Funimation's 30th anniversary collectible home video release

[PremiumSalt]

I've been seeing the clips that one dude put on YouTube and...it's not too bad?

The edge enhancements when it comes to some of the highlights and overall smeariness is worse earlier on, but the clips I've seen from Cell/Buu I think look pretty nice (maybe because there was less grain for later in the series to deal with?):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRXRkYVYRE8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqLZIr_5uWM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atY6gQ6bLJ0

Now I'm not one of those "don't touch a single grain" kinda people who'd have liked the raws as are, but a little bit more grain retention would've been nice. Still compared to most earlier (uncancelled) releases I'll take it.

Yeah I've been going through some of those clips and while some of them look fine, others show signs of that "out of focus" problem I mentioned previously. Look at the linework on Videl, it's so smudged and blurry:

Spoiler:

[Gdugz]

Someone posted on Blu Ray forums, apparently their set had 17 of the discs scratched aswell. Seriously can't believe they decided to house them like that.

[Soppa Saia People]

man, this release is just beyond a disaster, like its been a impressive mess. everything i hear about it just seems to get worse and worse.

[Brangeta]

My cases arrived... perfect solution. Now I just need to design artwork to put on them and episode guides in them. I'll probably have time over the holidays I hope.

One (or some people) have complained about scratched discs, and all of mine are great except the Captain Ginyu one has a bit of a scratch on it, maybe 1/4 inch. I'll need to watch that entire disc soon and see if it causes any problems.

[Scsigs]

Honestly, just have the discs in regular cases like those & convert the booklet artwork to insets for the sleeves, get rid of the half-assed art book & figure, & I'd buy those all at once. I'm cool with just regular BR cases & artwork. If the masters weren't smeared or badly color-corrected, I'd say we'd have the ideal DBZ release on BR. Honestly, just a general clean-up of the image is all we need on their film scans & they'd be fine. Maybe not amazing, but perfectly fine.

[SuperSaiyanPan]

I am on the episode where Gohan turned into a Great Ape for the first time. The quality has been absolutely stunning honestly, like it's really good. Some things I have seen on YouTube looked kind of bad but I'm unsure if that's the compression or not but we shall see.

So far this is my all time favorite release to own. The only thing I don't like is the recap music. This isn't Nathan Johnson, earlier in this thread someone linked the video of the theme and said it was supposedly only for the first 10 episodes.

The mid episode eye catcher was also different but that changed a few episodes ago back to Nathan Johnson, so hopefully after episode 10 it goes back to what was used on my Orange Bricks.

[LettuceJUMP]

I am on the episode where Gohan turned into a Great Ape for the first time. The quality has been absolutely stunning honestly, like it's really good. Some things I have seen on YouTube looked kind of bad but I'm unsure if that's the compression or not but we shall see.

So far this is my all time favorite release to own. The only thing I don't like is the recap music. This isn't Nathan Johnson, earlier in this thread someone linked the video of the theme and said it was supposedly only for the first 10 episodes.

The mid episode eye catcher was also different but that changed a few episodes ago back to Nathan Johnson, so hopefully after episode 10 it goes back to what was used on my Orange Bricks.

Same. I’m really enjoying. Sorry so many are disappointed. This is the best release yet. Sold my figure and artbook.

[Ryuji-Otogi]

Holy crap, how did I just find out about this. But seriously, it was another limited print thing that’s upwards of $1000 to own? Smh. Ridiculous.

[Freeza Soldier #156]

I am on the episode where Gohan turned into a Great Ape for the first time. The quality has been absolutely stunning honestly, like it's really good. Some things I have seen on YouTube looked kind of bad but I'm unsure if that's the compression or not but we shall see.

I agree. Most of what I’ve watched thus far has looked really good. Definitely a step up from the season BD’s and obviously leagues better than the Orange Bricks. That said, I did find a batch of episodes in the Cell Saga (around when Vegeta left the Time Chamber and fought 2nd form Cell) that had scenes where things got blurry. Nothing unwatchable but definitely noticeable. I’m pretty sure this same block of episodes had the same issue in the season BD’s as well.

[Metalwario64]

So, considering that these have the same exact linework and dnr issues as the previous Season BDs, as well as the same strange Nathan Johnson recap music replacement, and the same random out of focus episodes, is it reasonable to conclude that the Season BDs were remastered in full frame, then cropped for those releases, then for this set they went back to the footage before the 16x9 cropping for these, albeit zoomed in too far, and from what I've heard, added some fake grain back in because most of it was wiped away in an attempt to make it seem "more faithful" without putting in the actual work again?

[Scsigs]

So, considering that these have the same exact linework and dnr issues as the previous Season BDs, as well as the same strange Nathan Johnson recap music replacement, and the same random out of focus episodes, is it reasonable to conclude that the Season BDs were remastered in full frame, then cropped for those releases, then for this set they went back to the footage before the 16x9 cropping for these, albeit zoomed in too far, and from what I've heard, added some fake grain back in because most of it was wiped away in an attempt to make it seem "more faithful" without putting in the actual work again?

