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

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

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

Not all of them:

I'll admit the cropping for these three shots was handled better for the orange bricks, but the Blu-Rays have better colour correction, so its really a case of trading one problem for another.

The part of Goku's Gi around his neck is too dark on the Orange Brick, and the cliffs on the left are more clearly defined in the Blu-Ray. However, part of Goku's neck is cropped off in the Blu-Ray, which was unnecessary.

Like the previous image the darks on Vegeta's clothing are overdone on the Orange Brick, and the boulders surrounding him have better shadowing on the Blu-Ray. That said the framing is bad on the Blu-Ray because of the cropping of Vegeta's neck.

The colours look more natural on the Blu-Ray, but cropping all of Goku's head was a bad idea.

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

I agree.

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.

Yes, neither the Orange Brick or Blu-Ray version does the shot justice.

[clutchins]

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

Kai used a deliberately different color pallette that was supposed to look "modern". They weren't going for color accuracy to the original version of the show.

[Metalwario64]

Even so, it's still closest to the cels, and it looks best to me regardless. I love the dark detail that even the Dragon Boxes didn't have.

[Danfun64]

I heard that the Dragon Boxes got a frame by frame scan, as did the Funi Level Blu-Rays. Kai got a realtime scan, which meant potential frame loss. Is that correct?

[Ajay]

Even so, it's still closest to the cels, and it looks best to me regardless. I love the dark detail that even the Dragon Boxes didn't have.

Yeah, Kai matches all of the cels I own, at least.

Example:

[spoiler]
[/spoiler]

As you can see by Freeza's skin tone, it's not perfect. Everything's closer compared to the Dragon Box, at least.

Kai's "modern colour scheme" is only sort of true for the very early episodes. It's all pretty standard after that, actually.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Sorry to VegettoEX if this is off-topic, but I'd just like to get people's opinions as to whether the blu-rays are worth my time if I already own the orange bricks (and one Dragon Box lol). I wasn't really paying attention when they came out, and I hear the level sets (which I already have) are better. But apart from that I don't really know. Thanks!

[Danfun64]

The level sets were cancelled, unfortunately. The Season Blu-Rays are cropped, but have better image quality than the Orange Bricks a lot of the time.

If you mostly like the subs, get the Funi Dragon Boxes. They may cost an arm and a leg, but they provide the best *official* japanese with subs experience.

If you want the original english dub with minimal changes, search for the singles.

If you don't mind a partially updated english dub which some consider a frankenstein's monster, look for anything made after and including the orange bricks. If you must have the english soundtrack, go for the level sets for what episodes they have, then go for the season blu-rays the rest of the way.

If you have to watch the dub (or at least the paritally updated version), I'd recommend watching episode 1-68 (the ultimate uncut episodes) with the Kikuchi soundtrack, as the Nathan Johnson score is garbage IMO. From episode 69 to at least the end of the first half of the Androids/Cell saga, watch with Faulconer, as the old dub dialogue doesn't mesh with Kikuchi at all. It helps that the Faulconer music is fairly decent. After the first half of the cell saga, it doesn't matter as much whether you listen to the faulconer or the kikuchi soundtracks...

If you want to watch a more faithful dub from the Saiyan saga to the Cell saga, get the Dragon Ball Z Kai Parts Blu-Rays.

[Desassina]

What Japanese option would be the best for someone who wants to subtitle the anime in his own language? I just want the episodes for a good price. There's no need for the extras.

[Danfun64]

Do Japanese Next Episode Previews count as extras?

edit: You want to make DBZ fansubs? If it doesn't matter where you get the footage from as long as its an official release with the japanese audio...idk what to say.

[qjz123]

What Japanese option would be the best for someone who wants to subtitle the anime in his own language? I just want the episodes for a good price. There's no need for the extras.

The season Blu rays, they're cheap and they should serve your purposes.

[qjz123]

Sorry to VegettoEX if this is off-topic, but I'd just like to get people's opinions as to whether the blu-rays are worth my time if I already own the orange bricks (and one Dragon Box lol). I wasn't really paying attention when they came out, and I hear the level sets (which I already have) are better. But apart from that I don't really know. Thanks!

No in my opinion they aren't. Even if you only owned the Orange Bricks I wouldn't recommend the upgrade.

For a first time buyer I'd definitely recommend the Blu rays over the Orange Bricks but for someone that already owns the latter as well as the Dragon Boxes there really is no point. You're already set.

[qjz123]

To answer the OP'S question people hate the Orange Bricks because they don't look very good. They don't present the show the way it was made, rather they straight center cropped the entire show, ran it all through a completely automated remastering process, and then slapped it on a bunch of dvd's and called it HD or something like that.

