When the new episode of “House of the Dragon” flickered across the screens yesterday, many users saw – nothing. At least for several minutes. Now the house broadcaster HBO has spoken out. But the explanation should only annoy many fans further.
Even if the series focuses more on dialogue than on opulent battles: Like its predecessor “Game of Thrones”, “House of the Dragon” is also a real feast for the eyes with great scenery, costumes and special effects. When the seventh episode aired yesterday, however, many viewers rubbed their eyes at first in surprise and then annoyed.
For minutes they saw virtually nothing. And we weren’t alone in that. The not unjustified question quickly made the rounds on social networks as to whether one’s own television was broken. The good news: it probably isn’t. But the explanation for the black screen should still not appease most fans. It was “a conscious creative decision,” said “HBO,” the house broadcaster of “House of the Dragons” on Twitter the night scene.
Dark instead of artistic
Anyone who has seen “Game of Thrones” should remember a similar situation. Ironically, in one of the most important battles of the series, viewers could hardly hear anything (find out more here). “The Long Night” in season 8 was also deliberately dark – and probably not by accident the same director: Miguel Sapochnik was responsible for both episodes. And opted for darkness as a stylistic device.
The fact that many viewers were therefore unable to see anything is primarily due to technical reasons. Modern screens and televisions with OLED technology and extremely high maximum brightness can display real black, the contrasts are extremely strong. But when the material aimed at it is then viewed on classic screens with LCD technology, a monotonous, much too dark mud comes out instead.
Anyone who has seen the episode on Sky’s streaming service WowTV can also get a worse picture. The highest resolution is 1080p, the bit rate is lower and there is no support for modern color display technologies HDR or even Dolby Vision. The result: the picture looks even worse – and can be further pixelated by a slow or inconsistent Internet connection.
No sympathy for the viewers
The “creative decision” thus becomes a customer-unfriendly one: By relying on the great display on an expensive studio reference monitor with extremely spacious color display and contrast, the director leaves the viewer out in the rain. What is still halfway understandable in classic films intended for the big screen can no longer be understood in TV series. After all, the vast majority of viewers see the series under completely different conditions.
Even those who have an extremely good TV will only be able to see the episode in all its glory later. Only an UltraHD Blu-ray offers the technical requirements to finally bring the artistic vision home in full. And then only if it’s not too bright in the room.
Those: HBO