It was the age of Da Vinci and Michelangelo, of enlightened creativity and unparalleled intellectual achievement. But it was also the age of Machievelli, of rampant lawlessness, incessant war and unspeakable depravity. At the heart of the world order was the Vatican, the arbiter of conflicts between kingdoms and empires. And at the center of the Vatican was a man whose quest for power would propel him to seek the ultimate prize, the holy see of Rome. He was a man whose name would become synonymous with ruthlessness, and whose reign as pope would be remembered as the most infamous chapter of the history of the Catholic church -Rodrigo Borgia. His four children -Juan, the oldest, a prideful, lazy, unscrupulous sexual predator, Cesare, a young man torn between a faith that was not his calling and his dark violent nature, Lucretia, a young girl discovering the secret power that a women's sexuality holds, and Goffredo, an innocent child who would come of age in a family riven by conflict- would provide Rodrigo with a challenge as great as the political maneuvering of his political and religious rivals. "Borgia" is a one hour dramatic series that chronicles the rise to power of this Spanish Cardinal and his clan, who would seek to establish a dynasty that would hold sway over the entire world. Though a man of faith, Rodrigo was also in thrall to the pleasures of the flesh. Not only did he have to deal with the plotting and conspiracies of his fellow cardinals and the representatives of the great powers, but he was locked in a struggle to contain the bitter sibling rivalries that threatened to tear his family apart. "Borgia" is a cauldron of intrigue, violence, murder, lust, politics, faith, incest, betrayal and redemption, a story as compelling and enlightening as the age in which it takes place. Synopsis by IMDb
My Blu-Ray rips are always taken DIRECTLY from the actual blu-rays, not re-encodings of an earlier h264 torrent, and not "filled in" with web downloads. HEVC is a superb machine, but it should be given quality raw materials.
This is the first season of Borgia, taken directly from a blu-ray.
Created by a special request, this is a 720p version with stereo sound. Made to be as small as possible yet maintain great 720p video.
I used x265 to make a 10 bit HEVC video, in CRF mode (constant rate factor) in preference to a multipass encoding which produced poor results for the many darker scenes, at this low bandwidth. I used a CRF of 22 and encoded using the "slower" preset.
Finally, the English subtitles are included in the stream (soft coded).
Please share, comment, flame or enjoy.
Video: 1280 x 720p | 23.976 fps | h265 10 Bit LE | Chroma 4:2:0
Audio: AAC 2.0
Subtitles: Subrip SRT |