Dragon Box Z 2's Hands On Discussion

[Daimo-Rukiri]

What I believe that happened is they grabbed what was on hand, be it better or not. Remember that toei has sent countless film versions across the world and store them. Or they're planning something big..

[G1Ravage]

Well, I've finally made it. Last night, I popped in the Dragon Box, and watched all the way through episode 68, "At Last, a Direct Confrontation!! Commander Ginyu Takes the Field".

This was quite a historical and tear-jerking moment for me. It was ten or so years ago when the very first uncut, bilingual DVD of the Dragon Ball Z TV series EVER was put out by FUNimation. It contained Japanese episodes 68, 69, and 70, and truly represented a work in progress. Bare, horrific menus by modern standards; no episode recaps or eye-catchers; only one opening and one closing; and FUNi took out Steve Simmons' translated names and instead used the American dub names in the subtitles. And it didn't matter. I had been exposed to the superior Japanese version through Chris Psaros' DBZ Uncensored, and through the few movie clips I'd downloaded of the Japanese version off the Internet. I asked my parents to buy me this DVD, and they did. It was the first DVD I ever owned; we didn't even have a DVD player, so I used my computer. The flaws of the disc didn't matter...I had full, uncut, beautiful access to raw, Japanese DBZ with English subtitles. These were exciting times. I can't begin to tell you how many times I watched the episodes on this disc, waiting for the next discs to be released. I actually still have that disc, although I haven't watched it in years.

And so it went, as FUNi, in a bizarre and staggering fashion, released their singles DVDs of the Freeza arc through the final Buu arc. I didn't collect every last singles disc; just the major events along the way. We had reached the end with episode 291, and now it was time for FUNi to start from the beginning. I began collecting the Ultimate Uncut discs as they were released, eager to watch the first 67 episodes in Japanese, which I had never done before. I was dismayed when they suddenly cancelled the Ultimate Uncut series, leaving me with an incomplete set.

I completely ignored the Orange Bricks, because I didn't agree with the cropping, or the shoddy presentation as a whole. I didn't want to buy the entire series, or even a portion of the series, in that format, so I didn't touch it. Deep down, I knew something better would come along. And something did.

I can now collect the entire series in pristine, complete format, in what can only be described as the single-greatest domestic release of any Dragon Ball-related product ever. Dragon Box 1 got me through the entire Saiyan arc, at last completing my collection of those episodes. And now, Dragon Box 2 has shot me through to episode 84.

But what mattered most to me was episodes 1 through 67. And with the release of Dragon Box 2, I've completed the journey. I got to experience the Namek and Ginyu episodes as they were meant to be seen, and with the episode previews no less, and watched as the footage started to look more and more familiar. I knew where we were headed. Ten years later, I went to the episode select menu on the Dragon Box, and selected episode 68: "At Last, a Direct Confrontation!! Commander Ginyu Takes the Field". And with the incredible cleaned-up footage, and Steve Simmons' slightly updated subtitles, I've returned to the very episodes I started this journey on. I've come full circle.

[Metalwario64]

"...That was beautiful..."

[TripleRach]

But what mattered most to me was episodes 1 through 67. And with the release of Dragon Box 2, I've completed the journey.

Some people complain, "Why are you people so excited about seeing these episodes for the 50th time!?" So it's nice to see I'm not the only one who's seeing 1-67 for the first time via these boxes. I haven't gotten a chance to start my second box yet, but when I finish 67, I'll have finally seen every episode of Dragon Ball Z. I can't wait.

[.:PoetikaL:.]

So, has anyone checked how much space was used on the disc yet?

EDIT: So I checked Disc 10, and I have gotten 7.13 GB.

Hmmm...

[Daimo-Rukiri]

For those who use your PS3 to play the dvds, what settings do you use? I go back and forth between Stereo and Matrix. This is a Home Theater question btw.

I'm on the 3rd/4th episode on Disk 7, loving it!

