• 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/16-bit), German and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0
• Subtitles: English SDH, French, German SDH, Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latino)
  
• Subtitles Color: White
• Region: ABC (Region-Free)
• Rating: Not Rated
• Run Time: 355 Mins.
• Discs: 5 (2 x Blu-ray + 3 x DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
  
• Blu-ray Release Date: July 10, 2012
• List Price: $39.99

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Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]

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:5/5]

This is the season that kicked the hit series off, obviously. Season 1, which still ranks among the series’ strongest. A sitcom that is intelligent, witty, and filled with pop culture references, The Big Bang Theory follows two nerdy roommates, nerdy braniac scientists Dr. Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), Dr. Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki), and their friends and colleagues Dr. Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar) and Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg). They have their usual routines disrupted by he appearance of a hot and somewhat less intelligent girl across the hall from Sheldon and Leonard named Penny (Kaley Cuoco).

There’s nothing like The Big Bang Theory on television. It’s title is deceiving in that it implies that it is yet another relationship comedy along the lines of the BBC’s Coupling or How I Met Your Mother, but it is nothing like those. While there are elements of unrequited love and dating (mainly the on again/off again relationship between Penny and Leonard that develops over the course of the series), Big Bang is far beyond that mundanity. It’s quirky, it’s geeky and it’s highly intelligent, focusing more on the interplay between geniuses and their inability to relate to “normal” people, as magnified by the “girl next door” Penny.

Video Quality

[Rating:4/5]

The 35mm source for The Big Bang Theory arrives on Blu-ray in an AVC/MPEG-4 1080p transfer that looks good, about as good as a sitcom can get in HD. Colors are vibrant, but flesh tones don’t always look as accurate as they can be. Even with the minor flaws, this looks way better than any broadcast version.

Audio Quality

[Rating:3.5/5]

The lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/16-bit) soundtrack is a straightforward sitcom mix with little information in the surround channels beyond the sound of audience laughter. The dialogue is clean in the center channel, but there’s little else going on. Stereo separation is again limited to the laugh track and low frequencies only come to play during the cut sequences.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:2/5]

A brief making of with the series creator is included along with a hilarious gag reel.

The supplements:

• Quantum Mechanics of The Big Bang Theory (1.33:1; SD; 00:17:16)
• Gag Reel (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:07:36)
• DVDs – Three standard DVDs of the series are included in the set.
• UltraViolet Digital Copy

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:4/5]

This is brilliant with non-stop laughter. The Big Bang Theory: The Complete First Season was (and is) way above anything else on network television.

Additional Screen Captures

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Purchase The Big Bang Theory: The Complete First Series on Blu-ray at CD Universe

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Purchase The Big Bang Theory: The Complete First Series on Blu-ray at CD Universe

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com

Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]

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