Dragon Ball 'Banana Brick' DVD: sound issue epsiode 129

[Mister_Popo]

I’ve been holding off on doing a full rewatch of the original Dragon Ball series for a long time, hoping for a proper HD Blu-ray release. Since that still doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon, I decided to pick up the DVDs instead.

As I’m based in Europe and the “Blue Bricks” are Region 1 only, I went with the UK release (the so-called “Banana Bricks”).
I’m aware of some known issues with this set. For example, in episode 81 the Japanese audio switches to episode 83 halfway through. This issue was already confirmed in this thread more than a decade ago: viewtopic.php?t=27769. I was hoping this might have been fixed in later pressings, but unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be the case—I had to finish the second half of episode 81 with the English dub. Not a huge deal, but still disappointing for a set that isn’t exactly cheap.

The video quality is also somewhat inconsistent—not up to modern standards, but still watchable.
However, I’ve noticed something specific in episode 129, which is actually one of my favorite parts of the original series. At around 1:47 (right after the sparring between Goku and Mr. Popo), there’s a noticeable popping sound in the background audio. This continues at irregular intervals until about 5:40, when Goku travels back in time to meet a younger Master Roshi—after that, it disappears.

This issue appearantly does not seem to be present in streaming versions, which makes it unlikely that it originates from the original broadcast/audio. The disc itself is brand new and shows no physical damage. The issue also occurs in both the Japanese and English audio tracks, which makes me suspect it might be part of the source/master used for this release (possibly an artifact introduced during the PAL conversion from the original Madman sets). But in that case, all copies should have the same issue.

So my humble questions:

Can anyone with the same UK “Banana Bricks” set check if they have the same issue in episode 129?
Does this problem also occur on the US “Blue Bricks” release?

I’d like to figure out whether this is a defect on my specific copy or something present in the master used for these DVDs.

Thanks in advance!

[LostTimeLord]

There's a contemporary review that brings up the audio issues: https://www.myreviewer.com/DVD/166209/D ... ndar-Canth

The quality slips a tad in this final collection, with the Japanese audio in episode 129 severely afflicted by intermittent distortion and pops, and even a video glitch to go with one of the worst pops.

That sounds like it could be an encoding error, or corrupted data on the pre-duplication master files, or something? Either way, I don't recall the US 'Blue Brick' having any errors like that.

[Mister_Popo]

There's a contemporary review that brings up the audio issues: https://www.myreviewer.com/DVD/166209/D ... ndar-Canth

The quality slips a tad in this final collection, with the Japanese audio in episode 129 severely afflicted by intermittent distortion and pops, and even a video glitch to go with one of the worst pops.

That sounds like it could be an encoding error, or corrupted data on the pre-duplication master files, or something? Either way, I don't recall the US 'Blue Brick' having any errors like that.

Sometimes a single answer is all you need. It’s great that you were able to find this. I had searched on Google, Kanzenshuu, and even via ChatGPT, but couldn’t find anything about this specific issue. At least now I know it’s not a problem with my copy.

The Blue Bricks still seem to be the 'gold standard' at the moment. Occasionally you come across Blue Bricks that are low-priced and region-free, but that makes the chance of them being bootlegs quite high. I didn’t buy them, because you might end up with issues that are even worse than the Banana Bricks. Honestly, it’s high time the original Dragon Ball got a proper new release—it’s long overdue at this point.

[LostTimeLord]

Honestly, it’s high time the original Dragon Ball got a proper new release—it’s long overdue at this point.

Toei has their smeary new upscale, which was recently added to Hulu in America. I would have expected that to get a disc release, but Crunchyroll are barely putting any discs out these days; it's not even clear if the Daima Blu-ray's been cancelled or not!

[SylentEcho]

The Blue Bricks still seem to be the 'gold standard' at the moment. Occasionally you come across Blue Bricks that are low-priced and region-free, but that makes the chance of them being bootlegs quite high. I didn’t buy them, because you might end up with issues that are even worse than the Banana Bricks. Honestly, it’s high time the original Dragon Ball got a proper new release—it’s long overdue at this point.

I still keep and play many of my own sets, some dating back to 1999 and physical media is nice to have, but not the, "gold standard" anymore. We've come a long way since then. There's a colour-corrected lossless release (somewhere) out there and also an upcoming upscale of both shows using an AI that's been specifically trained by learning DB-related animation cels and 16mm prints.

This is way more than Funi or Toei will ever bother to do, so we can forget about another physical or digital release for now.

[Mister_Popo]

The Blue Bricks still seem to be the 'gold standard' at the moment. Occasionally you come across Blue Bricks that are low-priced and region-free, but that makes the chance of them being bootlegs quite high. I didn’t buy them, because you might end up with issues that are even worse than the Banana Bricks. Honestly, it’s high time the original Dragon Ball got a proper new release—it’s long overdue at this point.

I still keep and play many of my own sets, some dating back to 1999 and physical media is nice to have, but not the, "gold standard" anymore. We've come a long way since then. There's a colour-corrected lossless release (somewhere) out there and also an upcoming upscale of both shows using an AI that's been specifically trained by learning DB-related animation cels and 16mm prints.

This is way more than Funi or Toei will ever bother to do, so we can forget about another physical or digital release for now.

Streaming is the norm these days they say. But honestly, if I want to stream Dragon Ball with the Japanese voice-over and English subtitles—or the English dub (in the correct language)—I’m basically forced into piracy.

It’s all very complicated with anime licensing, but my country (Belgium) is bilingual: there’s a Dutch-speaking part and a French-speaking part. In the French-speaking region, everyone watches the French dub. The rights are set up in such a way that if I want to watch Dragon Ball on Crunchyroll, I only get access to the Japanese version with French subtitles or the French dub, even though I’m not a French speaker.

To watch the Japanese version with English subtitles or the English dub, I’d have to resort to piracy. Since I don’t support that kind of practice and am perfectly willing to pay for a series I love, I bought the DVDs. That’s the only legal option available to me.

Aside from that, I actually like owning a physical release of my favorite series. Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z are really one continuous story, and since DBZ has a Blu-ray release, the original DB should have one too.