FUNimation streaming all the Dragon Boxes now

[ABED]

I've seen enough of the video to see that it's proper aspect ratio and no NEP's, but pretend for a moment that I don't know anything about metallurgy, engineering, or physics, and just tell me what the hell is going on.

[goku the krump dancer]

So what exactly is the definitive DB viewing experience from a film quality standpoint?

[PurestEvil]

Wow. Seems like they are giving what the people want, somewhat

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Wow. Seems like they are giving what the people want, somewhat

It's certainly something for sure, so those who couldn't get the Dragon Boxes now have a way to see it even if just through streaming. I'd be happy if i didn't already have all of them.

[Kaboom]

So what exactly is the definitive DB viewing experience from a film quality standpoint?

Funimation's "Level" sets, in an alternate reality where they continued through the entire Z series and then went back to also do DB for good measure.

[FPSSJ4_Goku]

So what exactly is the definitive DB viewing experience from a film quality standpoint?

Funimation's "Level" sets, in an alternate reality where they continued through the entire Z series and then went back to also do DB for good measure.

Unfortunately, reality is often disappointing

[Robo4900]

Hm. Looks like I was wrong about GT. I was misled by the shitty resolution and poor picture interpolation.
But yeah, I was wrong. My bad.

Does Funimation even have the Dragon Box masters for Dragon Ball? I assumed they never received them

Unclear.

But, they could at least switch to the higher-quality DVD single versions of DB for the Japanese version, rather than the kind of shitty, DNR'd version from the Season DVDs.
Can anyone confirm if they've done this? eledoremassis02 has focussed exclusively on Z and GT for screenshots and comparisons, so we don't know the situation there.
The real telltale would be episode 14, since the DVD single version of that looks like the Level Blu-rays but at 480p, while the Season DVD version... does not.

EDIT: I have been able to confirm the streaming version of DB is the Blue Brick master, not the Dragon Box or DVD single version. :L

So what exactly is the definitive DB viewing experience from a film quality standpoint?

The Dragon Boxes. They're far from perfect, in fact here's an incomplete list of DBox problems inside this spoiler tag:

Spoiler:

• The light DNR creates motion blur artefacts in dark areas.
• The transfer quality in general isn't very good so the picture just doesn't look great; very soft for a film transfer and the picture is very unstable (it wobbles a lot). Basically, Pony Canyon very obviously did this on the cheap, using crappy equipment.
• Random episodes are under or over exposed so they'll look either far too bright (especially common in late DB), or far too dark (especially common in early DB).
• Some episodes have an overexposed line on the left edge of the picture.
• DB episode 52 was scanned with bad alignment so the top of the next frame is always visible at the bottom of each current frame.
• There was no colour correction at all (not even a basic white balance).
• The next episode previews and ending songs were switched in order (on broadcast, the preview was first, then the credits; on the DVDs, it's credits first).
• The recaps at the beginning of episodes are usually slightly abbreviated, though usually only by a few frames.
• A few episodes on the Japanese boxes have borked encoding so the video quality is shit and loads of frames are partially blended into each other.
• The proto versions of the opening visuals that showed up in DBZ episodes 1, 2(?), 200, and 201 are replaced with the final versions shown in later episodes.
• There's a line from Vegetto to Super Boo that's different from what he said on the original broadcast because the wording was considered somewhat offensive. While I personally don't mind the difference, it is worth noting that the original line is not present in any officially-released copies of the episode.
• A chunk of GT episodes (all those that use the second ending song) use footage from the old videotape transfer for parts of the OP due to the textless version and the text version with the proper credits being AWOL in their film transfers.
• The previews for Z episode 1 and GT episode 1 aren't shown as part of DB episode 153 and Z episode 291, and neither is the Dr. Slump preview shown in GT 64. (The Funimation version of the Z boxes is an exception from this; it include the GT preview in DBZ 291)
• GT episode 64 is missing its credits scroll over the ending montage (which also applies to all Funi's GT releases).
• On Funimation's version of the Z Dragon Boxes:
  • The English next-episode previews are missing.
  • The Japanese audio uses an exceptionally low audio bitrate.
  • The English dub is the shitty partial redub version from 2005-2008, so there's a jarring switch in half the cast at episode 68 which has a lot of whiplash that lasts a while where you'll have 1999 Funimation voice performances in the same scene as 2008 Funi performances (only two years before they started on Kai), but the dialogue is still very unfaithful. (The one saving grace is the original Japanese opening/ending songs are retained, which isn't the case on any of the "Season" releases where they replaced the OPs/EDs with American-composed instrumental tracks)
  • The video is slightly rescaled making it softer/blurrier, which is more noticeable these days with larger TVs that run at higher resolutions.
  • The brightness levels are wrong; everything's a little too bright, so any areas that should be black are instead grey, so the whole picture looks washed out compared to the Japanese version.

