Screen Cap Request: French GT Special

[SSJGAffleck]

Hey, I'm looking for the best looking version of the GT Special and I know the Funi Single and the Dragon Box look like ass, so I was wondering how this one looked as I have heard good things about it. Thanks in advance!

[Robo4900]

The short answer:
It's no better than the Funi single or the Dragon Box, I guarantee you.

--

The long answer:
DB, Z, the Z TV specials, and the movies were generally sent to foreign distributors on film, so every distributor did their own transfer, so they all look quite different.
GT was a bit different; rather than Toei copying their final film output to film prints to send to TV stations and foreign distributors, they instead transferred their final film output to D2 videotape to send to TV stations and foreign distributors.

The problem with this is that Toei's tape transfer was horrible; blurry, frames got blended across many video fields, colours were awful, etc. All the problems you're used to seeing on the GT special.

GT itself, the series, got out of the problem, because when Toei prepared their own masters for DVD in 2003 (which would eventually be released in Japan as the Dragon Boxes), they transferred GT's final film output for this, rather than use the shitty, old tapes, and that's the master that was sent to Funimation to form the basis of their version of the series (though some shots in the OP/ED use D2 video), and thus, that's what most English and Japanese fans know the show to look like (though Funi somewhat muddied this by DNRing the GT "Season" sets).
The problem is, for some reason, Toei didn't transfer the film of the GT special in 2003. It's possible they misplaced the film masters.

Whatever the reason, the only master of the GT special that has ever existed outside of Toei's vaults is the D2 videotape master. Any and every DVD (or Blu-ray) you buy will come from this awful-looking master. So, your best bet is to just stick with whichever DVD is most convenient (likely the Funi DVD single, or the Funi GT "Season" sets), because none of the others will look any better.

[SSJGAffleck]

Spoiler:

The short answer:
It's no better than the Funi single or the Dragon Box, I guarantee you.

--

The long answer:
DB, Z, the Z TV specials, and the movies were generally sent to foreign distributors on film, so every distributor did their own transfer, so they all look quite different.
GT was a bit different; rather than Toei copying their final film output to film prints to send to TV stations and foreign distributors, they instead transferred their final film output to D2 videotape to send to TV stations and foreign distributors.

The problem with this is that Toei's tape transfer was horrible; blurry, frames got blended across many video fields, colours were awful, etc. All the problems you're used to seeing on the GT special.

GT itself, the series, got out of the problem, because when Toei prepared their own masters for DVD in 2003 (which would eventually be released in Japan as the Dragon Boxes), they transferred GT's final film output for this, rather than use the shitty, old tapes, and that's the master that was sent to Funimation to form the basis of their version of the series (though some shots in the OP/ED use D2 video), and thus, that's what most English and Japanese fans know the show to look like (though Funi somewhat muddied this by DNRing the GT "Season" sets).
The problem is, for some reason, Toei didn't transfer the film of the GT special in 2003. It's possible they misplaced the film masters.

Whatever the reason, the only master of the GT special that has ever existed outside of Toei's vaults is the D2 videotape master. Any and every DVD (or Blu-ray) you buy will come from this awful-looking master. So, your best bet is to just stick with whichever DVD is most convenient (likely the Funi DVD single, or the Funi GT "Season" sets), because none of the others will look any better.

Oh, damn. Okay, I heard that AB remastered the special and it look better than the original but if it's not worth importing than whatever. I'll just stick with Funi single and just color correct it the best I can.