This is made all the more realistic thanks to the use of high dynamic range (HDR), with shafts of sunlight illuminating various underwater creatures in such a striking manner that they almost look like effects shots.

The vast coral reefs are just bursting with the tiniest of details that make full use of the additional pixels and this fascinating underwater world is delivered with incredible reality. The level of detail in the 4K photography is often stunning with close-ups of dolphins revealing every tiny mark and scar in staggering detail and every hair visible on the face of a walrus. Staggering 4K HDR images, each more colourful and jaw-dropping than the lastīlue Planet II looked incredible when broadcast in Full HD and even more impressive in HLG on the iPlayer but the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray takes things to another level. Blue Planet II is the next title to get the HDR treatment and the series has already been used by the BBC to demonstrate Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) on the iPlayer. Planet Earth II was the first flagship series to show the full potential of increased resolution, higher dynamic range and wider colour gamuts, all of which were showcased to great effect on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release. Recent BBC wildlife documentary series have been used as a test bed for the burgeoning technologies that are revolutionising the way we watch TV.

We reviewed Blue Planet II using the Oppo UDP-203 Ultra HD Blu-ray player and an LG 55B7 OLED TV. The series is presented at a resolution of 3840 x 2160p and in its correct 1.78:1 aspect ratio, the discs use 10-bit video depth, a Wider Colour Gamut (WCG) and High Dynamic Range (HDR), and are encoded using the HEVC (H.265) codec. Blue Planet II was filmed digitally using various 4K cameras and was finished using a 4K Digital Intermediate (DI), which presumably formed the basis for this Ultra HD Blu-ray release.

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