Mussolini - Il figlio del Secolo 4K UHD (2025) ( Dazzler Media )

[Compson]

Originally Posted by Clockwork Chris

Interesting. Other than the technical specs, are you noticing a difference visually on both players?

I haven’t compared the two or started watching the series. I just wanted to make sure I’d get a picture.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Compson

Mussolini 4K is 50p. My unmodified Panasonic UB9000 outputs it as 60p. My Sony X800M2 (which, as it happens, is modified) outputs it as 50p.

Are you in the US? Is this an American Panasonic player you're talking about?

I live in the US and have a Panasonic, so if you're getting a picture and sound on your TV, I'll buy a copy of this.

[Compson]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Are you in the US? Is this an American Panasonic player you're talking about?

I live in the US and have a Panasonic, so if you're getting a picture and sound on your TV, I'll buy a copy of this.

Yes to both questions

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Compson

Yes to both questions

Perfect, thanks!

[James Luckard]

I can confirm, the discs play without a problem on my US Panasonic player.

[McCrutchy]

I'm just finishing the first disc now. The series is excellent so far.

I checked discs one and three and there are no extras, but the eight episodes are on three 100 GB discs, with the last two on Disc 3.

The copyright warning and Dazzler logo are in 1080p23.976, the main menu is in 1080p50 and the episodes are in 2160p50 with HDR10 and DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio. The episodes are presented in what I assume are their original Italian versions, with Italian titles and graphics. The only possible localization is a title card before each episode in English which warns photosensitive viewers about scenes with flashing and strobing lights.

English subtitles are optional and in a slightly small white font. Dialogue which is not in Italian has burnt-in Italian subtitles, so the English subtitles are placed at the top of the image during these lines. So far, the translation is excellent.

HDR is somewhat conservative, but it's there and it's effective. Dazzler's discs can have encoding issues and I've noticed some compression artifacts, particularly in the dark scenes, but most of the time, the image looks as good as you would expect for a new production. I would guess this will probably be the best way to watch the series, unless there's an Italian or Australian release. A US release seems less likely, but even if that happens, I'm sure it would have to be converted, so it's ruled out, as far as I'm concerned.

Talking of which, I'm not sure why my Oppo reports that the image is 2160p50 and not 2160p25. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong at all with the presentation, but I wasn't aware that any productions were shooting at 50 fps, especially when TV is still 25 fps. Perhaps the series is presented at 50 fps on a streaming service?

[James Luckard]

BTW, in case anyone is curious:

The title of the series as it actually appears onscreen remains:

M: Il figlio del Secolo

That's the name of the book, which is quite well-known in Italy. It's also the name under which the series was shown in Italy.

The first UK teaser trailer used the English version of that title, M: Son of the Century.

However, later trailers and the packaging of the UHD use the alternate title Mussolini: Son of the Century. Presumably they were afraid the original title wouldn't mean anything to UK audiences. Turns out the use of his full name is just a marketing thing, the title onscreen remains that of the book.