DBZ Blu-Ray

Travis Touchdown · Post by **Travis Touchdown** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:46 am

Random merchandise question: What all Dragon Ball releases have been put out on Blu-Ray? I'm only aware of Dead Zone, & Steel Book 4 (Tree of Might & Lord Slug). And, of course, Dragon Ball Evolution. Any other Steel Book sets released in Blu-Ray?

xzero · Post by **xzero** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:48 am

I think all of the movies have been released on Blu-Ray, as well as Bardock and Trunks. The series has not been.

Travis Touchdown · Post by **Travis Touchdown** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:52 am

Okay. Anyone here own the Blu-Rays? If so, do they honestly look any better from the DVDs? Live action and newer animes look great, but you an only do so much with older animes. I was thinking of selling all 7 steel books and getting the blu-ray copies but not if there's no real difference.

ssjcj · Post by **ssjcj** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:52 am

Travis Touchdown wrote:Random merchandise question: What all Dragon Ball releases have been put out on Blu-Ray? I'm only aware of Dead Zone, & Steel Book 4 (Tree of Might & Lord Slug). And, of course, Dragon Ball Evolution. Any other Steel Book sets released in Blu-Ray?

The TV specials and movies have been released on Blu-Ray (movies 8 & 10 twice). Evolution has not been released yet. (July 28th for the States.)

Innagadadavida · Post by **Innagadadavida** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 12:45 pm

Travis Touchdown wrote:Okay. Anyone here own the Blu-Rays? If so, do they honestly look any better from the DVDs? Live action and newer animes look great, but you an only do so much with older animes. I was thinking of selling all 7 steel books and getting the blu-ray copies but not if there's no real difference.

I would also like to see an opinion on this. I recently played Bojack and Android 13 on my Dad's big ass HDTV with a DVD upscaler and the quality was awe inspiring. I really don't see it getting much better. Does Blu-ray produce noticeably better quality than a DVD upscaler?

Post by **VegettoEX** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 12:53 pm

Innagadadavida wrote:Does Blu-ray produce noticeably better quality than a DVD upscaler?

By adding in the word "noticeably" you've made it an entirely subjective Q&A with no truly universally-accurate answer. It will be "noticeable" to some people, and others won't see a darn difference.

Does the Blu-ray literally, honestly, and technically have "more higher" resolution (therefore information) than the DVD? Yes. Does some type of hardware/software upscaling attempt to re-create what that information may be? Yes. Will it actually achieve that completely? No.

There is a difference between the two, but it's up to the individual viewer to factor in what they can actually see, if they care what they see, how much they're willing to pay, etc.

SweetCosmicPope · Post by **SweetCosmicPope** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 12:57 pm

I don't speak from experience with Dragonball itself, but I do have a blu-ray player.

Some of the movies I've watched (particularly Planet of the Apes), I never would have thought could look better. However, on DVD the movies look just like their old "dirty" selves, but on blu-ray it looks like a new movie.

You also have to keep in mind that if you are running a 1080p television via HDMI, you can also play at 24fps mode, which makes motion much more fluid.

I don't think it will make much difference on a smaller tv, really, but if you are going big screen, the larger the screen size, the more important the resolution is. Picture stretching out a 1" x 1" jpg to about 2"x2". Not a huge difference, but you can notice the distortion.

SweetCosmicPope · Post by **SweetCosmicPope** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 1:03 pm

To expand on this, by the way, let me explain how upscaling works. Keep in mind, I support this, but it is inferior technology to blu rays. I'm not going to replace 1400 DVDs, though.

The upscaler (through some technology I don't understand) multiplies the amount of pixels. Imagine a green pixel on Piccolo's skin surrounded by several copies of the same pixel.

While not exactly changing the resolution, they help keep it smooth looking by integrating anti-aliasing technology, essentially blurring the pixels together to look like these masses of pixels are blurred into one big smudge of a pixel, instead of a collection of square pixels.

Innagadadavida · Post by **Innagadadavida** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 1:04 pm

VegettoEX wrote:By adding in the word "noticeably" you've made it an entirely subjective Q&A with no truly universally-accurate answer. It will be "noticeable" to some people, and others won't see a darn difference.

