DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Discussion regarding the entirety of the franchise in a general (meta) sense, including such aspects as: production, trends, merchandise, fan culture, and more.

Moderators: General Help, Kanzenshuu Staff

User avatar
Kuwabara
Regular
Posts: 689
Joined: Thu Jun 23, 2011 10:36 am

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by Kuwabara » Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:51 pm

I would only ever buy the cropped Blu-rays or DVDs if I found them used for cheap. I think it's pathetic that anyone settles for anything less than what the show should be presented as. Meanwhile, series and films much less notable than Dragon Ball get quality releases just because. Manga, anime, it doesn't matter, Dragon Ball's always the odd one out. Anyone who has given up and settled for less, you're part of the problem.
This is the episode of when Gokuh enrages himself after Freezer talk shit about Kuririn

User avatar
Soppa Saia People
I Live Here
Posts: 3062
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 11:26 pm
Location: Minnesota

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by Soppa Saia People » Wed Feb 21, 2018 12:16 am

I mean I agree with your point OP, but using Amazon reviews isn't really indicated of that. Also just talking about the Orange bricks, I don't really care about the quality of them anymore. Is it annoying ? Yea sure, but I also don't really care, I just wanna watch the show without forking over 500 bucks.
I have borderline personality disorder, if my posts ever come off as aggressive or word vomit-y to you, please let me know.

🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

User avatar
eledoremassis02
I Live Here
Posts: 4162
Joined: Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:40 pm

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by eledoremassis02 » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:10 am

:angel:
Soppa Saia People wrote:I mean I agree with your point OP, but using Amazon reviews isn't really indicated of that. Also just talking about the Orange bricks, I don't really care about the quality of them anymore. Is it annoying ? Yea sure, but I also don't really care, I just wanna watch the show without forking over 500 bucks.
The one thing I give the orange bricks is japanese title cards and it still looks like film. I've been thinking about buying them actually cause I dont own the series (just the manga)

User avatar
Hyena_Yamcha
Beyond Newbie
Posts: 260
Joined: Thu Jan 07, 2016 2:19 pm
Location: Spain

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by Hyena_Yamcha » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:25 am

The orange bricks are just fine imo.
My English is poor .

User avatar
TheGreatness25
I Live Here
Posts: 4924
Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:36 am

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by TheGreatness25 » Thu Feb 22, 2018 10:09 am

Soppa Saia People wrote:Is it annoying ? Yea sure, but I also don't really care, I just wanna watch the show without forking over 500 bucks.
Bingo. Hit the nail on the head. That's what this entire release was all about. I will say, though, that they could have made it a lot, lot, lot more efficient if they didn't "remaster" it and just basically re-released the singles in that format.

I think the biggest issue that I have is that the entire cropping and "color correcting" process was a total waste. There was really no reason for it. On their end, it would be so much more efficient to not have even bothered with it. Yeah, sure, it does give more incentive to buy it if it's promoted as "remastered," but I think the dub with Japanese audio track and the condensed collection would sell it on its own.

But, back to the original point of my post, many fans don't really care about the quality. It's not like we ever got good quality out of the series while watching it on TV. The fans that know what it could have been are ones like us, who have seen the Dragon Box and the animation cels and whatnot, but I doubt that the majority of fans are like that, to be honest. I'm sure that to a lot of fans, it's just enough to watch the series and I'm willing to bet that they wouldn't notice a lot of what we're talking about. "The colors are off!" Yeah, to us who know better. "It's cropped!" Yeah, to us who know better. I mean, sometimes there are odd things that happen (heads cut off, etc.), but most times I feel like you have to go looking for that stuff. I feel like most fans don't care, and it's obvious based on the success of their releases.

I will admit that it was a bizarre choice to use the cropped footage for the Blu-ray release, though. I don't know what that's about unless they just upscaled their orange brick footage, but from my understanding, that's not all they did. I don't know. It's just weird. But I will say that it looks nice on my TV without the black bars. That's a positive. I also think it looks great. Now yeah, the fan in-the-know will tell me that the colors are wrong, but I think it looks good.

Damned
Not-So-Newbie
Posts: 63
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2016 11:13 pm

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by Damned » Fri Feb 23, 2018 3:22 pm

The way I see it, what Funimation did with the Season Blu-rays was no better than what Saban did in the 90s with their dub. The writers are not the only people on the Dragon Ball Z staff who worked hard and passionately to create a product for people to enjoy, nor are they the only ones entitled to a faithful representation of their work. Everyone on the staff, animators / artists included, deserve to have their work properly preserved.