[EricM]

Bleh I hate how it's still brighter than it should be. I really wish Funi did something to correct/compensate for the color standard differences. Goku/Gohan/Vegeta's etc hair should be a deep, rich black, not a dark gray.

[Metalwario64]

Bleh I hate how it's still brighter than it should be. I really wish Funi did something to correct/compensate for the color standard differences. Goku/Gohan/Vegeta's etc hair should be a deep, rich black, not a dark gray.

Technically, yes. But the thing is, when they colored the animation cels, they usually used a very dark grey for things like black hair and whatnot. Vegeta's hair was usually colored a very dark brown.

Of course, one thing that wasn't in the cels was the reddish overtone that many of these earlier episodes have, which is likely due to age. The same thing happened to Fist of the North Star, and Toei went back and color corrected it to restore the colors back to the way they were originally intended.

Also, what do you mean by "color standard differences"? Are you referring to the brightness differences, or something else? If the former, then FUNimation has already taken care of that, which is why they are 10% brighter than the Japanese counterparts.

[nathantheguitarist]

There's a post in the first Dragon Box thread that justifies the brightness. It has to do with NTSC-J formatting displaying the encoded material brighter than NTSC-U, thus making the original D Box darker, for us not in Japan anyways. At least that's what I got from it. I can't really remember the exact details though.

There's some reason for it though.

Edit: Oh... cels... now I'm just confused. *walks away*

[Daimo-Rukiri]

Bleh I hate how it's still brighter than it should be. I really wish Funi did something to correct/compensate for the color standard differences. Goku/Gohan/Vegeta's etc hair should be a deep, rich black, not a dark gray.

Tone down your brightness by 5 and it's a dark black.,

[EricM]

There's a post in the first Dragon Box thread that justifies the brightness. It has to do with NTSC-J formatting displaying the encoded material brighter than NTSC-U, thus making the original D Box darker, for us not in Japan anyways. At least that's what I got from it. I can't really remember the exact details though.

Yes that's the problem. Like I said color standard differences. I wish Funimation adjusted the output of the final colors to match the levels of the JP version.

Bleh I hate how it's still brighter than it should be. I really wish Funi did something to correct/compensate for the color standard differences. Goku/Gohan/Vegeta's etc hair should be a deep, rich black, not a dark gray.

Tone down your brightness by 5 and it's a dark black.,

That won't fix it. It's a levels issue, not pure brightness.

[Metalwario64]

Yes that's the problem. Like I said color standard differences. I wish Funimation adjusted the output of the final colors to match the levels of the JP version.

Uh... they did. It isn't the levels either, they just upped the brightness by 10% so that it would look the same on your TV as it the Japanese one would look on a Japanese TV.

If they left the colors alone, then it would be darker on your TV than it is supposed to be.

[Greenman]

From the main site Dragon Box One review:

Our forum member james039 pointed out to us that a minor difference between what is marketed as "NTSC-J" and standard American releases is a 10% brightness difference due to the way the signals are transferred and presented on the final video hardware. Sure enough, applying a 10% brightness increase to a frame captured from an R2 source brings it to near-identical with the R1 release.

[nathantheguitarist]

Thank you. That's what I meant.

[jjgp1112]

http://daizex.fanboyreview.net/viewtopi ... 88#p330288

Since I know you guys are all dying to see it, Season 2 comparisons:

[jjgp1112]

Here are five pics that were begging to be posted in DBox quality:

[.:PoetikaL:.]

Yo jjgp, in a recent post of mine in here, I managed to get the disc size of disc 10. Could you post the others if you have time, I'm not home as I'm typing this on my Touch. I'm just curious to know how much space is left on these box set.

[JulieYBM]

Oh troll-Vegeta, how I love you.

[jjgp1112]

I have Disc 2 in my computer right now, and it's 7.01 GB. I'll check the rest later.

[LeprikanGT]

What about Lupin Vegeta? I thought for sure that would have been one of the 5.