But despite all these problems, they're still leagues ahead of anything else (except the incomplete Levels and the first volume of the first DB tournament arc), and honestly they were a pretty okay effort for a cheaply-done transfer of 508 TV episodes (and three TV specials) in 2003.

FunimationNow appears to have basically the Dragon Boxes for all of Z and GT, so you're good there. DB, we don't know, but even if they've left it as the Season DVDs version, it's... okay. DB uses the Blue Bricks which are okay but not exactly good or great.

Unfortunately, there's no release with good Japanese audio (which is especially sad for GT, which was originally broadcast in stereo, and still is reaired like that to this day on Japanese TV), and there may never be, so realistically there is no official, definitive DB viewing experience. Only a "least-worst" option.

[ABED]

I'm not a technophile so many of those issues with the DBoxes feel less substantive and more quibbles. The ONLY issue I have with this development is the lack of NEP's. Why are TOEI so damn stingy with them?

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I'm not a technophile so many of those issues with the DBoxes feel less substantive and more quibbles. The ONLY issue I have with this development is the lack of NEP's. Why are TOEI so damn stingy with them?

I don't understand it, because the old GT single discs included the NEP's and we got Z's with the Dragon Boxes. Then you have OG DB which is the one outlier of the franchise that doesn't have actually them, just like it doesn't have the second opening or other three closing animations.

[MasenkoHA]

I'm not a technophile so many of those issues with the DBoxes feel less substantive and more quibbles. The ONLY issue I have with this development is the lack of NEP's. Why are TOEI so damn stingy with them?

The NEP are there in the Dragon Boxes, if they’re missing in the FUNimationNOW streams I’d assume Funimation made the decision to exclude them from the uploads.

The NEP have always been kind of weird.

Dragon Ball has never had them. Not in the Toonami Broadcast. Not in the saga sets. Not in the blue bricks. Toei just never provided them to FUNimation. Along with the second OP and 1st, 3rd, and 4th ED.

Dragon Ball Z had them for the Toonami broadcast and the DVD singles. Except maybe the UUE episodes? They’re missing in the season sets and all future releases. They’re included in the Dragon Box sets but switch to Japanese audio even when watching the English audio because….Funimation didn’t want to pay Hebert or Schemmel to redub the next time narration that was originally done by Kelly I guess?

Dragon Ball GT had them for the Toonami broadcast and dvd singles but not the green bricks for some reason.

[Robo4900]

I'm not a technophile so many of those issues with the DBoxes feel less substantive and more quibbles. The ONLY issue I have with this development is the lack of NEP's. Why are TOEI so damn stingy with them?

Yeah. The reality is that, as I say, the Dragon Boxes are an okay 2003 DVD release. Nothing exceptional, but they're far better than all the shit we've got on every other release. I just wish we had something better, especially since we've seen how good it can be, with the Levels. Hell, IMO Funimation could have topped the DBoxes just by putting their DigiBetas directly onto DVD in 2007-2008 as the seasons, for DB and Z.

