Dragon Ball Z "Seasons" On Blu-ray: News & Discussion

[Black_Anime_Fan]

Well, FUNimation put out the Level Sets and Toei didn't seem to mind. Although, we probably don't know that.

That's because Toei still has the superior source material. So it doesn't necessarily mean that Toei doesn't want anyone to release a better looking release than they have released them selves. Toei gave Funimation inferior film prints so that if they wanted to do their own blu ray release they would still have an advantage over Funimation.

I'd take crushed blacks over red tint any day (only applies to Levels), but that's just me.

[dbboxkaifan]

Toei Animation has the complete package whereas FUNimation lacks of it so they might've not felt threatened by an incomplete release.

Plus, there's no reason to be worried about the pink/red tint as they can fix it as shown in Dragon Ball Kai.

Unfortunately neither of the two have the Japanese broadcast audio, Toei could have it but they declined it (Kei17 offered).

[Ajay]

Unfortunately neither of the two have the Japanese broadcast audio, Toei could have it but they declined it (Kei17 offered).

Didn't Chris Sabat take the broadcast audio recently and ensure it would be properly taken care of at Funimation?

[qjz123]

Before, I and possibly others thought they were redrawing and or splicing details from surrounding frames to clean up said marks, but someone posted an example of them just duplicating the next/previous frame, which means they already took shortcuts in the Level set remasters (and in said example, fudged up by replacing a tape mark frame with the second frame back, making the scrolling clouds jump back a bit).

I don't think Funimation made a mistake in the level sets when they had the frame jump back to the left to avoid the tape mark.
http://imageshack.com/a/img713/2646/3ifs.png
http://imageshack.com/a/img542/3763/lgk6.png
http://imageshack.com/a/img853/2825/r5ft.png
http://imageshack.com/a/img40/7218/vx5l.png
When you look at the above screenshots you'll notice that if you look at the cloud on the right side of the image the cloud moves to the right from the 1st frame to the 2nd then it actually moves back to the left from the 2nd to the 3rd then the scene switches to Vegeta.
Now if you look at the raw frame it's pretty damaged near the bottom http://imageshack.com/a/img839/266/ibdt.png. In an effort to save time Funimation choose to duplicate a previous frame. If you look at the image of the 2nd frame to the 3rd frame the cloud jumps back to the left http://imageshack.com/a/img542/3763/lgk6.png, http://imageshack.com/a/img853/2825/r5ft.png. Funimation choose to do this rather than just duplicated the same frame twice which would have resulted in a weird stuttering effect. The scene switches from Goku on the left to Vegeta on the right instantly without a camera pan but if the camera were to pan from left to right you would expect to see the cloud move back to the left like we saw from frame 2 to frame 3. Doing this looks more natural which is apparent since no one noticed it until over 2 years after their release. I consider it to be a decent compromise since even the dragon boxes didn't clean up tape marks they just left them in. Which still isn't a huge issue since they're only visible from 1/24th of a second but I'd rather have what Funimation did with the level sets then for them to just leave the tape marks in.

With the season blu rays Funimation took a much lazier approach. They just duplicated the 2nd frame.
http://imageshack.com/a/img19/4813/k89v.png
http://imageshack.com/a/img21/1397/ib3o.png
http://imageshack.com/a/img571/1459/175g.png
http://imageshack.com/a/img46/5269/ijl8.png

[Daimo-Rukiri]

Unfortunately neither of the two have the Japanese broadcast audio, Toei could have it but they declined it (Kei17 offered).

Didn't Chris Sabat take the broadcast audio recently and ensure it would be properly taken care of at Funimation?

I would assume that would be for the "proper" release, but who knows.

[Rukura]

Unfortunately neither of the two have the Japanese broadcast audio, Toei could have it but they declined it (Kei17 offered).

Didn't Chris Sabat take the broadcast audio recently and ensure it would be properly taken care of at Funimation?

I would assume that would be for the "proper" release, but who knows.

I lost track of that thread, but has it been sent to him yet?

[qjz123]

I lost track of that thread, but has it been sent to him yet?

