Westworld

[Mark39]

Nice to see the latest series of Westworld back on Sky Atlantic. It's one of the few series that keeps my attention.

I wonder if there's any possibility of actually understanding this series. I had little idea of what was going on in the last one, but still found it unmissable.

[caesarome]

I never understood this either so doubt very much if I will be able to with the latest one. Good to have it back though as it has been a long wait for this to return.

[Austinored]

I went online to look up Season 3 recap, and after each episode there are reviews online if you have missed anything. So now I understand the episode better. I'm glad it's back.

[nigea99]

 I love Westworld but I am not bright enough to follow how they progress it  & develop the different core characters.

I have all S1 to 3 on UHD - they are stunning (Particularly S1) in HDR with great Atmos tracks 

The Atmos really sounds great throughout  but causes me to really ramp up vol. for  the  'House of the Rising Sun' & 'Paint it Black' sequences (love Ramin Djawadi's treatment especially oriental tweaks in S2 for Paint It black ) BTW I also have S1 & S2 soundtracks albums

P.S. Shame the UHD HDR / Atmos is only availble on disc as I think many will be missing out as it does take it to another level

I thought S1 was a bit difficult to track but then came S2 which I found harder & then S3 just lost me but still gripped me 

It is quite a long time since I watched S3 last  - just after the UHD was released which of course was a few months after it first aired - some of the bonus materials does help piece it together (the same for other series but I think more needed for S3) - although I still think there are links I miss

I don't know if the bonus material is available to watch online somehwere - I guess it may be

(I actually watched S1 & S2 more recently than S3)

I thought that Maeve's character had a little more to latch on to in S4 #1

Definitely lost as to the story with Dolores but I am sure it will eventually  make more sense

I probably need to Watch S3 again soon 

[Austinored]

Yeah I did wonder why it's not available in 4K. Shame. Sky advertising a lot of 4K content, but they should do more. Lucky my TV upscales to 4K which is nice to watch anyway. Amazing soundtrack, agree.

[nigea99]

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@Austinored wrote:

Yeah I did wonder why it's not available in 4K. Shame. Sky advertising a lot of 4K content, but they should do more. Lucky my TV upscales to 4K which is nice to watch anyway. Amazing soundtrack, agree.

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one reason may be that I guess HBO think the extra revenue in UHD disc sales is worth limiting release elsewhere (like GOT)  

Although I think GOT is  available in UHD on HBO Max I don't know if Westworld is on there   

BTW I just noticed your strapline re 3D - unfortunately I lost 3D when switched to  OLED (GZ950) from my DX902 

[Austinored]

Yeah GoT was another one which could have used 4K. Sky is missing out a lot. But I guess it's HBO running the shots. Yeah i still use 3D, loving it

[fizzdisco]

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@Austinored wrote:

Yeah I did wonder why it's not available in 4K. Shame. Sky advertising a lot of 4K content, but they should do more. Lucky my TV upscales to 4K which is nice to watch anyway. Amazing soundtrack, agree.

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I have an HBO Max subscription and watch via VPN. Westworld has unfortunately never streamed in 4K on the service, it's always limited to 1080P. They get frequent criticism on US forums for not doing more 4K HDR content but, as @nigea99 @suggests, they seem to like saving them for 4K Blu-ray sales. The first three seasons of Westworld are available on disc and do look fantastic at full-res with HDR, so I'm sure season 4 will follow. It's just a shame more people won't get to see them.

[nigea99]

Just watched (s4) ep 2  (recorded this morning)

No spoilers or analysis but just wanted to say how much I enjoyed it and love how it is progressing 🙂

Really looking forward to the rest of the series 

[Austinored]

I concur with this assessment 😊

[lettice]

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@nigea99 wrote:

Just watched (s4) ep 2  (recorded this morning)

No spoilers or analysis but just wanted to say how much I enjoyed it and love how it is progressing 🙂

Really looking forward to the rest of the series 

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Yes have loved all the series of Westworld.
Liked how the whole concept has moved on from its original Film idea.

Did find Series 2 plots could have been told a bit easier. It did jump all over the place in many places and did in some aspects confuse or disappoint many scifi fans..
But, the third and now fourth series have been a great watch. Roll on next week.
I have since the begiining of Series1, series linked the 2am showing and each week get that and the 9pm one recorded. Oh well.
Would have been nice to have had it in UHD (another HBO fail), but to be fair have always watched it over breakfast as it arrives the next morning in my recordings via Sky Go.
Not sure, with all the great scifi we get these days :), I will be rewatching it any time soon. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@lettice wrote:

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Would have been nice to have had it in UHD (another HBO fail),

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Deliberate marketing policy, I'd suggest, to keep those 4K Blu-ray Box Sets shipping at £49 a time...

[fizzdisco]

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@TimmyBGood wrote:

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@lettice wrote:

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Would have been nice to have had it in UHD (another HBO fail),

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Deliberate marketing policy, I'd suggest, to keep those 4K Blu-ray Box Sets shipping at £49 a time...

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It's a real shame that HBO keep them as 4K disc only, I'm sure they'd sell tons if it was on iTunes in 4K with Dolby Vision. The discs themselves do look fantastic - I've seen seasons 2 & 3 in 4K and they're beautifully rendered. 

You can get them a lot cheaper than £49 - HMV currently have them on offer:

Season 1 for £20 with the 50% off code:

https://store.hmv.com/store/film-tv/4k-ultra-hd-blu-ray/westworld-season-one-the-maze 

Season 2 is £30:

https://store.hmv.com/store/film-tv/4k-ultra-hd-blu-ray/westworld-season-two-the-door 

Season 3 is £30:

https://store.hmv.com/store/film-tv/4k-ultra-hd-blu-ray/westworld-season-three 

[lettice]

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@TimmyBGood wrote:

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Deliberate marketing policy, I'd suggest, to keep those 4K Blu-ray Box Sets shipping at £49 a time...

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Do they really,.thought blurays died a death years ago.
Never seen anyone I know actually have such a player.
For me the thought of hoarding a lot of DVDS, like the old cd and record collection we used to have stacked in our living rooms would be a nightmare these days just thinking about it, haha!. 
I loved my old record collection amny decades ago, that is now in landfill somewhere, but life moves.

[nigea99]

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@lettice wrote:

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@TimmyBGood wrote:

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Deliberate marketing policy, I'd suggest, to keep those 4K Blu-ray Box Sets shipping at £49 a time...

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Do they really,.thought blurays died a death years ago.
Never seen anyone I know actually have such a player.
For me the thought of hoarding a lot of DVDS, like the old cd and record collection we used to have stacked in our living rooms would be a nightmare these days just thinking about it, haha!. 
I loved my old record collection amny decades ago, that is now in landfill somewhere, but life moves.

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Not dead yet

I have a UHD player &, as mentioned, I have Westworld S1,2 & 3 all on UHD and they are stunning in Dolby Vision with fantastic Dolby Atmos sound.

UHD players & discs are niche but there is a market

I have far too many UHD discs, Blu-rays & DVDs although I have slowed down my purchases as more Streaming services have upped their Quality (Disney + has a lot of DV & Atmos content) 

. 

Even though I have slowed down purchases on disc I do still buy them  - there are still some things (like Westworld but also some film restorations) that are still only availbe in UHD/HDR via disc

Bit rates for UHD discs in both Sound & vision are higher than streaming    For example Atmos over SKY is still < 0.5Mbps whereas TrueHD Atmos on disc typically averages around 5Mbps with peaks around 8 or 9 Mbps