Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

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Forte224
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Re: Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

Post by Forte224 » Sat Apr 07, 2018 11:08 am

sangofe wrote:
Forte224 wrote:
Robo4900 wrote: The cheapest I've seen Dragon Box Volume 2 go for is £300. There is no way in hell I'm spending that kind of money on this show. It'd be second-hand anyway, so piracy wouldn't be much different, aside from the fact I wouldn't be spending >£300 on 40 episodes of a 291-episode series.
If you go for a complete set it's much, much cheaper. Buying them all separately will definitely go into astronomical prices, but a whole set is better. I've never seen Vol. 2 go for under $260 but getting the whole set brings it under $100 sometimes. I realize you already know all this though.
Off topic but... Really, they have gone down that much? Used to be around 700 for the full set.
I meant 100 per box. I meant buying the whole set lets you basically get box 2 for 100 instead of 260+.

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Re: Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

Post by Robo4900 » Sat Apr 07, 2018 11:45 am

Forte224 wrote:I meant 100 per box. I meant buying the whole set lets you basically get box 2 for 100 instead of 260+.
$700 is still a lot to pay for a set of used DVDs of the show.
The point of Dragon Ball is to enjoy it. Never lose sight of that.

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Re: Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

Post by Forte224 » Sat Apr 07, 2018 12:55 pm

Robo4900 wrote:
Forte224 wrote:I meant 100 per box. I meant buying the whole set lets you basically get box 2 for 100 instead of 260+.
$700 is still a lot to pay for a set of used DVDs of the show.
Yeah but I'm just saying it's way cheaper than buying them one at a time. That was my only point. One at a time would take you well over $1000 easily. Maybe even $2000.

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Re: Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

Post by JEFFMAN219 » Mon Apr 16, 2018 4:43 am

clutchins wrote:The right team and the right budget can remaster Dragon Ball Z properly. Funimation has neither.
I personally don't believe that it is Funimation's responsibility to remaster the series. Toei animation should've remastered both DB and DBZ years ago but as we all know, Toei animation is a really cheap company so I don't see that ever happening in the near future.

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Re: Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

Post by Blondiebear_17 » Thu Apr 19, 2018 12:08 am

I would love to get at least the first two dragon boxes eventually but I feel like the prices on them have gone up more than it was even a couple months ago that and they seem harder to come by in general these days.

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Re: Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

Post by Robo4900 » Thu Apr 19, 2018 7:31 am

JEFFMAN219 wrote:Toei animation should've remastered both DB and DBZ years ago
They did.

And they did GT. And the movies. And the '80s Dr. Slump series.

It's called the Dragon Boxes. (And the Slump Box)
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Re: Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

Post by Kuwabara » Thu Apr 19, 2018 2:58 pm

I've said this before and I'll say it again: whether you're getting the Orange Bricks or the Blu-rays, buy them used! It's bad enough that people buy them at all and that they're already successful releases, but I also understand wanting to collect the series affordably. At least if they're bought used, Funimation doesn't profit from yet another purchase of a cropped, mangled release. Brand new purchases from brick and mortar stores or sites like Amazon just give Funimation the impression that consumers either want DBZ in widescreen, or don't care either way. Vote with your wallet!
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Re: Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

Post by Gligarman » Thu Apr 19, 2018 7:24 pm

This is why I’ve always said that Dragon Ball is basically the original Star Wars Trilogy of anime when it comes to its distribution. It’s so big and so popular that Funimation and Toei don’t know what to do with it because there’s so much money at stake. I have NEVER seen a show get treated with such incompetence. It’s one of the most popular anime in the world and you can’t walk into a store and buy a proper version or even stream it. Crap like this is the reason people still pirate anime. I’m lucky enough to own copies of the Dragon Boxes and that was out of pure luck. Fans deserve better.

To answer the question at hand though, I will say that if you have the funds, you love the show that much, and you're serious about collecting it I'd say it's worth it. That's why I buckled down and got it and I swore that just like the Star Wars Laserdisc Set, I would never buy it again until they offer something better.

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Re: Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

Post by Robo4900 » Thu Apr 19, 2018 7:53 pm

Kuwabara wrote:I've said this before and I'll say it again: whether you're getting the Orange Bricks or the Blu-rays, buy them used! It's bad enough that people buy them at all and that they're already successful releases, but I also understand wanting to collect the series affordably. At least if they're bought used, Funimation doesn't profit from yet another purchase of a cropped, mangled release. Brand new purchases from brick and mortar stores or sites like Amazon just give Funimation the impression that consumers either want DBZ in widescreen, or don't care either way. Vote with your wallet!
Too little too late for that, I'm afriad.
Gligarman wrote:This is why I’ve always said that Dragon Ball is basically the original Star Wars Trilogy of anime when it comes to its distribution. It’s so big and so popular that Funimation and Toei don’t know what to do with it because there’s so much money at stake. I have NEVER seen a show get treated with such incompetence. It’s one of the most popular anime in the world and you can’t walk into a store and buy a proper version or even stream it. Crap like this is the reason people still pirate anime. I’m lucky enough to own copies of the Dragon Boxes and that was out of pure luck. Fans deserve better.
:thumbup:
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Re: Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

Post by Jord » Fri Apr 20, 2018 4:40 am

I myself am lucky enough to own all seven (got the rare 2nd one a long time ago thanks to a fellow Kanzenshuu member) but this situation is crazy. I really feel bad for those that haven't had the chance to buy them. What I find crazy is how Dragonball got those blue box sets, GT those green but DBZ didn't get a similar (full screen) box set. Yes, the blue and green box sets could have been better but they're still very acceptable and a good way to watch the product.

