Better Sound Quality for Original DBZ?

[Jinzoningen MULE]

Toei was too cheap to keep the original audio masters. Every other Anime studio kept them for their productions. Toei was the only one who was too lazy.

Oh, this tired old line... It had nothing to do with laziness. The audio was expensive to keep and home releases were not a common practice of the time. They had no reason to keep the audio as far as they knew, these are human beings, they don't have future-vision. Toei's refusal of Kei's audio is really their only "sin" against the fandom.

Actually, home video was pretty much in full swing in both the US and Japan by 1986 when DB debuted. But there could have been any number of reasons why the audio masters were not kept. My own speculation is money. Too much money needed to keep something that might or might have any value in the future (though by 1986 they should have taken a cue from the BBC and kept everything they made). Toei was well known for being a rather stingy studio, unlike say, Tezuka Pro that kept everything. We'll probably never know what really went down anyway. Ah well, hindsight...

Entire series's? You'd get "best of" collections and movies, but rarely a whole series the length of DB, at least from my understanding. If we're talking later Dragon Ball, that's a different story, but they were just doing what they had always done.

[DB1984]

Here's kei17's post on the subject matter. He seems to imply that Toei was the only studio in Japan that did this (discard the original audio masters).

viewtopic.php?t=16051

Also, I heard the best recordings are from Fuji TV's Kanto affiliate, as that's where the Tokyo Tower is located in.

[simtek34]

So that means, if FUNimation ever releases the movie Dragon Box, it will have the high quality sound since the movies were also released back in the 1990's with the master audio?

[VegettoEX]

So that means, if FUNimation ever releases the movie Dragon Box, it will have the high quality sound since the movies were also released back in the 1990's with the master audio?

If FUNimation were to release "Dragon Box: The Movies" the same way that they released the DBZ TV series in a Dragon Box format, yes, it would contain the exact same video and audio tracks that Toei would provide to them digitally to use on that particular release.

There is no indication that this is going to happen, though, and it's extremely unlikely that FUNimation would revert back to a DVD-only release in 2017 or beyond.

[SaiyanGod117]

Here's kei17's post on the subject matter. He seems to imply that Toei was the only studio in Japan that did this (discard the original audio masters).

viewtopic.php?t=16051

Also, I heard the best recordings are from Fuji TV's Kanto affiliate, as that's where the Tokyo Tower is located in.

Why would they do that lol. They always have a weird way of doing business.

[Ajay]

[
Why would they do that lol. They always have a weird way of doing business.

Toei, for whatever reason, aren't the most consistently forward-thinking company. See: everyone being forced to pirate Super for over a year before they finally gave us a simulcast. A very stark contrast to how Resurrection 'F' was handled.

[SaiyanGod117]

[
Why would they do that lol. They always have a weird way of doing business.

Toei, for whatever reason, aren't the most consistently forward-thinking company. See: everyone being forced to pirate Super for over a year before they finally gave us a simulcast. A very stark contrast to how Resurrection 'F' was handled.

Not only that, but for some reason they only allow one season (use to be 3) of Dragon Ball Z to be streamed on Hulu and it's really not even the full season it's 10 episodes. The US fans seem to get the worst of it, does Kai 2014 still have green tint on Blu-ray?

[Ajay]

does Kai 2014 still have green tint on Blu-ray?

Yeah, Kai is green across all releases. The only difference in terms of video quality between the Japanese version and the Final Chapters is the sharpening filter applied to the Japanese release.

[dougo13]

Been doing some caps and rips while I'm laid up at home here (bad back problems) and the tapes I had from my friend in Nagasaki have the 16 Khz bandpass filter.To be fair though I can understand why. Most people can't hear above that anyway. Used to be a saying that only very young children, dogs and cats can hear that high. I know from tests of my hearing that things get spotty above 14 or so and above 16 there is only silence. One of the bad things about getting old. Anyway, I have a whole bunch of spectrum analysis pix showing the various audio as well now several full episodes with the better audio. If what they released is similar to the normal audio on the linear track, then we are missing half of the sound. It's really noticeable on music! The opening and closing credits, background music (the recap from previous episodes especially), etc. sound really nice when put through a good sound system. I wonder what the original was like before everything was downmixed to mono? I know from watching things like the new Space Battleship Yamato discs that the audio could be eye popping but I have yet to listen to Super that way. Will have to get some discs eventually to try...

[GokuDaimao]

Here's an example of how the Dragon Box looks next to the master tapes: https://vid.me/yxxv

[DBZimran]

Here's an example of how the Dragon Box looks next to the master tapes: https://vid.me/yxxv

This audio is incredible! It sounds almost too good to be true. What is the source?

