FUNimation Dragon Box Z #1 (In-Hands) Discussion

Metalwario64 · Post by **Metalwario64** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 1:28 am

SSVegetto wrote:
MajinVejitaXV wrote:
SSVegetto wrote:Excuse me but what about the dot crawl shown on page 5 with the screenshot comparison, practically the only R2J to Funibox comparison picture I've seen.
...that's not dot crawl. The DragonBoxes were made from a component master, whereas dot crawl is a problem that stems from composite masters >_>

What you're seeing, more than likely, is the imperfections in lines that come from hand-drawn cels. You'll notice small breaks in lines and so on, which is what I'm pretty sure you're misinterpreting as dot crawl.

-Corey
That's a lot of imperfections then. And you can see it all over the edges. Especially look at the top right part. Anyways, The R2J looks a lot more vivid and crisp.

That's what happens when you pit a lossy JPG up against a PNG...

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 1:29 am

SSVegetto wrote:That's a lot of imperfections then. And you can see it all over the edges. Especially look at the top right part.

Yep, but if you pause cel-based animation you can see stuff like that all the time on quite a few shows. Just depends on the quality of the animation studio.

Anyways, The R2J looks a lot more vivid and freakin crisp.

Eh, I wonder if it's a placebo effect for me. I plan on looking at the two, doing some double-blinds on myself to see if it really looks better or I'm just thinking it looks better (plus, that page 5 comparison isn't valid anyway since one of the pictures is lossy).

-Corey

MarcFBR · Post by **MarcFBR** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:01 am

I think perhaps one thing needs to be restated.

If you are expecting it to equate 1:1 with the Japanese Dragon Box (having the EXACT same video, etc.), meaning exact pixel perfection match in every way and not be a little bit degraded.

'thinks of what to say without being to mean'

....

....

Go....

Away.....

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:12 am

godofchaos wrote:I think perhaps one thing needs to be restated.

If you are expecting it to equate 1:1 with the Japanese Dragon Box (having the EXACT same video, etc.), meaning exact pixel perfection match in every way and not be a little bit degraded.

I'll just speak for myself since I'm one person that plans on going in-depth. I definitely don't expect a 1:1 copy of the Japanese DragonBox. It's impossible. I will, however, look for differences and bring them up just because I do have access to the Japanese release (which a lot of people admittedly don't).

Besides, it can be fun. I get to collaborate with some pretty cool people about a show that holds a special place in my heart. Who wouldn't dig that?

-Corey

Tanooki Kuribo · Post by **Tanooki Kuribo** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:12 am

So uh, lets just right into this...

The back of the box...

The piece of paper that was stuck onto the back cover...

The DVD Book... (I don't know if it's cause my scanner was dirty or that it was a reflective surface that made these scans look like shit. I windexed the glass on the scanner but it still looks dirty.)

The back of the DVD book...

A look at FUNimations version and the Japanese version side by side. If you couldn't guess, the tiny ones are the Japanese DVDs. (I took those Japanese DVD pics from Kanzentai.com)

So it seems only two images are the same. Eh, I don't mind. I kinda like what FUNimation put there instead.

The Dragon book cover...

I didn't wanna scan the pages in the book cause I didn't wanna ruin the spine or anything. So I took some snap shots...

The wording of most of this stuff is in such a Japanese style, this has to be translated from the original book. Anyone know for sure?

Holy shit, there is a wall of images and I didn't even get to the actual DVDs.

Now, I'm pretty sure the Japanese menus move. Meaning it's part of an episode playing behind the scouter. Can anyone confirm this? In these, it's just one image. Still, I'm not complaining, just saying...

Setup...

Episode select (disc 1)...

Episode select - screen 2 (disc 3)

If you choose to watch the dub, there isn't any opening or closing credits, it just plays the Japanese version. Instead the dub credits scroll up at the very end of the disc...

DVD credits...

Random screen shots, cause we don't have enough!

And that's about it.

isucamper · Post by **isucamper** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:15 am

got home from travel today and finally got to check out the dragonbox that got delivered to me last week. unfortunately, the disk 1-3 case had been cracked like an earlier poster had stated:

Fortunately, all the discs were still seated and scratchless. I've sent emails to funi and rightstuf to see if I can get a new box.

Episodes look great but I have a question. Wasn't the dragonbox supposed to be notorious for having lots of film grain? I can't see any. What are the chances that funi DNRed these transfers?

SSVegetto · Post by **SSVegetto** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:19 am

godofchaos wrote:I think perhaps one thing needs to be restated.

If you are expecting it to equate 1:1 with the Japanese Dragon Box (having the EXACT same video, etc.), meaning exact pixel perfection match in every way and not be a little bit degraded.

'thinks of what to say without being to mean'

....

....

Go....

Away.....

I'm not looking at each and every pixel for an exact freakin science. But that comparison picture, it's obvious R2J is way better (not just a tad). Even stated by other people. But I suppose that's irrelevant now since it was put in a lossy jpeg format and it's an improper comparison.

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:19 am

Tanooki Kuribo wrote:Now, I'm pretty sure the Japanese menu's move. Meaning it's part of an episode playing behind the scouter. Can anyone confirm this? In these, it's just one image. Still, I'm not complaining, just saying...

They do. The menus also look slightly different. I'll post one in motion if people want, but not tonight. Tonight bed awaits.

isucamper wrote:Episodes look great but I have a question. Wasn't the dragonbox supposed to be notorious for having lots of film grain? I can't see any. What are the chances that funi DNRed these transfers?

