Dragon Ball Z 4:3 Steelbooks

[kemuri07]

After observing the last several pages where it’s literally post after post after page after page of people saying they’re happy with the discs and enjoying them and there’s one comment about DVNR and more pages of people enjoying them...

I have to ask, do some of you just read what you want to read, or are you legitimately paying attention?

I hate to go “nun uh YOURE gatekeepijg!!!1” but it’s SUPER weird to see complaints about complaining come out of nowhere when so many people are going on for pages about enjoying this material. I wanted to post this yesterday, but the double-complaining seemed to die down again, and then the “gatekeeping” nonsense popped up again.

No one is “gate-keeping” anything here, and dare I challenge this “echo chamber” accusation?

Like I've said again and again. It has nothing specific to do with this thread in particular and is a general feeling I've had about the forum for years.

[Jhanzie]

Could it be the Level Sets were a pipe dream from the beginning?

Animation runs at 24 frames per second, with 60 seconds in a minute that’s 1440 frames per minute. The average DBZ episode is 24 min so 34,560 frames per episode!!!

Perhaps FUNi was uncertain about the Level Set venture from the beginning, or perhaps they bit off more than they could chew... After all they are not a film restoration company.

But anyway, who even does restoration like this for cartoon (or anime) series??? I say cartoon because I am thinking of my American cartoons I own. Most cartoons of this era are released on DVD with minimal work done... because if the DVD is encoded well standard definition is pretty good, after all it isn’t live action and doesn’t have the same level of detail.

So the BD I do have of animated features are primarily Golden Age, timeless classics like Looney Tunes, Tex Avery, original Tom and Jerry, etc. But these are only a small handful of the 3 minute shorts and they are taking decades to release this stuff.

So back to DBZ... will we ever see a complete archival, definitive restoration of the complete series? I hope so but I really kind of doubt it. I don’t think FUNimation can fund this or that there is even a big enough market for it to make a profit.

What they could do is release the untouched HD scans that they have, that are already color corrected. The question is, how badly damaged are they? Apparently bad enough they considered it necessary to do the processing before releasing them commercially.

Think of the latest FUNi release of the DBZ movies on DVD and BD. There is quite a bit of visible film damage, scratches and specks, etc. They chose not to do the same level of video processing on these than they did on the series. Which makes me wonder if the series looks considerably worse as a whole.

I am kind of in the middle of the extreme opinions on here, as I think a lot of people probably are. I think FUNi was really trying to make DBZ look great on HD widescreen, with the Season Sets, and a lot of work was put into that: cropping each scene specifically, and trying to get the most out of it by going farther out to the left and right of the frame. And then with the 30th, they were trying to appease some of the objections raised with the Season Sets by going back to the 4:3 and trying to fix the saturation. I would really like to see FUNi’s unrestored HD footage, and even if it was moderately damaged looking I would still be good with that. But I am also good with the beer goggle version of the 30th that looks clean and sharp, even though I know it’s not quite true to the original film elements.

I hope it’s not uncool to quote oneself... but I wanted to put what is was saying into perspective.

The last HD restored animated BD I bought was Tex Avery’s Screwball Classics, Vol. 1. About $18 for just over 2 hours of animation.

Dragon Ball Z Season 1: 15 hours and 25 minutes. So at roughly $9 per hour of HD restored footage Season 1 would cost maybe $130 +? I’m no industry expert here, I’m just trying to put things into perspective and maybe generate some interesting conversation. If you haven’t read my original quoted post above please do so before responding.

[eledoremassis02]

Could it be the Level Sets were a pipe dream from the beginning?

Animation runs at 24 frames per second, with 60 seconds in a minute that’s 1440 frames per minute. The average DBZ episode is 24 min so 34,560 frames per episode!!!

Perhaps FUNi was uncertain about the Level Set venture from the beginning, or perhaps they bit off more than they could chew... After all they are not a film restoration company.

But anyway, who even does restoration like this for cartoon (or anime) series??? I say cartoon because I am thinking of my American cartoons I own. Most cartoons of this era are released on DVD with minimal work done... because if the DVD is encoded well standard definition is pretty good, after all it isn’t live action and doesn’t have the same level of detail.

So the BD I do have of animated features are primarily Golden Age, timeless classics like Looney Tunes, Tex Avery, original Tom and Jerry, etc. But these are only a small handful of the 3 minute shorts and they are taking decades to release this stuff.

So back to DBZ... will we ever see a complete archival, definitive restoration of the complete series? I hope so but I really kind of doubt it. I don’t think FUNimation can fund this or that there is even a big enough market for it to make a profit.

What they could do is release the untouched HD scans that they have, that are already color corrected. The question is, how badly damaged are they? Apparently bad enough they considered it necessary to do the processing before releasing them commercially.

Think of the latest FUNi release of the DBZ movies on DVD and BD. There is quite a bit of visible film damage, scratches and specks, etc. They chose not to do the same level of video processing on these than they did on the series. Which makes me wonder if the series looks considerably worse as a whole.