[LuckyCat]

Wow, Wakamoto's delivery sounds so much clearer in the Master video. I'd never been too interested in the original audio, but I'd love to hear more of that now.

[Jinzoningen MULE]

Wow, Wakamoto's delivery sounds so much clearer in the Master video. I'd never been too interested in the original audio, but I'd love to hear more of that now.

There's still a chance we'll get similar audio on a home release from Funimation one day, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

[dougo13]

Here is what the audio looks like from the tapes I capped (Hifi) showing the 16 Khz cuttoff point:



Here is what the Hifi track looks like compared to the linear audio track (which seems about what the audio samples above sound like [ie. Optical track]):



What this seems to tell me is that the optical track is good for about voice frequencies up to about 10 Khz which is what I believe the standard was at the time. I wish i could post my own samples but they are in VOB format which Photobucket won't accept. Otherwise I have to convert them which I am loathe to do. The AC-3 sound from the Pioneer recorder/JVC S-VHS decks just sounds too nice to tamper with. Maybe I can put them onto one of my drive services. I'll have to have a look...

[GokuDaimao]

Here's an example of how the Dragon Box looks next to the master tapes: https://vid.me/yxxv

This audio is incredible! It sounds almost too good to be true. What is the source?

I can't say the name of the person who gave me this sample but my sources tell me that I'm getting master audio from an ex-Toei employee. All we know is that she is a woman in her 30's currently residing in the United Kingdom.

[DBZimran]

Here's an example of how the Dragon Box looks next to the master tapes: https://vid.me/yxxv

This audio is incredible! It sounds almost too good to be true. What is the source?

I can't say the name of the person who gave me this sample but my sources tell me that I'm getting master audio from an ex-Toei employee. All we know is that she is a woman in her 30's currently residing in the United Kingdom.

Yeah I heard that this individual illegally copied the audio from the master tapes before they were thrown out. And now just so happens to have bought a holiday home in Liverpool where she can listen to the master audio with the sounds of the seagulls taking 'sh*ts' on her balcony.

I'm being sarcastic... I don't believe for one minute a former Toei employee in their 30s is now residing in the UK with sought after audio that she illegally copied. If she's in her 30s let's say 36 while DBZ aired in 1989 she would have been 9 or 10 years old in 1989. So... Yeah.

[Jinzoningen MULE]

This audio is incredible! It sounds almost too good to be true. What is the source?

I can't say the name of the person who gave me this sample but my sources tell me that I'm getting master audio from an ex-Toei employee. All we know is that she is a woman in her 30's currently residing in the United Kingdom.

Yeah I heard that this individual illegally copied the audio from the master tapes before they were thrown out. And now just so happens to have bought a holiday home in Liverpool where she can listen to the broadcast audio with the sounds of the seagulls taking 'sh*ts' on her balcony.
I'm being sarcastic... I don't believe for one minute a former toei employee in their 30s is now residing in the UK with sought after audio that she illegally copied. If she's in her 30s let's say 36 while DBZ aired in 1989 she would have been 9 or 10 years old in 1989. So... Yeah

I didn't think it worth commenting on... but yeah, pretty much.

[GokuDaimao]

This audio is incredible! It sounds almost too good to be true. What is the source?

I can't say the name of the person who gave me this sample but my sources tell me that I'm getting master audio from an ex-Toei employee. All we know is that she is a woman in her 30's currently residing in the United Kingdom.

Yeah I heard that this individual illegally copied the audio from the master tapes before they were thrown out. And now just so happens to have bought a holiday home in Liverpool where she can listen to the master audio with the sounds of the seagulls taking 'sh*ts' on her balcony.

I'm being sarcastic... I don't believe for one minute a former Toei employee in their 30s is now residing in the UK with sought after audio that she illegally copied. If she's in her 30s let's say 36 while DBZ aired in 1989 she would have been 9 or 10 years old in 1989. So... Yeah.

Well, you heard it, so you know it exists. And it had to come from somewhere.

[Jinzoningen MULE]

Well, you heard it, so you know it exists. And it had to come from somewhere.

It came from somewhere, therefore it must have come from a ten year-old ex-Toei employee who stole recordings that Toei didn't have. No way could the audio have come from an old recording of the original broadcast, that's absurd!

[Nejishiki]

What this seems to tell me is that the optical track is good for about voice frequencies up to about 10 Khz which is what I believe the standard was at the time. I wish i could post my own samples but they are in VOB format which Photobucket won't accept. Otherwise I have to convert them which I am loathe to do. The AC-3 sound from the Pioneer recorder/JVC S-VHS decks just sounds too nice to tamper with. Maybe I can put them onto one of my drive services. I'll have to have a look...

Have you considered Wondershare?