Find a friend with a Plasma TV
You will see everything in vivid detail
Or else go onto eBay and buy a plasma tv
3
I changed the brightness on my TV from 45% to 80% and watched it again and it was wonderful - no problem seeing anything.
4
HBO must have tweaked it. I watched this evening, after initially struggling with the muddy look on Sunday , and now think it was absolutely brilliant. The fire and ice theme was consistently and beautifully rendered every; shot was a painting. And that music score! A stunning achievement that should be shown in theatres.
12
Even week to week, I forget how dark this show is. As in, no light, just a lot of shapeless black-into-blacker forms and shadows.
Have to laugh at some of the comments on the lights. I can only add mine ... I should have waited from last week to this week, and had my eye exam -- dilation -- done in order to see this episode of GOT.
The night last week I had to live with the dilation still in, and abundantly so ... I realized how my cat saw the night!
Have been reading of people watching with night vision goggles. Yup, that makes perfect sense also. Weird, but expect it did wonders for visibility.
Will try it again, On Demand, just because of the sheer length, sweep and many many 'moments' ... and see if as some are posting, by not streaming or watching in real time it renders this episode as better, clearer viewing experience.
3
The battle was fought at NIGHT! Before electricity! The fog of war is real, it's accurate. No-one knows until after any battle who lived or died.
Strategy? As the Baddest Dude on the Planet once said, "Everyone has a plan. Until they get punched in the mouth."
Who's the baddest now? Arya! Look out, lovebirds. In both Winterfell and especially Kings Landing. Cersei is still on her list at #1. And if I were the Dragon Queen? I'd sleep with the door locked. Dragon at the foot of the bed.
13
Yeah—it was too dark. I mean, come on folks, I think most of us know to turn out the lights when watching something like this, and sorry, I’m not going to mess around with the settings on my TV just to watch one episode of a TV show. Then again, I’m finding lots of TV and movies to be very dark lately—maybe I have cataracts! My husband, who worked in production in the film industry, said they’re saving money on lighting—not just GoT in this episode, but filmmakers in general. If you can pass it off as atmosphere, why not. Personally, I’ve never liked the epic battle episodes of GoT that much. I prefer the intrigue in Casterly Rock, with the deliciously evil Cersei. Though certainly I hate them, I just find the Lannisters so much more entertaining than the Starks (and I think slightly better actors too).
7
I watched this episode twice - the first time on a 2 year old Sony 4k and the 2nd time on a 8 year old LG LCD. It looked great both times and I had no problem following the action. The only thing I did was turn off the lights and watch as if I was in a movie theater.
16
I recommend watching it again, for me, during the daylight, with the lights on. I was thinking it was maybe too dark during the original airing, but rewatching it I thought it was breathtaking- how the fight to end the eternal night should be. I saw so much more and responded so much more during the second viewing. 3- 4 moments where the transition from ground to dragons flying and Jon riding were blurry? but that was it for me.
4
I waited two full days and just now rewatched "The Long Night" episode of GOT. Importantly, I did not watch it "over the air." I watched it using "HBO On Demand" on my 55" Sony OLED. Am I imagining things, or did HBO do something post production to improve the lighting following the torrent of criticism? It sure looked better to me the second time around.
6
@Jeremiah Whitten Cable providers routines uses pretty aggressive compression on the video streams. This lets them squeeze more channels into the available bandwidth. The more you compress something the worse it looks and this is especially true in dark scenes and in fast action sequences. It turns out that the HBO Go service doesn't compress the video stream nearly as much as cable providers do so you end up with a clearer and more defined picture.
5
I read somewhere that HBO or others compressed the film images shown on Sunday night to maximize streaming to a huge on line audience. This is entirely believable. The second time I watched it, the images were still dark (as intended) but far more clear. @Jeremiah Whitten
7
I watched the episode again last night, and it seemed a great deal clearer. I understand the technical problems resulting from compression of very dark scenes for purposes of streaming (most of these problems will be remedied automatically when the Blu Ray appears), but I wonder whether in the interim HBO took some steps to make the viewing a bit easier. If so, it worked.
4
I agree that the episode was very hard to see. The night shooting was bad enough - but snow and fog too? HBO spend a fortune on this episode - you'd think they'd want people to see the action. It was kind of a Mueller Report moment for me when Arya killed the Night King. All that build up and she dispatches all the white walkers with one stab like so many other villains on her kill list.
