Funimation's 30th anniversary collectible home video release

[Forte224]

There's always the Dragon Boxes. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well yeah but those are pretty expensive and don't have subtitles. Unless you use the fan made program I did to add subtitles (and the dub) to all 5 of them. But then you're forced to watch them on your PC or burn them to blank discs, which I don't personally mind but I understand that many would. Also the fan made program is awesome but it is a ton of work to get set up to use it.

So, this just continues to add to the mayhem. You need to spend a hefty chunk of money (the program requires the Japanese Dragon Boxes AND recent FUNi DVD releases), spend hours of set up time, and watch digitally or on blank discs, just to have the series in decent quality with English options.

If i eventually do get them down the line (though i may lean towards getting the singles for DB and the movies) I'd probably rip them all to m4v files and then use the fan program for the subs. As far as Z and GT, those are good enough in their presentations between the FUNi Boxes and GT singles that i don't feel the need to drop the cash on the Japanese versions of them.

Yeah, if you just did the Dragon Ball Dragon Box and The Movies it would be way less work. Still, it's not a perfect solution. I love having it all backed up and lossless, but I still wish I had a version of the original Dragon Ball that I was proud to pop into my DVD player. And I was hoping this new set would be something I was proud to pop into my Blu-ray player. But alas, here we are.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Well yeah but those are pretty expensive and don't have subtitles. Unless you use the fan made program I did to add subtitles (and the dub) to all 5 of them. But then you're forced to watch them on your PC or burn them to blank discs, which I don't personally mind but I understand that many would. Also the fan made program is awesome but it is a ton of work to get set up to use it.

So, this just continues to add to the mayhem. You need to spend a hefty chunk of money (the program requires the Japanese Dragon Boxes AND recent FUNi DVD releases), spend hours of set up time, and watch digitally or on blank discs, just to have the series in decent quality with English options.

If i eventually do get them down the line (though i may lean towards getting the singles for DB and the movies) I'd probably rip them all to m4v files and then use the fan program for the subs. As far as Z and GT, those are good enough in their presentations between the FUNi Boxes and GT singles that i don't feel the need to drop the cash on the Japanese versions of them.

Yeah, if you just did the Dragon Ball Dragon Box and The Movies it would be way less work. Still, it's not a perfect solution. I love having it all backed up and lossless, but I still wish I had a version of the original Dragon Ball that I was proud to pop into my DVD player. And I was hoping this new set would be something I was proud to pop into my Blu-ray player. But alas, here we are.

I know i have looked before and the DB/movies Dragon Box single discs for them are definitely decently priced as far as Japanese releases go, though the thing is i'll have to look to find either good deals for complete sets of each or maybe even just buy them a few volumes at a time.

[KBABZ]

Yeah but it's taken all night and all day to get there.

There is twenty-seven days left I have no doubt it will make it.

I'm just pointing out that it has slowed down a lot. That's all.

The problem is that posting the vote number along with "This is guaranteed to happen, Funimation won't listen, the show is DOOOOOMED!!!!" has been an easy way to grab attention in this thread lately. They try to look informative but really they're just "hey look at me and how informative I'm being!", not adding anything to the discussion.

Huh, then I don't get the idea of the zoom. But I will wait for FUNimations explanation if they give one.

This is where I post the "waiting dead skeleton" meme, right?

They could also just delete the whole frame and duplicate the clean neighbour frame but that would mean static grain for 2 frames, which won't be noticeable when watching but probably not tasteful for purists.

Not particularly hard for an anime. They're animated at 12 frames per second, so unless the shot has the camera moving you wouldn't notice if it was just the first two frames of a shot.

OG, GT and Kai don't have to go through this why do we? Is the team that works on Z really incompetent or just plane lazy?

I'd argue that Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Kai have made us go through this too, though. The Blue Bricks look ugly to me (complete with DNR), and the zooming is comparable to what we have seen from this "Black Brick" footage.

The trick of course is that the Black Bricks are supposed to be the premium, boutique, collectible celebration of the 30th anniversary. That's half of why this release is so insulting, it shows just how much Funimation (and by extension Toei) just CANNOT be bothered with this.