User avatar
Metalwario64
Born 'n Bred Here
Posts: 6175
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:02 am
Location: Namek

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by Metalwario64 » Fri Feb 23, 2018 7:10 pm

eledoremassis02 wrote::angel:
Soppa Saia People wrote:I mean I agree with your point OP, but using Amazon reviews isn't really indicated of that. Also just talking about the Orange bricks, I don't really care about the quality of them anymore. Is it annoying ? Yea sure, but I also don't really care, I just wanna watch the show without forking over 500 bucks.
The one thing I give the orange bricks is japanese title cards and it still looks like film. I've been thinking about buying them actually cause I dont own the series (just the manga)
Plus, for me, the motion tracking to "fix" the cropping gives me motion sickness, and it's very destructive (I've posted the SS Goku transformation so many times, where their effort to "track" Goku's head actually both crops more off the top of his head, and makes the screen extremely jittery)
"Kenshi is sitting down right now drawing his mutated spaghetti monsters thinking he's the shit..."--Neptune Kai
"90% of you here don't even know what you're talking about (there are a few that do). But the things you say about these releases are nonsense and just plain dumb. Like you Metalwario64"--final_flash

User avatar
Kodoshin
Beyond-the-Beyond Newbie
Posts: 435
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 11:39 pm

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by Kodoshin » Sun Feb 25, 2018 11:56 am

Amazon reviews, and to be honest, most consumer reviews in general are largely worthless. In the case of Blu Ray/DVD media the technical aspects are often not considered by the reviewer and it is merely a review of a show they enjoyed, or in the case of a purchased television the difference between a 1-star and 5-star review is the device successfully powering on upon completion of its setup.

Not to discredit hobbyist reviewers entirely, but it is difficult for me to take them seriously.

User avatar
Bruma rabu
Regular
Posts: 517
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2016 10:12 pm

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by Bruma rabu » Mon Feb 26, 2018 8:55 pm

Kodoshin wrote:Amazon reviews, and to be honest, most consumer reviews in general are largely worthless. In the case of Blu Ray/DVD media the technical aspects are often not considered by the reviewer and it is merely a review of a show they enjoyed, or in the case of a purchased television the difference between a 1-star and 5-star review is the device successfully powering on upon completion of its setup.

Not to discredit hobbyist reviewers entirely, but it is difficult for me to take them seriously.
So true, not only that but they also include their shipping experience in their review.
Bulma is awesome... but chi-chi is best waifu :wink:

User avatar
Kodoshin
Beyond-the-Beyond Newbie
Posts: 435
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 11:39 pm

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by Kodoshin » Wed Feb 28, 2018 10:25 am

Bruma rabu wrote: So true, not only that but they also include their shipping experience in their review.
Ah yes, I've seen that as well. I do not want to expound on this too much, but once I had given a product, a pair of wireless earbuds, an average review score citing issues with the cord between the buds being too short to wear them comfortably and I found myself contacted by the manufacturer - they offered to refund my money and let me keep the buds if I edited the score to 5 stars. I didn't, but the experience has made me even more weary of Amazon reviews than I already was.

AwesomeEliyafeth
Newbie
Posts: 21
Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2017 8:12 am

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by AwesomeEliyafeth » Sun Mar 11, 2018 10:26 am

Allright guys, quick question, though I'm not sure it might be related to this. Is the Blu Ray complete series set on amazon a limited time item or is it here to stay? I wish I could own the Dragon boxes but I don't have $500+ to spend. I'd rather be able to afford mediocre quality and actually officially support the series.

SuperCyan2
Beyond-the-Beyond Newbie
Posts: 436
Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2018 5:38 pm

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by SuperCyan2 » Sun Mar 11, 2018 10:39 am

AwesomeEliyafeth wrote:Allright guys, quick question, though I'm not sure it might be related to this. Is the Blu Ray complete series set on amazon a limited time item or is it here to stay? I wish I could own the Dragon boxes but I don't have $500+ to spend. I'd rather be able to afford mediocre quality and actually officially support the series.
It's a "Limited Edition" not a Limited Edition (how companies love to call everything LE nowadays). That set on Amazon is just a repackage of the DBZ Season Blu-rays in a custom-made box.
Account no longer in use since 03/31/2018.