There are still many questions left unanswered (so we can discuss them?) Why didn't fire effect the Night King? Why didn't he kill Jon Snow when he had the chance? Could the Night King really be the Mad King or some other flame resistant relative of Jon's? What was his interest in Bran? Maybe the prequel that is planned will explain some of the questions surrounding the white walkers and their origins.
Although I agree that sending in the Dothraki first seemed to be a dumb move, it would have been futile to use the dragons first since killing the Night King seemed to be the only way to defeat them and that appeared to be a one-girl job, predestined according to the Red Witch. With only 3 episodes left, hopefully there will be some greater meaning revealed as the battles for the Iron Throne come to an end. One can only hope they are fought during the day.
5
@Lincat Excellent points. The problem is, they developed a great story, over 6 seasons. They ran out of book and then they decided to end it. Seasons 7 and 8 could never make up for 6 years of great story telling.
3
@Benkarkis They ran out of George RR Martin's brilliant books at the end of Season Four. From Season Five on, executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the creators of HBO's “Game of Thrones”, were on their own.
3
Too dark and way too long. I've watched every minute of the series since the beginning, but for the first time was wishing for the episode to just be over. The murkiness made it almost impossible to follow, and the episode could have been cut by 15-20 minutes to good effect. I felt like I was watching a Peter Jackson directors cut of GOT.
5
@Joe Well, that would certainly eliminate The Two Towers of Lord of The Rings, wouldn't it? Those long battle scenes, DESIGNED to pull the viewer into a state of despair (this was a brilliantly staged battle scene in that respect) before THE TWIST: dispatching the Night King in a deceptively simple matter. So simple that most people feel let down. They'd rather it had been a dragon, or Jon Snow, or even that the Night King proceed until AT LEAST Episode 5. I mean, after all that buildup, we DESERVE to be terrified at least ONE more episode, right. We want it be like WE WANT IT, not what the writer has scripted (that must be why it's lasted and been HBO's top series for 8 years: the writer didn't know what he was doing).
Well, I'll tell you this: dark screen/hard to see/too long, whatever. After this outpouring out righteous outrage, people will then adjust. (We adjust very well to real life disaster quickly, so tv? That's a snap.) And they will STILL watch the last 3 episodes, if only to see whether or not Cersei gets hers. I betcha.
3
@Brion
Let down?? Not hardly—it was by far the best moment of the episode.
3
So it turns out that the Night King, who can control the weather, attacked at night and controlled the weather. I guess it wasn't just a clever name after all.
8
The Dothraki are not 'non-white'. I wish people would stop trying to sell this story. Kahl Drogo was played by Jason Momoa and he is non-white *but* if you actually look at the other actors (or read the books) there is nothing to indicate that they are non-white. If you are trying to say that they are 'non-european' that's accurate. Then again, Europe doesn't exist in this world so that's also a weird argument to make.
11
Overlong for the uninterrupted "fog and murk of war" lighting. It needs to cut to lighted moments when one can recover perspective. But seeing isn't believing anyway.
I couldn't believe clever Tyrion and Varys would shelter in a crypt from an enemy who raises the dead.
I couldn't believe that the night king would move on Bran when waiting ten minutes would have cleared all remaining defenders. King out onto the board with powerful pieces out there?
I couldn't see whether Arya sneaked up with the face of a zombie to mask her charge. Otherwise, I can't believe she would get through unseen.
These things bother anyone else?
9
@AB I was thinking the exact same thing. When the Night King walked out with his guard, I wondered if Arya was one of them. When the lieutenant glanced to the side, I was sure it was her. I wish they ad shown it to be her wearing the wight's face, like the Red wedding. But no. They just left me wondering about it.
Watch it in a completely darkened room. It is absolutely beautiful and easy to see.
7
So you want your cake and eat it too I guess ?
You like the idea of the Non white Dothraki when they are almost superhuman in their fighting abilities - but then you don't want them used ?
Yes, I know -the charge was a dumb battle tactic. But it wasn't about "sending of an army of non-whites". It was about sending off your best fighters, who in the past were a unstoppable force.
Very few at Winterfell had actually seen what the Army of the Dead looked and acted like - till that night.
7
@Dheep'
Honestly, based on the way in which the Dothraki fight there isn't really any other way that this would have played out. More importantly, the battle strategy wasn't about 'winning' against the army of the dead but engaging in a holding action in order to lure the Night King to reveal himself and attack Bran.
7
@Chris R so self sacrifice everybody except those with plot armor?
