Why So Blu?

2016 World Series Collector’s Edition: Chicago Cubs (Blu-ray Review)

In this 2016 World Series Collector’s Edition: Chicago Cubs set, Cubs fans everywhere can relive the team’s entire white-knuckle postseason run. The 8-disc set preserves every inning, every play and every heart-stopping moment from the 2016 Fall Classic – from “spiritual” team leader David Ross’ dramatic home run in the final game of his career, Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester’s masterful performances on the mound to Kris Bryant’s final, thrilling 5-3 put-out to Anthony Rizzo.  This special edition presents all seven complete and uncut World Series games, all wrapped with SleeveStats which offer official stats, game trivia and more to enhance the viewing experience. Also included are a bonus disc of the pennant-clinching NLCS Game 6 at Wrigley Field, as well as four audio options, allowing home audiences to watch the games while listening to either the television broadcast, Cubs Radio Network announcers, the Indians Radio Network or a Spanish-language version of the broadcasts.  This December, fly the W and celebrate the Cubs history-making run to the championship with these two ultimate mementos from one of the most exciting postseasons in a generation.

Games

Now, this is a really groovy idea here.  I’m not a Cubs fan in the slightest, but I can appreciate what’s done here.  Its the television broadcasts of every game of the World Series and the final game of the NLCS.  Whether the Cubs won or lost, they have it here.  No commercials, played at the live speed (No sped up plays or lapsing the gaps between pitches or a timeout).  It ALL here.

You get the option to listen to it with 4 different audio tracks.  You can do the smart thing and bipass the Joe Buck audio and listen to the homer friendly Cubs radio broadcast or relish in the misery of the Indians broadcast.  Whenever of any of my favorite sports teams have won, I’ve never had the ability to pick something like this.  And I totally would get it as its really unique and cool.

Disc 1 – World Series Game 1 / October 25, 2016

Disc 2 – World Series Game 2 / October 26, 2016

Disc 3 – World Series Game 3 / October 28, 2016

Disc 4 – World Series Game 4 / October 29, 2016

Disc 5 – World Series Game 5 / October 30, 2016

Disc 6 – World Series Game 6 / November 1, 2016

Disc 7 – World Series Game 7 / November 2, 2016

Disc 8 – National League Championship Series Game 6 / October 22, 2016

Video 

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Layers: BD-50

Clarity/Detail:  I didn’t tune in to any of these games, but I did catch snippets and have watched live broadcasts of baseball games in HD before.  This Blu-ray has a definitive increase in quality over the broadcast.  Details are more refined, the image sharper, more 3-dimensional and the colors pop much better on this Blu-ray release which is to be expected.

Depth:  Depth is also an area of improvement and strength.  Players are much more detached from the background and move smoothly and cleanly through the field and the ball is also well rounded and free in its travel.

Black Levels:  Blacks are deep, providing some good shading, strong shadows and overall help to enhance the sharpness and definition of all the textures, patterns and detail.

Color Reproduction:  Where you can see a real bump in the quality from broadcast to here is the boldness and fullness of the color.  The Cubs’ blue uniforms, the orange in the Indians, the green filed all really pop quite well.  The brown on the dirt and brick color also look saturated and strong.

Flesh Tones: Skin tones are natural and consistent throughout each game.  Facial features are much more clear and detailed in the close up shots, but do impress in medium ones.  Mostly this pertains the players, though some folks in the crowd get good texture.

Noise/Artifacts: Clean

Audio 

Audio Format(s): Fox TV Broadcast (English 2.o DTS-HD MA), Cleveland Radio Network (English 2.0 DTS-HD MA), Chicago Radio Network (English 2.0 DTS-HD MA), Spanish Broadcast (Spanish 2.0 DTS-HD MA)

Subtitles: N/A

Dynamics:  Audio is pretty crisp and clean.  The catchers mitt catching a hard pitch snaps really good and the sound of bat and ball connecting is a thing of beauty.  Its lossless, too, so its much prettier than what you heard on the broadcast.  The ambiance of stadium musics, crowd noise, effects and all sorts of other things come across a lot cleaner, more distinct and are easier to make out and discern from everything else.

Height: N/A

Low Frequency Extension:  N/A

Surround Sound Presentation:  N/A

Dialogue Reproduction:  Announcer dialogue is rich, clean and full sounding.

Extras 

This is an 8-Blu-ray Disc set.  It comes with a sleevstats insert booklet that features the statistics from each game.

Every game features 4 audio options; the Fox Television Broadcast, Cleveleand Radio, Chicago Radio and Spanish Broadcast.

Summary 

Hardcore Cubs fans can truly relive the whole World Series win with this new set from Shout! Factory.  It works as a companion to the documentary Blu-ray that came out the week prior.  It’d be something if there was a set that included that, but oh well.  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a sports championship edition do something like this before, but it truly is neat.  The video and audio quality are definitely a notch about their broadcast predecessor and the audio options make for a personalized bit of fun (If you’re someone who gets a smile out of the despair of the Indians announcers).  Definitely something for the die-hard and just in time for holiday gift giving to that Cub fan who is still cruising on a huge high.