PacificOceanDub
Beyond Newbie
Posts: 163
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2016 8:56 pm
Location: San Antonio, TX

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by PacificOceanDub » Sun Mar 11, 2018 1:49 pm

AwesomeEliyafeth wrote:Allright guys, quick question, though I'm not sure it might be related to this. Is the Blu Ray complete series set on amazon a limited time item or is it here to stay? I wish I could own the Dragon boxes but I don't have $500+ to spend. I'd rather be able to afford mediocre quality and actually officially support the series.

I’m not sure how “limited” the supply of this release is, but honestly, if you want to own an affordable release of DBZ, I would pull the trigger and buy that box set before it goes away or increases in price. I bought all those seasons as they were coming out and spent roughly $30 on each one, so well over $200 total. Amazon is selling that 1-9 box set for $120something. You’d be getting a bargain, you’d get the entire series all at once, and you’d get a nice little slip box that I don’t have. Plus, despite tons of people calling them “Orange Bricks Mark 2” or whatever, they’re a huge improvement over the DVD release.
You shouldn’t have to (Cell.) your soul!

SuperCyan2
Beyond-the-Beyond Newbie
Posts: 436
Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2018 5:38 pm

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by SuperCyan2 » Sun Mar 11, 2018 2:54 pm

PacificOceanDub wrote:I’m not sure how “limited” the supply of this release is, but honestly, if you want to own an affordable release of DBZ, I would pull the trigger and buy that box set before it goes away or increases in price. I bought all those seasons as they were coming out and spent roughly $30 on each one, so well over $200 total. Amazon is selling that 1-9 box set for $120something. You’d be getting a bargain, you’d get the entire series all at once, and you’d get a nice little slip box that I don’t have. Plus, despite tons of people calling them “Orange Bricks Mark 2” or whatever, they’re a huge improvement over the DVD release.
I'd say, wait for the next release.

Or better yet, do you know Spanish, French, German or Italian? If you know any of these languages then import it from Amazon and you're done. :)
Account no longer in use since 03/31/2018.

Danfun64
Advanced Regular
Posts: 1384
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2015 3:29 pm

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by Danfun64 » Sun Mar 11, 2018 8:53 pm

I don't know about the Italian dub, but as for the others: The European Spanish Selectavision DVDs and uncut French DVDs will both give you the Japanese audio with decent subs for their respective languages. However, in certain aspects the (pre-Kai) dubs on those DVDs are worse than Funi's (Space Warriors anyone?). The pre-GT German DVDs have a better dub script, but are only available censored. German GT is a mess, with several episodes having never been dubbed at all, only available Japanese with subs (the other episodes are German dubbed with censorship). And of course, (pre-Kai) the Latino Spanish and Brazilian dubs are all better than EU Spanish, French, German, and Italian dubs... but I doubt they're available 100% legally.
Robo4900 wrote:Mouse is BRILLIANT SCIENTIST dumb.
CAT LOVES FOOD dumb.
Jack is just kinda dumb.

AwesomeEliyafeth
Newbie
Posts: 21
Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2017 8:12 am

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by AwesomeEliyafeth » Mon Mar 12, 2018 5:02 pm

SuperCyan2 wrote:
PacificOceanDub wrote:I’m not sure how “limited” the supply of this release is, but honestly, if you want to own an affordable release of DBZ, I would pull the trigger and buy that box set before it goes away or increases in price. I bought all those seasons as they were coming out and spent roughly $30 on each one, so well over $200 total. Amazon is selling that 1-9 box set for $120something. You’d be getting a bargain, you’d get the entire series all at once, and you’d get a nice little slip box that I don’t have. Plus, despite tons of people calling them “Orange Bricks Mark 2” or whatever, they’re a huge improvement over the DVD release.
I'd say, wait for the next release.

Or better yet, do you know Spanish, French, German or Italian? If you know any of these languages then import it from Amazon and you're done. :)

I am a bilingual Spanish speaker and I've picked up some French. However, finding FUNimation's DVD releases of the Candiani Studios Latin American dub is almost impossible in new condition. I'd rather just pick up the Blu Rays at a decent price though I'm still confused as to whether or not FUNimation is planning on keeping the complete set around....

User avatar
Robo4900
I Live Here
Posts: 4383
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2016 2:24 pm
Location: In another time and place...

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by Robo4900 » Mon Mar 12, 2018 6:50 pm

PacificOceanDub wrote:
AwesomeEliyafeth wrote:Allright guys, quick question, though I'm not sure it might be related to this. Is the Blu Ray complete series set on amazon a limited time item or is it here to stay? I wish I could own the Dragon boxes but I don't have $500+ to spend. I'd rather be able to afford mediocre quality and actually officially support the series.

