Love my new Dragon Box 1 but... FUNi's Blu-ray future?

MarcFBR · Post by **MarcFBR** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 12:01 am

VegettoEX wrote:
MajinVejitaXV wrote:This is the only aspect of your post that I'll counter. While animation can be very difficult to encode with MPEG-2, the newer codecs used for Blu-ray (H.264, VC-1) can handle it much better. So, while some titles marcoblock no matter what you do because of MPEG-2's limitations within the DVD-Video specification (FLCL's manga scenes jump to mind), in theory the newer codecs and higher bitrates that BD allows would allow for a noticeable improvement.
Fair point. I don't think it would be widely noticeable by the general viewership if the DVD was done very well, but it's (to steal your phrase) at least a placebo effect for those of us squirming for the best that we can get .

Also, I guess I'm schooled on the Gundam Wing releases. Then again, that's Gundam. I'm curious about Sailormoon, as well, since that was also Toei ("also" being "also, just like DBZ, not Gundam").

I'll skip commenting on codecs since it was already taken... (as for uspcaling... well, if it's a good upscale, I'll easily take it over a DVD)

As for Sailor Moon, having looked around...

It appears the original DVDs were normal disks done circa 2002. No remaster yet...

I think... not something I'm overly knowledgeable about.

Sailor Moon Kai! coming soon!

ect5150 · Post by **ect5150** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 12:23 am

godofchaos wrote:1- Akira is a film, and was also given a few screenings theatrically, so a remaster past 480 was necessary.

2- As for Funi's version being shifted slightly, we don't know what step Funi's masters came from, or the exact source of these masters.

I wasn't aware the remastered Akira had seen a theatrical release, that would need higher than 480P.

Since we don't know, anyone just want to email FUNI and/or Toei? Didn't Kei17 get a few email responses from Toei regarding the quality of the audio tapes and original colors? It would be interesting to find out.

MarcFBR · Post by **MarcFBR** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 12:33 am

ect5150 wrote:
godofchaos wrote:1- Akira is a film, and was also given a few screenings theatrically, so a remaster past 480 was necessary.

2- As for Funi's version being shifted slightly, we don't know what step Funi's masters came from, or the exact source of these masters.
I wasn't aware the remastered Akira had seen a theatrical release, that would need higher than 480P.

Since we don't know, anyone just want to email FUNI and/or Toei? Didn't Kei17 get a few email responses from Toei regarding the quality of the audio tapes and original colors? It would be interesting to find out.

I recall it got a few screenings, I don't believe it would be what we think of as a 'theatrical release' though.

Funi likely wouldn't know, they would only know what was given to them, and the response Toei gave Kei was basically a 'we are giving you a positive response to make you stop emailing us, and hopefully not show up at our office and stab us', it's a common style of response.

Gotham22 · Post by **Gotham22** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 12:37 am

I see another DBZ DVD release with the dub music before a Blu-ray release.

baragon_kun · Post by **baragon_kun** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 9:18 pm

Isn't the newly remastered version of Fist of the North Star 1986 film done in HD? It looks incredible, especially on DVD, and it looks like they did remaster the film in HD and downscaled to 480p.

Then again, it would have been awesome to have the gore scenes uncensored and from another video source.

TheLiberator · Post by **TheLiberator** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 5:25 am

VegettoEX wrote:(2) Upscaling
The upscaling that your own video hardware (either the DVD player, Blu-ray player, receiver, TV...) does to 480p material would be arguably better than encoding an upscaled version (480p -> 1080p) directly on a Blu-ray disc. In this respect, it is pointless to release a Blu-ray release of upscaled SD material, since you gain no benefits from the additional bitrates and frame size. I think the common example being thrown around right now is FUNimation's Blu-ray release of Samurai Champloo, which was done at 480 to begin with (and apparently has heavy DVNR applied to it, which sucks).

You're right about companies not having good upscalers for SD footage. I got Ghost in the Shell 2.0 on Blu-Ray recently, and they included the original version of the film on it. There is a Blu-Ray release of the original film in Japan, and it looks pretty clear, but not as clear as this new version. However, on the American Blu-Ray, they just used an upscaled version of the DVD footage, which looks like complete shit. I compared to the actual DVD upscaled on my PS3, and it looks much better.

baragon_kun wrote:Isn't the newly remastered version of Fist of the North Star 1986 film done in HD? It looks incredible, especially on DVD, and it looks like they did remaster the film in HD and downscaled to 480p.

Yes, they did remaster it in HD. And as kei17 mentioned in another topic, Toei used better technology than they did for the Dragon Box, which means they were able to make it look cleaner, and correct the colors. Also, in Japan, they have released the entire Fist of the North Star and Fist of the North Star 2 series remastered in HD. Hopefully, Toei will release it on Blu-ray someday. I do have to agree that the American release of the movie is very well encoded, and looks beautiful. I heard that Discotek got the license for the whole TV series, so hopefully they'll release the remastered version here.