1
I'm beginning to dread "watching" or "listening" GOT. "Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" droned on and on. Good thing for the fast forward button to avoid the rehash. Nothing new came out of all that "mumblemurmurmumble". Then Sunday night's battles that were completely obsfugated by the poor lighting - again, thank you fast forward - was a disaster. The Dothraki ill timed and completely futile attack was at least able to be appreciated since their flaming swords showed where and how the battle was progressing. Most of the rest of the battle was incomprehensible until the dead breached the ring of fire - a concept reconstituted from WWI of men throwing themselves on the barbed wire. After that, I have NO idea what happened within the walls. Well, now we push on to see how Westeros fares with another war on the way.
By the way, Why did the Red Queen have to die? She could have made the future editions a lot more interesting.
2
I'm beginning to dread "watching" or "listening" GOT. "Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" droned on and on. Good thing for the fast forward button to avoid the rehash. Nothing new came out of all that "mumblemurmurmumble". Then Sunday night's battles that were completely obsfugated by the poor lighting - again, thank you fast forward - was a disaster. The Dothraki ill timed and completely futile attack was at least able to be appreciated since their flaming swords showed where and how the battle was progressing. Most of the rest of the battle was incomprehensible until the dead breached the ring of fire - a concept reconstituted from WWI of men throwing themselves on the barbed wire. After that, I have NO idea what happened within the walls. Well, now we push on to see how Westeros fares with another war on the way.
By the way, Why did the Red Queen have to die? She could have made the future editions a lot more interesting.
Also, if Bran's plan was to lure the NK to him so Arya could kill him, why did Arya spend so much time elsewhere where she might have been killed?
2
@solon
That’s not how premonitions work... :) While WE didn’t know she wasn’t going to die, Bran would have (I mean, I figured she was a safe one anyway—though interestingly, I just knew Jorah would be a goner and Theon was also on my possible list. None of the big 5 were–Jon, Dany, Arya, Sansa, and Tyrion). She had to take her journey.
4
Game of Cones. As in eye cones. I watched it in the dark then reset all my settings to 'Nuclear Blast' and rewatched it. Better, but not great. It's a dark, dark time for directors. Shaky cameras, dark scenes, CGI ruining franchises... But the episode was still great.
1
As far as I am concerned, I loved it, watching in the dark, on my big screen... And y'll remember, it's not a military documentary, it's fantasy! Enjoy and don't overthink!
11
The reviewer may think that focusing the analysis on one of the 2-3 most important episodes of an epic, 8 year long storytelling event on postmodern preoccupations like surfaces (images) and race are crucial, but instead it comes across as superficial and strained.
2
Everyone has been critical of the battle strategy employed by the living and I could not disagree more.
Before the battle began if I told you "this strategy will result in both dragons, all the Targaryens and all the Starks surviving along with the Night King being defeated" you would have thought that outcome sounded too good to be true.
The Dothraki army is an "offensive" army, not "defensive. Having them just sit there on their horses, renders the horses and their fighting skills useless. The dragons were used perfectly, to focus on taking out the Night King and his dragon. The dragons are too valuable to put them in danger just to scorch as many zombies as possible.
7
I suppose I might of been able to tell what was happening during almost the entire episode, if I had sat a few inches in front of my TV.
My general reaction to TV series or movies, in every shade of grey and black, is to watch something else. I have more than enough experience with real lighting in my own living room.
Stop trying to make a great art form and give in to the quality or lack of, on the TV's in everyone's living room and the viewers desire to see the action you work so hard to produce.
Not good when viewers need to read reviews to find out what they missed in the dark.
15
On my first view of the scene where Arya has her dagger drawn and drops it, I thought Bran had picked it up and stabbed the Night King. Then I saw her fall to the ground, holding the dagger in her other hand.
I kind of liked my first take of the scene as well as the actual scene, to be honest.
3
I'll say this about the furious pacing and use of darkness: it brought me uncomfortably close to some experiences I had in the military... yes, to include the dragons, in the form of close air support provided by F-16s.
19
The cost and time to generate the computer images and special effects goes down when it is dark, since you can't see what is happening. I think they saved money by turning down the lights
4
I think if the show was on a theater big screen it would have been OK, but I couldn't figure out what was going on half of the time.
6
@Deborah Testa
I know, right? I also think Rembrandt used way too much brown. I mean, all his subjects dressed and looked alike, making it hard to tell who was who, especially under those ridiculously wide-brimmed hats. You can hardly make out their faces.
And they call that art! Fooey!
13
@Loscrittore
I think you need to get your eyes checked if you really think the above. I
@Deborah Testa is correct and she is NOT the only one who thinks that by far.
