Dragon Box Vs. Dragon Ball Z Level 1.1

[Takkun]

So for some time I've read that the Dragon Boxes have been the definitive release for Dragon Ball Z. The video quality was said to be the best it could possibly be, along with the Next Episode Previews, Japanese Title Cards, etc.

However, now that the new Blu-Ray release has come out, I've been reading reviews that say that this is the way Dragon Ball Z was supposed to look, claiming that the Dragon Box had off colors and such. So now I am a little confused, which one is the better release? Which is the better product? These are things that could be compared:

-Video Quality (colors, sharpness, detail, grain...)- [I know comparing Blu-Ray to DVD isn't really fair, but would upscaling the Dragon Boxes on a Blu-Ray Player and an HD TV even things?]

-Audio Quality

-Features

-Collector's value

I have a feeling a comparison between the two is coming eventually, so why not start off now?

[Pokewhiz7]

Video - BD
Audio - Don't Know
Features: Dragon Box
Collector's Value - Dragon Box
Upscaling we never be better than native HD, which the BDs are.
Supposedly the BDs have more accurate colors, I don't know, I don't care.
And personally, I really could give a shit about title cards.
We already have a massive thread if you wanna discuss it there.

[sangofe]

The only two negatives for me about the BR's are: 1. no previews, and 2. no Japanese title cards (if I understood this one correctly).

[james039]

I'm surprised the BD didn't at least use the old dub-only NEPs that were produced for Cartoon Network/Toonami, surely FUNi has those kicking around somewhere? splice in the original film footage, and boom, HD!! These BDs are evidentally a dub centric release anyway, I don't see why they wouldn't do that.

Who doesn't want to hear the old narrator saying, "NEXT TIME on DRAGON BALL ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

[ssj5goku]

The dragon box look even worst if you upscale it and play on a HDTV. It best to play on a crt tv it look great on it.

[Takkun]

The dragon box look even worst if you upscale it and play on a HDTV. It best to play on a crt tv it look great on it.

I don't think it looks worse when you upscale it......

[funrush]

Really depends on what you use to do the upscaling.

[MajinVejitaXV]

-Video Quality (colors, sharpness, detail, grain...)- [I know comparing Blu-Ray to DVD isn't really fair, but would upscaling the Dragon Boxes on a Blu-Ray Player and an HD TV even things?]

-Audio Quality

-Features

-Collector's value

I have a feeling a comparison between the two is coming eventually, so why not start off now?

The DragonBoxes are from a better film source, and include the episodes in full. Title cards, next episode previews, etc. Colors are, even though consistent with Japanese sources for the past decade plus, under debate as of recent (read: the past two years) as a result of VHS/Betamax recordings of the alleged "original broadcast" made under unknown circumstances. Both the DragonBoxes and the BD's underwent restoration, however only time will tell how FUNi's processes compare to Toei/Pony Canyon's.

Audio quality is neck and neck, in terms of the Japanese track. The DragonBoxes are mono, as are the BD's. The BD's may be slightly worse, again because they're from a more degraded master.

The DragonBoxes don't really have any on-disc features, aside from being the only fully complete release of the series (assuming you count aspect ratio changes via cropping and loss of NEP's as making a release incomplete). The BD's will, undoubtedly, have some extras. The first set, I believe, is somewhat bare bones.

As for collector's value, the DragonBoxes win by a mile. The presentation, the booklets, etc. The BD's are just the same as any normal FUNi BD release. Plus, the DragonBoxes are limited and apparently already going out of print.

From my vantage point, if you like the English version primarily...get the BD's. If you like the Japanese version, get the DragonBoxes. Each release seems tailored to those two demographics accordingly. And as for upscaling, the DragonBoxes look fine on my HDTV (I've used a few upscaling chipsets, but I'm not running a massive display so the difference for me between them has been negligible).

[linkdude20002001]

If the BDs use the same audio that FUNi used prior to the Dragon Box Z sets, then they will sound horrible if watched in Japanese. I used to get headaches watching Dragon Ball with headphones on. >_<

[OneDragonZwill]

Get the Dragon Boxes. They're the best. Trust me.

[Puto]

If the BDs use the same audio that FUNi used prior to the Dragon Box Z sets, then they will sound horrible if watched in Japanese. I used to get headaches watching Dragon Ball with headphones on. >_<

I can say with reasonable confidence that they have the Dragon Box audio.

[Puto]

Get the Dragon Boxes. They're the best. Trust me.

I think he was looking for a detailed comparison, not just "x is better."

[Ashura]

If the BDs use the same audio that FUNi used prior to the Dragon Box Z sets, then they will sound horrible if watched in Japanese. I used to get headaches watching Dragon Ball with headphones on. >_<

I can say with reasonable confidence that they have the Dragon Box audio.

If you listen to Zenkai Power on the dub track vs. the Japanese track you can reeeeaaaallly tell how much better the Japanese track is, too.

[DanielGClapp]

[I know comparing Blu-Ray to DVD isn't really fair, but would upscaling the Dragon Boxes on a Blu-Ray Player and an HD TV even things?]

No. Whenever I try watching the Dragon Boxes on my blu-ray player, they look terrible. They look best on my fullscreen TV with just a plain old DVD player.

[thedarkuniter]

The Dragon Boxes doesn't look bad on my TV. Then again, I use my HD-DVD player and it displays it in its proper 4x3 with the bars on the sides, however when I play it on my Blu-ray player, it stretches the image to fullscreen, same with my Fist of the North Star sets.

[Ashura]

The Dragon Boxes doesn't look bad on my TV. Then again, I use my HD-DVD player and it displays it in its proper 4x3 with the bars on the sides, however when I play it on my Blu-ray player, it stretches the image to fullscreen, same with my Fist of the North Star sets.

That's likely the settings on your BR player. Try looking in the upscale settings, it sounds like the BR player is just dumping out 480p while the HDDVD player is upscaling into 720p.

[BluezaBladeNZ]

The Dragon Boxes don't look too bad either on my Sony 40" (Full HD as well) via Playstation 3. Little macroblocking is more obvious from time to time but it's pretty damn good for DVD standards.

[Takkun]

Get the Dragon Boxes. They're the best. Trust me.

I already have them all..(x Just don't own the Blu-Ray, and i want to know how they stack up.

[I know comparing Blu-Ray to DVD isn't really fair, but would upscaling the Dragon Boxes on a Blu-Ray Player and an HD TV even things?]

No. Whenever I try watching the Dragon Boxes on my blu-ray player, they look terrible. They look best on my fullscreen TV with just a plain old DVD player.

I don't see a problem with the video quality when up-scaled. Actually it looks pretty good to me. I just want to know how they compare with the new Blu-Ray release.

[DanielGClapp]

I don't see a problem with the video quality when up-scaled. Actually it looks pretty good to me. I just want to know how they compare with the new Blu-Ray release.

Lets just put it this way. Whenever I watch my Dragon Boxes on my blu-ray player, it looks worse than VLC. When I watch them on VLC, they are extremely grainy.

[MajinVejitaXV]

Lets just put it this way. Whenever I watch my Dragon Boxes on my blu-ray player, it looks worse than VLC. When I watch them on VLC, they are extremely grainy.

While VLC is a "one size fits all" player, I wouldn't use it to determine quality of anything really. As for the BD player comment...I dunno. I've used a few setups, currently an Oppo DV-980H outputting 480i to a Denon 3808-CI, which deinterlaces and upscales to 720p (my TV is a Pioneer Elite PRO-910HD, so it's a native 768p panel). Never thought it looked bad at all, just typical of an excellent encode of a 16mm SD source.

Now, FUNi's singles on the other hand...