With that said they aren't all bad, I mean prior to them we'd be paying $15 to buy a DVD single set with 4 episodes, the Orange Bricks changed the American anime market for the better in that regard.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

For a first time buyer I'd definitely recommend the Blu rays over the Orange Bricks but for someone that already owns the latter as well as the Dragon Boxes there really is no point. You're already set.

I only own one of the DBoxes, for collection's sake. The fact that they don't have the dub music is a minor problem as sometimes I like to watch it like that, out of nostalgia.



The DBoxes are admittedly great if you want to watch the series as it was originally intended, but as crazy as this sounds, I like the fact the orange bricks tried to remove the grain. It makes it look newer, gives it a second life. I just wished they'd gone about it better. That's why I was wondering about the blu-rays: do they do the show more justice?



Oh, and widescreen is a minor issue, but it doesn't bother me that much, tbh.

[qjz123]

For a first time buyer I'd definitely recommend the Blu rays over the Orange Bricks but for someone that already owns the latter as well as the Dragon Boxes there really is no point. You're already set.

I only own one of the DBoxes, for collection's sake. The fact that they don't have the dub music is a minor problem as sometimes I like to watch it like that, out of nostalgia.



The DBoxes are admittedly great if you want to watch the series as it was originally intended, but as crazy as this sounds, I like the fact the orange bricks tried to remove the grain. It makes it look newer, gives it a second life. I just wished they'd gone about it better. That's why I was wondering about the blu-rays: do they do the show more justice?



Oh, and widescreen is a minor issue, but it doesn't bother me that much, tbh.

See for yourself then: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQBl3YeOVUQ

[Metalwario64]

That's a bad comparison, since it's using filtered YouTube "upscale" footage for the Orange Brick. That episode looks way better than that on the Orange Bricks:

Youtube:


Orange Brick:


I also forgot that sometimes the colors on the Blu-rays are way worse than even the earlier Orange Bricks:

Orange Brick:


Blu-ray:

...

Actually, when looking at the old thread, the original Blu-ray screenshot has been since deleted. It's from the episode where Freeza says he won't use his hands I believe, and this is after he punches Goku. Goku's skin in the Blu-ray was outright purple!

[Desassina]

Do Japanese Next Episode Previews count as extras?
edit: You want to make DBZ fansubs? If it doesn't matter where you get the footage from as long as its an official release with the japanese audio...idk what to say.

What were you about to suggest because of the Next Episode Previews? And yes, the Japanese audio should come with it, but in DVD form (I don't have a Blu-Ray player).

[sintzu]

I like the fact the orange bricks tried to remove the grain. It makes it look newer, gives it a second life. I just wished they'd gone about it better. That's why I was wondering about the blu-rays: do they do the show more justice?

YES, the colors and cropping are A LOT better than the orange bricks.

They're currently on Amazon for 25+ each so I'd wait till the end of the year to get them cause last year they went down to 15$ a piece.

If you want an even better upgrade you should get the Kai season sets cause they have a better remaster, they're in 4:3 & have a completely new English dub with little to no filler.

Kai is what truly gave Z a 2nd life.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

YES, the colors and cropping are A LOT better than the orange bricks.

They're currently on Amazon for 25+ each so I'd wait till the end of the year to get them cause last year they went down to 15$ a piece.

Thanks for the info. I might just do that. I live in Australia, and anime over here is ridiculously expensive. It's about 45$ US for one season, so buying it online looks like the way to go.

See for yourself then: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQBl3YeOVUQ

This is very helpful, thanks.


EDIT: according to Metalwario64, there are problems with this. I thought something was a little off.

[qjz123]

YES, the colors and cropping are A LOT better than the orange bricks.

They're currently on Amazon for 25+ each so I'd wait till the end of the year to get them cause last year they went down to 15$ a piece.

Thanks for the info. I might just do that. I live in Australia, and anime over here is ridiculously expensive. It's about 45$ US for one season, so buying it online looks like the way to go.

See for yourself then: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQBl3YeOVUQ

This is very helpful, thanks.


EDIT: according to Metalwario64, there are problems with this. I thought something was a little off.

Yeah Metal Wario was right.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

One huge Problem with the Blu-rays is Season 5. Part way through the season it looks awful the top half the screen has this blurry effect and it's completely unwatchable. Aside from that BDs would recommend over OBs less space and BD discs etc plus good extras.

Course Kai1.0 is probably the best Z has looked shame for the censoring and redrawn scenes.