Maybe they will post additional details this week to help it get those last few reserves. All it will take is a single good looking remastered frame and it would get the orders within a couple hours.

IMO it will take more than a single frame to convince people like us. We'd need to see it in motion first, alongside heavy emphasis that it's representative of what will be on the discs.

[KillerCory]

There's always the Dragon Boxes. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well yeah but those are pretty expensive and don't have subtitles. Unless you use the fan made program I did to add subtitles (and the dub) to all 5 of them. But then you're forced to watch them on your PC or burn them to blank discs, which I don't personally mind but I understand that many would. Also the fan made program is awesome but it is a ton of work to get set up to use it.

So, this just continues to add to the mayhem. You need to spend a hefty chunk of money (the program requires the Japanese Dragon Boxes AND recent FUNi DVD releases), spend hours of set up time, and watch digitally or on blank discs, just to have the series in decent quality with English options.

If i do eventually get them somewhere down the line (though i may lean towards getting the singles for DB and the movies) I'd probably rip them all to m4v files and then use the fan program for the subs and dub for each. As far as Z and GT the sets i have are good enough for me in their presentations between the FUNi Boxes and GT singles that i don't feel the need to drop a butt load of cash on the Japanese versions of them.

Would you say the GT singles or season set is better quality? Been awhile since I viewed either of them.

P.S.
Not happy with this 30th "remastered" edition. I'll still to my VHS tapes before I buy this crap. (and Dragon Boxes)

[Forte224]

Well yeah but those are pretty expensive and don't have subtitles. Unless you use the fan made program I did to add subtitles (and the dub) to all 5 of them. But then you're forced to watch them on your PC or burn them to blank discs, which I don't personally mind but I understand that many would. Also the fan made program is awesome but it is a ton of work to get set up to use it.

So, this just continues to add to the mayhem. You need to spend a hefty chunk of money (the program requires the Japanese Dragon Boxes AND recent FUNi DVD releases), spend hours of set up time, and watch digitally or on blank discs, just to have the series in decent quality with English options.

If i do eventually get them somewhere down the line (though i may lean towards getting the singles for DB and the movies) I'd probably rip them all to m4v files and then use the fan program for the subs and dub for each. As far as Z and GT the sets i have are good enough for me in their presentations between the FUNi Boxes and GT singles that i don't feel the need to drop a butt load of cash on the Japanese versions of them.

Would you say the GT singles or season set is better quality? Been awhile since I viewed either of them.

P.S.
Not happy with this 30th "remastered" edition. I'll still to my VHS tapes before I buy this crap. (and Dragon Boxes)

I'm obviously not who you asked, but in my opinion the season set (aka Green Brick) is the way to go. It's technically GT Dragon Box material, from what I understand. The biggest issue is, as usual, DNR (done by FUNimation), but it isn't zoomed and it doesn't have awful macroblocking like the singles. Also, if you're a dub fan it has the added value of being able to listen to the dub with the original Japanese score.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Well yeah but those are pretty expensive and don't have subtitles. Unless you use the fan made program I did to add subtitles (and the dub) to all 5 of them. But then you're forced to watch them on your PC or burn them to blank discs, which I don't personally mind but I understand that many would. Also the fan made program is awesome but it is a ton of work to get set up to use it.

So, this just continues to add to the mayhem. You need to spend a hefty chunk of money (the program requires the Japanese Dragon Boxes AND recent FUNi DVD releases), spend hours of set up time, and watch digitally or on blank discs, just to have the series in decent quality with English options.

If i do eventually get them somewhere down the line (though i may lean towards getting the singles for DB and the movies) I'd probably rip them all to m4v files and then use the fan program for the subs and dub for each. As far as Z and GT the sets i have are good enough for me in their presentations between the FUNi Boxes and GT singles that i don't feel the need to drop a butt load of cash on the Japanese versions of them.

Would you say the GT singles or season set is better quality? Been awhile since I viewed either of them.

P.S.
Not happy with this 30th "remastered" edition. I'll still to my VHS tapes before I buy this crap. (and Dragon Boxes)

I personally went with the singles since they have the complete proper Dragon Box style presentation of the Japanese version with the original title cards, OP/ED credits, and next episode previews which the Green season sets don't have and also because i prefer to watch the show subbed as FUNi's GT dub is honestly not very good, and as to the macro block/compression issues those don't really bother me much overall.

