FUNimation Dragon Box Z #1 (In-Hands) Discussion

[Smooth Criminal]

Sorry, but if there is one thing i don't like is watching something with black bars. Then i feel stupid for buying such a big tv...

Why are you bothering with the Dragonboxes then? You can get the season sets for a fraction of the price and you can watch it in anamorphic widescreen as opposed to having your TV crop or stretch it.

I'm sorry, but what you are doing doesn't make sense.

Why wouldn't it? Regardless of the aspect ratio in which he chooses to view the Dbox, it cannot be argued that the picture quality and clarity is leaps and bounds above what is seen on the season sets.

Do you really think watching this in 4:3 is the only selling point here?

Another factor is screen burn in. On older CRT hdtvs, and even some newer ones like plasmas, watching programs with pillar boxes for an extended period of time can cause the brightness of the center image to be disproportionate to the side bars... Permanently. Some viewers don't want to take that risk, and thus view their 4:3 content in a stretched format. Nothing wrong with that.

What you are saying doesn't make sense.

[Jabberwock xeno]

I have yet to open mine, so I am still confused about this.

as far as I have seen, the picture grainness is worse than the orange bricks, the color seems to be worse in some places, it lacks marathon play or the english broadcast audio,

Is the (for lack of a better term) framerate that much better? is it uncensored?

[KaiserNeko]

I have yet to open mine, so I am still confused about this.

as far as I have seen, the picture grainness is worse than the orange bricks, the color seems to be worse in some places, it lacks marathon play or the english broadcast audio,

Is the (for lack of a better term) framerate that much better? is it uncensored?

The colors are, for the most part, correct. The video on your set just has to be tuned correctly. There's no loss of detail like the orange bricks and it's in fullscreen, so there's no loss of actual picture either. The Japanese audio is also much better off. The grain is a little more obvious, which is bothersome for some people, but it really doesn't detract that much from the experience.

As for the loss of the English Broadcast Audio... well, if you were a fan of it, then it's too bad you had to lose it. Just try and take on the mindset of, "For all intents and purposes, it should never have existed in the first place."

Lastly, they've all been uncensored and uncut since FUNimation stopped releasing cut versions YEARS ago.

[Jabberwock xeno]

I have yet to open mine, so I am still confused about this.

as far as I have seen, the picture grainness is worse than the orange bricks, the color seems to be worse in some places, it lacks marathon play or the english broadcast audio,

Is the (for lack of a better term) framerate that much better? is it uncensored?

The colors are, for the most part, correct. The video on your set just has to be tuned correctly. There's no loss of detail like the orange bricks and it's in fullscreen, so there's no loss of actual picture either. The Japanese audio is also much better off. The grain is a little more obvious, which is bothersome for some people, but it really doesn't detract that much from the experience.

As for the loss of the English Broadcast Audio... well, if you were a fan of it, then it's too bad you had to lose it. Just try and take on the mindset of, "For all intents and purposes, it should never have existed in the first place."

Lastly, they've all been uncensored and uncut since FUNimation stopped releasing cut versions YEARS ago.

It's not the dub audio I like, I just really love vegeta's theme.... but anyways, thanks!

[kindertuin]

Why wouldn't it? Regardless of the aspect ratio in which he chooses to view the Dbox, it cannot be argued that the picture quality and clarity is leaps and bounds above what is seen on the season sets.

Do you really think watching this in 4:3 is the only selling point here?

What you are saying doesn't make sense.

Thank you. I couldn't say it better, and i am not going to argue abouth this. I watch it this way, deal with it.

[Teclo]

I have to say, it does look pretty fuzzy to me. I'm probably just spoiled by watching things like Bluray rips of Bakemonogatari, though. I guess it's not fair for such an old show to be compared to a recent, HD one - it still does make the image quality selling point a bit underwhelming. Still, I'm more than happy with it since I can now buy all of DBZ without fear of something even better coming out down the line (I mean, it's not like even a Bluray release would actually be higher quality - it'd just be using more pixels to display the same quality image, like playing Super Mario Brothers in 1080p).