3
The visual imagery perfectly matched the "Song of Fire and Ice" so many times throughout the episode. The lighted swords and trenches struggling against the darkness of blowing snow--they played with the brightness of fire as a way of getting our hopes up that the dead would be defeated. So many shots, including that brilliant still image of Arya being held by the Night King is framed as Fire and Ice (orange and blue).
19
Everything looks fine (but not amazing) if you have properly setup video settings and environment. If you are watching on a computer screen via HBO go, did you calibrate the color? Did you correctly set your video card to work at max processing power? Do you even have a separate video card? How is your internet connection/modem/wifi router? If watching on cable, are you using LED or plasma? Did you calibrate your backlight? Did you reset your box so it's not laggy? Lastly, were you in a truly dark room?
To be honest, the reality is that there is a reason to watch certain things in a properly designed movie theatre, preferably IMAX with Dolby Atmos sound.
6
@Niche
Agreed. In my TV it was dark, but "good dark", appropriate for the episode and for a night time battle between darkness and light. I could see everything, and sometimes it was messy and difficult to figure things out (like when Danny and Jon are flying through fog) but that worked to heightened the sense of doom and despair. For me, it was perfect.
18
One of the most dramatic scenes was when a small teenaged girl changed a giant, killing him but sacrificing her own life in the process.
The dramatic problem? There were two girls in the battle, Arya and Leanna, and in the dark I couldn't tell which girl it was.
3
@Charlesbalpha The rest of us could.
4
@Charlesbalpha — 20 male fighters, and it's the 2 girls you can't distinguish?
6
@ksw
I couldn't distinguish the 20 male fighters among themselves either, but the girl was the one in the dramatic scene.r.
1
They spent the first four seasons winning over the Dothroki hordes, and the two after that trying to figure out how to get them across the Narrow Sea. They were then tossed away for nothing. No military strategy, nothing. Just send them into the the fog. It seemed like a lot of work just for a cinematic moment. I have to say, that was disappointing. Same thing goes for the Unsullied. Conveniently evened the odds for Cerci.
I'm also disappointed that more of the 'heroes' survived. It's like the main characters were literally the only ones standing in the final moments. Overwhelmed, covered in zombies, but somehow still fighting. Considering the history of the show, I feel like that was a big-time pulled punch (which will probably land later). I'm sure it doesn't end well for many of the characters, but this battle seemed to go much better than it should have for the main cast.
Other than that, I didn't mind the darkness. It played particularly well when Jon Snow was trying to find a way into the Weirwood to save the day (I'm glad he didn't). The chaos and desperation after the walls were breached was palpable, and beautifully shot.
There were a number of images and moments that were breathtaking, despite the darkness - and because of it.
Overall, it was satisfying...but a little too convenient.
32
@Mark They still have both of the dragons though. Aegon Targaryen conquered Westeros with 1500 men and 3 dragons.
3
I think they’re down to just one dragon. Didn’t Jon’s dragon die? (Sorry superfans, I cant remember their names just now.)
@Sarah B. The wight dragon was Viserion. Dany's is Drogon, and Jon's is Rhaegon. Not a superfan so much as I always just remember due to her naming them after her two brothers and Khal Drogo.
1
There's a really cool setting on devices like TVs, cell phines, and computers. It's called "Brightness".
I increased the brightness on my device and saw everything very clearly.
Give it a try.
20
@Anne Pfohl I came here to say the same thing. I saw everything perfectly.
7
@Anne Pfohl I did increase the brightness and while it helped a bit (really, a smidgen), it wasn't nearly enough.
4
@Anne Pfohl
Nope, not a good solution.
1
I don’t think anyone should be unsettled by the Dothraki cavalry being sent in first. They had to go first. Dothraki only fight on horseback, and you don’t send horses behind your men on foot. They would trample them. And if you remember from last week’s episode, the battle plan was to hold back the dragons until they knew where the Night King was. Daenerys scuttled that plan when she saw how many of her men were being killed.
47
@Sue With respect, although you are correct that you would not send cavalry behind your footsoldiers ("infantry"), actually, the standard use of cavalry for many centuries was never to frontally attack infantry first and alone--see Marshal Ney at Waterloo for a good example of this failing miserably--but to attack from the back or flank infantry which was already fighting infantry or fleeing.
As for Daenerys, knowing that her only chance was killing the king, anything she did for more than moments which was not spotting him and attacking him was a poor choice--unless she had told Jon to do that while she temporarily diverted to incinerate the first attackers.
