Media

Home Theater Movie Renter's Guide - January, 2010

"CSI: The First Season" (Blu-ray) - Reviewed by Tyler Stripko

Synopsis

In Las Vegas, a crack team of crime-scene investigators uses their incredible knowledge of forensic investigation to solve crimes that regular police and detectives can’t.

This 5-disc set includes all 22 episodes of the first series, plus the original pilot that started it all.

Commentary

I remember watching the first episodes of this series when they aired back in 2000.  I was struck by how original the series was and how they focused so strongly on the science that could be used to track down criminals.  As a techno-geek, this immediately struck the right cord with me.  The acting was excellent and the writers kept coming up with new crimes and methods for solving them.   The formula was a big hit, and the show is now in its tenth season.

Technical

CSI looks much better in HD than it did during its original SD airings.  The 1080i picture is sharp, with very good black levels.  The night-time shots of Vegas look very good, especially considering the fact that they were shot 10 years ago.  Brighter scenes are a bit softer, with more visible film grain.  Daylight scenes are a bit oversaturated, which gives a slightly artificial look to many shots.  There didn’t seem to be any noticeable compression artifacts or edge enhancement either.  The 7.1 (yup 7.1) DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack was pleasantly surprising.  The music and sound effects had real weight and volume to them, with great clarity and strong bass.  The surrounds are used effectively, even the back surrounds in the 7.1 mix.  The only real negative is that the dialogue seems to have been mixed at a much lower level than the music and effects, so you may need to crank up the volume a bit to hear the actors better.

Extras

Most of the extras are on discs 1 and 5 and include a director’s cut of the pilot, deleted scenes, outtakes, promos, a gag reel, and two featurettes: “CSI People Lie . . . But the Evidence Never Does” and “Rediscovering the Evidence.”  some interactivity to the movie watching experience.