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

[Ringworm128]

Perhaps it was a copyright thing?

[Robo4900]

Perhaps it was a copyright thing?

If it was a copyright thing, the entire Johnson score would be out the window too.

... That doesn't sound so bad, actually.

[clutchins]

I was the one who posted about that recap change. It is only episodes 1-8 on Disc 1 of the Season 1 BD, which is an incredibly random number since disc 1 contains 10 episodes. This change also applies to the eyecatch music in those episodes too. Once you get to episode 9, it's the same music as all previous releases.

However, and I don't know the details on this as well as the previous bit, there are some dub score changes once you get to the Captain Ginyu saga and the Faulconer score. I believe it's episode 70? It's like an entire episode's worth of music that gets changed out or something like that.

[GTx10]

Why can't you watch the show with its cropped image? I own all of the Orange Bricks and they are perfectly fine. They are Uncut and you can see the show. At worst Butter and Recoome's heads are cut off during their pose and some oddly bright moments but big whoop.
Yes it is unreasonable to ask for un-cropped DBZ footage because it's dirt cheap as it currently is and the alternative isn't worth because of the price.

[Gaffer Tape]

Why can't you watch the show with its cropped image? I own all of the Orange Bricks and they are perfectly fine. They are Uncut and you can see the show. At worst Butter and Recoome's heads are cut off during their pose and some oddly bright moments but big whoop.
Yes it is unreasonable to ask for un-cropped DBZ footage because it's dirt cheap as it currently is and the alternative isn't worth because of the price.

Um, sure, I guess. But by that token, I could ask why do you even need the series on Blu-ray at all? Why can't you watch multi-generational VHS fansubs or 2000-era RealPlayer clips? I did that growing up, and that was perfectly fine! They were uncut, and I could see the show! At worst, you'll get weird tracking glitches and some low resolution, big whoop. Yes, it's unreasonable to ask for anything better than that because those fansubs were dirt cheap. The internet clips were free! Actually having a decent product isn't worth it because of the price.

[GTx10]

Why can't you watch the show with its cropped image? I own all of the Orange Bricks and they are perfectly fine. They are Uncut and you can see the show. At worst Butter and Recoome's heads are cut off during their pose and some oddly bright moments but big whoop.
Yes it is unreasonable to ask for un-cropped DBZ footage because it's dirt cheap as it currently is and the alternative isn't worth because of the price.

Um, sure, I guess. But by that token, I could ask why do you even need the series on Blu-ray at all? Why can't you watch multi-generational VHS fansubs or 2000-era RealPlayer clips? I did that growing up, and that was perfectly fine! They were uncut, and I could see the show! At worst, you'll get weird tracking glitches and some low resolution, big whoop. Yes, it's unreasonable to ask for anything better than that because those fansubs were dirt cheap. The internet clips were free! Actually having a decent product isn't worth it because of the price.

I'll play that game. Why can't we be happy with merely watching it on TV and\or reruns? I love me those wacky DB Heroes commercials. I have never understood the cropping issue in the sense that folks will not buy the product because of it.
It always felt like not buying it for the sake of not buying it. Shout's Super Sentai dvds had a similar issue yet that did not detour me from buying the sets. The Orange Bricks have Uncut footage, two language tracks, 3 bgm options and previews for other Funi shows. That is a deal. (When not compared to modern dvd extras and what not)

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Why can't you watch the show with its cropped image? I own all of the Orange Bricks and they are perfectly fine. They are Uncut and you can see the show. At worst Butter and Recoome's heads are cut off during their pose and some oddly bright moments but big whoop.
Yes it is unreasonable to ask for un-cropped DBZ footage because it's dirt cheap as it currently is and the alternative isn't worth because of the price.

Um, sure, I guess. But by that token, I could ask why do you even need the series on Blu-ray at all? Why can't you watch multi-generational VHS fansubs or 2000-era RealPlayer clips? I did that growing up, and that was perfectly fine! They were uncut, and I could see the show! At worst, you'll get weird tracking glitches and some low resolution, big whoop. Yes, it's unreasonable to ask for anything better than that because those fansubs were dirt cheap. The internet clips were free! Actually having a decent product isn't worth it because of the price.

I'll play that game. Why can't we be happy with merely watching it on TV and\or reruns? I love me those wacky DB Heroes commercials. I have never understood the cropping issue in the sense that folks will not buy the product because of it.
It always felt like not buying it for the sake of not buying it. Shout's Super Sentai dvds had a similar issue yet that did not detour me from buying the sets. The Orange Bricks have Uncut footage, two language tracks, 3 bgm options and previews for other Funi shows. That is a deal. (When not compared to modern dvd extras and what not)

For the most part it comes down to this - expectations vary from person to person on home releases, some are satisfied with what's available to them, other's want more. The former may be happy enough with what they get on the market, as you say different audio and BGM tracks for a good price, previews for other Funi shows, amongst other things. The latter tend to take passion in how something was originally intended, original language track, original aspect ratio, colours, etc. They like a product to be available untampered and as close as possible to what the artistic vision of the people who worked on it. For Dragon Ball Z shots were framed a certain way for a reason, it may only be a portion of an image but from a composition perspective it stands out. When you look at a portrait, the person in the portrait and their surroundings are depicted the way they are because mathematically it gives the artist's ideal presentation. Whether this matters or not is entirely up to you, but from a historical and academic perspective I can see where the purists are coming from with wanting the show in its original aspect ratio. I own these Blu-Rays because I'm a collector and I'd like to own the series as many ways as possible within my budget, but if a 4:3 set came out I would buy that too.

