THE HANDMAID’S TALE: Season Two Defective Disc Replacement Program

[greywinter]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Ep 11 is correctly mastered, nothing to worry about. The crushed blacks in that particular scene are not a defect of the Blu-Ray, they're an artistic choice of the filmmakers', the scene is set in an abandoned house with no power and is lit only by a fire. I suspect the scene is also graded to be exceedingly dark because Elisabeth Moss is entirely nude in it. That scene on the BD matches the Hulu streaming broadcast version exactly, I just checked. The entire BD version of Ep 13 looked nothing like the Hulu version, that was how I knew the BD was incorrectly mastered. It was the only episode that did not match the broadcast versions, and it has been fixed.

OK, thanks. I suspect it could also be my TV, as I currently have an LG OLED (B8), which are apparently known to display blacks as "crushed" on occasion from what I've read. But those dark scenes in episode 11 were atrocious. I'll take a photo later, but there was lots of color banding and black artifacts disrupting the picture. Again, could be my TV, but I hardly noticed it in any other scenes throughout the whole series. The only other time I really noticed it was the tunnel scene in s1, where June escapes from the hospital. That was very crushed as well and looked awful on my TV.

It might also be because I'm using a Sony PS4 as my bluray player - perhaps I need to upgrade to something better. I've been watching season 3 lately with the Hulu app on my PS4 (I previously did not have a hulu sub, which is why I bought the BR for s1/2), and I have been astounded at how much better it looks compared to the previous blu-ray. Same device, same video modes, different formats (hulu stream vs. bluray discs). The picture seems far more vibrant and smooth compared to the jittery and dark bluray. Also, for the first time ever I realized that the Marthas are wearing GREEN! Throughout s1 and s2 I thought it was Grey due to the picture being so dark in general.