I’m not sure how “limited” the supply of this release is, but honestly, if you want to own an affordable release of DBZ, I would pull the trigger and buy that box set before it goes away or increases in price. I bought all those seasons as they were coming out and spent roughly $30 on each one, so well over $200 total. Amazon is selling that 1-9 box set for $120something. You’d be getting a bargain, you’d get the entire series all at once, and you’d get a nice little slip box that I don’t have. Plus, despite tons of people calling them “Orange Bricks Mark 2” or whatever, they’re a huge improvement over the DVD release.
I would disagree.

Chris Sabat has the Japanese broadcast audio now, so Funimation have at least one specific reason to think about when considering doing a new release of Dragon Ball Z. Add to that the fact Funimation basically like to re-release Z at every opportunity they get, and I really think a new release of Dragon Ball Z is on the horizon. Not soon, but eventually. I don't imagine it will be cheaper than the Season BDs, though by then the Season BDs will have likely dropped in price by quite a bit, so if you decide it's not worth it, you can just spring for them for cheap.

So, as SuperCyan2 said, wait for the next release. And there will be a next release. Maybe not super-soon, but it'll happen. Way I see it, if they can do something of similar visual quality to the movie BDs,* but in 4:3, we'll have a worthy release. They could big it up as "See more of the picture than you've ever seen before, and in unprecedented clarity to celebrate 30 years of Dragon Ball Z!!"
Though, I think this would be a few years off; 1996 was when Dragon Ball Z first hit the US, so they might announce it in about 3 years to celebrate 25 years of Dragon Ball Z in the US. This would also give time for Kai: TFC to be out of people's minds a little, and for Super's buzz to die down somewhat, and people to get a bit nostalgic for Z again. Throw in a bonus on it like the OG Funi dub as an extra audio track, and you'll bring all the US dub fans in, since that hasn't been on an official release since 2003.

*Apologies for the audio in this clip. Only clip I could find on YouTube that was good enough quality. I haven't seen many of the movies, so I went with Broly, to give a good example... Still, the visuals are the point here. So, mute the sound, and take a look at what is actually a pretty nice-looking version of this fight. Colours are a little iffy, but the visuals overall are quite nice here IMO. Cropped, but that's how the movies were presented theatrically, so this is fine. I prefer the open-matte, but let's not get into that debate; this is basically a side-note on a side-note here, so I won't go into it.
The point of Dragon Ball is to enjoy it. Never lose sight of that.

Danfun64
Advanced Regular
Posts: 1384
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2015 3:29 pm

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by Danfun64 » Mon Mar 12, 2018 8:30 pm

DBZ Movie 8 is considered the worst of the Double Features due to overbrightening issues most of the other Double Feature masters lack. Not the best comparison IMO.
Robo4900 wrote:Mouse is BRILLIANT SCIENTIST dumb.
CAT LOVES FOOD dumb.
Jack is just kinda dumb.

User avatar
Robo4900
I Live Here
Posts: 4383
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2016 2:24 pm
Location: In another time and place...

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by Robo4900 » Mon Mar 12, 2018 11:41 pm

Danfun64 wrote:DBZ Movie 8 is considered the worst of the Double Features due to overbrightening issues most of the other Double Feature masters lack. Not the best comparison IMO.
Eh, I think most of the BD movie masters I've seen are overbright and overcontrasted, but it seems movie 8, judging by this clip, seems to have a much better contrast than the others I've seen.

Still, if the colours were better, it'd be a pretty great master, for what it is. Reminds me of... Something... ;)
The point of Dragon Ball is to enjoy it. Never lose sight of that.

User avatar
KinguKurimuzon
Beyond Newbie
Posts: 130
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 4:01 pm
Location: The End of Time

Re: DBZ Blu-ray Orange Bricks are here to stay - "This is truly the best possible way to watch Dragon Ball Z"

Post by KinguKurimuzon » Tue Mar 13, 2018 12:54 am

I think the worst part about the Blu Bricks is that even with all their faults, they're still the only possible way to watch classic DBZ for some people. I've been itching to rewatch the series lately (without resorting to piracy), but the Dragon Boxes simply aren't an option for me right now, so I have to go with these things because they're the most affordable and accessible releases of the series we've got right now. I wish more people would call Funimation out for their shitty practices, but judging from these Amazon reviews it's like nobody has any fucking standards anymore.
"Are you trying to impress me with your transformation sequence?" - Mashymre Cello

Post Reply