Apple TV+'s For All Mankind Season 1 Review

Casimir Harlow

Movies Editor
Joined
Feb 28, 2005
Messages
9,257
Reaction score
18,869
Points
8,059
Age
45
Location
Reading
Your thoughts echo mine, pretty much. Beautifully put together, a slow burner, but a strong sense it's building to something special. And yeah, what about that stream quality, eh? Eek! Netflix look out.
 
This show is a definite 10 from me, I love it. The show gets better each week, and the effects, picture and sound are all top drawer.
 
Thanks Cas, there is something odd going on though.
Unless I’m going mad, it seems Dolby Vision is no longer available on any TV+ titles. Those episodes which were DV now play in HDR10 on an Apple TV and, even worse, only in SDR on an Amazon Fire TV.
Based on how episode 5 of all of them looked to me, the HDR10 version introduced picture noise that wasn’t present in DV. They still look good just not as good. I don’t understand why that would be, nor what Apple are up to.
 
Thanks Cas, there is something odd going on though.
Unless I’m going mad, it seems Dolby Vision is no longer available on any TV+ titles. Those episodes which were DV now play in HDR10 on an Apple TV and, even worse, only in SDR on an Amazon Fire TV.
Based on how episode 5 of all of them looked to me, the HDR10 version introduced picture noise that wasn’t present in DV. They still look good just not as good. I don’t understand why that would be, nor what Apple are up to.
Mines doing the same, must just be a bug. try again later
 
Mines doing the same, must just be a bug. try again later
It might be a bug I suppose. I’ve been checking it for a week. Episode 5 was HDR10 last Friday, but all other episodes were still DV. Now everything is HDR10.
edit- Its not quite everything, Dickinson is still Dolby Vision.
 
Last edited:
How can anyone not like Molly Cobb?

10/10 for me!

Series so far hits all the marks on cue.
 
It might be a bug I suppose. I’ve been checking it for a week. Episode 5 was HDR10 last Friday, but all other episodes were still DV. Now everything is HDR10.
edit- Its not quite everything, Dickinson is still Dolby Vision.
I noticed that too, they must be having technical issues because they have clearly done the DV masters.
 
I noticed that too, they must be having technical issues because they have clearly done the DV masters.
Would the conversion of a DV master to HDR10 cause the slight loss of picture quality Steve?
I’m assuming it’s still a DV stream and the box is converting it.
The most obvious example is the title sequence for See which was noticeably cleaner while DV was available.
 
I heard from an industry source just this week that the HDR10 base layer of a Dolby Vision grade is created automatically and thus not as good as an HDR10 grade created manually from scratch.
 
I heard from an industry source just this week that the HDR10 base layer of a Dolby Vision grade is created automatically and thus not as good as an HDR10 grade created manually from scratch.
That would explain it. Thank you.
 
Excellent review. It is great news that Apple streaming quality raises the bar and hopefully other streaming services will consider improving quality - especially Netflix which tries to shuv 4HDR/ATMOS into 15.25mbps - hence horrible sound quality. Even the Makers of Stranger Things complained to Netflix about how compressed their content sounds on Netflix. Apple streams have been 30-40mbps.
 
I haven't watched much on ATV+ this week but it looks like I have the same issue, no DV. On my TV it hasn't made "that" much of a difference. Maybe because of the size or the nits, dunno?

Anyway, I wasn't interested in watching this, unlike the Morning Show. One of the ads looked a bit woke without a purpose kind of thing. The Morning Show could be construed that way but just looked it could be a great show, and it is. So I guess I'm watching this one now too.

First Disc reviews (I've still haven't watched all of my discs), now ATV+ too, will it ever end?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Great review Cas :thumbsup:

Now where did Dolby Vision go for this and "SEE"??? :thumbsdow
 
Great review Cas :thumbsup:

Now where did Dolby Vision go for this and "SEE"??? :thumbsdow

Think Apple's just having a bad day. I'm sure it'll be fine later.
 
The PQ since everything has reverted to HDR10 is noticeably degraded. More noise and less detail. I'll wait until they sort it out until I go back to ATV. Been all week with issues though.
 
Thanks for the Review Cas.
I now want to watch this, but for us the rest of the offerings right now are uninteresting. Guess I'll wait until Series 1 is finished, see if I can rent as standalone.
 
The PQ since everything has reverted to HDR10 is noticeably degraded. More noise and less detail. I'll wait until they sort it out until I go back to ATV. Been all week with issues though.
I contacted Apple earlier about DV going walkabout and they said I was the only person to call in with the issue and have I reset my Apple TV and is my cable the Belkin one they sell on the Apple store...:rotfl::facepalm:
 
They also seem to be having problems with iTunes search. I say a search term in Siri and it takes up to a minute before the matches appear.
 
after 20 mins of episode 2 i was bored senseless, as i was with episode 1 but a managed get through the full episode. It was duller than that matt deamon movie were hes stuck on mars, drama and tension without either.

do your kids watch these youtubers who just do nothing apart from make a cup of coffee, capturing it from 10 difrent angles and waffle on. that how much this new show grabbed me.
 
Last edited:
A workaround for the missing DV for those with an Apple TV.
Force the box into Dolby Vision and turn off dynamic range matching. It’s going to need a full evenings watching to be certain, but my initial impression is that it’s passing through the Dolby Vision version untouched. It certainly looks a lot, lot better.
Sadly I have no solution for other devices.
 
Recently bought the 2019 I PAD and with it come's ATV+ free for 1 year ..Having watched the Morning Show on my now departed ATV4K i have watched nothing since.. just to say the DV on the ATV Box is superior PQ wise to the app on Amazon devices though only HDR 10 in a Blindtest most would not notice a difference between DV/10 but in this case you really can.
 
I contacted Apple earlier about DV going walkabout and they said I was the only person to call in with the issue and have I reset my Apple TV and is my cable the Belkin one they sell on the Apple store...:rotfl::facepalm:
Did they ask you if you had tried turning it off then on again?
 
They do normally ask you to delete something and download it again...even though you’re streaming it :laugh:
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom