What's the difference between the dbz orange bricks and the

[Goku4243]

Okay so I know that the orange bricks have different voice actors and they touched it up a bit with brightness but I want to know if the story and all the fights are the same as the original I think they are but I wanted someone else's input on the subject thanks in advance

P.S. why do people hat the orange bricks so bad thanks

[Goku4243]

And the original ocean dub it didn't let me post all of that

[Danfun64]

Aside from being revisionalist, the Orange Bricks are cropped from their original 4:3 aspect ratio to 16:9 (and I'm fairly sure the cropping was consistently centered instead of a reverse pan-and-scan) and DVRed to death, and film issues are STILL noticeable. The Season Blu-Rays are marginely better, but they have slightly more revisionist audio dubtracks inherited from the Funi Dragon Boxes. Aside from the revisionalist dub audio, the Funi Dragon Boxes are awesome...and very expensive. The Level Blu-Rays are arguably the best the series has ever looked, with 4:3 aspect ratio intact and preserved grain but was cancelled, had no NEPs (then again, neither did the Season Blu-Rays or the Orange Bricks), and still had revisionist dub audio. The Ultimate Uncut sets have the 2005 dub without any changes, but was cancelled.

To avoid revisionism, the best official option is the Rock The Dragon sets, then the post-Ocean singles. If you want the UUC dub, your best option is the UUC sets, the season 2 Orange Brick, and THEN the post-Ocean singles, although that exposes the inconsistency of voices. If only the Ultimate Uncut/Orange Bricks redub was complete instead of partial, it would have been more acceptable.

...or if you want to avoid as many dub errors as possible, get the Blu-Ray parts of DBZ Kai and then the Boo saga of DBZ (well, until Boo Kai comes out, then watch that instead)

[Soppa Saia People]

P.S. why do people hat the orange bricks so bad thanks

I can't speak for everybody but for me it's the colors, dear lord, what happened here ?

Spoiler:

That physically hurts my eyes, it's so bright. This release was so bad that it was the reasons I didn't watch the anime until last year because I thought this was how the show looked like. Also more personal problem but Gohan isn't on any of the covers.

[ShaneisMC]

Long story short, they look awful because of how the "remastering" process they were put through and a host of other changes made to them for god knows what reason. In your best interest if you have the money available I'm gonna tell you now what I would imagine most people would agree are the two best ways to watch the series. Watch the original series in Japanese by getting a hold of the Dragon Boxes, and/or watch it in english by getting the Kai Blu rays. Imho if possible track them down in parts so you can see the first 2 seasons with the Yamamoto score. Putting the controversy aside and just looking at it as a product the music sounds pretty good at least to me. Its a shame about that whole mess but thats a whole 'nother discussion entirely.

[TheKingOfKamehamehas]

Basically, the story is still pretty much the same from the old Funimation and Ocean dub, but this time around the Orange Bricks are fully uncut.
The Orange Brick redub in my opinion is better than the old Toonami dub because they deliver the lines a little bit better with the new added line changes even though the script is still faulty in some areas such as the dub still being heavily adapted from the old script. The new recasts can be a hit or a miss depending on what you prefer.

Spoiler:

To avoid revisionism, the best official option is the Rock The Dragon sets, then the post-Ocean singles. If you want the UUC dub, your best option is the UUC sets, the season 2 Orange Brick, and THEN the post-Ocean singles, although that exposes the inconsistency of voices. If only the Ultimate Uncut/Orange Bricks redub was complete instead of partial, it would have been more acceptable.

...or if you want to avoid as many dub errors as possible, get the Blu-Ray parts of DBZ Kai and then the Boo saga of DBZ (well, until Boo Kai comes out, then watch that instead)

I agree with these methods except the Rock The Dragon Set is really rare these days and I would change the UUC with the Level Sets and might as well use the Blu Ray Season 2.

[Danfun64]

Spoiler:

To avoid revisionism, the best official option is the Rock The Dragon sets, then the post-Ocean singles. If you want the UUC dub, your best option is the UUC sets, the season 2 Orange Brick, and THEN the post-Ocean singles, although that exposes the inconsistency of voices. If only the Ultimate Uncut/Orange Bricks redub was complete instead of partial, it would have been more acceptable.

...or if you want to avoid as many dub errors as possible, get the Blu-Ray parts of DBZ Kai and then the Boo saga of DBZ (well, until Boo Kai comes out, then watch that instead)

I agree with these methods except the Rock The Dragon Set is really rare these days and I would change the UUC with the Level Sets and might as well use the Blu Ray Season 2.

First you have the UUC dub, then you have the Orange Bricks which tweak the dub, then you have the Dragon Boxes which tweak it even further. AFAIK, there have been no further tweaks in the Level Sets and the Season Sets compared to the Dragon Boxes. The best way to watch the UUC episodes that would have been released in the cancelled sets would probably be Cartoon Network recordings, but the season 2 Orange Brick is probably the easiest and most unquestionably legal way to watch the UUC dub for the missing episodes, as although tweaked, it doesn't have the Dragon Box/Season Blu-Ray tweaks.

edit: I forgot that you would need the Season 1 Orange Brick as well to continue the UUC dub with as few alterations as possible. Also, because of the differences between american and japanese episode counts, and because the captain ginyu dvds are omnibuses, it would be best to skip the captain ginyu dvds and go from the uuc singles, to orange brick seasons 1 (starting with disc 4) and all of orange brick season 2, then you can watch the rest of the series through the singles.

[clutchins]

First you have the UUC dub, then you have the Orange Bricks which tweak the dub, then you have the Dragon Boxes which tweak it even further. AFAIK, there have been no further tweaks in the Level Sets and the Season Sets compared to the Dragon Boxes. The best way to watch the UUC episodes that would have been released in the cancelled sets would probably be Cartoon Network recordings, but the season 2 Orange Brick is probably the easiest and most unquestionably legal way to watch the UUC dub for the missing episodes, as although tweaked, it doesn't have the Dragon Box/Season Blu-Ray tweaks.

edit: I forgot that you would need the Season 1 Orange Brick as well to continue the UUC dub with as few alterations as possible. Also, because of the differences between american and japanese episode counts, and because the captain ginyu dvds are omnibuses, it would be best to skip the captain ginyu dvds and go from the uuc singles, to orange brick seasons 1 (starting with disc 4) and all of orange brick season 2, then you can watch the rest of the series through the singles.

How was the Dragon Box version of the dub tweaked even further? AFAIK it's the same as the 5.1 track on the orange brick but with Cha La and Zenkai Pawa instead of Menza.

Also, I learned recently that some of the Johnson score in the first nine episodes of the Season Set Blu-rays have been swapped out with different cues, even the music playing during the recaps and title cards. I compared this change to the Level Set mixes and the Level Sets have the same music cues as the UUSE DVDs did back in 2005. Somebody changed the music in the 2013 Blu-rays.

[Danfun64]

How was the Dragon Box version of the dub tweaked even further? AFAIK it's the same as the 5.1 track on the orange brick but with Cha La and Zenkai Pawa instead of Menza.

I admit that I could easily be wrong there. I don't remember where I heard that the Dragon Box's audio got tweaked more than the Orange Bricks.

[Goku4243]

Wow thanks a lot guys I actually have the first 53 ocean dub episodes I saw a link on this website to buy them and I did those are great. Though I like the orange bricks the brightness and stuff does not bother me the only thing I don't like is the filler when I watched my ocean dub episodes compared to orange bricks the orange bricks are so long like in the remastered gohan is in the woods being chased a lot longer than in the original but like I said all the tweaks don't bother me I just think even with some of those tweaks it's still the same great story and amazing fights.

[OutlawTorn]

why do people hate the orange bricks so bad thanks

For me, personally, the biggest factor would be the cropping to16:9, which is also the biggest factor why I haven't picked up nor will I ever pick up the blu-ray season sets. The show was produced to be shown in 4:3 and, regardless of whether it would result in pillarboxing, there should be no question that it should be released on blu-ray as such. If I had paid more attention to it, the DNR and colour saturation wold have also been negative for the orange bricks.

I guess what it comes down to is that the orange bricks weren't how the show was meant to be seen. It's like taking the Mona Lisa and butchering it into a hexagonal shape because hexagon frames were now all the rage. DBZ may not be art to the degree of the Mona Lisa, but animation is still an art form and shouldn't be butchered just because people don't want to have black bars on their 16:9 TVs.

[Kuririn Fan]

Wow thanks a lot guys I actually have the first 53 ocean dub episodes I saw a link on this website to buy them and I did those are great. Though I like the orange bricks the brightness and stuff does not bother me the only thing I don't like is the filler when I watched my ocean dub episodes compared to orange bricks the orange bricks are so long like in the remastered gohan is in the woods being chased a lot longer than in the original but like I said all the tweaks don't bother me I just think even with some of those tweaks it's still the same great story and amazing fights.

Ocean episodes are edited - 67 to 53. If you have the option for japanese track, then you know it's uncut.

[clutchins]

67 episodes cut to 53, actually.

[Kuririn Fan]

67 episodes cut to 53, actually.

Yeah, right at the end of "Namek saga".

[supersaiyan DbZ fan]

I hope somebody will reply..
Which set contains the Faulconer soundtrack?
I watched a YouTube video showing the difference between the Orange Brick and Blu-ray, but it was a side by side comparison and there was that SSJ3 soundtrack playing. Please can somebody inform me.

