900 Minutes of Uncut Action, DBZ Season 1 Arrives

[Sun_Wukong]

Yeah, why on earth would they remaster Naruto? The show only dates back to 2002. DBZ first aired in 1989.

[Gokuden553]

Yeah, why on earth would they remaster Naruto? The show only dates back to 2002. DBZ first aired in 1989.

Well the reason because of that is due to the amount of grain that the RAW's or as you would call them the subbed version... here's two pictures below of what the original RAW looked like and the remastered version for DVD releace.

RAW *Note: Widescreen screenshot didn't come from me but from a different Naruto site which hosts episode images*



Notice the huge amount of grain around Naruto Sasuke and Sakura's faces and also how the colours on their face and clothes looks way off... now compare it with the one below

Remastered



See how their's no grain at all in the image, also Naruto Sasuke and Sakura's colours on their faces has been darkened also the detail on their clothes has aswell.

But that's not the only thing that changed, some scenes and badly drawn images were corrected and improved compared to the RAW... also the colour seems bleeded out just to remove the grain yet this one's from my Naruto Unleashed Vol.1 DVD.

[fps_anth]

If I knew any better, I could swear that the first image is just a shitty TV rip, and the second one is a DVD rip/good TV rip. I know for a fact that when One Piece and Naruto are released on DVD or next gen format, they will need minimal remastering.

[SDHero]

That's not really what you would consider "remastering," which would involve cleaning up footage. That's just the difference between a TV broadcast and a DVD transfer, which is higher quality than the (likely) analog TV broadcast of a digital show.

[Mr.Piccolo]

I don't mean to act like I know what I'm talking about but the I could swear the screencap with lower quality could just be bad fansubs (or just a screen from YouTube)... I've never seen Naruto that bad..
-Rick

[Acid_Reign]

Raws aren't the same as masters. End of story.

[DaemonCorps]

Raws aren't the same as masters. End of story.

Well said. Finding my way back on topic: I just got the season 1 set in the mail and is sitting next to my computer as I speak. I know the set sucks, but I just like getting packages in the mail .

[TheMajinRedComet]

I just got mine today at Wal-Mart and frankly I am very suprised how nice the picture quality is and I am really digging the japanese music.

[MysticGogeta]

Lame! I have yet to receive mine, via mail, and now I'm wondering when videouniverse.com will put up pre-orders for season 2.

[TripleRach]

If I knew any better, I could swear that the first image is just a shitty TV rip, and the second one is a DVD rip/good TV rip.

Not only that, but there are a lot of compression artifacts in the first image, which could either be due to A) poor encoding of the source footage, B) poor JPEG compression when the screenshot was saved, or C) a combination of both. The "remastered" image, meanwhile, is a PNG screenshot from a DVD, so it wouldn't have those kind of problems.

[DaemonCorps]

I figured I'd add this picture of the back of the digipack (or whatever it's called) since we have pictures of everything else (it's kinda bad quality, but you get the picture):



The flash caught what we've already seen. It's pretty plain, but I guess it's alright.

[JAPPO]

I want to see a picture of the back of the packaging.

[Mystery Person X]

As others have said, the difference in the Naruto screenshots has nothing to do with any remastering. It's just that the raws used for the fansubs were low quality encodes of a low quality broadcast, and inevitably won't look as good as high-quality DVDs made from a perfect source.

Also, the fansub picture doesn't have any grain. Grain only exists in anime shot on film, which inherently has grain, so digital animation doesn't have any grain in the first place (unless it's intentionally added for dramatic effect, like in .hack//SIGN's real world scenes for example). What it does have is compression artifacting. The picture has been too heavily compressed and therefore looks like shit.

[JAPPO]

I was going to say, there is no way in hell an anime made in the early-mid 2000's is going to need remastering.

[DaemonCorps]

I want to see a picture of the back of the packaging.

godofchaos put up pictures of the front, back, and some pages from the booklet can be found on this page of the thread.

[JAPPO]

I want to see a picture of the back of the packaging.

godofchaos put up pictures of the front, back, and some pages from the booklet can be found on this page of the thread.

It actually looks quite vivid. Thanks.

[nathantheguitarist]

Hey, DaemonCorps, would you mind scanning the spine for me?

I have an idea to see how many sets there might be.

[DaemonCorps]

Hey, DaemonCorps, would you mind scanning the spine for me?

But of course. I'm guessing you're gonna find the DBZ logo and split it according to the spine's width? It's not a bad idea, but for all we, know, FUNi might shrink or stretch the logo to accomodate (am I using the word right?) for the number of sets they'll release.

[mAcChaos]

Or they just might stop.

[Deus ex Machina]

I've had the chance to sit down and watch my own boxset now, which I should mention I over-payed for, so I feel I should throw my two cents in.