So really, it all comes down to what aspects make either of the sets a draw for you and what you value most in them.

[JohnnyCashKami]

I know i've heard about it before, like where if you're watching the Madman version of that set on the Japanese track it will for some reason skip ahead two episodes so the only way to get around it is by watching the one episode with the English dub on in order to get around the error.

It's also really bizarre that they never bothered correcting it, you would think an error as huge as that which actually affects playback to such an extent would be noticable to the people authoring the discs.

I initially bought Dragon Ball: Collection Parts 1 and 2, and then as I found the R1 Fortuneteller Saga DVD set really cheap bought it. Never bothered to watch, kind of a shame.

Would you say the GT singles or season set is better quality? Been awhile since I viewed either of them.

The GT Singles are far better and you get the NEPs subbed and dubbed although the Lime Green Bricks have the advantage it features the original Tokunaga score.

But there's a sort of a problem.. getting them all conveniently.

[PremiumSalt]

Well yeah but those are pretty expensive and don't have subtitles. Unless you use the fan made program I did to add subtitles (and the dub) to all 5 of them. But then you're forced to watch them on your PC or burn them to blank discs, which I don't personally mind but I understand that many would. Also the fan made program is awesome but it is a ton of work to get set up to use it.

So, this just continues to add to the mayhem. You need to spend a hefty chunk of money (the program requires the Japanese Dragon Boxes AND recent FUNi DVD releases), spend hours of set up time, and watch digitally or on blank discs, just to have the series in decent quality with English options.

If i do eventually get them somewhere down the line (though i may lean towards getting the singles for DB and the movies) I'd probably rip them all to m4v files and then use the fan program for the subs and dub for each. As far as Z and GT the sets i have are good enough for me in their presentations between the FUNi Boxes and GT singles that i don't feel the need to drop a butt load of cash on the Japanese versions of them.

Would you say the GT singles or season set is better quality? Been awhile since I viewed either of them.

P.S.
Not happy with this 30th "remastered" edition. I'll still to my VHS tapes before I buy this crap. (and Dragon Boxes)

The Singles are more "complete" in regards to the Japanese version, but have terrible macroblocking. The Green Bricks don't have this issue, but are DNR'd and have the typical dub-centric presentation of most of FUNi's modern releases. So, pick your poison.

[Forte224]

I somehow forgot all about the Japanese title cards. I value those. If you're like me, go with those.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I somehow forgot all about the Japanese title cards. I value those. If you're like me, go with those.

I also like that they have the NEP's as well, in fact that's the only release by FUNi aside from the Dragon Box Z sets and Kai to have them properly intact.

[JohnnyCashKami]

I somehow forgot all about the Japanese title cards. I value those. If you're like me, go with those.

I also like that they have the NEP's as well, in fact that's the only release by FUNi aside from the Dragon Box Z sets and Kai to have them properly intact.

The DBZ Madman Singles apparently have all or most NEPs dubbed in English. If true, that would be fantastic for someone to confirm.

Doubt that FUNimation is doing a DBZ redub given how cheap this Blu-ray release looks.



Just 484 more orders and it's happening.

The amounts of dislikes on FUNimation's trailer is almost 1k.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I somehow forgot all about the Japanese title cards. I value those. If you're like me, go with those.

I also like that they have the NEP's as well, in fact that's the only release by FUNi aside from the Dragon Box Z sets and Kai to have them properly intact.

The DBZ Madman Singles apparently have all or most NEPs dubbed in English. If true, that would be fantastic for someone to confirm.

Doubt that FUNimation is doing a DBZ redub given how cheap this Blu-ray release looks.



Just 484 more orders and it's happening.

The amounts of dislikes on FUNimation's trailer is almost 1k.

Wow, i imagine a good bit of it is coming from those apparently bad quality clips they mixed in with the Level set footage at the same time. I'm also not too surprised that they are already this close to having the reservation number fulfilled, because apparently the prospect of it being a 4:3 release have made the desperate fans come a running.

