 664 Mins.
  
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
  
• Blu-ray Release Date: August 28, 2012
• List Price: $69.98

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Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:4.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2.5/5]

Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures

(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)

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The Series

[Rating:4.5/5]

Homeland is the award-winning (2012 Golden Globe: Best Television Series – Drama; Claire Danes, Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama) drama/thriller series from Showtime that is a gripping and addictive summation of post-9/11 paranoia like no other.

Based on the Israeli series Hatufim (Prisoners of War), Homeland stars Claire Danes as CIA operations officer Carrie Mathison who, after a failed, unauthorized operation in Iraq in which she was told that an American POW has been “turned,” is sent home by her superior, David Estes (David Harewood) to work in the counter-terrorism unit. Eight-years later, she finds out that Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), a POW from Iraq, has been rescued, and she immediately suspects that Brody is the turned POW and that he may be plotting with infamous terrorist Abu Nazir (Navid Negahban) to attack America. With Brody being treated like a hero and knowing that she will never be able to convince Estes or anyone else in the CIA that Brody is a terrorist, Carrie begins to undertake an unauthorized surveillance of the Brody family, turning only to her closest friend and ally in the CIA, her mentor Saul Berensen (Mandy Patinkin). Although Saul is at first angered at Carrie’s deception and skeptical of her suspicions about Brody, he eventually decides to work with Carrie and the two of them must work together to try to stop another attack on the country. Complicating matters, however, is Carrie’s own psychiatric problems that she must keep hidden from the agency in order to protect her job.

Homeland is intense drama that is really a thrill a minute. Although it is produced by the same folks who produced 24, it is a more finely-tuned series that relies less on guns and explosions and more on complex twists and human emotions.

Video Quality

[Rating:4.5/5]

Homeland is captured on the Arri Alexa with Zeiss Ultra Prime and Angenieux Optimo Lenses in high definition. It has a clean image with strong details and natural color reproduction. No issues with excessive video noise or aliasing creep in and the image has a natural appearance in this AVC/MPEG-4 1080p encodement.

Audio Quality

[Rating:4/5]

An English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) soundtrack is provided for Homeland. While I have heard more aggressive and fuller-sounding mixes for television series similar to this one, such as 24 or The Killing, the mix for Homeland is lush with atmosphere. The jazzy score for the series really surrounds you and little things like car horns or office noise will occasionally grab your attention in the surround channels.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:2.5/5]

There isn’t really much here that is really compulsory, however the commentary on the pilot and the half-hour-long “making-of” on the series entitled Under Surveillance are excellently done.

• Commentary on Pilot by Claire Danes, Damian Lewis, Howard Gordon, and Alex Gansa
• Deleted Scenes (Disc 1) (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:04:56)
• Deleted Scenes (Disc 2) (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:03:16)
• Deleted Scenes (Disc 3) (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:04:29)
• Week Ten: Prologue to Season Two (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:03:53) – Carrie hallucinates a visit from Brody.
• Homeland Season One: Under Surveillance (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:33:46)

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:4/5]

I was completely drawn in by this first season of Homeland, it was riveting, thrilling, unexpected, sexy, and filled with post-9/11 paranoia. I can only hope that the series can continue on as strongly in its second season, which hits airwaves in the U.S. in just a couple of weeks.

Additional Screen Captures

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Purchase Homeland on Blu-ray at CD Universe

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com

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[amazon-product]B008QTV3X0[/amazon-product]

[amazon-product]B005LAJ17M[/amazon-product]

Purchase Homeland on Blu-ray at CD Universe

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com

Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:4.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2.5/5]

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