FUNimation DBZ TV Blu-ray Official On-Going Thread

[EricM]

It's 16mm film, which means it will be an upscale. The DragonBoxes will still be the best release.

Rofl, one of the wrongest things I've read all month. Film does not have a resolution and 16mm definitely does not translate to less than HD quality. Modern 16mm film can resolve more detail than 1080p is capable of. Of course an old low budget show like DBZ won't benefit as much, but there's definitely room for improvement over the Dragonboxes if they are transferred properly.

The Hurt Locker for example, was shot on 16mm: http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/9062/0 ... 002728.png

[funrush]

... I suspect the next set will be eighteen episodes, though, just to end the arc with Vegeta leaving.

I was thinking that too but, a listing for level 1.2 on Amazon.com shows it's running time of 410 minutes which is (roughly) 17 episodes. But hey, it's still early. Things could change... I hope.

Level 1.2 is due on December 13, which is one month after Level 1.1's release. So, one set a month? That seems pretty good.

[Paradox295]

Rofl, one of the wrongest things I've read all month. Film does not have a resolution and 16mm definitely does not translate to less than HD quality.

I'm aware of that. No need to be condecending

Modern 16mm film can resolve more detail than 1080p is capable of. Of course an old low budget show like DBZ won't benefit as much, but there's definitely room for improvement over the Dragonboxes if they are transferred properly.

Yeah. Modern 16mm film. We're talking about a show from the early 90's. Sure, there will be some quality increase, but definately not anything to write home about.

[penguintruth]

Who, exactly, are they trying to appeal to here?

English dub fans can get the same quality, with more episodes, and less expensively, with the orange Season Sets.

Fans of the Japanese version aren't going to buy something with less quality than the Dragon Boxes. And an upscale of the crappy orange sets are going to be a step down from the Dragon Boxes. Funimation doing the remastering? You might as well let random people on the internet do it.

This release essentially shouldn't appeal to anyone. So the people who'll buy it are bone dumb.

[thedarkuniter]

I don't really think that the Dragon Boxes just limited to sub fans. Granted I like both versions however, I'm sure dub fans would want quality as well. Maybe this release will be the same masters like the Ultimate Uncuts however scanned in 2K. Still, 17 episodes are too short for a series like Dragon Ball Z and Yu Yu Hakusho has like 26 episodes per set.

[Paradox295]

Who, exactly, are they trying to appeal to here?

English dub fans can get the same quality, with more episodes, and less expensively, with the orange Season Sets.

Fans of the Japanese version aren't going to buy something with less quality than the Dragon Boxes. And an upscale of the crappy orange sets are going to be a step down from the Dragon Boxes. Funimation doing the remastering? You might as well let random people on the internet do it.

This release essentially shouldn't appeal to anyone. So the people who'll buy it are bone dumb.

Yup. You know how they say "A fool and his money are soon parted?"

[Gaffer Tape]

Well, I hate to say it, but, in general I've gotten the impression that Dragon Ball fans are NOT the most discerning consumers of all time. They'll buy anything... multiple times if given the slightest provocation. It'll fly off the shelves. And my faith in humanity will continue to dwindle.

[Choujin Daizenshuu]

Well, I hate to say it, but, in general I've gotten the impression that Dragon Ball fans are NOT the most discerning consumers of all time. They'll buy anything... multiple times if given the slightest provocation. It'll fly off the shelves. And my faith in humanity will continue to dwindle.

I can see it now:

FUNimation rep: Buy our Dragon Ball Z Blu-rays!
Dragon Ball Z fanboy: Screw that! I already have the Dragon Boxes!
FUNimation rep: *cocks colt 45 at fanboy* Buy. Our. Dragon Ball Z Blu-rays!
Dragon Ball Z fanboy: *sob* sob* OKAY!!! I'LL BUY! I'LL BUY! PLEASE DON'T SHOOT!!!

[Gaffer Tape]

Well, I'd hardly call being forced at gun point to buy something as a slight provocation. I was thinking more along the lines of

FUNi rep: Hot on the heels of our final volume, DBZ Volume 22.1, we're now re-releasing the series on Blu-ray, with DBZ Volume 1.2!
Fan: So what's different?
FUNi rep: Well, there's no new content, no new transfer, no new bonus features, no new trailers. But see the boxart? In 1.1, Goku was making a fist. Now his hand is open!
Fan: MUST BUY!!!

[MCDaveG]

Wow, what an interesting release.........

I didn't believed my eyes when I saw that anouncement. And DBZ again!!!
They always have the opportunity to re-dub it. No, they take the same shit, process the film with some automatic operation on computer,
add the same dub track to it and call it a HUGE INTERPLANETARY RELEASE, a must have for all the true fans, who have already a 8 different
copies of the same thing on the shelve.

You don't know it, but their tactic is to make a collector from you, because now you have every episode 8 times over, but each time, it's screwed differently.
Instead of other DBoxes, this really is their ''naked ass right on your face and .........''

[Rukura]

I figure they need something (anything) new to advertise for these. Because クヘタルにくこと, aka. "The way it was meant to be seen" and "Original Japanese masters" is already taken

If FUNimation had wanted those slogans translated (or transliterated), they could have done so. They were just using random Japanese characters for stylistic effect. I'm sick of people asserting or implying that they were being ignorant or lazy.

I'm confused as to you why you replied to that, when you clearly missed the point. The point i was making is that they seem to have NOTHING new to advertise for this release, since nobody who bought any of the 2 previous re-releases of the series would gain anything.

