Funimation's 30th anniversary collectible home video release

[Forte224]

Has anyone else noticed that the preorder number keeps decreasing? We are back in the 2800s now.

It's a Units Remaining number. Says so above the bar.

[JohnnyCashKami]

Just made a comparison of Gohan falling from the sky of OP1 and most of the HD versions do not look great, aside from the Level Set. Hell, even the SD ones do a better job of preserving the picture to what it's supposed to look like.

30th [HD]

Spoiler:

Levels [HD]

Spoiler:

TV SP1 [HD]

Spoiler:

AB Groupe "Big Green" [SD]

Spoiler:

Ultimate Uncut Edition [SD]

Spoiler:

These shots aren't 100% consistent but you get the idea.

Their current project is probably scripts that encode automatically, so it really only costs them electricity and hard ware. Man power only for selective cropping.

Bingo!

They do this time and time again because it's the cheapest way for FUNimation to produce a "clean" version of Dragon Ball Z. Down below is a comparison screenshot of the Season DVD vs Blu-ray and you can tell there's hardly an improvement but there is, as small as it may be. It's the same thing with the 30th vs the Season Blu-rays.

Spoiler:

The Spaniard anime distributor [Selecta Visión] remastered the Dragon Box Z for Spain's market:

Spoiler:

They didn't really change much or made much of an improvement but it's always best they keep it minimum than straight up ruin it like FUNimation consistently does with their Dragon Ball Z home releases on Blu-ray and DVD. Well, except the Level Sets but they cancelled them after two volumes so that kinda doesn't count.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Just made a comparison of Gohan falling from the sky of OP1 and most of the HD versions do not look great, aside from the Level Set. Hell, even the SD ones do a better job of preserving the picture to what it's supposed to look like.

Spoiler:

30th [HD]

Spoiler:

Levels [HD]

Spoiler:

TV SP1 [HD]

Spoiler:

AB Groupe "Big Green" [SD]

Spoiler:

Ultimate Uncut Edition [SD]

Spoiler:

These shots aren't 100% consistent but you get the idea.

Their current project is probably scripts that encode automatically, so it really only costs them electricity and hard ware. Man power only for selective cropping.

Bingo!

They do this time and time again because it's the cheapest way for FUNimation to produce a "clean" version of Dragon Ball Z. Down below is a comparison screenshot of the Season DVD vs Blu-ray and you can tell there's hardly an improvement but there is, as small as it may be. It's the same thing with the 30th vs the Season Blu-rays.

Spoiler:

The Spaniard anime distributor [Selecta Visión] remastered the Dragon Box Z for Spain's market:

Spoiler:

They didn't really change much or made much of an improvement but it's always best they keep it minimum than straight up ruin it like FUNimation consistently does with their Dragon Ball Z home releases on Blu-ray and DVD. Well, except the Level Sets but they cancelled them after two volumes so that kinda doesn't count.

The Spanish release looks pretty good, it seems the most of what they did was just slightly change the colors of the Dragon Box masters compared to the Japanese and U.S releases.

[Jon Jon]

Has anyone else noticed that the preorder number keeps decreasing? We are back in the 2800s now.

It's a Units Remaining number. Says so above the bar.

My bad! I guess refreshing it every now and then, I didn't catch that change!

[MetaMoss]

ANN's Justin Sevakis just weighed in on all this on his Answerman column. Since he's got professional experience in working with anime video, I think his perspective is really insightful.

[JohnnyCashKami]

ANN's Justin Sevakis just weighed in on all this on his Answerman column. Since he's got professional experience in working with anime video, I think his perspective is really insightful.

That "professional" didn't say much different than what people on here and on YouTube would, that is, defend FUNimation by claiming they couldn't offer a better HD transfer.

But you know, he's right, oh wait... FUNimation's Dragon Ball Z raws look beautiful and they remastered the first 39 episodes (Level Sets).

[Tylerman29]

ANN's Justin Sevakis just weighed in on all this on his Answerman column. Since he's got professional experience in working with anime video, I think his perspective is really insightful.

Yeah I think funi needs to just dial it back a little bit..but the thing is..we have the level sets as proof they can do better, so the idea that this is the best we can get from their film copies is just not true. I think they just don't wanna spend the money to outsource the remaster like they did with the level sets. It would be pretty scummy if they released an HD dragon box a year after this...I would buy it of course but still that seems far fetched.

[MetaMoss]

That "professional" didn't say much different than what people on here and on YouTube would, that is, defend FUNimation by claiming they couldn't offer a better HD transfer.

But you know, he's right, oh wait... FUNimation's Dragon Ball Z raws look beautiful and they remastered the first 39 episodes (Level Sets).

I was thinking more about his explanation of what happens when film gets copied, but I guess that's on me for not saying that.

[SqueakyBoots]

Do a super-quick, bare-bones release of their raw film scans, cropped no more than what's necessary to avoid the damaged edges and tape marks, with no extras, as a budget release that they could just sell on their website or something. Preferrably with the original title cards kept intact. They could call it the "Classic Edition" or something, and just emphasize that this is a warts-and-all presentation of exactly what Toei initially provided them with.

This is exactly what I want. Too bad they don't seem interested in doing that.

