Dragon Ball Z 4:3 Steelbooks

[Planetnamek]

"limited" in this instance might be a misnomer, I recall Microsoft releasing a "limited" steelbook edition of Halo 2 which scalpers on Ebay bought in droves thinking they would be worth lots of money, unfortunately for them it turned out Microsoft's definition of "limited" was pretty loose as they produced a crapload of steelbooks of Halo 2 to the point that now the original version of the game is actually more rare. So this may be the case with Funi's steelbooks as well, they might not actually be "limited" at all and this is just Funi making a cynical ploy to try and trick people into buying them en mass by making them believe they are more limited then they actually are.

[eledoremassis02]

I thought it was odd considering Funi or rightstuff hasnt mentioned the limited edition thing but i cross reference it with that cowboy bebop steelbook and thats not listed as limites edition.

Doesnt really mean much but I thought Id leave it here. Granted cowboy bebop is a lot shorter

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Considering just a year ago the 30th anniversary set was being hyped as this once in a lifetime opportunity for the hardcore's to own A in 4:3 I have very little doubt these steelbooks won't be limited.

[LostTimeLord]

I expect the steelbooks to be limited to the point when the sales figures don't justify the packaging any more, at which point they'll release standard versions with no fanfare.

[KBABZ]

I expect the steelbooks to be limited to the point when the sales figures don't justify the packaging any more, at which point they'll release standard versions with no fanfare.

If THIS one wasn't "with no fanfare" I'd like to see what is!

[Forte224]

Everyone should take the "Limited" thing with a grain of salt. Amazon's listings are rarely to be trusted.

[kyppk]

Steelbooks by nature are always going to be limited, there's going to be one major production of them and that'll be it. It's not like Funi is making the Steelbooks themselves, they're ordering a certain number of copies from Scanavo (the company that produces Steelbooks) and once those copies are gone they're likely gone for good.

Now as to how limited these will be is another matter. The first couple seasons will likely have the most Steelbooks produced since Funi doesn't know how many will actually be bought, so expect Seasons 1-3 to be around for a bit. Then with the sales data from Seasons 1-3 they'll make informed decisions on how many Steelbooks to produce of the later seasons, meaning it'll likely be less total produced than Season 1-3 but how much less will be determined by how quickly the stock of Season 1-3 sell.

I'd look into the Yu Yu Hakusho Steelbooks for rough estimates in how "limited" the Dragon Ball Steelbooks will be. You can still get every Season of the Yu Yu Steelbooks from Funimation, but some retailers, like Rightstuf, do not have any more stock of certain Seasons (1 and 3 specifically, with 2 and 4 being backordered).

[Kendamu]

All three seasons that have been announced are on Amazon now and Season 1 has dropped down to $53.99.

Season 1
Season 2
Season 3

[JEFFMAN219]

All three seasons that have been announced are on Amazon now and Season 1 has dropped down to $53.99.

Season 1
Season 2
Season 3

Man the prices for those steelbooks are gonna be insane in Canada smh. Why is funimation making them so expensive for? Its literally the same remaster as the 2014 Blu Rays

[Metalwario64]

All three seasons that have been announced are on Amazon now and Season 1 has dropped down to $53.99.

Season 1
Season 2
Season 3

Man the prices for those steelbooks are gonna be insane in Canada smh. Why is funimation making them so expensive for? Its literally the same remaster as the 2014 Blu Rays

Because to them 4:3 DBZ is a hot, rare commodity and is so special that they just have to charge so much because it's so valuable and hard to come by!

Only because they're the ones that made it that way by choosing to crop the damn show.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

All three seasons that have been announced are on Amazon now and Season 1 has dropped down to $53.99.

Season 1
Season 2
Season 3

Man the prices for those steelbooks are gonna be insane in Canada smh. Why is funimation making them so expensive for? Its literally the same remaster as the 2014 Blu Rays

Because to them 4:3 DBZ is a hot, rare commodity and is so special that they just have to charge so much because it's so valuable and hard to come by!

Only because they're the ones that made it that way by choosing to crop the damn show.

Cutting off the top and bottom of the picture by 20%-25% back in 2007 was by far one of the worst things in terms of their many poor decisions with the Orange Bricks aside from DNR'ing the image to oblivion, with taking a show that was filmed and fully intended to be seen in 4:3 to a fake widescreen aspect ratio that it was never meant to been viewed in.

[Kendamu]

Man the prices for those steelbooks are gonna be insane in Canada smh. Why is funimation making them so expensive for? Its literally the same remaster as the 2014 Blu Rays

Because to them 4:3 DBZ is a hot, rare commodity and is so special that they just have to charge so much because it's so valuable and hard to come by!

Only because they're the ones that made it that way by choosing to crop the damn show.

Cutting off the top and bottom of the picture by 20%-25% back in 2007 was by far one of the worst things in terms of their many poor decisions with the Orange Bricks aside from DNR'ing the image to oblivion, with taking a show that was filmed and fully intended to be seen in 4:3 to a fake widescreen aspect ratio that it was never meant to been viewed in.

That's why I consider this release to be a "win" in my book. Maybe not a huge victory by many people's standards, but the show is out there in 4:3 again for at least a little bit and my immersion won't be broken all the time trying to analyze the frame.

[VanceRefrigeration]

If I go to a movie theater and buy a ticket for a certain movie, I don't consider it a "win" if the theater remembers to play the correct movie, because it's the obvious bare-minimum thing to do. Similarly, I don't consider 4:3 DBZ releases to be a "win". The show is 4:3 so of course the home releases should be 4:3.