[jjgp1112]

Sorry, but if there is one thing i don't like is watching something with black bars. Then i feel stupid for buying such a big tv...

You're the kind of person that destroys my video releases by being pandered to. Stop that.

Thanks for making me spit my drink out.

[JulieYBM]

Sorry, but if there is one thing i don't like is watching something with black bars. Then i feel stupid for buying such a big tv...

You're the kind of person that destroys my video releases by being pandered to. Stop that.

Thanks for making me spit my drink out.

Well hey, at least you got a laugh out of it.

[MajinVejitaXV]

Do you really think watching this in 4:3 is the only selling point here?

I'd argue, given the backlash against the Orange Bricks, that it's a sizable one though not the only one. But that's just me ;p

Another factor is screen burn in. On older CRT hdtvs, and even some newer ones like plasmas, watching programs with pillar boxes for an extended period of time can cause the brightness of the center image to be disproportionate to the side bars... Permanently. Some viewers don't want to take that risk, and thus view their 4:3 content in a stretched format. Nothing wrong with that.

To give a differing viewpoint, typically burn-in takes a *lot* of abuse and contrast settings being way too high. A lot of televisions for the past several years have employed pixel wobblers (usually under some proprietary term), which shift the image at a rate that cannot be perceived by the human eye, further preventing such occurrences.

As a comparison though, the risk of burn-in from watching something with pillarboxes is no worse then watching a film with letterboxing (for wider than 16:9 films) or playing a game with a static HUD.

Oh, and don't confuse temporary image retention (like what I experience on my Pioneer plasma from 2004, still running strong with no drop in brightness btw ;p) with permanent burn-in. Some people freak because of this.

What you are saying doesn't make sense.

Now now, be nice.

-Corey

[Sshadow5001]

it still does make the image quality selling point a bit underwhelming. Still, I'm more than happy with it since I can now buy all of DBZ without fear of something even better coming out down the line (I mean, it's not like even a Bluray release would actually be higher quality - it'd just be using more pixels to display the same quality image, like playing Super Mario Brothers in 1080p).

I brought up this exact argument at home just a few hours ago.

I got the first Dragonbox today and I was mega excited and everyone around me had the a sort of "Good for you" look on there faces?

I had to explain to them that I didn't have these episodes yet and that they were Remastered and better than they were ever going to get. Id already told them abouth Funimations re-re-release and they brought up the argument "what about Blueray?".

Old anime will always look old no matter what disks there printed on.

My family doesn't care for anime.

[OutlawTorn]

Do you really think watching this in 4:3 is the only selling point here?

I'd argue, given the backlash against the Orange Bricks, that it's a sizable one though not the only one. But that's just me ;p

Yeah. In addition to the untouchable picture quality, the 4:3 presentation was practically a deal breaker for me in committing to the sets. Had the Dragon Boxes been in the same widescreen as the season sets, I don't think I would have seen the point of buying them, even with the quality of the picture.

[isucamper]

Why wouldn't it? Regardless of the aspect ratio in which he chooses to view the Dbox, it cannot be argued that the picture quality and clarity is leaps and bounds above what is seen on the season sets.

Do you really think watching this in 4:3 is the only selling point here?

Another factor is screen burn in. On older CRT hdtvs, and even some newer ones like plasmas, watching programs with pillar boxes for an extended period of time can cause the brightness of the center image to be disproportionate to the side bars... Permanently. Some viewers don't want to take that risk, and thus view their 4:3 content in a stretched format. Nothing wrong with that.

What you are saying doesn't make sense.

The internet just makes me smile sometimes.

I'm saying that if you have to watch it widescreen, the anamorphic picture of the season set is going to look way... way... better than the dragonbox stretched and distorted to 16:9.

And they costs 20 dollars instead of 60.

[johnboy1]

The internet just makes me smile sometimes.

Really? It makes me want to murder people.

[GizmoKSX]

It's not the dub audio I like, I just really love vegeta's theme.... but anyways, thanks!

I have always liked the piano/synth piece played when he first turns Super Saiyan. I'm perfectly happy to have the Dragon Boxes and watch the whole show through with its intended audio, but I've still got my dubbed VHS collection boxed for nostalgia. (It also serves as a reminder of just how much more expensive it actually was to collect the show back then.)

