Which Version is right for me?

[SpartenOmega117]

So I have been watching Dragon Ball Z Kai on Nicktoons lately and it has brought back all of the memories of when I use to watch the show as a kid. I'm now planning on collecting all of the sets. But I cant decide if I want to get the orange brick sets or Dragon Boxes.

Let me get this out of the way: I WILL be watching the show in ENGLISH DUB. I'm a huge fan of the dub, and it seems as if I don't focus on whats going on the screen if I watch sub. Also I WILL be watching the show on an HDTV. So i guess the picture will be Widescreen (I don't like black bars on the sides

Here is what I think are the Pros/Cons for each set

Orange Bricks
Very cheap (can buy whole series for about $100)
Has both English dub and dub score
Better for HDtvs?
cropped picture
packaging not the best

Dragon Boxes:
Much better packaging
Dragon Book
Episodes look better?
does this set work well with hdtv?
No dub score!!!!!

So overall, for my needs, which version should I get? In all honesty the dragon box looks very tempting to buy, but not having the Dun score is a downer. Is the Japanese score hard to get into? So which version do you think is the best for me?

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

Hmm, this topic seems a tad familiar...

[SpartenOmega117]

Hmm, this topic seems a tad familiar...

yeah. just getting some more opinions.

[Codarik]

I always considered the season sets for the dub fans and the Dragon Box's for the original Japanese dub fans. If you are always going to be watching the English Dub I recommend the season sets.

[Krycek7o2]

You answered your question simply by stating you like widescreen. Unless you like fun-house mirrors with forced widescreen on 4x3 sources (DBox), go with the orange bricks. This way you get the both of both worlds with the dub. You will get the new 5.1 dub with original JPN Score and the original TV Score. Be warned, the early seasons do not look good on HD displays. The series does get little better, picture wise, after a few seasons. Hope this helps.

[SpartenOmega117]

You answered your question simply by stating you like widescreen. Unless you like fun-house mirrors with forced widescreen on 4x3 sources (DBox), go with the orange bricks. This way you get the both of both worlds with the dub. You will get the new 5.1 dub with original JPN Score and the original TV Score. Be warned, the early seasons do not look good on HD displays. The series does get little better, picture wise, after a few seasons. Hope this helps.

so do the dragon boxes look bad in widescreen? does the picture get ruined? I watched the original FMA (i think it was 4x3) and it didnt look too bad.

[Krycek7o2]

You answered your question simply by stating you like widescreen. Unless you like fun-house mirrors with forced widescreen on 4x3 sources (DBox), go with the orange bricks. This way you get the both of both worlds with the dub. You will get the new 5.1 dub with original JPN Score and the original TV Score. Be warned, the early seasons do not look good on HD displays. The series does get little better, picture wise, after a few seasons. Hope this helps.

so do the dragon boxes look bad in widescreen? does the picture get ruined? I watched the original FMA (i think it was 4x3) and it didnt look too bad.

This is from me, but I hate 4x3 stretched to widescreen. The center of the screen looks okay, but the sides get stretched and that bothers me immensely. Now, if your TV crops (depends on what type of HD you have) to widescreen, the only thing that might mess things up are subtitle positioning the top and bottom of the screen getting slightly cut off, ironically looking similar to the orange bricks. But, you already stated you are watching the dub. So, I say go with the bricks. They are cheap and very convenient.

Again, like most will state; DBox is aimed at the Japanese version of the series, the orange bricks to lovers of the dub.

[Chibi Gohan]

I'll keep this simple.

If you want crap, go with the Orange Bricks... It has crappy cropping and horrible colors(Especially in the early sets, though toned down later). Bad quality.

If you want something you'll love get boxes Dragon Boxes. I mean really it has the dub too... Better picture and the original score in all honesty is better.

Watching it with the original music adds to the experience. DON'T SUBJECT YOUR SELF TO CRAP BECAUSE YOU WANT THE "DUB" SCORE.

[Tanooki Kuribo]

Hey, SpartenOmega117. You might wanna go back and check your grammar. I mean sure, a moderator will probably do it but, it's just more work for them. Just letting you know cause you're new here so maybe you weren't fully aware of the rules.

Even though you agreed to them when you signed up...

[Kakarotto]

Funimation is streaming the orange Bricks, so you should watch a couple of episodes and see how shitty the quality is.

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

Funimation is streaming the orange Bricks, so you should watch a couple of episodes and see how shitty the quality is.

There ya go!!

[SpartenOmega117]

Funimation is streaming the orange Bricks, so you should watch a couple of episodes and see how shitty the quality is.

There ya go!!

thanks! I'll check it out. Its on their youtube right?

Edit: Watching right. I can't help but notice all of the white speckles that flicker during the title song. DO the dragon boxes have this?

[Chibi Gohan]

Funimation is streaming the orange Bricks, so you should watch a couple of episodes and see how shitty the quality is.

There ya go!!

thanks! I'll check it out. Its on their youtube right?

http://www.hulu.com/dragon-ball-z

Here^

[SuperSaiyan3Goku]

Funimation is streaming the orange Bricks, so you should watch a couple of episodes and see how shitty the quality is.

There ya go!!

thanks! I'll check it out. Its on their youtube right?