[KBABZ]

I have never understood the cropping issue in the sense that folks will not buy the product because of it.

I disagree; the cropped sets undeniably remove 20% of the footage, and unlike the movies, they were never intended to be viewed with that composition to begin with (as denoted by characters having the tops or bottoms of their heads chopped off for really no reason). And you know what? I don't really mind if you prefer the show in that way, but I think you have a big empathy problem if you don't understand why fans find it frustrating that they can't get the show as it was originally created, intended and air. I mean, I have no chips on the table when it comes to a Spanish dub release, but I totally get why Spanish-speaking fans would be frustrated if they had to put up with a sporadic and half-assed release of it all.

[GTx10]

Wait, wait, wait. So my lack of understanding the cropping issue is a " empathy problem?" Lol What drivel! You've managed to amuse me, good job.

Clearly Funimnation saw more potential in cropping DBZ than keeping it in its original format. A loss? Yes, yes it is. But I just can't get behind the purists.

[KBABZ]

Wait, wait, wait. So my lack of understanding the cropping issue is a " empathy problem?" Lol What drivel! You've managed to amuse me, good job.

Kinda proven my point there.

[Ringworm128]

Wait, wait, wait. So my lack of understanding the cropping issue is a " empathy problem?" Lol What drivel! You've managed to amuse me, good job.

Clearly Funimnation saw more potential in cropping DBZ than keeping it in its original format. A loss? Yes, yes it is. But I just can't get behind the purists.

There was never any potential in cropping. The OB's sold like hotcakes because they had a ton of episodes for an affordable price. And it was the perfect time to release DB in boxsets. Had they just used the single footage with little to no touch ups the sets would have sold just as much if not more.

And even if you don't take the whole "purist" approach the video still sucks. The cropping creates awkward framing, my personal favorite is when the camera is zoomed way in on a characters face. And the grain removal makes the footage look bleached and downright ugly. Purist or not the season sets are just plain bad.

[superrayman3]

Why can't you watch the show with its cropped image? I own all of the Orange Bricks and they are perfectly fine. They are Uncut and you can see the show. At worst Butter and Recoome's heads are cut off during their pose and some oddly bright moments but big whoop.

Here's how I see it and you may disagree but IMHO when you crop a 4:3 image to a faux 16:9 when the material wasn't originally meant to be presented in 16:9 at all, not only are you chopping off roughly 40% of the footage, but you're also being highly disrespectful to and essentially spitting in the faces of the episode directors themselves as well as every member of their animation staff who literally slaved away for hours on end to meet incredibly strict production deadlines, all while working in less than stellar working conditions for essentially pennies and peanuts (from what I understand animators in Japan don't make very much money for their work or at least they didn't back in the 80's when the DB anime started, I don't know if that's changed any in the following decades so the low pay thing may be a moot point in todays world) this aspect is a major reason I'm highly against cropping TV shows that were originally presented in the 4:3 aspect ratio to 16:9. I'm willing to forgive the movies for their cropping because the movies were primarily meant to be seen in 16:9 from the start (with the ability to have a 4:3 version available as an alternative being more of a nice bonus for those who'd prefer the 4:3 versions), it's such a shame Toei lazily skimped out and only put the 16:9 versions on the movies DBOX instead of including both versions and allowing fans to choose their preferred viewing experience. I'm also somewhat willing to give Kai a pass on its cropping as well because Toei treats Kai as its own separate product in the franchise and not just another straightforward rerelease of original DBZ unlike FUNi (in addition Kai needed to be cropped to make it conform to modern HD broadcast standards in Japan so Toei had some legitimate justification for cropping Kai and honestly they did a fairly reasonable job all things considered).

[KBABZ]

I didn't mind the cropping for Kai's first run because it was not going to be present on the home releases. Similar to it being censored for Nicktoons; that makes sense for broadcast, so long as the version I'd actually watch (the home release) isn't changed.

[Kaboom]

To put it bluntly... no, it's not too much to ask.

"Don't butcher the footage" should be a given and bare-minimum standard, for any respectable entity in charge of doing a show's home release. Funimation's apparent inability to simply not screw this up is endlessly unfortunate and frustrating. Less so for me personally since I managed to get the Dragon Boxes, but in general it's still a major pain to see happening.

[NitroEX]

Aside from cropping, there's also this problem.

[spoiler]



[/spoiler]

[KBABZ]

Cropping a 4:3 show to fit widescreen TVs is like cropping Star Wars to fit vertical phones for iTunes.

[Cure Dragon 255]

GOD THAT SOUNDS AWFUL. Now the horror of this injustice has been driven home for me.

[Ariesx222]

I would have been happy with the blurays if they were 4 x 3.

They weren't so I ended up getting the Dragon Boxs and Orange Bricks

[Kuwabara]

4K might be the perfect opportunity for the Level Sets to make a comeback, or at least a release like it. Not only would it be a great series for Funimation to debut 4K releases with, but the format has also already been well established as more expensive in general. Some people cite the price of the Levels as one of its deterrents, but purists already expect to pay a premium for 4K to begin with. Having the series in 4:3 would be worth it for such fans. For anyone who wouldn't be interested, there are the Orange Bricks and standard Blu-ray sets. It's two different audiences that could both be catered to.

[Ringworm128]

IIRC the price of the level sets was due to the remastering being done by actual humans and not a machine. Honestly at this point I'd be fine with just the single footage rescanned at 1080/2160P, no thrills, no frills just the episode in 4:3 with no bleached footage.
Then again I already have the DBOX.