Packaging: Here's a shocker, it sucks. The layout and colors are just plain and ugly, and I cringe to think that all subsequent releases are going to be "consistent" with it. Why cant Funimation get feedback from their customers before commiting to something like this? There is some original art contained within (mostly in booklet, consisting of art from their UUE) but they really lack depth and detail.

The six DVD's are stacked on three fold-out panels, with two stacked together on each. Every time I try to take one out or put it back I fear scratching them, which I'm sure will happen eventually. Why Funimation couldn't shell out a few extra bucks for six slim DVD cases instead is beyond me.

The Dub: If you're one of those people who don't watch the dub anyways, feel free to skip over this part, since it won't detract from watching the original Japanese.

Now if you're like me and you enjoyed Funimation's release of the original Dragon Ball with english voice overs and Japanese music, then you're in for a treat. This was the way Dragon Ball Z was meant to be enjoyed, and it was like seeing the Saiyan saga again for the first time.

If you're not keen on the Japanese music, you could always switch it over to Funimation's alternative soundtrack, but I haven't listened to it myself. If you enjoy Mark Menza's work, then that's your business. Personally I think Funimation should have brought back Faulconer.

The dub script is a little hit and miss. It almost follows the original dub script word for word, except for removing silly lines (Tenshinhan's regeneration, Burdock being a brilliant scientist, magical parachutes) and adding a few "Hell"s and "Damn"s for good measure. I'm a little dissapointed by this, since Funimation could have done much better, and Piccolo claiming that Raditz was moving faster than light still bugs me to no end. I noticed they also try to make Piccolo sound nicer to Gohan; first by having him say something cold, and then following it up with something soothing or encouraging. Not very true to Piccolo's nature at this part of the story.

One thing I wanted to mention specifically, is Goku's mandatory hero speech at the end of the Vegeta fight. It bugs me a little that they don't use Goku's true motivations in this scene (Goku asking Kuririn to spare Vegeta's life so that he can beat him by himself some day.) But of all the speeches they've written for Goku in the past, this one is my favorite. They really make Goku sound like the naieve, good person that he is at this time, and allude to Vegeta becoming a friend some day (even his sacrifice against Majin Boo, which was kinda neat). So of all the re-writes and typical hero speeches in the series, I liked this one best.

Video Quality: This seems to be the hot button topic at the moment, I should point out right now I'm no tech specialist, or even amature. I'm just reviewing as a regular consumer.

The colors are bright and vibrant, much, much better than Funimation's original DVD's. They're not being true to the original colors as they claimed (as you can easily tell by comparing them to the DragonBox's), but they look very good to me.

At times you can notice specks, dirt, and the occasional damage, but in motion these scenes aren't nearly as bad as you might think by looking at them in still screens. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a film is worth a million, and I doubt many people would have any problem with it. Not the pain-staking frame-by-frame restoration Funimation led us to believe it was, but a siginificant improvement nontheless.

Widescreen, oh yes, the wide screen. What can I say that hasn't already; 16:9 was not the original screen size, you are losing picture off the top and the bottom, for much less film to the sides of questionable value. These points are beyond dispute, whether or not this detracts from your viewing experience really comes down to the individual. I can say honestly that it didn't bother me at all, 99% of the film fitted nicely within the widescreen without incident, and I enjoyed watching it on my own widescreen television.

I say everyone should see it in motion before finalizing their opinion on the subject. The only thing negative I'll say on this is that while the film itself uses anamorphic widescreen, the DVD menus are in letterbox for no apparent reason, a little consistency would be nice.

Bonuses: Little to speak of; the booklet was a nice addition, but doesn't show or tell you anything that a first time Dragon Ball fan couldn't (Goku is good-hearted, Gohan is cowardly, Vegeta is bad, well golly-f'ing-gee). Contains episode summaries and a bit of original art (the picture of Bulma seems to be from DBZ movie 13 oddly), and their DBZ history in America timeline was very short and undetailed.

The only "bonuses" on the DVD itself is the same promotional trailers we all saw on Funimation's website, first anouncing the sets and then their technical remastering explination. Nice to have them and all, but I was hoping for a bit more than the obligatory advertisments masquerading as bonuses and captionless openings / outros.

Price: Here is where Funimation shines finally; I payed $40 (Canadian) for my set, and at about $1 and episode this is probably the most economical choice the Dragon Ball fan could make. I hear you can even get it for cheaper online, so you cheapskates out there have no excuse anymore for your fansubs.

My Final Word: I was against this set originally, mostly for the fact that I wanted it in its original aspect ratio like many people. Some people may still feel that way and that's fine, if you feel strongly about Funimation messing with widescreen and intentionally altering the colors to be more appealing, then that's your perogative and good luck to you.

If your concern is more along the lines of how watchable the episodes are in their new altered state, then I assure you that it is very enjoyable and worth purchasing. And I can't say I'm about to go on record to say this, but I'm actually interested in seeing the rest of the series like this. So I may not be sending off any letters after all.