Edit: Watching right. I can't help but notice all of the white speckles that flicker during the title song. DO the dragon boxes have this?

Nope, Hulu.

Just search for "Dragon Ball Z", it should pop up.

GAH Chibi Gohan! Beat me to it!

[SpartenOmega117]

Do the dragon boxes have those white speckles that flicker? i guess I am spoiled by kai since it doesn't have those speckles.

[Kendamu]

Let me get this out of the way: I WILL be watching the show in ENGLISH DUB. I'm a huge fan of the dub, and it seems as if I don't focus on whats going on the screen if I watch sub. Also I WILL be watching the show on an HDTV. So i guess the picture will be Widescreen (I don't like black bars on the sides

Since you don't have to worry about subs, you can just zoom in on the DBox with your HDTV's "Zoom" or "Ratio" settings to fill the screen. You'll get a similar experience to the Bricks in terms of Widescreen but you'll be getting a much better remaster with the DBox.

Orange Bricks
Very cheap (can buy whole series for about $100) You get what you pay for.
Has both English dub and dub score Which score would you rather listen to?
Better for HDtvs? If you use the Zoom/Ratio feature on your TV, it doesn't matter.
cropped picture If you can't stand black bars it doesn't matter if it's cropped or not.
packaging not the best You get what you pay for.

You can watch the Orange Brick footage for free on Hulu.

Dragon Boxes:
Much better packaging Much better packaging! More awesome books, too!
Dragon Book Yeah! Like I just said!
Episodes look better? They look much better!
does this set work well with hdtv? If you watch in 4:3 or Zoom in on the image to fill the screen (instead of stretch), yes.
No dub score!!!!! Is it that important to you to have the fake replacement score?

So overall, for my needs, which version should I get? In all honesty the dragon box looks very tempting to buy, but not having the Dub score is a downer. Is the Japanese score hard to get into? So which version do you think is the best for me?

The Japanese score is great! Before I even knew it was the Japanese score, I heard it in the original dub of the first three DBZ movies and thought, "The movie score is so much better than the TV show score! Why isn't this score in the TV show?!"

As long as you can get along without the dub score, the DBox is your best bet by far.

Do the dragon boxes have those white speckles that flicker? i guess I am spoiled by kai since it doesn't have those speckles.

No. The Orange Bricks are a crappy remaster and now you see one huge reason why. The DBox has none of that crap.

[Chibi Gohan]

Do the dragon boxes have those white speckles that flicker? i guess I am spoiled by kai since it doesn't have those speckles.

No, the Dragon Boxes don't have the white speckles.

[Krycek7o2]

Stick with the Dragon Box. It's "expensive", not really, but its the best version of the series. While the Orange Bricks are "widescreen", they are horribly remastered. The image quality is digitally de-noised to the point that white splotches appear. The infamous "Bukkake" Vegeta quickly comes to mind.

With the Dragon Box, you will be getting the series, properly remastered. There is grain, but that's not a bad thing. It also looks wonderful upscaled to 1080p. You can crop it like I stated in my previous post, but it is up to you. If you like stretching the footage by all means! The English audio is there with the original Japanese BGM. If you like the dub music, just buy the soundtrack CDs, but overall buying a very inferior product liek the season sets for music is not really an option I would recommend.

Again, you were merely asking for opinions. This is how I feel about the orange bricks. If you want the original dub music, track down the old singles or buy the CDs. Buy the Dragon Box, you get the series in eloquent quality and the discs are housed in mini replicas of the original R2 sets along with hardcover booklets detailing information on the episodes and other details.

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

Stick with the Dragon Box. It's "expensive", not really, but its the best version of the series. While the Orange Bricks are "widescreen", they are horribly remastered. The image quality is digitally de-noised to the point that white splotches appear. The infamous "Bukkake" Vegeta quickly comes to mind.

With the Dragon Box, you will be getting the series, properly remastered. There is grain, but that's not a bad thing. It also looks wonderful upscaled to 1080p. You can crop it like I stated in my previous post, but it is up to you. If you like stretching the footage by all means! The English audio is there with the original Japanese BGM. If you like the dub music, just buy the soundtrack CDs, but overall buying a very inferior product liek the season sets for music is not really an option I would recommend.

Again, you were merely asking for opinions. This is how I feel about the orange bricks. If you want the original dub music, track down the old singles or buy the CDs. Buy the Dragon Box, you get the series in eloquent quality and the discs are housed in mini replicas of the original R2 sets along with hardcover booklets detailing information on the episodes and other details.

^ This!

Oh, and if you want to know where you can get the dub OSTs, click here.

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

I must second that the DBoxes work very well on an HD if you have a good upscaler. I often use "Widescreen" mode on mine, it works fine. I don't think it really looks that much better (But I haven't actually gotten to use that TV in a couple months), but that a 89'-96' cartoon on a 4x3 film master holds up a TV that big is a feat in itself.

The Season Sets... not flawed to the point of dysfunction, but it can be annoying to go back to after the DBoxes. The cropping is only occasionally annoying, but you will eventually notice footage blur if you watch it on a large TV. I was watching Season 9 (Gotenks - 28th Tournament + Uub), the final box, with a friend a couple months back and noticed on his 5 or so foot SDTV.