I am kind of in the middle of the extreme opinions on here, as I think a lot of people probably are. I think FUNi was really trying to make DBZ look great on HD widescreen, with the Season Sets, and a lot of work was put into that: cropping each scene specifically, and trying to get the most out of it by going farther out to the left and right of the frame. And then with the 30th, they were trying to appease some of the objections raised with the Season Sets by going back to the 4:3 and trying to fix the saturation. I would really like to see FUNi’s unrestored HD footage, and even if it was moderately damaged looking I would still be good with that. But I am also good with the beer goggle version of the 30th that looks clean and sharp, even though I know it’s not quite true to the original film elements.

I do think they got ahead of themselves because they really don't do restoration. I also popped in the level set last night and I don't hold it up in the same I used too. Completely looking at the levels at their own, they are definitely the best release but they do have issues to too being multi-generational copies, smaller the details the more they get grinding down because of the grain ontop of grain. Has there been any uncompressed images from TOEI?

[Madcity28]

Have they announced when the Season 8 Steelbook will release?

[Codarik]

Have they announced when the Season 8 Steelbook will release?

No official announcement but it's safe to assume seasons 8 & 9 will be released February 2021.

[eledoremassis02]

These look cool, but I think I prefer the book packing since I fixed the problem

[KBABZ]

Like I've said again and again. It has nothing specific to do with this thread in particular and is a general feeling I've had about the forum for years.

It does depend on who the audience is though. If you express that you're a newcomer then what we suggest will reflect that so that we can help you make the purchasing decision that best suits you (the Steelbooks being a good example). When it's just ourselves though reflecting on the very rocky history of American Dragon Ball releases, yeah we'll get back to the ritual beheadings of the Orange Bricks.

These look cool, but I think I prefer the book packing since I fixed the problem

DUDE! That is a dope Kid Goku figure!

[ArmenianPepsi]

These look cool, but I think I prefer the book packing since I fixed the problem

Where did you get that little Goku statue?

[ArmenianPepsi]

Could it be the Level Sets were a pipe dream from the beginning?

Animation runs at 24 frames per second, with 60 seconds in a minute that’s 1440 frames per minute. The average DBZ episode is 24 min so 34,560 frames per episode!!!

Perhaps FUNi was uncertain about the Level Set venture from the beginning, or perhaps they bit off more than they could chew... After all they are not a film restoration company.

But anyway, who even does restoration like this for cartoon (or anime) series??? I say cartoon because I am thinking of my American cartoons I own. Most cartoons of this era are released on DVD with minimal work done... because if the DVD is encoded well standard definition is pretty good, after all it isn’t live action and doesn’t have the same level of detail.

So the BD I do have of animated features are primarily Golden Age, timeless classics like Looney Tunes, Tex Avery, original Tom and Jerry, etc. But these are only a small handful of the 3 minute shorts and they are taking decades to release this stuff.

So back to DBZ... will we ever see a complete archival, definitive restoration of the complete series? I hope so but I really kind of doubt it. I don’t think FUNimation can fund this or that there is even a big enough market for it to make a profit.

The other thing that doomed the Level Sets was the timing, it was trying to compete with itself so to speak. In 2011, it was not too far out from the Orange Bricks finishing up it's releases, so the average fan got their fill. Funi was still releasing their version of the Dragon Boxes, so more hardcore fans got their fill. Also Kai was still the new hot thing in town, so it was also getting it's Blu Ray / DVD releases too, so I could imagine anyone interested in throwing money into DB at the time may have been hyped over Kai instead of the Z releases. Too much Dragon Ball at one time, oversaturation at it's finest.

I like to believe that if the Level Sets were put off, and came out in place of the 2013 Season Sets, they would've sold much better.

[eledoremassis02]

These look cool, but I think I prefer the book packing since I fixed the problem

Spoiler:

Where did you get that little Goku statue?

Like I've said again and again. It has nothing specific to do with this thread in particular and is a general feeling I've had about the forum for years.

It does depend on who the audience is though. If you express that you're a newcomer then what we suggest will reflect that so that we can help you make the purchasing decision that best suits you (the Steelbooks being a good example). When it's just ourselves though reflecting on the very rocky history of American Dragon Ball releases, yeah we'll get back to the ritual beheadings of the Orange Bricks.

These look cool, but I think I prefer the book packing since I fixed the problem

DUDE! That is a dope Kid Goku figure!

Thank you! My local comic shop imported it

[Kingbrockstar1995]

February won't get Seasons 8 or 9

[eledoremassis02]

February won't get Seasons 8 or 9

Where did you find that out? I wonder why.

They better finish this set

[mute_proxy]

These look cool, but I think I prefer the book packing since I fixed the problem

Where did you get that little Goku statue?

It's a 'Dragon Ball Styling' figure, it's pretty cheap and comes with parts for 2 different poses

[Matches Malone]

Where did you find that out? I wonder why.

They better finish this set

Funimation put out their releases for that month, but it seems incomplete, so chances are DB will be on the full list later today.