Last I checked Christopher Sabat told them to sit tight and be patient as he tried to negotiate with Funimation since transferring the audio was expensive to do correctly. We haven't heard anything since. http://www.kanzenshuu.com/forum/viewtop ... ny#p722149

[dbboxkaifan]

If they could also get the original Japanese credits + NEPs then there wouldn't be any reason to wait for Toei Animation's HD remaster in case FUNimation would do it properly this time.

Seeing how FUNi's kicking out every Season BD so quickly out the door it might mean that there's something for the hardcore fans next year.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

If they could also get the original Japanese credits + NEPs then there wouldn't be any reason to wait for Toei Animation's HD remaster in case FUNimation would do it properly this time.

Seeing how FUNi's kicking out every Season BD so quickly out the door it might mean that there's something for the hardcore fans next year.

Each release seems to be every 2 months, I think this is a filler release. It's not bad, I like them, but want what the levels had. They could have "slightly" increased the brightness by 1-2 steps, but not to where these are at, 90% less.

Season 9 should be released by april of next year, and maybe in the fall we'll see a proper HD release that isn't cut after the dang Saiyan saga!

[qjz123]

Here are some more screenshot comparing the season blu rays to the raw film scans. Funimation actually flipped back and forth between these in their trailer to show have good their remastering was.
Raw
http://imageshack.com/a/img600/4341/5bsa.png
"Remastered"
http://imageshack.com/a/img703/5118/u31g.png
Raw
http://imageshack.com/a/img69/7752/agss.png
"Remastered"
http://imageshack.com/a/img28/3896/xdbi.png
Raw
http://imageshack.com/a/img59/5836/jqq4.png
"Remastered"
http://imageshack.com/a/img138/1963/5zhf.png
Raw
http://imageshack.com/a/img30/6476/te91.png
"Remastered"
http://imageshack.com/a/img571/132/j13u.png
Raw
http://imageshack.com/a/img30/8673/2een.png
"Remastered"
http://imageshack.com/a/img560/5618/s7o3.png
Raw
http://imageshack.com/a/img854/5637/vg31.png
"Remastered"
http://imageshack.com/a/img203/235/nmw5.png
Raw
http://imageshack.com/a/img855/4762/644f.png
"Remastered"
http://imageshack.com/a/img577/5774/04ax.png
I know that Steve Franco was paid but a part of him must have died when he saw what they did to his scan. When the level sets were coming out Steve Franco's name was being advertised along side them but with this release we haven't heard anything about him. Actaully we haven't heard anything technical about the remastering process at all. I'd like to see a remastering featurette for this release it would be worth a laugh at least. Step 1 identify your blemish, Step 2 raise the brightness until the blemish is no longer visible, Step 3 if the following frame has a tape mark go back to the frame you just finished "remastering" in step 2 and press Control C followed by Control V and just like that you have a fully remastered release.
Before: http://imageshack.com/a/img268/4816/6w6n.png. After: http://imageshack.com/a/img11/7976/8lv0.png

[Kojiro Sasaki]

Levels

due to technical challenges of restoring from the original film frame by frame, we are unable to continue these releases by way of this process.

the cost incurred to restore these shows has outweighed the suggested retail price we were able to pass along to our fans.

Seasons

Different from the Level Sets before it, the episode count on the Blu-ray Season Sets will be identical to their extremely popular DVD counterparts. Also different, is the restoration and re-mastering process being used. A bolder, more vibrant color palette is being used to produce a picture current, and future, televisions can take advantage of. The Blu-ray Season Sets will also come in a widescreen format. Precise shot-by-shot reframing of each scene has used to ensure the optimal picture when converting from its native, full screen format.

We want Dragon Ball Z to be a part of the modern, HD experience.

Don't tell me that after all this, they will go back to the Level sets kind of restoration... How it would make them look? If everything that they told us was true, we should not expect anything better than Seasons...

He said that all Funimation cares about is the next 3-4 month's, now they are a business so I don't blame them for that but what he said afterwards was very true. He said if Funimation remasters the series properly the first time they'll never have to do it again. So in the long term it would be a lot less work for them. For example if Funimation had Finished the level sets then they would be done, they would never have to remaster the series again. They could take their already cleaned up level sets crop them apply some Dnr and re release them. Then they could leave them uncropped and just apply Dnr to them and re release them again. Just like that Funimation would be able to re release the series multiple times without having to completely start over with their remastering process. The way things are now Funimation has to start over and begin their cheap 16x9 remastering from scratch and if they want to release the series in 4:3 in the future they'll have to start over from episode 40 to pick up where the level sets left off. If they just did it properly once they would set themselves up for multiple relatively easy re releases.