5
People who film dark scenes need to take into account that watchers will be using diverse technologies.
When I saw "Half-Blood Prince" in a movie theatre I was struck by the careful detail in the gray and black backgrounds. When I rewatched it at home on DVD, the background was one dark blur.
Good web designers know that they must take both large foot-long displays and tiny phone screens into account. Moviemakers must learn this too.
9
@Charlesbalpha
Unfortunately, how the content is delivered somewhat overshadows (no pun intended) what you are referring to. IOW, the lower than ideal bitrates and heavily compressed HBO feed via Xfinity simply did not deliver adequate shadow detail you would have otherwise received on a decent quality HDTV.
2
Interesting. I was watching via Amazon Prime, HBO Live feed and it stuttered and stopped twice near the end of the show. (First time that’s happened.)
4
@Pepe
So it was data compression rather than my TV that was at fault. Thank you, but the same argument applies. Broadcasters should not assume the best technology on the other end.
1
The dwindling lights of the Dothraki charge was probably the signature cinematic achievement of the episode. Too bad it was marred by the lone survivor: the one white man who rode out with them was the only defender to ride back. So weird.
9
@Ser Borat - A few of the Dothraki ran back on foot. It does seem odd that more of them did not ride back since they practically live in the saddle. Still wondering if Ghost survived.
10
@LD He did. Ghost is in the previews.
2
@BlueDragon I wonder how, since he was in the middle of the Dothraki. Also, where was he for the rest of the night? He never showed back up to help Jon?
1
The creators were trying to strike a balance here. Shoot a battle at night but keep the CGI expenses down and make it all look cool. They overthought this and ended up with a murky night and a lot of squinting. See the Battle for Helm's Deep and Peter Jackson on how to do a night battle and the use of filters for simulated night while keeping all the shadows and contrast in to be able to see what is going on and to whom. Less is more. That is always the lesson in these things. Less CGI, more characters, stunt people, makeup, actors, more real stuff.
16
It was necessary to completely reset my Samsung to see most of this episode--from MOVIE to DYNAMIC and much Brightness. This degraded some aspects of the image, but made more visible.
Set in an ordinary way, my TV image was 40% a black screen.
7
[The final lesson of “Game of Thrones,” apparently, is to hang on to your old plasma TVs with their sharply defined blacks.]
Ha! I was going to comment much of the same thing. I had heard about the darkness complaints before watching it. So my wife and I purposefully watched it last night (after putting the kids to bed) with the lights off on our oldish (8.5 years) 55" plasma in the basement family room instead of the OLED 4k 55" we picked up last year which sits in the living room. It looked fantastic.
6
@Still Waiting for a NBA Title
Exactly! It looked fabulous on my older 51" Samsung F5300.
cheers
3
I also thought about the first 20 minutes of “Saving Private Ryan.” Here’s the difference: We know the characters in the Battle for Winterfell from 69 prior hours. It was difficult to see what was happening to who. In Private Ryan, we don’t know the characters yet, the opening exists solely to convey the horror of the D-Day invasion, we don’t have a connection to any of the bodies on the beach. I liked the episode, (I probably liked “Hardhome” better), and will rewatch when I have time.
4
Whoever was responsible for the music is certainly a fan of John Carpenter. Outstanding.
12
a brillantly executed episode (pun intended). The darkness was intended. The critics missed this point, or felt they had to add some snark for their paycheck. It will be remembered and revered for years to come, just like some old classics that weren't popular immediately.
8
I've heard endless argument the last 2 days that that is just the way that warfare is fought at night.
Well, no.
One can ship out a small guerrilla party, but shipping out 50,000? Not even the Spartans were that stupid.
But, no war has ever been fought with 50,000 flaming blades.
No war has ever been fought with dragons.
No war has ever been fought with the Undead.
So, this is where the writers want to have it both ways: They want to say that this is just how wars are fought; AND, they want to bring in dragonglass, dragons, zombies, and Valaryian steel and the Red Witch of the Lord of Light.
Artistic license?
Baloney.
They just blew it and, like trump, refuse to apologize.
I'll be so glad when this is all over and I can dump my HBO subscription.
8
I ask , after the night was illuminated by the flaming trenches , didn't Jon and The Dragon Queen dive down from the whiteout
and incinerate all of the undead outside the flames ?
11
@Paul F. Stewart, MD
" Why " is missing . Figuratively and literally .