The question I really care about is: "Did they manage to make the show not look ugly?" And unfortunately, I can't really say that they did. Remember, this is what they have:

Spoiler:

And this is what they're giving us:

Spoiler:

This isn't even me overanalyzing the frame or anything. My instant gut reaction to the second one is "wow that is ugly". And the worst part is that their source is already pretty good, but they're actively doing things to make it look ugly. So for me, the release as a whole is a net loss, despite whatever solid restoration work might have gone into the source material.

[kei17]

When I see a screenshot comparison between this version and the Level Set or the Season Blu-rays, there always seems to be a shift in color towards red. I don't even want to think of this possibility, but I can't help but imagine that they did it with an intention to make it look "authentic" and appealing to us... I mean, was that a silly, meatheaded idea like "Hey, let's make this more reddish and add fake film grain because those hardcore DB fans seem to love the grainy discolored Dragon Box footage! They'll love this for sure."

[eledoremassis02]

When I see a screenshot comparison between this version and the Level Set or the Season Blu-rays, there always seems to be a shift in color towards red. I don't even want to think of this possibility, but I can't help but imagine that they did it with an intention to make it look "authentic" and appealing to hardcore fans... I mean, was that a silly, meatheaded idea like "Hey, let's make this more reddish and add fake film grain because those hardcore DB fans sure seem to love the grainy discolored Dragon Box footage!"

I thought the same thing too. It's really the only explanation I can think of. The grain thing, they apparently did to Cowboy bebop *DNR+fake grain) as well (which their raw scan already had grain)

I don't know what the distribution agreement that have/had on the Dragon Box footage but if they released it on a SD-Bluray it would totally beat their Dragon Box release hands down.

[Kendamu]

If I go to a movie theater and buy a ticket for a certain movie, I don't consider it a "win" if the theater remembers to play the correct movie, because it's the obvious bare-minimum thing to do. Similarly, I don't consider 4:3 DBZ releases to be a "win". The show is 4:3 so of course the home releases should be 4:3.

The question I really care about is: "Did they manage to make the show not look ugly?" And unfortunately, I can't really say that they did. Remember, this is what they have:

Spoiler:

And this is what they're giving us:

Spoiler:

This isn't even me overanalyzing the frame or anything. My instant gut reaction to the second one is "wow that is ugly". And the worst part is that their source is already pretty good, but they're actively doing things to make it look ugly. So for me, the release as a whole is a net loss, despite whatever solid restoration work might have gone into the source material.

Here's the thing, though: You don't have to also consider it a win for me to feel like it's a win because ultimately I'm the one deciding if I purchase the product for my own private viewing.

Also, your analogy doesn't work here. One time I went to a theater for a classic movie night where they were playing the 1990 TMNT movie. The person working the projector accidentally squished the 16:9 frame to 4:3. I won't get into why as this isn't a TMNT forum and explaining how sometimes 4:3 is okay for the movie (though never squished~!) isn't relevant here. The point is that's more similar to what's going on with most DBZ releases than what you're saying.

If Funimation said, "We're releasing DBZ," and you purchased the discs and it turns out to be Saint Seiya, that's what your analogy is saying.

Either way, I personally will not be over-analyzing the frame because it is in the correct aspect ratio and that's what's most important to me in this particular scenario. I've seen DBZ in like five different types of color temperature and saturation already and none of them are perfect so what's one more in my case in particular?

You can have a different opinion than me and spend your money differently than I do and that's fine but don't pretend I'm somehow in the wrong for having a different take on this than me.

[VanceRefrigeration]

Here's the thing, though: You don't have to also consider it a win for me to feel like it's a win because ultimately I'm the one deciding if I purchase the product for my own private viewing.

You can have a different opinion than me and spend your money differently than I do and that's fine but don't pretend I'm somehow in the wrong for having a different take on this than me.

Wait what? When did I say anything about you being "in the wrong"? Just as a reminder to what I said:

Similarly, I don't consider 4:3 DBZ releases to be a "win".

My instant gut reaction to the second one is "wow that is ugly".

So for me, the release as a whole is a net loss

I made it pretty clear that these were my own thoughts. Nowhere did I imply that you personally were in the wrong. In my own personal view, I don't consider the set a win just because it doesn't chop off 30% of the image because that's the bare minimum they should be doing anyway. I consider it a loss because it looks ugly, and I'm not overanalyzing the frame when I say that.

When I see a screenshot comparison between this version and the Level Set or the Season Blu-rays, there always seems to be a shift in color towards red. I don't even want to think of this possibility, but I can't help but imagine that they did it with an intention to make it look "authentic" and appealing to us... I mean, was that a silly, meatheaded idea like "Hey, let's make this more reddish and add fake film grain because those hardcore DB fans seem to love the grainy discolored Dragon Box footage! They'll love this for sure."

I was thinking that maybe they thought their film looked undersaturated and so they boosted the reds as a way to make the skin look "healthier" or something. And about the grain, I remember seeing added grain on some of the later Season Blu-ray sets too, so I'm not so sure that it's unique to this set.

[eledoremassis02]

Digging up old screencaps and re-did this (cause I'm sure I did before?)

"RAW" DNRed uncropped shot vs 30th
http://www.framecompare.com/image-compa ... n/7Y7LWNNX

Also, a "combination" of the two which I personally think looks soo much better (colors)

[Kinokima]

I preordered the first one I am not sure if I’ll order the rest

[SSJGAffleck]

I preordered the first one I am not sure if I’ll order the rest

I ordered all three of them because I hate myself a little