Funimation's 30th anniversary collectible home video release

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Guess it's time to just start collecting the single dvds as at least those are proper 4:3. Luckily they are pretty cheap nowadays.

This new release IS proper 4:3. Everything past episode 1 so far has as much picture as the Dragon Boxes. It's the DNR and saturation that is the issue.

I agree. It's just that episode 001 is absurdly cropped but the rest are more or less identical with Dragon Box Z so the real issue at hand is the DNR and Saturation, that is not how Dragon Ball Z (or Dragon Ball, or Dragon Ball GT) is supposed to look like.

I'm kind of surprised that FUNimation never made a fake 16:9 AR version of Dragon Ball series and Dragon Ball GT series but thank god, at least those two shows have a serviceable release.

I wonder if that likely has something to do with the digibeta/video masters they have for the original series and GT.

[KBABZ]

I'm kind of surprised that FUNimation never made a fake 16:9 AR version of Dragon Ball series and Dragon Ball GT series but thank god, at least those two shows have a serviceable release.

I wonder if that likely has something to do with the digibeta/video masters they have for the original series and GT.

My personal theory is that DB and GT just weren't popular enough with their mass market to warrant going through that sort of effort. Z is their big popular hit so of course they're gonna pull all the stops with the pig lipstick.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I'm kind of surprised that FUNimation never made a fake 16:9 AR version of Dragon Ball series and Dragon Ball GT series but thank god, at least those two shows have a serviceable release.

I wonder if that likely has something to do with the digibeta/video masters they have for the original series and GT.

My personal theory is that DB and GT just weren't popular enough with their mass market to warrant going through that sort of effort. Z is their big popular hit so of course they're gonna pull all the stops with the pig lipstick.

Yeah, i'm glad they didn't screw around with them so at least we have acceptable releases of DB (Sagas, Blue Bricks) and GT (Singles, Green Bricks) which left Z as the odd duck out as the only one to get the faux widescreen, DNR smear fest treatment.

[KBABZ]

which left Z as the odd duck out as the only one to get the faux widescreen, DNR smear fest treatment.

I'm pretty sure a few fans would argue GT and especially DB got smeared.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

which left Z as the odd duck out as the only one to get the faux widescreen, DNR smear fest treatment.

I'm pretty sure a few fans would argue GT and especially DB got smeared.

Yeah, i guess both did to some degree though Z in particular got the worst of it especially the first few season sets with the fake widescreen on top of it.

[Forte224]

which left Z as the odd duck out as the only one to get the faux widescreen, DNR smear fest treatment.

I'm pretty sure a few fans would argue GT and especially DB got smeared.

I'm one of those fans. I don't see a ton of difference between these Z Blu-ray sets and the Blue Bricks honestly.

[gokaiblue]

which left Z as the odd duck out as the only one to get the faux widescreen, DNR smear fest treatment.

I'm pretty sure a few fans would argue GT and especially DB got smeared.

I'm one of those fans. I don't see a ton of difference between these Z Blu-ray sets and the Blue Bricks honestly.

Never really noticed the smearing in the Blue Bricks. Then again, I've just been watching the Funimation Now versions for the longest time, so I might have forgotten.

[VDenter]

which left Z as the odd duck out as the only one to get the faux widescreen, DNR smear fest treatment.

I'm pretty sure a few fans would argue GT and especially DB got smeared.

I'm one of those fans. I don't see a ton of difference between these Z Blu-ray sets and the Blue Bricks honestly.

Agreed. The Blue Bricks really don't look that good.

[JohnnyCashKami]

I guess a lot love this picture of Goku. This shot is from the BoG trailer.

[Big Boss]

What is the reaction in Japan and on Japanese forums to this mess? I assume they are even more pissed than we are.

[KBABZ]

Spoiler:

I guess a lot love this picture of Goku. This shot is from the BoG trailer.

Keep in mind that all the examples (Xeno2, Kai ED, BoG trailer, and Black Brick) don't use the same art every time, they're all different art pieces on the same "character in a black void with a dramatic spotlight" idea.

[Akamay]

What is the reaction in Japan and on Japanese forums to this mess? I assume they are even more pissed than we are.

Would they? You don't tend to hear a lot of people talking about the international releases of a series unless they censor it a lot, like the 4 Kids version of One Piece, or unless the creators themselves point it out.

But then again, Dragon Ball Z is a bit different since the American and PAL releases are far more common than the Japanese one.

Kinda curious to see if they would even talk about it over there now.

[JohnnyCashKami]

61 copies left in stock till it hits 3000. It should finally finish tomorrow or the day after.

[Kinokima]

What is the reaction in Japan and on Japanese forums to this mess? I assume they are even more pissed than we are.

I’ve seen a few Japanese fans I know on Twitter say it looks really bad.

