Customer Reviews

Prison Break - Season 1 [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Prison break is one of my favorite shows on TV. I loved the show on first viewing, it was so raw, visceral, and so entertaining. I could not see how the show could be as good as it is for 22 episodes, or how they could go forward with multiple seasons (the characters are amazing, and while watching the show, you just want more) but luckily for me, and everyone else, the show does go on, and gets even better in the subsequent seasons. They are even planning a spin-off called Prison Break: Cherry Hill.

If you never watched this show, it is structured similarly to 24, Lost, and Heroes. Meaning, each episode is not self contained, but rather, continues on each episode, offering multiple storylines throughout the season. Every episode ends with a cliffhanger, making it downright impossible to wait another week. You will tear through this series in 2-3 days. I really hope Fox will release season 2 on blu-ray soon, and announce their plans for 24 (it was supposed to be released around the same time as season 1 of prison break).

Now on to the Blu-Ray particulars.

The show was shot, and aired in high def. I managed to watch these in high def (when the show aired, cable, nor sat offered HD locals, so we had to move the antenna all over the place to pick up fox, and move the antenna back, to watch cbs or some other station!). With that said, these blu-ray dvds, look even better than I remember (Fox airs in 720p, or did back during this season). The show looks very good, movie quality good. It is presented in widescreen (not full screen, as the listing states). Each disc contains 4 episodes, the last disc has 2. You will notice no pixelation, nor any bad spots on the release. This is one of the best looking blu-ray discs I own. Blacks are black, contrast is high, there are no faults to be found in this blu-ray release.

The sound is presented in DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 Surround track (48kHz/24-bit). The soundtrack is fantastic, you can hear everything. The sound effects are fantastic, you get a nice sense of depth, and it seems as though you can hear everything that is going on inside the prison.

The only negative I can think of is season 2 has yet to be announced on blu-ray. So now I have to buy season 2 on dvd, because I must watch season 2 again. The show is really that good.

I have to admit. When I first caught a glance or two of Prison Break on TV, it didn't look like something that would make me want to go out and purchase the complete first season when it was released on DVD. No, I didn't sit down and watch a full episode. No I didn't know anything about the characters, and no I didn't expect this Blu-Ray set to be as incredible as it truly is. Having said that I will honestly recommend this Blu-Ray set to anyone that is able to watch Blu-Ray discs.

I saw the set on sale at a local store and decided to give it a try even though I wasn't a fan of the show. I had heard great things about the picture quality of the show on Blu-Ray so I went for it. I was not disappointed in the least. Each and every one of the 22 episodes in the set has a almost flawless picture and fantastic audio. Given the dark nature of the theme of the show don't expect a lot of happy and bright colors but do expect a lot of detail. The flyovers of the prison and Chicago are incredible looking as is the detailed close-ups of the actors faces.

Like the initial reviewer said in his review, the only bad thing I can probably say is there currently isn't a season two on Blu-Ray just yet. I am honestly stunned at how addicting this show is to watch. Each character has a way of pulling you into the show to make sure you watch every episode. The writing is superb as is the acting. At first I thought I would watch one episode maybe every few days or so but I ended up finishing the entire set in under a week as I couldn't wait to see what happens next. That would explain why the show is a hit. In a way I am glad I didn't watch any of the seasons on TV as I think I would have gone mad trying to guess what happens next where with the beauty of this set is I can just press play and watch all seasons in a row and don't have to wait a week.......that is....until they run out.

Bring on Season 2!!

Rather than focus on the content of the shows, I will instead discuss the BD transfer. Simply put, this is an excellent transfer. In fact it is one of the best BD transfers I have seen. The picture is amazing. The contrast is stark so that you the viewer can experience the cold, institutional walls. By the same token, shadow detail is rendered perfectly there is no excessive black crush. Most of all, the picture maintains a lot of detail. There are many times where you can the freckles on Robin Tunney's face.

Fox did equally good job with the audio. The dialog is very crisp. You can always here the actor's voices. the music, while sometimes loud, isn't too over powering.

In short,if you like the series and own a BD player I recommend adding this to your collection.

Shows such as Prison Break, Heroes, Lost, the old X-files are, to a significant degree, reflections of how many of us perceive the world around us during these uncertain and unsettled times:

- larger portions of our lives are influenced or even controlled by high-level entities or organizations who now have the means to implement their agendas
- things are almost never what they seem because hidden forces are at work
- only very few insiders completely understand and control and set the agendas for these all-controlling entities
- we should consider ourselves lucky if we can figure out the who's and the how's that change our world but we may never get to know the why's
- these hidden and mysterious 'powers that be' plot, plan and act globally

On 'Season 1' Michael Scowfield gets himself convicted so that he can be sent to prison so that he can help his brother, who is (unjustly) on death row, escape. Does it sound over-complicated? It does, because it is. While working on the escape, Michael, a control freak and a genius, interacts with a dozen inmate characters, ranging from mid-level Mafia types, to unjustly convicted, to unlucky, to mentally deranged, to truly sadistic, vicious murderers. And, there's the world outside. He has friends who help him and his brother has extremely powerful enemies - how does the President of the U.S. look like, when we think of enemies? Well... she's far from being the most powerful because there is this mysterious 'company', controlled by we don't know exactly whom attempting to implement some agenda we are not aware of (see the first paragraphs of this review for more clarifications).

This is a GREAT series, in fact my overall favorite and the Blu-ray version takes advantage of the higher screen resolution. I do not believe that there are any gee-whiz, Blu-ray specific extras on this bundle but I don't care much for extra anyway. I am just happy to watch the actually show in high definition.

We own seasons 1, 2, and 3 already and we are looking forward for the upcoming Season 4 release - sorry, there's way too much suspense for me to watch this on TV, one weekly hour at a time.

I haven't had time to really sit down and get into the season yet. But I can tell you that the picture quality is terrific.

I've been told by many that the best, and most trust worthy place to shop online is amazon.com and after actually buying something from amazon for the first time, I understood how they felt. I received my item in a nice little package. It was in mint condition and I'm loving it so far. I've lent Prison break season 1 to over 3 friends and they've all loved it. No problems with the discs or case whatsoever!

In a vote for yay or nay I vote Hell freaking YAY!

Looks even better than when I watched it on my HD cable box. I think it was 1080i over component video and now it's 1080p over HDMI.

This television show is superb - both in its writing and acting. I highly recommend this series on Blu-Ray. Unfortunately, this week they announced Season 3 will be on Blu-Ray, but not Season 2. That is disappointing, but maybe they will add the second season if the first 2 sell well.

Fox's use of Master Audio is great and compliments the great video transfer. I highly recommend this Blu-Ray over any other TV show to Blu-Ray.

You'll be hooked for sure!!!

I saw it on TV while ago... but had nothing to do with this spectacular sound and video. Crystal clear, very good sound, plus deleted scenes and bonus material. A must have on every private colection.

Prison Break is an innovative series. I can't believe I didn't watch it while it was on TV but rather had to catch it on Netflix. Needless to say, after watching the first season, I knew I had to buy it and I wanted Blu-ray. Amazon had a great price, plus free shipping. I highly recommend this series for people who want to stray into a different world... prison.