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Re: Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

Post by KBABZ » Fri Apr 20, 2018 7:04 am

Jord wrote:I myself am lucky enough to own all seven (got the rare 2nd one a long time ago thanks to a fellow Kanzenshuu member) but this situation is crazy. I really feel bad for those that haven't had the chance to buy them. What I find crazy is how Dragonball got those blue box sets, GT those green but DBZ didn't get a similar (full screen) box set. Yes, the blue and green box sets could have been better but they're still very acceptable and a good way to watch the product.
I agree, although DB's weird grading, particularly regarding green, is a bit weird. GT is pretty good though outside of the intros and outros, which are rather clearly different reels from the core episode content.

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Re: Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

Post by DBZimran » Fri Apr 20, 2018 7:45 am

I just bought all seven Dragon Boxes for 770 dollars despite having Dragon Box 1, 3-7. Just to get Dragon Box 2. I'm just selling Dragon Box 1, 3,4,5,6,7. If anyone is interested message me.

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Re: Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

Post by Robo4900 » Fri Apr 20, 2018 11:13 am

KBABZ wrote:I agree, although DB's weird grading, particularly regarding green, is a bit weird. GT is pretty good though outside of the intros and outros
DB and GT are both the same masters as the ones used on the singles, but both DB and GT were both heavily drenched in ugly DNR, and GT's Japanese OP/ED visuals were switched out for the textless version with Funi credits added, and the dub OP/ED was left out.

So, with that in mind, the reason DB looks weird is that DB's old tape master that Funi have is of rather poor quality. Reason GT doesn't look too bad is because the single master was the Dragon Box scan at a slightly earlier point in its restoration process.
Ultimately, the oldschool singles are better than the "Season" boxsets of both, though, since it's the same footage, just without the ugly blurring. (Some argue that the singles are interlaced. Fact of the matter is both the singles and the seasons are interlaced due to the nature of the telecine process needed to transfer 24fps footage to a 30fps NTSC DVD. This is easily reversible using an IVTC(Inverse Telecine) filter, which most TVs and such automatically are set up to do, so that's not an issue. People also argue the encoding on the singles wasn't good. Let's not get into that debate for the three millionth time on here, but suffice it to say, many -- myself included -- consider the poor encoding to be far less grievous and noticeable an issue as the blurring, and it only applies to the US release anyway)

Really, the "Season" boxsets as a whole were just a crap job. DB and GT was the old single footage with a heavy blurring filter, Z's was one of the worst film transfers in history(Only surpassed in awfulness by the later Blu-Ray transfer), and in all cases, they were just a downgrade from the old singles.
This poor DVD handling is emblematic of the mismanagement Dragon Ball has undergone in the west.
KBABZ wrote:which are rather clearly different reels from the core episode content.
It's from beta tape, actually. It had to be textless for Funi to put their credits over it, and for the Japanese lyrics to not appear at the bottom, but Toei didn't have film of the textless reel, so they used a beta tape copy of the textless reels, which was used on the Dragon Box GT DVDs as a bonus, and is what Funi used to assemble their opening.
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Re: Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

Post by KBABZ » Fri Apr 20, 2018 11:05 pm

Robo4900 wrote:
KBABZ wrote:which are rather clearly different reels from the core episode content.
It's from beta tape, actually. It had to be textless for Funi to put their credits over it, and for the Japanese lyrics to not appear at the bottom, but Toei didn't have film of the textless reel, so they used a beta tape copy of the textless reels, which was used on the Dragon Box GT DVDs as a bonus, and is what Funi used to assemble their opening.
I figured it was something like that. A shame really, the difference is really noticeable to me.

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Re: Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

Post by JEFFMAN219 » Mon Apr 30, 2018 9:39 pm

Robo4900 wrote:
JEFFMAN219 wrote:Toei animation should've remastered both DB and DBZ years ago
They did.

And they did GT. And the movies. And the '80s Dr. Slump series.

It's called the Dragon Boxes. (And the Slump Box)

Sorry I meant remastered in HD for Blu Ray.

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Re: Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

Post by DragonBallKing » Tue May 01, 2018 12:56 pm

They have access to Dragon Box footage so I don't understand for what reason other than laziness they wouldn't replace the crappy orange brick footage on there streaming service. It would actually give the hardcore fans a reason to purchase a subscription rather than pirate due to the increased quality. Does any streaming service even offer Blu Ray quality or does everyone still use orange brick?
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Re: Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

Post by Robo4900 » Tue May 01, 2018 1:32 pm

DragonBallKing wrote:They have access to Dragon Box footage so I don't understand for what reason other than laziness they wouldn't replace the crappy orange brick footage on there streaming service. It would actually give the hardcore fans a reason to purchase a subscription rather than pirate due to the increased quality. Does any streaming service even offer Blu Ray quality or does everyone still use orange brick?
Technically, no streaming service provides Blu-Ray quality, becuase most streams are only about 8Mbps max, while Blu-Rays can go up to 30-50Mbps.

That aside, while the Z Blu-Ray footage is not used on FuniNow, the master they use is in fact a HD master -- it's the HD render of the Orange Brick master.

I don't think any streaming service uses the Z Blu-Ray footage.
The point of Dragon Ball is to enjoy it. Never lose sight of that.

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