No idea why the NEPs are always so weird on Dragon Ball releases.

[ABED]

I think they're great. The things you listed are minor quibbles for me. Like, I don't care at all whether the NEPs or the credits come first. All I want is good video quality (which it has), all the episodes at an affordable price (it did when it was first released), and the proper aspect ratio. Everything else is gravy.

I don't care about absolute top quality audio and visual quality. I just want to see the WHOLE episode, including the right openings and endings. Honestly, TOEI holding back feels like a childish gesture. "Here's the house we sold you, but no, we won't do ANY of the optional fixes and maintenance you requested."

[Soppa Saia People]

i think the thing that gets people with the dragon boxes is that their like, the only proper release of the show ? like my only Real issue with them is the audio, which is always gonna be a issue because Toei Is Toei, i think it just kinda grates on people that for a series as big as dragon ball, especially
the Z anime, doesn't really have anything better then them.

[Robo4900]

All I want is good video quality (which it has)

Yeah, but as I say, the video quality is only okay. Far better results were achievable even back in 2003, Toei just elected to go for something cheaper.

But, Funimation going with this instead of any of the shit they've done since 2006 is a big step forward for them.

[jjgp1112]

Someone more knowledgeable can correct me but the lack of NEPs is because I believe Toei doesn't actually own the audio to them - they're Fuji TV's. FUNi always owned the actual film for the NEPs but never had the audio. On the Z singles, they only ever attached a preview to the last episode of the set and it was dub only. Only reason the GT singles had them is because Toei gave them all of their raw Dragon Box material.

[MasenkoHA]

Someone more knowledgeable can correct me but the lack of NEPs is because I believe Toei doesn't actually own the audio to them - they're Fuji TV's. FUNi always owned the actual film for the NEPs but never had the audio. On the Z singles, they only ever attached a preview to the last episode of the set and it was dub only.

Oh I wasn’t aware the NEP on the Z dvds singles was dub only. That makes sense as to why they weren’t included for the season sets then.

Doesn’t explain why they ditched GT’s NEP for the Green Bricks but Funi gotta be Funi

[MyVisionity]

Yeah, it's the audio for me too. I won't spend a dime until the audio is straightened out.

[ABED]

That's right, they only had the audio. That's even more petulant.

[jjgp1112]

That's right, they only had the audio. That's even more petulant.

Well I was only speaking to the DVDs. The only reason previous Funi releases never had them was because Toei themselves didn't even have the audio for them until they got them from Fuji TV for the Dragon Box.

It's also the reason for other missing material. Like the second Dragon Ball OP - a creditless version isn't even on the DBox extras, so it's very likely Toei never had one to give in the first place. Hell the only credit less version of Cha LA is the Android saga one, and Funimation had to finesse creditless versions of the other two by splicing in parts from the Movie 1 and 2 masters.

I don't know why the NEPs aren't on the DBox stream. Syncing purposes maybe?

[ABED]

That's right, they only had the audio. That's even more petulant.

Well I was only speaking to the DVDs. The only reason previous Funi releases never had them was because Toei themselves didn't even have the audio for them until they got them from Fuji TV for the Dragon Box.

It's also the reason for other missing material. Like the second Dragon Ball OP - a creditless version isn't even on the DBox extras, so it's very likely Toei never had one to give in the first place. Hell the only credit less version of Cha LA is the Android saga one, and Funimation had to finesse creditless versions of the other two by splicing in parts from the Movie 1 and 2 masters.

I don't know why the NEPs aren't on the DBox stream. Syncing purposes maybe?

Interesting. Is this sort of issue present with any other series of around that era? I don't understand how the audio would be missing. I'm talking logistically. Weirder things have happened, but I would like to understand how.

I don't know the legalities involved but I wish FUNi would put the Ocean dub up on their site. I don't have the Rock the Dragon set, just the DVD's, so if they are ruined, I'm SOL.