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Watched Tenate 4K last night. All I can say is "weird".

Anyone know if they filmed in higher res as some point?

It’s easy to forget now, but Game of Thrones was the first hour-long HBO drama to be captured entirely digitally. The first three seasons were shot in 10-bit 4:4:4 at 1920x1080 resolution using then prototype ARRI Alexa cameras (save for a bit of footage in the first episode that was actually shot on 35 mm film, left over from HBO’s original failed pilot). For Season One the captured image was recorded on HDCAM SR videotape using a tape-based workflow, with color correction done on set. For Seasons Two and Three, the production went tapeless, recording that same image data via Codex and datapacks. Though this source material was upsampled to 4K (at a 1.78:1 aspect ratio), it’s shocking how good it looks. HDCAM SR has an HQ recording mode that provides an 880 Mbps video data rate with low compression, so the detail visible in the Ultra HD image is improved a bit; it’s rock solid, tighter-looking, and much less noisy than the previous Blu-ray presentation. A few shots appear a little optically soft, but in general the overall detail is very good—not native 4K good, but still impressive as hell all things considered. Also, because the image was captured in 10-bit, and Ultra HD presents that bit depth fully, gone are the banding artifacts that were visible in the BD image (you notice this almost immediately after the opening credits in the first episode, as the banner-men from Winterfell capture the deserter from the Night’s Watch—when they ride over the hill, the banding visible in the sky in that scene is now gone).

By the time Season Four arrived, Arri was well established and fully-digital workflows were far more common. So the production switched to shooting in 3.2K Pro-Res and ARRIRAW format for the remainder of the series, using Arri Alexa Mini, XT, and SXT Plus cameras with Cooke S4 and Angenieux Optimo Lenses (note that some location photography was also done with Red Epic-M Dragon cameras in 6K Redcode RAW). It appears that the series’ VFX were produced in consistently in 2K resolution. The final seasons of the series were finished in 4K to begin with, while the earlier seasons were upsampled to create new 4K DIs. For this Ultra HD release, the resulting image has also graded for high dynamic range (both HDR10 and Dolby Vision are included). There’s no doubt whatsoever that every single episode of this series looks better in 4K than it did on Blu-ray, and the later seasons are significantly improved. There’s a shot of Tyrion in the Season Six episode The Battle of the Bastards where the fine gold embroidery on his tunic is exquisitely detailed.

As you can imagine, and as you’ll know already if you’ve seen the Seasons One and Eight 4K sets, high dynamic range adds much to this image. It’s a restrained grade, but one that makes the colors richer and more nuanced, while deepening the shadows and adding a more natural luminance to the highlights. This helps both darker night and winter scenes as well as those shot in broad daylight. The overcast sky in the North is now bolder, with a more realistic glow, while the opening sequence of the first episode (set beyond the Wall) is more gloomy and ominous. Dragon fire has greater brilliance, armor gleams more accurately in the sunlight. Finally, The Long Night can be seen as it was meant to be (for some of you, it will be like seeing the episode for the first time). Fans who can take advantage of Dolby Vision will be especially pleased by its impact on that episode. The important takeaway here is that HBO’s Ultra HD release absolutely improves upon the Blu-ray viewing experience. And while it’s not native 4K, it’s not a small improvement either. Even the 4K menu screens have been upgraded to 4K with HDR—a nice touch.