Practically non-existent. The grain level looks about the same as the Japanese release. It's just more apparent in still-frames than in motion (something I've said for years, cough ;p).

-Corey

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:25 am

I'm watching an episode right now. They have their grain. It's not that fake over-exaggerated grain that was in the FUNi tech trailer for the Season Sets.

YouTube · Post by **Hujio** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:29 am

Tanooki Kuribo wrote:The DVD Book... (I don't know if it's cause my scanner was dirty or that it was a reflective surface that made these scans look like shit. I windexed the glass on the scanner but it still looks dirty.)

Welcome to my world! It's partly because of the reflectiveness, your finger prints on the DVD books, tiny unavoidable scratches, etc. They're a total pain in the ass to scan, but not as bad as the GT DVD books. Those things are a total bitch... Grr...

SSj_Rambo · Post by **SSj_Rambo** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:30 am

Thanks for the dissection, Tanooki!! And I think the reason those scans look so "dirty" and smudged is probably becasue you have a little person or leprechaun stuck beneath the glass in your scanner. My scanner came with some little bugger in their too, but I just unscrewed the side and let him out. We wasn't really a bad guy, just got lost.

EDIT: Hujio is wrong. He must be.

SSJ Helldog · Post by **SSJ Helldog** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:35 am

Tanooki Kuribo wrote: The piece of paper that was stuck onto the back cover...

... it's like... they don't even know how to be classy. This has all of the trappings of the X-Games. It's good that it can be discarded, but I feel like the fanbase will invariable keep it in order to bitch about it for ages to come. "HARD-CORE FANS"? It's like saying, "HERE NERDS, COME AND GET IT!!"

From what I've seen of the quality comparisons, it's comparable to the original DBox. Really, 5000 kbps and 8000 kbps are negligible differences, though perhaps one day I'll own a nice TV and be able to tell the differences, too. But everyone keeps saying "you have to see it in motion," so I'll reserve judgment for now.

As far as the color (still image) comparisons go, I'll take the older American releases any day. I just don't like the aqua-marine sky. Still, I'll probably cave in sooner or later and replace my season sets, being the completionist I am.

Slickmasterfunk · Post by **Slickmasterfunk** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:36 am

isucamper wrote:got home from travel today and finally got to check out the dragonbox that got delivered to me last week. unfortunately, the disk 1-3 case had been cracked like an earlier poster had stated:

*images snipped*

Fortunately, all the discs were still seated and scratchless. I've sent emails to funi and rightstuf to see if I can get a new box.

Episodes look great but I have a question. Wasn't the dragonbox supposed to be notorious for having lots of film grain? I can't see any. What are the chances that funi DNRed these transfers?

That was my case that that got busted up. If you hear anything from either one of them let us know so I can try the same! Thanks!

piccolo-san785 · Post by **piccolo-san785** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:36 am

Man... those are great pictures that you posted Tanooki Kuribo can't wait to get mine.

russ869 · Post by **russ869** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:40 am

MajinVejitaXV wrote:I'll just speak for myself since I'm one person that plans on going in-depth. I definitely don't expect a 1:1 copy of the Japanese DragonBox. It's impossible.

-Corey

Well it would be possible if they weren't re-encoding the video to have more episodes per disc. But generally companies give licenses for a footage master, not their exact DVD authored MPEG-2 stream.

MajinVejitaXV wrote:The grain level looks about the same as the Japanese release. It's just more apparent in still-frames than in motion (something I've said for years, cough ;p).

-Corey

Yes, the thing about grain is it's moving constantly. So you don't notice it as much when watching. Also, when I watch these discs in my crap DVD player on a SDTV it tends to have its own "smoothing" effect so maybe it looks DVNR'd. On a good DVD player on my HDTV, I can definitely notice the grain as long as I'm close enough to the screen.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:42 am

SSJ Helldog wrote:... it's like... they don't even know how to be classy. This has all of the trappings of the X-Games. It's good that it can be discarded, but I feel like the fanbase will invariable keep it in order to bitch about it for ages to come. "HARD-CORE FANS"? It's like saying, "HERE NERDS, COME AND GET IT!!"

I see where you're coming from, but I like being directly addressed as a hardcore fan and a purist. It lets me know that they're not fucking around with this one and I'm getting what I want.

Well, from Z. I really want US releases of Kai and the Jump Special.

mikezilla2 · Post by **mikezilla2** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:45 am

mikezilla2 wrote:Regions 1 and 4

Erm, wait a min - are you saying they're import-friendiy for PAL regions?

?

MarcFBR · Post by **MarcFBR** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:47 am

russ869 wrote:Well it would be possible if they weren't re-encoding the video to have more episodes per disc. But generally companies give licenses for a footage master, not their exact DVD authored MPEG-2 stream.

And to that I say

Yeah, and if a frog had wings, he wouldn't bump his ass when he hops.

It was NEVER going to be exact, period, regardless of disc/episode count, which is exactly what I said on the podcast right after the license was announced.

G1Ravage · Post by **G1Ravage** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:50 am

I don't know how anyone can complain about the picture of the FUNi DBox. I'm playing my discs on my PS3 Blu-ray set to upscale, and the colors are gorgeous.

Hell, it looks gorgeous even on my car's DVD screen.

Acid_Reign · Post by **Acid_Reign** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:53 am

Tanooki Kuribo wrote:Setup...

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b90/t ... cs8811.png

Wait, so there ISN’T an American broadcast BGM track? I thought FUNi had confirmed that.