[Big Boss]

What is the reaction in Japan and on Japanese forums to this mess? I assume they are even more pissed than we are.

Would they? You don't tend to hear a lot of people talking about the international releases of a series unless they censor it a lot, like the 4 Kids version of One Piece, or unless the creators themselves point it out.

But then again, Dragon Ball Z is a bit different since the American and PAL releases are far more common than the Japanese one.

Kinda curious to see if they would even talk about it over there now.

Because the success or failure of this release will probably affect how Toei do a similar release of the series.

[SqueakyBoots]

After a week of going back and forth on it, I caved in and ordered a set.

Worst case scenario and the transfer is crap: I'll keep the figure and artbook and sell the discs on ebay to make some of my money back.

I'm still hopeful that we can convince Funimation to switch over to the raw film scans before the set gets released. If we caused a big enough of an uproar for them to even make the second video and blog post to start with, then that momentum can be continued. AnimeAjay's videos continue blowing up with more views than Funi's own trailers and 95% of the fandom seems unanimous on wanting them to ditch the dnr.

And even if we don't, then the dnr on display here is still something I can put up with it. It's still an improvement over past releases, they actually made adjustments to the colors that look better, the cropping issue so far only affects one episode, and I've seen far worse than what this is. (I can name more than a few releases from Disney with worse dnr than what Funi is currently giving us.)

Go ahead and call me a fake fan or whatever, I don't care. I still want the raw scans as much as everyone else here does.

[Gligarman]

After a week of going back and forth on it, I caved in and ordered a set.

Worst case scenario and the transfer is crap: I'll keep the figure and artbook and sell the discs on ebay to make some of my money back.

I'm still hopeful that we can convince Funimation to switch over to the raw film scans before the set gets released. If we caused a big enough of an uproar for them to even make the second video and blog post to start with, then that momentum can be continued. AnimeAjay's videos continue blowing up with more views than Funi's own trailers and 95% of the fandom seems unanimous on wanting them to ditch the dnr.

And even if we don't, then the dnr on display here is still something I can put up with it. It's still an improvement over past releases, they actually made adjustments to the colors that look better, the cropping issue so far only affects one episode, and I've seen far worse than what this is. (I can name more than a few releases from Disney with worse dnr than what Funi is currently giving us.)

Go ahead and call me a fake fan or whatever, I don't care. I still want the raw scans as much as everyone else here does.

You won't hear any judgement from me. Do what you gotta do. Unfortunately for many fans like yourself this will likely be your only chance to get the series in it's entirety without the 16:9 crop so I don't blame you at all.

[SuperSaiyanPan]

After a week of going back and forth on it, I caved in and ordered a set.

Worst case scenario and the transfer is crap: I'll keep the figure and artbook and sell the discs on ebay to make some of my money back.

I'm still hopeful that we can convince Funimation to switch over to the raw film scans before the set gets released. If we caused a big enough of an uproar for them to even make the second video and blog post to start with, then that momentum can be continued. AnimeAjay's videos continue blowing up with more views than Funi's own trailers and 95% of the fandom seems unanimous on wanting them to ditch the dnr.

And even if we don't, then the dnr on display here is still something I can put up with it. It's still an improvement over past releases, they actually made adjustments to the colors that look better, the cropping issue so far only affects one episode, and I've seen far worse than what this is. (I can name more than a few releases from Disney with worse dnr than what Funi is currently giving us.)

Go ahead and call me a fake fan or whatever, I don't care. I still want the raw scans as much as everyone else here does.

No such thing as a "fake" fan, you do you man. I also ordered the set and I am even more happy now that I heard the cropping/zoom is on par with the Dragon Box in terms of footage in the frame.

[GreatSaiyaJeff]

I'm interested in the sets, but I don't think I can spare $350 at the moment.

[professorwho]

FUNi probably has their remaster 90% complete at this point- internally, they're most likely starting work on the Blu-ray compression and authoring phase- if the timeline between authoring and release with other anime distributors also applies to FUNi, if they aren't they'd probably be behind schedule on a project this big.

Essentially, they can't go back to fix the DNR'd mess if they wanted to unless they delay it and re-start the video compression and BD authoring phase as a result.

In regards to "what's your source"- Well, other publishers would probably start the video compression stage around now in time before ship date, as it takes time to do, then it has to be QC'd after the fact, then discs have to be printed and so on. From what I've seen from compressionists on when they begin work, around now's the time. My sources are Justin Sevakis, David Mackenzie and mp3dom. One's American and does stuff for Discotek, one's American and does live action films for UK releases, and one's Italian and does Italian anime releases.

Take it with a grain of salt (pun intended), but if they are actually efficient, then they would be past the restoration phase, and can't change it now.