FUNimation DBZ TV Blu-ray Official On-Going Thread

[Kingdom Heartless]

I figure, if this looks good, I'll at the very least buy the Buu saga.

[Kendamu]

there's only so good this show can look.

So do you think blu-ray will be the highest res. that Dragonball (and I was reffering to DBZGT-the whole story) will ever see?

In it's current form, that may very well be the case. We've already seen with the Season Sets and with Kai that you lose some sharpness on the original animation when brought up to a 1080p resolution. After that point, some other sort of touch-up or re-drawing might be required. I'm not completely sure of that, though, as my understanding of the matter is somewhat limited.

[ect5150]

I haven't looked for awhile, but as I recall, the most common number I remember seeing is that 8mm really doesn't hold anything past 720x480 when converted to digital.

I thought I remember reading that a 16mm film should be able to get a nice 1080P scan from it. Some of the older classics (Casablanca comes to mind) were shot on 16mm film as well and have had nice BluRay releases.

But the point still stands - for DB/Z/GT - anything higher won't result in more sharpness. At least with a good BluRay release, we can do away with all noticeable encoding artifacts (and film grain issues are less noticeable at higher resolutions)

[Mountain]

there's only so good this show can look.

So do you think blu-ray will be the highest res. that Dragonball (and I was reffering to DBZGT-the whole story) will ever see?

Well, I meant the entire story, too, by just calling it all DragonBall. Yes, I am fairly certain that the series probably wont look much better than what you're seeing these days with Blu-ray. There isn't much further you can take it, resolution-wise. As I mentioned before, 35mm can be scanned at approximately a maximum of 4k resolution, whereas 16mm is about half that (let's go ahead and call it 2k). So, yes, you can get a full 1080p scan from 16mm, but it's really difficult to judge any film the same way. I've seen 35mm that looked like it was shot on 16mm, and vice versa. Also, the fact that DragonBall (the anime) wasn't highly detailed, to begin with, doesn't really benefit it much. In my personal opinion, though, it can look even better than Kai does, assuming they don't scrub out all of the grain (which is the picture).

[bkev]

I guess my question is Japanese title cards or not? If no, there's no sale for me. With a series like DragonBall, that's important; however, if the titles were redone to be accurate the way they are in Kai, I could care less. Plus, I highly doubt the English title cards were made in HD. Are they going to remake those or what?

[KiddoCabbusses]

I do not think Japanese title cards will be present, unless somehow FUNi decides Dual Angles are cool again. They'll probably be exclusive to the DBox sets US-wlse.

[DanielGClapp]

it can look even better than Kai does

I'm not sure if these new sets will look better than kai, but I agree that they have the potential. I'm a little hesitant about to double dipping on these though, just for HD. I like my Dragon Boxes, and I like Kai, so the only reason I would get these are what I am about to explain below.

I guess my question is Japanese title cards or not? If no, there's no sale for me. With a series like DragonBall, that's important; however, if the titles were redone to be accurate the way they are in Kai, I could care less. Plus, I highly doubt the English title cards were made in HD. Are they going to remake those or what?

Believe it or not, since I already have the Dragon Boxes, I would probably only get this if it has English title cards and if American music is an option. "Blasphemy! He must be exiled!" Yes I would only get these if those were present. Alternate angles would be cool, but I would want English title cards and American music just to have it. I really don't need the Japanese ones because I already have them on the Dragon Boxes. I don't really like the American music, bit it would be cool, just to have everything.

[TonyTheTiger]

I do not think Japanese title cards will be present, unless somehow FUNi decides Dual Angles are cool again. They'll probably be exclusive to the DBox sets US-wlse.

The reason FUNi stopped using the angle funtionality was because it was eating up bandwidth like no tomorrow. Blu-ray should alleviate that issue.

Branching could also be an option. Disney used it to include three different cuts of Beauty and the Beast on a single disc.

[Pokewhiz7]

So...still no trailer on any website or anything?

[Kendamu]

I know. It's odd. They recently changed the trailer on the DBZ website back to an old one. You'd think they'd start advertising this whole "ZOMG Blu-rays!!!" thing already.

[TheBlackPaladin]

We could always try asking on their Facebook page (making sure to include a link to the fan-filmed version of the trailer shown on the Daizex home page). It probably wouldn't work, but ya never know--when I asked them on their Facebook page about the dub for the re-release of the "Curse of the Blood Rubies" movie, they responded relatively quickly with a full cast list...which was the first instance of any official info arising on the dub, or whether or not the release would even be uncut.

[Tanooki Kuribo]

Hey so, just a heads up here. Apparently ANNZ (I've never heard of them before) will have some DBZ Blu-ray samples and it'll be talked about on their podcast tomorrow... or is to my understanding....

http://twitter.com/#!/ANNZac/status/111661162856321024

[Kendamu]

Not quite a trailer, but super neat! I'll be awaiting those comparisons! It'll give us something new to discuss!

[DragonBoxZTheMovies]

Hey so, just a heads up here. Apparently ANNZ (I've never heard of them before) will have some DBZ Blu-ray samples and it'll be talked about on their podcast tomorrow... or is to my understanding....

http://twitter.com/#!/ANNZac/status/111661162856321024

ANN= 'Anime News network'? and Z= Zac

[TripleRach]

Hey so, just a heads up here. Apparently ANNZ (I've never heard of them before) will have some DBZ Blu-ray samples and it'll be talked about on their podcast tomorrow... or is to my understanding....

http://twitter.com/#!/ANNZac/status/111661162856321024

ANN= 'Anime News network'? and Z= Zac

Yeah, Zac is one of the top staff members at Anime News Network, and one of the hosts of their podcast. So this is a pretty big and reliable source.

[VegettoEX]

Anime News Network's ANNCast Episode 89:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/anncast/2011-09-08

Interview with FUNimation's Clarine Harp (Director of DVD, Blu-ray and Video Production) Matt O'Hara (Manager of DVD, Blu-ray and Video Production)

Confirmations (some we knew, but tossing them in the list anyway):

- same original film stock as was used to create the orange bricks
- 4:3 aspect ratio preserved
- did not remove the grain entirely; is a part of the show/image; preserves detail
- not really sharpening the image overall (which distorts the image; rather preserve what's there)

Screen shots comparing orange bricks, Dragon Box, and new Blu-ray transfer included on the show page linked above (unfortunately not lossless, but native size at the least -- I have no doubt you'll all start with the comparison shots, but I'd of course ask that you please refrain from doing so unless you know what you're doing and you're going to contribute lossless shots, yourself).

[Levlik]

Wow, I must say I am thoroughly impressed with these shots.

[jjgp1112]

They look like the Brick masters, but without the tampering and color alterations.

[funrush]

Wow. This is pretty much exactly what I wanted. It's like the Dragon Box with the colors fixed. Although I am a noob with video so I may be mistaken.

[ect5150]

Wow. This is pretty much exactly what I wanted. It's like the Dragon Box with the colors fixed. Although I am a noob with video so I may be mistaken.

That's what I thought when I saw these as well.

Bandwidth over there seems to be slow, so here are the shots (click for the large version):







People who don't like grain won't be pleased, but the image is sharper than Kai. Look at the black lines on the image of Nappa. Now, if only the bitrate is really high, this should be a good release. I wonder if the slight audio delay found in the DBoxes will exist or not. Were they there in the Orange Box? I'll have to verify it later tonight I guess. I'm excited about this now.