Yup, i poked fun at that Ultimate Uncut Edition trailer. I'm also quite aware that they could've had the actual japanese text translate to the english text. (It seems they even have people there that translate the japanese versions of shows, ain't that crazy?)
But saying that they weren't lazy in doing it just for "stylistic effect" is contradictory in itself since they could EASILY have done, and have people for that. Want proof of said lazyness? They are now releasing something inferior to the STILL on-going release, where the consumer gains....*drum roll*....nothing.

[xzero]

I'm a huge collector of all things DBZ. I own each and every DVD Funi has released except for some of the repackaged movies (e.g., the Broly trilogy in the slim cases and the DB quadrilogy since I already own 1-2 copies of all 4 movies). But for the Blu Ray release, I really don't see the point. I think that's where DBZ purchasing and I are going to part ways, save for the final 2 Kai volumes that come out whenever and whatever outstanding DragonBoxes are released down the road.

I agree with all of the above comments on this one. I indicated on the last page that I emailed Funi and asked about a redub, but upon reviewing the press release, it's almost certain that the Blu Rays are getting the same dub that the Orange Bricks had. I just don't get why though, besides the obvious cash grab. I really felt that a Blu Ray release of the series would be their chance to completely fix everything they did in the past, bring the whole series up to Kai's standards, and show off what that company has become.

I'd love to know what type of input Chris Sabat had on this release given how legitimately excited he and Sean seemed about Kai's redub. They both know what was wrong with the original release, and I thought Chris has a fair amount of authority at Funi these days. It surprises me that he would be okay with a decision just to put out the same old crap again.

[Rukura]

I'd love to know what type of input Chris Sabat had on this release

uhm....i'm gonna go out on a limb and say...none.

I actually saw that video as well, as well as other stuff with them that fans have posted. I say this as a fan of the japanese version, but given what i've seen of Sabat and the appreciation he seems to have of the show....i think he might be shaking his head in disappointment with the rest of us. (or so i would think, being this the over 8001th release of Z)

FUNimation: Still not getting everything right with all things Dragon Ball on DVD and already moving on to Blu-ray. Go figure

[DragonBoxZTheMovies]

Dragon Ball Z on Blu-Ray: Everything Funimation said in 2007 comes true in 2011!

[jordanator]

I have no idea why Funi are putting this out. Surely it has nothing new to offer unlike other releases, such as the Dragon Boxes. Maybe they're releasing it to match the technology today, as in, today quite a few households have a Blu ray player, or a PS3. So maybe they are just expanding their way to milk money, only this time, using the Blu ray disc.
I am curious though, I'd like to see how this release varies from the Orange bricks.

[Choujin Daizenshuu]

This is starting to look somewhat similar to the situation that ADV films had with Neon Genesis Evangelion. They re-released Evangelion in the special Platinum editions and touted it as the must-have version of Evangelion for everyone and then afterwards, they released a 10th anniversary edition and tried to use the same tactic because it is the 10th anniversary version. I also believe it came with an offer for a NERV leather jacket. Needless to say, the majority of the fans felt content with the Platinum editions and didn't see a reason to re-buy the series. I don't think the TV series has been re-released since then.

Well, I'd hardly call being forced at gun point to buy something as a slight provocation.

Dude, it was a joke.

[JulieYBM]

Well, AD Vision doesn't exist anymore so that might be the reason the series hasn't been re-released lately. Then again, if Sentai has the rights now they might try something out.

[Captain Awesome]

It troubles me deeply that despite considering myself quite the crafty, discerning consumer, I'll pre-order this regardless of whatever it is just because I'm a huge Dragonball retard.

[Ashura]

With the backlash of the original 2007 remasters, it's highly unlikely that Funimation is going to make all the same mistakes this time. Could they make new mistakes? Sure! But not the same ones.

To those guys who keep mentioning 16mm and Upscale, that's not how it works. Scanning 16mm film is not an upscale. There's a lot of HDTV shot on 16MM.

There's enough data in 16mm that HD looks fine and would be an improvement over the DVDs. It may not look as good as the movies -- especially considering what generation their masters are -- but theoretically it should look better than their DVDs, so long as they don't:

1.) Fiddle too much with the grain
2.) Oversaturate the heck out of the colors

If they don't do that this time, it should be fairly decent.

Some of you guys don't even realize, though... even upscaling a Digitally produced SD show on Digitbetas or Filmed SD show copied to digibetas will look better on Bluray if you do it right. Bluray has more color space than DVD, and since the picture is stored at a higher resolution before adding MPEG compression to it... this means that when you watch it on blu-ray there will be less digital artifacts on the video and less breakup.

Again, that's all if it's done right.

So say the DBOX remasters are done in standard def on Digibetas, and they took those masters and upscaled them for Bluray... even those would be a jump in quality just from the simple fact of being less compressed and having a wider color space.

Mind you, it Toei were to take their actual original 16mm prints that they used for the DBOX and transfer them to 1080p, those would look better than Funimation's just from virtue of the fact that they're not a second or third generation print.

There's a lot of things which could be happening here, though. They re-released Samurai Champloo on Bluray recently with a completely new upscale done in house (replacing the really bad old one)... which turns out to be the master Japan is using to release it on Bluray out there.

Toei may be utilizing Funi to remaster the series for them, because it's cheaper. This may mean they get better access to better materials. Likely? No. But stranger things have happen, and Funimation handles the release quality of every show outside of DBZ very well.

With the release of the Dragonbox, I'm slightly more optimistic about what they're doing with this release than I would've been before it.

[jjgp1112]

The people referring to the backlash forget that the damn thing sold like hotcakes. Sure, the more intuitive people complained about cropping and such but some people here act like it was a financial bomb. Season 1 was the best selling anime release of 2007 even only figuring in a couple of months of sales.