I mean, they definitely remastered the film in 4:3 before cropping it, considering they did selective pan & scan cropping. As for this being the same remaster, I don't know. It's definitely the same technique, but the colors aren't as bright &, unless I'm missing something, the color correction isn't 100% the same, but I haven't sampled either, so I can't say much more on that. It's definitely sourced from the same film scans or source film (I can't believe they'd just throw out the raw film scans after doing it back in either 2007 or 2011 for one of the other releases. It would save time & money to keep those on external hard drives than it would to just delete them), since they no doubt would wanna be prepared for more schemes to make more money off this franchise.

[immakillya]

My cases arrived... perfect solution. Now I just need to design artwork to put on them and episode guides in them. I'll probably have time over the holidays I hope.

One (or some people) have complained about scratched discs, and all of mine are great except the Captain Ginyu one has a bit of a scratch on it, maybe 1/4 inch. I'll need to watch that entire disc soon and see if it causes any problems.

I just bought 4 of the same blu ray cases. Luckily all of my discs came out of the crappy cardboard sleeves unharmed. Only the first disc has a really small scratch.

If you design art work for the inserts for the blu ray cases, do you mind sharing it. I would love to print out my own inserts as well, but I'm terrible at making those sort of things.

[Rory]

It's the re-insertion of grain (via a filter, from what I'm getting) that bothers me the most. It's a showcase that FUNimation never stopped lying. They aren't just giving you a bad product, but that lying company who told you the orange bricks were HD are still around. The 'fake' grain is just there to trick people who don't know any better, and for people to get the set and say "oh I guess there's still grain after all, those guys didn't know what they were talking about".
If Ajay didn't make his videos, there likely would be no fake grain, but this was clearly a last second attempt to trick people. Not people like Ajay, but people who have seen his video yet aren't quite as informed. It's actually disgusting. That's even putting aside the fact that it just makes the image quality worse, as grain isn't a good thing in and of itself, but that it needs to be respected when it contains important information (i.e, brush strokes, sharpness of line art, etc), and just slapping random bits of grain doesn't help the image, it's detrimental. That's something you'd do in a school project to 'make a photo look old', it's pathetic.

[Tylerman29]

Yeah they shouldn’t have put the filter..like if ur gunna DNR it to hell..commit to it..don’t slap on a filter to try to hide it. Own that shit FUNi! If they put out these sets as standalone releases and remove the fake grain I’m going to be pissed .

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Yeah they shouldn’t have put the filter..like if ur gunna DNR it to hell..commit to it..don’t slap on a filter to try to hide it. Own that shit FUNi! If they put out these sets as standalone releases and remove the fake grain I’m going to be pissed .

I know they had something similar to that on one of the old trailers or featurettes about the Orange Bricks back in 2007, which was but another one of the rather deceptive things done when advertising them.

[eledoremassis02]

I remember someone saying that if they were gonna DNR it, superimpose the grained footage underneath to preserve at least some details. I gave it a shot in Photoshop, I dont have the 30th set so if someone can do this by ways of video, Id be interested in seeing how it looks. It may be a (better) option?



http://www.framecompare.com/image-compa ... n/DWZZLNNX

[SqueakyBoots]

I am on the episode where Gohan turned into a Great Ape for the first time. The quality has been absolutely stunning honestly, like it's really good. Some things I have seen on YouTube looked kind of bad but I'm unsure if that's the compression or not but we shall see.

My set hasn't come in yet but I've been watching clips on youtube and I think a lot of the comments about how the transfer looks are overexaggerated. I would say that aside from the excessive dnr, it looks pretty decent. If you thought the OG Dragon Ball season set dvds looked fine, then I can't see why you would have a problem with this set. It's no worse than how some certain Disney movies look on blu-ray in my mind. If this were what got released in 2013 instead of another 16:9 release, I don't think there would be nearly as many complaints.

Putting a grain filter on top after already removing grain sounds stupid though. Not gonna argue with that.

[PremiumSalt]

Listen, everyone is entitled to their opinion and if you're happy with this release, I'm happy for you.

But some of the apologism in this thread is getting a bit ridiculous.

I think a lot of the comments about how the transfer looks are overexaggerated. I would say that aside from the excessive dnr, it looks pretty decent.

"Aside from the thing that literally destroys the integrity of the image and makes the detail level lower than the fucking DVD singles, it's fine."

[PacificOceanDub]

Just finished the first disc and I really do enjoy the image. It beats the hell out of my old Season BDs. I rewatched Dragon Ball over the summer in anticipation of this release, and it’s been a really cool experience. Overall, and this is probably gonna sound psychotic, I would give this set a solid 8/10. And the two points I docked aren’t even for the image. Minus one point for the lame art book and minus another for the risk factor of the cardboard disc housing.

[Rory]

But some of the apologism in this thread is getting a bit ridiculous.

A lot of the posts come off as sunk cost mentality. These people sank a lot of cash into this product, and bought into the hype. That's a really powerful thing.
Even then, I can't be too harsh. I remember being young, stupid, and being okay with the orange bricks when they were first released too, defending them on here at some points. I'm try to reserve my dissatisfaction for the company in this instance, and not for the people who are enjoying this release.