[thaman91]

I hope somebody will reply..
Which set contains the Faulconer soundtrack?
I watched a YouTube video showing the difference between the Orange Brick and Blu-ray, but it was a side by side comparison and there was that SSJ3 soundtrack playing. Please can somebody inform me.

The Faulconer music is present on the Single DVDs, Orange Brick DVDs, and Season Set Blurays. However, Faulconer didn't start scoring for the series until after Goku defeated Recoome. So, whichever of the above you get, you won't start hearing the Faulconer music until episode 68 (or 54 if we're going by the 1999-2003 dub numbering...basically the episode after Goku beats Recoome).

[supersaiyan DbZ fan]

I hope somebody will reply..
Which set contains the Faulconer soundtrack?
I watched a YouTube video showing the difference between the Orange Brick and Blu-ray, but it was a side by side comparison and there was that SSJ3 soundtrack playing. Please can somebody inform me.

The Faulconer music is present on the Single DVDs, Orange Brick DVDs, and Season Set Blurays. However, Faulconer didn't start scoring for the series until after Goku defeated Recoome. So, whichever of the above you get, you won't start hearing the Faulconer music until episode 68 (or 54 if we're going by the 1999-2003 dub numbering...basically the episode after Goku beats Recoome).

Thanks

[Metalwario64]

As sacrilegious as it may sound, the Orange Bricks are my current go to release to watch the series, because of the small form factor compared to the singles, and the audio options.

While the earlier sets ranged from really bad to just acceptable, I think the later sets looked really good, cropping aside. Some episodes even look better on the bricks to me. There are some really overblown bright episode around the time Vegetto is formed, and they aren't as bright on the season sets.

The clouds are really blown out here:

Dragon Box:


Season Set:


I also generally prefer the colors of the orange bricks at this point:

Dragon Box:


Season Set:


Obviously overall the Dragon Boxes are better, and that's not my point. I'm just saying that not every set is "season 2" (which even that had some decent looking episodes), but as an overall product I think they're tolerable, and at their best, they would rival the Dragon Boxes, if not for the cropping.


I just like to have one release with both of the audio options without worrying about tons of singles that I have to get out and switch every 2 episodes, and that take up tons of space. I think the Orange Bricks are tolerable, and I can enjoy the series anyway, so whatever... If someone already has them, I definitely wouldn't recommend repurchasing the series through the Blu-ray counterparts, because they have their own set of equally bad, and sometimes worse problems, and the Dragon Boxes are now way too expensive.


...I still think pre-Buu Kai looks the best.

[Cipher]

Quick 'n' dirty on problems with the "orange bricks":

1) They're non-selectively cropped to 16:9 from the masters FUNimation has, meaning certain shots are framed very awkwardly, with important information missing on the top or bottom.

2) Color balancing is an issue throughout, and varies between seasons. Mostly, though, and particularly on early sets, everything is crushed/saturated to the point that you lose shading detail. Colors are way out of whack in Season 2 -- everything is far, far too bright.

3) FUNimation employed an automated noise-reduction process (to remove grain and jitter) that results in a loss of detail/softening throughout (mostly noticeable with hard angles at the edge of shading or background details) and, on a few occasions with shaking or frame-by-frame switching between images, odd artifacts that cause frames to bleed together. This only happens a handful of times, and is more prominent in early sets, but it's impossible to not notice. You'll basically see outlines disappear, since the process they were using was apparently way too sensitive and registered the quick transition of black lines as "noise," which it tried to correct for.

Most of these are improved on the Blu-Ray sets. The worst-framed shots have been manually corrected, I believe the colors are a bit better, and the weird artifacts from the noise reduction aren't present. There are still issues with the image being softer than necessary due to noise reduction, the general issues that arise with 16:9 cropping of footage designed for 4:3, and iffy color balancing.

EDIT -- Just realized this thread was hella old.

But, yeah -- for anyone looking to complete an English-language set of the series at this point, if you can't obtain the Dragon Boxes, at least get the Blu-Rays.

[Metalwario64]

Most of these are improved on the Blu-Ray sets. The worst-framed shots have been manually corrected

Not all of them:








The sad thing is, if they just left it alone, it would have been better.

Plus, while the early bricks have overdone DNR which cause lines to disappear, the Blu-rays are overfiltered, but also has streaks of grain that weren't accurately "smoothed" by the process, which looks terrible in motion. As does the haphazardly done pan and scan:

Orange Brick on the left, Blu-ray on the right:


Like above, they should have center framed this shot, but they did some wacky "motion tracking" on Goku's head which makes it really jittery, and hurts the shot from frame to frame, since it crops out more off the top than it should at some points in the same shot!

I still think they're both equally bad. I prefer the later bricks still because they're less tampered with.