ANN's Justin Sevakis just weighed in on all this on his Answerman column. Since he's got professional experience in working with anime video, I think his perspective is really insightful.

Okay. So here's the thing with this. We have footage of what the raw scans look like in motion right here. https://youtu.be/moAy02J2fd8?t=197 Now I know the conversion process of uploading a video to youtube suppresses the grain but at least to me, what I am seeing here looks more than suitable compared to the alternative. The only noticeable distraction is the tape marks that appear for a frame at the beginning of every shot so if they want to crop it just enough to hide that, then fine.

If they absolutely positively have to use DNR... well a youtube video conversion looks better than whatever it is Funimation's doing so you tell me.

[JohnnyCashKami]

It seems like there's a myth here that YouTube compresses the grain too much or even in its entirety but that's not true.

This is from YouTube:

[SupremeSSJ]

ANN's Justin Sevakis just weighed in on all this on his Answerman column. Since he's got professional experience in working with anime video, I think his perspective is really insightful.

Yeah I think funi needs to just dial it back a little bit..but the thing is..we have the level sets as proof they can do better, so the idea that this is the best we can get from their film copies is just not true. I think they just don't wanna spend the money to outsource the remaster like they did with the level sets. It would be pretty scummy if they released an HD dragon box a year after this...I would buy it of course but still that seems far fetched.

Exactly, FunI has shown time and time again that they are not professional at remastering, its automatically done. Its just a BIG money grab! I'm sorry but the people who are buying these are getting cheated, but I understand the people who didn't get a chance to own the dragon boxes or singles we know for a fact that a better remaster could be done off FunI copies.

[sintzu]

The cheap remasters they made and priced for less sold well (Orange bricks and Blu-Ryas) while the expensive remasters they made and priced higher didn't sell (Level sets). With that in mind, I understand why they went for the option they did as there's a chance they could've spent a lot on remastering it and selling it for 500+ only for fans to say they're asking for too much and not buy it.

[SupremeSSJ]

Well all they had to do was ask fans what they wanted and then ask for the money to remaster. I mean we are talking about a once in a life time set(funimation words) right?

[Tylerman29]

Well all they had to do was ask fans what they wanted and then ask for the money to remaster. I mean we are talking about a once in a life time set(funimation words) right?

You are a 100% right, but like someone else said in this thread they are trying to market towards a weird "hardcore but not THAT hardcore" demographic or simply trying to appeal to BOTH casuals that would buy collectors editions whilst also trying to appeal to the hardcore a little bit with the 4:3 draw..but they are kinda failing at both in terms of what their product offers. All they really needed to do was double down and focus on satisfying the hardcore..seems like they thought it was too risky or simply too small of a demographic (which in this Renaissance of the franchise is probably larger than they think). The dragon boxes sold well and that was back in 09-11...something that premium, and hardcore focused today would sell like hotcakes.

[ABED]

Well all they had to do was ask fans what they wanted and then ask for the money to remaster. I mean we are talking about a once in a life time set(funimation words) right?

No. They asked fans what they wanted and many if not a majority that answered the poll came out in favor of widescreen DB.

[SupremeSSJ]

Well all they had to do was ask fans what they wanted and then ask for the money to remaster. I mean we are talking about a once in a life time set(funimation words) right?

No. They asked fans what they wanted and many if not a majority that answered the poll came out in favor of widescreen DB.

What poll and this set is marketed towards hardcore fans so they say. Its no excuse here really, in my eyes its a money grab.

[VegettoEX]

No. They asked fans what they wanted and many if not a majority that answered the poll came out in favor of widescreen DB.

This is not true.

https://twitter.com/lheiskell/status/623695483081351169

I talked with Lance about this back on podcast episode 404.

EDIT: Right at 20 minutes we talk about the "Level" sets performance. At 21:14 we talk about the survey.

[ABED]

Maybe my memory is bad, but I recall seeing numbers as they put it out. Even though I'm likely wrong about whether it was a majority, it still wasn't an insignificant number clamoring for 16:9. Regardless, people voting with their wallets says more than a limited and often non-representative sample done on the net.

[gokaiblue]

No. They asked fans what they wanted and many if not a majority that answered the poll came out in favor of widescreen DB.

This is not true.

https://twitter.com/lheiskell/status/623695483081351169

I talked with Lance about this back on podcast episode 404.

EDIT: Right at 20 minutes we talk about the "Level" sets performance. At 21:14 we talk about the survey.

They hold the survey.....then disregard its results......



I don't get Funimation sometimes

[ABED]

No. They asked fans what they wanted and many if not a majority that answered the poll came out in favor of widescreen DB.

This is not true.

https://twitter.com/lheiskell/status/623695483081351169

I talked with Lance about this back on podcast episode 404.

EDIT: Right at 20 minutes we talk about the "Level" sets performance. At 21:14 we talk about the survey.

They hold the survey.....then disregard its results......



I don't get Funimation sometimes

They didn't disregard it for arbitrary reasons. The season sets sold better and actions speak louder than words.

My issue with this is that it wasn't widescreen that made the difference in the fans' purchasing decisions, it was the episode count, price point, and timing that made the difference.