[funrush]

So it's kinda what I had a feeling it would be, the Bluray sets but in 4:3. I guess something like the Levels was too much to expect. Damn.

Cool that they're making it, and I'm glad that the price point is solid (a show this old & lengthy should probably be going for like $1 an episode), but idk, this isn't impressive enough to get me on board. Maybe if they replaced the season sets with these I'd slowly buy 'em one at a time, but I'm not slamming down $350 for this. The box looks cool, I couldn't care less about the statue.

It doesn't look horrible or anything, if this version was on streaming I'd watch it, but it's pretty obvious why most of the footage they showed off was from the Toei remastered opening and not from the actual show. It's an upgrade, but it still looks all watercolor-y.

DBZ is the most iconic shonen ever, it's just crazy to me that Funi keeps dropping the ball with these. All they have to do is get it right once.

[Char Aznable]

Just sent FUNi an email requesting cancellation, I’m out. If they say no, I’ll be happy to dispute the charge.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

So it's kinda what I had a feeling it would be, the Bluray sets but in 4:3. I guess something like the Levels was too much to expect. Damn.

Cool that they're making it, and I'm glad that the price point is solid (a show this old & lengthy should probably be going for like $1 an episode), but idk, this isn't impressive enough to get me on board. Maybe if they replaced the season sets with these I'd slowly buy 'em one at a time, but I'm not slamming down $350 for this. The box looks cool, I couldn't care less about the statue.

It doesn't look horrible or anything, if this version was on streaming I'd watch it, but it's pretty obvious why most of the footage they showed off was from the Toei remastered opening and not from the actual show. It's an upgrade, but it still looks all watercolor-y.

DBZ is the most iconic shonen ever, it's just crazy to me that Funi keeps dropping the ball with these. All they have to do is get it right once.

Eh, the best thing i can say about the release is that at least it's not another cropped faux widescreen release although the picture quality leaves much to be desired. In the end though, i am obviously still going to be hanging onto my Dragon Boxes because this definitely doesn't cut the mustard for me quality wise if the clips are any indication as it's clear FUNi could do better than this if they put in a little more effort.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Just sent FUNi an email requesting cancellation, I’m out. If they say no, I’ll be happy to dispute the charge.

I've already decided that i'm not reserving or pre ordering, because it looks like this set is in fact going to be a letdown as i had feared even with the aspect ratio issue fixed. With that said i'm definitely glad that i decided to go for the Dragon Boxes, for that is likely to remain the best available release of the series for the foreseeable future and i for one am sure glad to have them in my collection.

[LettuceJUMP]

I’m sorry I’m part of the problem. I preordered. Desperate for 4x3 and I only own Kai. Want to own a version of the show fully and I hate cropped. Wish it was Level sets. This is better than nothing. We may never get dragon box quality in HD or a true level set remaster.

[KBABZ]

Spoiler:

Just 484 more orders and it's happening.

The amounts of dislikes on FUNimation's trailer is almost 1k.

You don't have to give us a full HD screenshot from your phone just to show up a number. Am I the only one irritated by this constant updating?

[KillerCory]

I’m sorry I’m part of the problem. I preordered. Desperate for 4x3 and I only own Kai. Want to own a version of the show fully and I hate cropped. Wish it was Level sets. This is better than nothing. We may never get dragon box quality in HD or a true level set remaster.

I don't think anyone should beat you up over pre-ordering. It is understandable that people missed out on the Dragonboxes and don't have a good version of DBZ. Knowing Funimations track record there may not be another 4:3 release after this ...

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I’m sorry I’m part of the problem. I preordered. Desperate for 4x3 and I only own Kai. Want to own a version of the show fully and I hate cropped. Wish it was Level sets. This is better than nothing. We may never get dragon box quality in HD or a true level set remaster.

I don't think anyone should beat you up over pre-ordering. It is understandable that people missed out on the Dragonboxes and don't have a good version of DBZ. Knowing Funimations track record there may not be another 4:3 release after this ...

Which is all the more sad because if FUNi had just bided their time and made the Level sets a few years later in potentially bigger sets then they likely could've caught on and gradually become the new standard 4:3 release. What a shame.