Well, I was hoping for personal opinions. I know there are technical differences. I wanted to hear the thoughts of those who have personally compared the two.

My guess is that the Blu-Ray would be sharper. With the upscaler, I did notice a few instances of what appeared to be micro-blockage. It was usually on a bright solid color; like blue skies or a red shirt. Although, I never was able to determine if that was real or my imagination.

SonGokuGT · Post by **SonGokuGT** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:56 pm

I for one find the purchase of Blu-ray Discs worthwhile. The image seems very sharp to me and the audio quality is mind-blowing. As for the DBZ BD's I only own their first release of Movies 8 and 10. I think it is definitely noticeable and worthwhile if you have the full HD setup.

Hao_Kaiser · Post by **Hao_Kaiser** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 8:44 pm

Innagadadavida wrote:My guess is that the Blu-Ray would be sharper. With the upscaler, I did notice a few instances of what appeared to be micro-blockage. It was usually on a bright solid color; like blue skies or a red shirt. Although, I never was able to determine if that was real or my imagination.

I have the same problems when I upscale the DVDs via HDMI on my XBox 360, but I always thought it was due to the fact that I have a budget HD set, or that I had never bothered to adjust the color settings... Or that I was just crazy. It's good to know that it isn't just me.

I would imagine that those problems aren't present on the Blu-Ray releases, though.

http://www.fanboyreview.net/2009/03/23/ ... #more-1043

The Fanboy Review has some screencaps of the Blu-Ray release of the Broly steelbook, if that's of any interest to you. I wouldn't say they blow the DVD's out of the water, but they do seem to look a little bit crisper.[/url]

ect5150 · Post by **ect5150** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 9:35 pm

SonGokuGT wrote:I for one find the purchase of Blu-ray Discs worthwhile. The image seems very sharp to me and the audio quality is mind-blowing. As for the DBZ BD's I only own their first release of Movies 8 and 10. I think it is definitely noticeable and worthwhile if you have the full HD setup.

I agree completely. And given the way some encodings are of DVDs, BluRay is the way to go. I haven't seen any DBZ BluRays, but I kinda bought my PS3 after I saw Ironman and The Dark Knight in theatres thinking "I know I'll buy those and one day I'll get a BluRay... I don't want to re-buy them"... so I bought my PS3 the weekend Ironman was released.

But I did rent The Dark Knight DVD through Netflix (just to encode my own copy/encode to watch on the PC) and I'll tell you this... the DVD encode is pure sh*t compared to the BluRay. No upscaler will EVER match it (although its mainly due to the DVD being junk).

I have a 1080P TV and a 1080P PC Monitor and I hook the PS3 up to both. I love it, but I'll say I never buy the BluRay movies unless they are onsale.

On another note... in my opinion, the upscaler in the PS3 isn't too good. I bought a $50 upscaling DVD player from Sam's Club which does a better job in my opinion. The PS3 generated visual artifacts (I'm assuming the 360 would do something similar?) But for a BluRay player, its fine...

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:00 pm

I can't speak for the later releases, but FUNimations 'test' Blu-Ray with the Broli films basically kills the point of an HD release to begin with. The picture has been given a hefty dose of DVNR, and it just looks dull as a result. No trace of detail whatsoever.

So, honestly, I can't see the reason in getting the films on Blu-ray unless you're a dub fan. You'll get a lossless 5.1 mix I'm assuming, but for the Japanese version you'll still just be getting the same old mono so no improvement there.

-Corey

Big Momma · Post by **Big Momma** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:02 pm

Hao_Kaiser wrote:
http://www.fanboyreview.net/2009/03/23/ ... #more-1043

All of his screenshots are great avatars.

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:07 pm

Big Momma wrote:
Hao_Kaiser wrote:
http://www.fanboyreview.net/2009/03/23/ ... #more-1043
All of his screenshots are great avatars.

Hm...weird. It says the Japanese track is 5.1 there, but I think that's a typo. Can someone confirm?

-Corey

Krycek7o2 · Post by **Krycek7o2** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:20 am

MajinVejitaXV wrote:
Big Momma wrote:
Hao_Kaiser wrote:
http://www.fanboyreview.net/2009/03/23/ ... #more-1043
All of his screenshots are great avatars.
Hm...weird. It says the Japanese track is 5.1 there, but I think that's a typo. Can someone confirm?

