Just as Passion Food makes its TV debut, Isabella has her newfound success complicated by the arrival of Toninho, who wants to take her back home to Brazil. The transfer itself is very attractive, offering a crisp and nicely detailed image. Colors are richly vibrant, with the warmer hues appearing quite sumptuous. Flesh tones are wonderfully appealing, but never look overdone. There are no signs of chroma noise or bleeding, despite the vibrancy of the color palette.
Blacks are pure, plus the picture produces excellent shadow detail and depth.
Digital compression artifacts remain out of sight during the presentation. The Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack actually exceeds my expectations, with a lively mix that makes good use of the discrete nature of the format. Channel separation is good across the front, as well as from the forward soundstage to the rear. The surround channels are nicely deployed during key moments with directional effects, plus they also provide a good level of ambient sound throughout. Dialogue reproduction is clean and fully intelligible, despite heavy accents on some of the performers.