2
@Paul F. Stewart, MD
I missed some nuances but I believe a lot of the problem was that the Night King was raising, not just his own former undead (those of them who had not been incinerated) but those who had died defending Winterfell. Of course, Lesson 1 regarding the Army of the Dead is to burn your own dead before they can be changed, but maybe they hadn't told Dany that, and/or she and Jon were afraid of burning allies who were still alive.
2
@Paul F. Stewart, MD is no 'all' to the undead. The more you fight them, the more you maket them. Until. . .Arya does her job and takes out the NK, thereby collapsing all the undead.
Frankly, I thought the GoT creators were trying to save money: the less you see, the more money you save on props, sets, extras, etc. One of your readers was right; you need a $10,000 monitor to truly capture this episode.
And while on the subject, even CGI flicks like Marvel's movies seem to be shot in the dark.
5
If the existential threat in Game of Thrones is supposed to be a metaphor for climate change and our inability to unite against it, then the choice of Arya as the one who defeats the threat is quite fitting.
It is up to young people and the new generation to do the job. The grownups currently in charge will not do it.
43
@Tony S
So why don't they vote?
5
@Tony S I also thought about Greta T., and likewise with Lyanna Mormont.
3
@Jim
So sad to see young Lady Mormont die. One of my favourite characters.
12
The episode looked beautiful if you were in a dark room and looking at uncompressed video on a $10,000 monitor. Which is, of course, how the editors and the other creative folks who make the show viewed it and decided how dark it should be. My experience was a bit different.
50
@Christopher
Not true. There's no problem with compression (up to a certain point obviously) provided the bit rate is adequate and device is up to snuff. The botched part is the horrible bit rate, ultimately.
1
My advice -get rid of the junky lcd tv and get a plasma...it will be crystal clear...
Saving Private Bran is aptly evaluated by the author. It was the best example of "more heat than light"--presenting most of the battle in such darkness that you would need night vision goggles to get a decent idea of what is happening.
Least Inspiring Crisis Leadership: Sansa and Tyrion cowering in the crypt while Lyanna kills a giant. Did they finagle bone spur draft deferments?
Least Competent Crisis Leadership: Jon and Danerys flying about with no particular plan while no one leads the defense, followed by Jon not going to defend Bran.
Least Explicable Strategy: If the goal was to ambush the Night King when he went after Bran, why is no one assigned the task of ambushing him and only obviously doomed Theon and his small group assigned to defend him? Second place: sending the Dothraki to reenact Custer's Last Stand, as if they could win the battle singlehandedly.
Only Unsullied Military Reputation--The Unsullied, who stayed resolute when the rest went fleeing like children to the gate.
27
@DSM14, waiting for your impeccable script for the perfect episode
4
@DSM14 and that is why I want Arya on the Iron Throne!
4
Screen Darkness for mood can be effective at times but too often in this episode I simply waited for enough merciful light to figure out the narrative flow. I don’t want to work that hard.
25
I liked it.
I rewatched the episode, knowing what would happen, and found that it still had the intentionality of earlier seasons. The murkiness was obviously intentional, the frustration it caused was intentional, and the reaction it got -- us all talking about it -- was part of the goal.
The big question I have is this: will Theon be buried in the Winterfell crypt, or on the Iron Islands?
13
I found turning the lights off completely really helped along with a few adjustments to color, tone and contrast settings. I'd recommend a second viewing because I tried doing this during my first viewing but my wife was totally creeped out being in a dark room...
4
I have a plasma TV and this episode looked beautiful. I didn’t know why everyone was complaining about the darkness until I realized they were likely watching on an LED screen. I work in film and TV and I can assure you that a show with production values as high as GOT is color corrected on a neutral screen with an incredible eye for detail and every frame is considered. It’s not the film. It’s the LED TVs. The manufacturers sell LED sets with pre-set color contrast cranked all the way up to crush the blacks and darker colors. It’s why most movies on an LED screen look like they were shot on a camcorder from 1985. You can change the settings but it takes some poking around in the menu. Maybe we should just ask the TV manufacturers (is anyone from Sony or Panasonic reading this?) to put their presets to something compatible with the beautiful work filmmakers are spending hours crafting.
43
@KCY It wasn't just an LED vs Plasma thing, the video feed (on cable and HBO Go) was also very compressed.
17
@KCY I watched the episode on my computer monitor with lights off in the room and brightness turned up and could see beautifully.
2
@RDJ I watched it on HBO Go and it looked great!
1
Concur. I rate the episode 5 Chickens.
4