-Corey

All Japanese Tracks are in mono. After the first Double Feature, the mono track was kicked into a 384kbps 2.0 track instead of the 96kbps 1.0 track.

Also, I do not recommend the blu ray releases for the first four movies. They have massive doses of DVNR and the print scratches are very noticeable to the point they interfere with the action on screen. The later films were better handled due to the light use of DVNR and most likely because FUNImation got better masters. The best release thus far will have to be the final double feature. Though, in Dolby TrueHD, the original Japanese music sounds very forced in the rear channels, mainly because they were in mono and are now being forced into a stereo field. You will hear minor distortion in the front stage when the ending themes are played. Again, forced stereo is not a good thing. I wish I had the right equipment to take screenshots from the actual discs to post pictures.

They could have made something special if they did proper remastering, but alas it came to be a farce. The Dragon Box DVDs stand better with up scaling to 1080p then their "high def" 1080p counterparts. If you want anime in HD I recommend the imports for the Ghost in the Shell 2.0 Blu ray or any other anime for that matter.

In the end, it is up to you. If you liked the dub, go for it. The sound effects and voices sound superb in 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, but like I previously said, the music not so much. Provided that you have the right audio equipment to enjoy them in. Even if you don't, the Vanilla 5.1 tracks are great, with great use of the rears and front stage. Voices come clear and the picture seemed to improve as the films were released.

Personally, I don't regret my purchase. I like the dub and if that is the reason; this is a perfect way of owning them. If you prefer the original Japanese, I have mixed feelings. I prefer the DragonBox Stereo compared to FUNimation mono.

Smooth Criminal · Post by **Smooth Criminal** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:34 am

The difference between DVD and Blu-Ray isn't subjective-- it's factual.

Anyone who says otherwise is clueless.

And yes, there is a noticeable difference between the DBZ dvd releases and those that have been put out on Blu-Ray. It is not night and day like movies that were filmed in high-def, but the increase in resolution does wonders. The colors pop out; the frames of animation have never looked cleaner and more crisp. It is by far the most beautiful DBZ experience available on the market.

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 1:12 am

Smooth Criminal wrote:It is by far the most beautiful DBZ experience available on the market.

Shigeru Chiba called

Krycek7o2 wrote:Though, in Dolby TrueHD, the original Japanese music sounds very forced in the rear channels, mainly because they were in mono and are now being forced into a stereo field.

You're talking about the dub 5.1 TrueHD track here, right? If so, I think that's incorrect. FUNimation should be receiving the international stereo mix, the same one Toei used to 'remix' the DragonBox: The Movies set, if not the discrete audio channels for mixing. I could be wrong though, can someone confirm?

-Corey

Captain Awesome · Post by **Captain Awesome** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 5:19 am

I'm actually waiting on the first two double feature Blu-Ray sets, I'm interested to see how they actually look at 1080p, since movies 1 and 2 looked pretty damn good in the dvd screencaps, though 3 and 4 were a little blurry.

SweetCosmicPope · Post by **SweetCosmicPope** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 10:52 am

Hao_Kaiser wrote:I have the same problems when I upscale the DVDs via HDMI on my XBox 360, but I always thought it was due to the fact that I have a budget HD set, or that I had never bothered to adjust the color settings... Or that I was just crazy. It's good to know that it isn't just me.

Those things can effect the quality, as well. You'll need a quality HD set that can handle the speed of the show, and has a quality display. Colors need to be accurate, as well as sharpness, etc;

Personally, I prefer plasma, as it's cheaper and a higher quality display than LCD, but if you are using an LCD, the speed of the set can produce very bad pixelation in fast-paced scenes, in addition to muddy black (caused by light leakage, and technological inequities).

I highly suggest visiting the AV Science forums and getting some screen settings for your tv to see if they help.

There's no argument from me, of course, that blu ray is superior, but there may be other factors to the bad picture your seeing. I know not everybody can afford an expensive set, but it may be in your interest to at least set your display correctly.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming. Sorry, EX, for veering too far from DB-related jabber.

Kanzenshuu

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