That's exactly the point, but after all what happened I don't think that there is a market for professionally restored Dragon Ball Z. Sales are the best confirmation that what we see on Season sets is what mass market calls "quality". Hell, even most of the hardcore fanbase is happy with this kind of product. In this situation, doing a professional restoration would be just a serious waste of money.

[Black_Anime_Fan]

That's exactly the point, but after all what happened I don't think that there is a market for professionally restored Dragon Ball Z. Sales are the best confirmation that what we see on Season sets is what mass market calls "quality". Hell, even most of the hardcore fanbase is happy with this kind of product. In this situation, doing a professional restoration would be just a serious waste of money.

They could always make them a limited release like the Dragon Boxes, who knows?

[KingofWisdom]

The money made from this release could always fund some sort of Dragon Box Z upscale. Or maybe a less intensive remaster in 4:3. Do people actually care about the tape marks and such?

[qjz123]

That's exactly the point, but after all what happened I don't think that there is a market for professionally restored Dragon Ball Z. Sales are the best confirmation that what we see on Season sets is what mass market calls "quality". Hell, even most of the hardcore fanbase is happy with this kind of product. In this situation, doing a professional restoration would be just a serious waste of money.

I've seen this first hand from my little brother he thinks this new release looks much better than the level sets. The sad part about this release is that as much as I hate cropping and Dnr this release didn't have to look bad. If you look at this video this guy Dnr'ed the level sets him self http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3zp0_YNgWU. It actually looks good and it shows that if Funimation had put the time and effort required into this release it could have actually looked good if not great.

[sumpter360]

That's exactly the point, but after all what happened I don't think that there is a market for professionally restored Dragon Ball Z. Sales are the best confirmation that what we see on Season sets is what mass market calls "quality". Hell, even most of the hardcore fanbase is happy with this kind of product. In this situation, doing a professional restoration would be just a serious waste of money.

They could always make them a limited release like the Dragon Boxes, who knows?

If they're going to be spending huge amounts of money on a true-to-the-source remastering, I doubt they'd do a limited release. The best business action in such a situation would be to make it a widespread release, so that it eventually refund FUNi the money they spend on the quality remastering. Either a widespread release, or make it super expensive, but then you risk people not purchasing because of the high price.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

That's exactly the point, but after all what happened I don't think that there is a market for professionally restored Dragon Ball Z. Sales are the best confirmation that what we see on Season sets is what mass market calls "quality". Hell, even most of the hardcore fanbase is happy with this kind of product. In this situation, doing a professional restoration would be just a serious waste of money.

They could always make them a limited release like the Dragon Boxes, who knows?

If they're going to be spending huge amounts of money on a true-to-the-source remastering, I doubt they'd do a limited release. The best business action in such a situation would be to make it a widespread release, so that it eventually refund FUNi the money they spend on the quality remastering. Either a widespread release, or make it super expensive, but then you risk people not purchasing because of the high price.

Wasn't that the case with the Japanese Dragon Boxes?

[theoriginalbilis]

If they ever did another Blu-Ray release, I'd be fine with them just dumping their raw 4:3 film scans (damage, jitter, and all) onto a Blu-Ray and calling it a day.

[sumpter360]

Wasn't that the case with the Japanese Dragon Boxes?

Good point, but also remember that the Dragon Box release was Japan's first official home release (I believe) of the series and movies. If the same were done a year from now(EDIT: by FUNi, not Toei), I feel like it wouldn't be too successful, at least not enough to pay for the extensive remaster process. There are now too many inexpensive ways to collect the series for enough people to pay (JPN) Dragon Box-level prices.

[TheAldella]

If it turns out to be true, and this IS in fact, a filler release, then if us "hardcore fans" get a bone next time, then it would make sense to do it in 4:3 AND give us the broadcast audio.

[sumpter360]

then it would make sense to do it in 4:3 AND give us the broadcast audio.

Ahh... For many, the perfect release