I'm saying that if you have to watch it widescreen, the anamorphic picture of the season set is going to look way... way... better than the dragonbox stretched and distorted to 16:9.

And they costs 20 dollars instead of 60.

The season sets would look smoother, but he said he's watching it stretched, not zoomed. That distorts the picture, but the Dragon Box still does offer greater detail and (arguably) more accurate color.

I personally don't agree with distorting the image via zooming or stretching.* If I had a widescreen TV, I'd be perfectly content with pillarboxing (which may be due to my being "trained" to watching widescreen content letterboxed on my 4:3 set for most of my life). I'd prefer to have each piece of material presented for what it is, not artificially turned into home-theater demo material. If I wanted to show off a vivid Deep Color display and Dolby TrueHD 7.2 surround setup, I'd throw in Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete, not Citizen Kane.**

*(You could argue that my 10+ year-old CRT SDTV is zooming via overscan, compared to if I chose to watch the show exclusively on my PC monitor. I've taken screenshots and done an A/B, and Yajirobe's face is nearly missing in the end credits on my TV. Yes, I know that overscan is taken into consideration when the show is framed.)

**If someone wants to watch DBZ stretched at home, and that makes them happy, that's all right, as long as they're supporting the proper release. Holding out and actually petitioning for fake widescreen and colorization—and making the creators' intended version less accessible for everyone else—is where I'd have a problem. But seeing as the Wizard Of Oz Blu-ray was released in 4:3, and we are getting new 4:3 releases of all intended things DB, I'm more hopeful these days than I was a few years ago.

[jjgp1112]

So I decided to watch a select few episodes from the Remastered sets and came to a conclusion: I can see how people would prefer the Season sets to the Dragon Box. On a 4:3 TV, the season sets definitely appear a lot more zoomed-out and thanks to the letterbox, it does look a lot more cinematic and it feels more like you're watching a movie. However, the colors are fugly and it's still blurry looking. But still, I can understand why some people prefer to watch the remastered sets over the Dragon Box.

However, one thing I can definitely confirm now is that the dub audio mix is better. I was watching the beginning of Episode 31 when Goku is powering up and the music is almost completely drowned out by the voices and sound effects on the remastered sets while on the Dragon Box, you can actually hear the music clearly.

[Metalwario64]

However, one thing I can definitely confirm now is that the dub audio mix is better. I was watching the beginning of Episode 31 when Goku is powering up and the music is almost completely drowned out by the voices and sound effects on the remastered sets while on the Dragon Box, you can actually hear the music clearly.

Good to know. Chances are I'll buy at least the first three sets now!

[tinlunlau]

Well, I finally bought the Dragon Box 1 today and I tested it out on my 40' inch Samsung HDTV. Playing it thru my PS3. First thing I noticed, the PS3 stretched the image to fit the entire wide screen. So I set my TV to display in 4:3. Noticed the colors were bleeding really badly in the darker scenes ut looked fine in brighter scenes.

Did this happen to anyone else?

Oh, I also set the contrast to dynamic.

[Eddie]

Well, I finally bought the Dragon Box 1 today and I tested it out on my 40' inch Samsung HDTV. Playing it thru my PS3. First thing I noticed, the PS3 stretched the image to fit the entire wide screen. So I set my TV to display in 4:3. Noticed the colors were bleeding really badly in the darker scenes ut looked fine in brighter scenes.

Did this happen to anyone else?

Oh, I also set the contrast to dynamic.

You shouldn't need to mess with your TV. Your PS3 will do 4:3 on its own. Just go adjust the display settings with your PS3 controller while watching. There shouldn't be a need to drastically alter your contrast settings either.

[coola]

On Friday. I got my fixed disc from AxelMusic. I fully recommend this shop.

[The Time Traveller]

Anyone else laugh at this?

It's kinda bugs me seeing Cha-La-Head-Cha-La on top of itself, plus there's 4 Cha-La Head-Cha-La's there, plus once in Japanese...

Though it's the same for SPARKING! too...