[vintagespaceray]

I'm a little late to the gatekeeping/unreasonable expectations for home video conversation, but I still wanted to put in my two cents.

Let me preface with the fact that I'm not a videophile by any means. My flat screen is over 10 years old at this point and sometimes if the only format I own a film on is VHS, then that's how I'll watch it. That's why I have no stake in conversations about how the Dragon Box is "almost perfect if they fix this and this and this..." because it's a complete release with previews, title cards, and Japanese audio (and no I don't mind that it's mono). So in that sense I'm glad these steelbooks exist, they're 4:3 and will be a (hopefully) complete release of the series. And I was genuinely excited for this remaster, I'd watched clips on my phone and it looked nice on that smaller screen. It started to feel that talk of DNR and "double-cropping" (that statement is still ridiculous) were just buzz words being thrown around because that was the talk of the community at the time. I didn't mind smudgy clouds or saturation, it was good enough. Could it be better? Yes. Should it be better? Also yes, but this worked.

It was when I watched some of it on my TV I came to realize how distracting it was. Bear in mind that if I had never seen the show in another format, I may not have noticed this and I won't be so bold as to claim that I would've. But I'm the average consumer here; cheap tv, budget home release, the works. But I couldn't get over how blurry characters would get if it wasn't a close up. I would argue that close-up shots look really good on this release, but anything smaller or somewhat distant from the foreground is just a mess.

But why would this bug me? I rarely even upgrade a show I own from DVD if I already have it and those have never bothered me. I've come to realize that it bothers me not because it fails as a "definitive Dragon Ball release," or "a release of one of the biggest anime ever." It bothers me because it fails as a blu ray release. If this was DBZ's defacto DVD release I wouldn't have even given it a second thought.

I talked earlier about how I rarely update formats for things I already own, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate how good blu ray can look, particularly for animation. I bought a blu ray player because of the level sets. I was too young to online shop back then which made it hard to find the 5 Dragon Boxes I didn't own, so I was so excited when the Level sets were announced. But they were on a new format, so I asked for a Blu Ray player for my birthday and picked up the level sets at FYE when they came out. I didn't buy it because it was the newest home video format, I just bought it because my favorite show at the time was getting it's newest release for that format and other anime sets were coming out on blu ray as well.

My mind was blown, I was just expecting DVD 2 for lack of a better descriptor but the difference was staggering. The amazing clarity, the steady image and lack of compression artifacts. I never knew animation could look that clean and uncompressed and those level sets sold me on buying any future animated shows on blu ray.

These new 30th anniversary remasters don't take advantage of the format at all and that's what bugs me. To scan the show at 1080p then alter the visuals in a somewhat destructive manner doesn't fail as a remaster of DBZ, but as a blu ray release. And that's a shame because even if they can't manage a level-set remaster from a financial standpoint, this could look so much better.

But I'm in a position where I own a DVD release of the show that suits my needs as I've been able to collect the Dragon Boxes since then. So I can sit here and say that I'm bummed and this isn't for me and not have to worry about whether or not I should buy these while they're in print or wait 4-5 more years for a new release. However, if you've been waiting on a release of the show with proper framing that is complete and readily available then yeah, the new steelbooks are the way to go. Like I said, good enough is fine with most people including myself. I just feel like it's a waste of HD resolution.

[DB_Fan1991]

Seasons 8 & 9 release March 2nd, my source is

https://www.funimation.com/blog/2020/1 ... e-blu-ray/

[Catsenti]

Seasons 8 & 9 release March 2nd, my source is

https://www.funimation.com/blog/2020/1 ... e-blu-ray/

Well good, I'll be able to get a complete set! I was worried for a second that Funimation was going to abandon a release AGAIN. My 4/5 steelbooks arrive later this week, so I think I'll post some pictures when it comes.

[LettuceJUMP]

My 4 and 5 steelbooks arrived from amazon on Monday.
I previously bought the 30th anniversary set but like the way these discs are stored better. Will probably sell my 30th off in March when I complete these. Steelbooks look good enough. I just hate the way they open/close and how easily they dent/scratch. But atleast the discs are well enough protected. Only my 6th or 7th time buying Z! (Vhs, dvd singles, uncut saiyan, orange bricks, dragon boxes, season blu-rays, kai (it counts) and the level sets. And probably still missing another lol yet here we are!)

[Kingbrockstar1995]

I'm happy DBZ Finally gets A decent Complete set other then the 30th anniversary

[eledoremassis02]

My 4 and 5 steelbooks arrived from amazon on Monday.
I previously bought the 30th anniversary set but like the way these discs are stored better. Will probably sell my 30th off in March when I complete these. Steelbooks look good enough. I just hate the way they open/close and how easily they dent/scratch. But atleast the discs are well enough protected. Only my 6th or 7th time buying Z! (Vhs, dvd singles, uncut saiyan, orange bricks, dragon boxes, season blu-rays, kai (it counts) and the level sets. And probably still missing another lol yet here we are!)

I use these to protect my steelbooks https://www.videogameboxprotectors.com/store/4569532134