The subtle differences between releases concerning video

[Danfun64]

While the changes to the audio of DBZ Kai are common knowledge (Yamamoto and Kikuchi), I'm curious if there are any differences video wise between releases. I'm not referring to the aspect ratio or title screen changes. I remember reading a post somewhere (which I can't find for some reason) from someone saying that he preferred Japanese HDTV raws as his way of watching Kai because of subtle differences in the video, like they preserved more original animation and/or animation errors or something. I also remember that person saying something to the effect of "even the earliest releases have changes from the original broadcast" I haven't heard anything about this anywhere else from that one post which I can't even find anymore, so for all I know, such differences are nonexistent.

Anybody able to confirm or deny? If it is true (which I doubt), why hasn't this phenomenon been recorded anywhere?

[VegettoEX]

For Kai, one of the big examples I can think of is that the preview of Tenshinhan's Kikoho against Nappa had its effects layer turned off. In the next episode proper, it was corrected. In the very first episode, "Paradice" was spelled incorrectly as such in the opening theme's lyrics.

Stuff like that. These are little mistakes that get lost to history when the home video release comes out and presumably fixes such things.

While not for Kai, but along these same lines, Kei has also outlined some proto-versions of the DBZ opening themes from the original Japanese broadcast before they finished animating some clouds and movements and such.

[DB1984]

While not for Kai, but along these same lines, Kei has also outlined some proto-versions of the DBZ opening themes from the original Japanese broadcast before they finished animating some clouds and movements and such.

And here's something Kei didn't notice originally: The clouds are different. HCKTROX was the first in the comments to notice this. I don't mean this as any harm. We all overlook certain things and make mistakes.

[DemonRin]

If you're basing this on some people saying they see "Differences" between video one thing It could be is that, especially with DB properties if you're in part basing this on fansubs or "TV Rip" raws, they could look drastically different from one another because a lot of people feel the need to "Fix" the video in some cases. Barring the obvious, that not every video recorded from a TV Broadcast is captured in the best quality, there are inherent issues with Kai people are divided on. Like, thanks to the method used to remaster Kai, there's sometimes a "Softness" to the video at times where the lines aren't as Crisp as you might normally expect from an HD Production, so sometimes people who make these videos, be they fansub or "raw" will apply filters to the video to try and "Fix" this. Also, some people blur out TV station logos and that clock some anime likes to put on the screen, then apply filters to the rest of the video to make the Blur less noticeable.
For a more extreme example of the same thing, look for any "HD" Video of Dragonball Z uploaded to Youtube before the Blu-rays hit and you'll see videos that have MASSIVE filters and upscaling done to try to make them look "HD" when the source video is decidedly not.

You sometimes see this in other animes as well, especially if the Raw capture wasn't the best but obviously as DBZ and Kai is older/based on older footage, the effects and filters needed to make the video look how these people want it has a much more pronounced and obvious effect.

This is very much a YMMV kinda thing tho, since I remember hating how Kai looked on TV Rips I saw, but being really happy with the Blu-rays.
In both cases, DBZ and Kai, almost all of the filters they apply to "Sharpen" and fix what they perceive as blemishes has an adverse effect on other parts of the video. Short of frame-by-frame remastering, which no "fansubber" is gonna waste their time on, there's no real way to "fix" these things in a way that doesn't cause problems in other parts of the video. This is the same complaint people have about FUNimation's "Remastering" of Z, only they're basing their work off of already-compressed TV rips than actual film masters like FUNi has... and even that doesn't end up looking good to plenty of people. lol

So yeah, this is why sometimes the overall video sometimes looks drastically different on video sourced from a TV Rip than a Blu-ray or Blu-ray Rip.