TWD S06E05 1080p WebDL x265 HEVC 5.1 noobless[UTR]

I did choose a marginally lesser quality setting for this episode, but the biggest reason for the smaller size for E05 is that it is 21 minutes shorter than E04. In any case, do let me know what you think of the quality vs the previous episodes.

Season: 6
Episode: 5
Title: Now
Summary: Following a number of setbacks, the mood in Alexandria grows grim for the sheltered citizens.
Video: 1080p | x265 (H.265/HEVC) | CRF 23 | slow preset | denoise, deband, ordered noise pre-processing pass
Audio: English | AAC LC | 6 channels | Target Quality 0.4 | 321 Kbps Variable (372 Kbps max)
Subtitles (embedded SRT): English, English SDH
Source: The.Walking.Dead.S06E05.1080p.WEB-DL.DD5.1.H.264-Cyphanix.mkv (5480 Kbps)

TWD is the ugliest source material I've ever had the displeasure of working with. For one thing, the bitrate is too low in places, revealing artifacts. The grain is also horrendous and there is some color banding present. Why the studio allows the network to release a product this poor is beyond me.

Pre-processing the grain and color banding out took quite a bit of tweaking for me to get right. The end result is, in my opinion, a higher quality print than the original. See comparison screenshots below I did for E01 (these screens are not representative of the actual file in this torrent):


Until we get a BluRay, I believe this is the best WebDL product we're going to get. Even then I suspect the quality will only marginally improve (still grain, but no artifacts).

[soapbox]Distributors need to up their delivered quality! Stop affixing a fixed ~5500kbps bitrate to every WebDL.Studios need to stop applying grain like it makes everything better. All it does is mask the poor quality of your low-budget CGI. If you're going to stylistically apply grain, like this show does, do it right by telling the player to add it later with Film Grain SEI messages.[/soapbox]

Full media info: