DBZ Japanese Audio...In Stereo?

[kei17]

And Toei just didn't feel the need to preserve those high-quality masters? The high-quality masters of what is probably their most financially successful property? Or did they lose it?

Why bother saving it? Until the late '90s and early 2000s, there was absolutely no home market for TV series. Especially for Japanese shows with their high episode counts and high costs of purchasing home media. The Dragon Ball anime series were never really made to be sold or collected.

Definitely. But it is also true that such practice is what every other anime studio discarded over 15 years before Toei did. It is said that the head quaters of Toei had been understating TV shows and had no interest in keeping the voluminous master tapes of them because Toei originally are a movie-production company. Other anime studios are mostly stand-alone, so they kept all the masters, which are their only and prime products.

[JulieYBM]

And Toei just didn't feel the need to preserve those high-quality masters? The high-quality masters of what is probably their most financially successful property? Or did they lose it?

Why bother saving it? Until the late '90s and early 2000s, there was absolutely no home market for TV series. Especially for Japanese shows with their high episode counts and high costs of purchasing home media. The Dragon Ball anime series were never really made to be sold or collected.

Definitely. But it is also true that such practice is what every other anime studio discarded over 15 years before Toei did. It is said that the head quaters of Toei had been understating TV shows and had no interest in keeping the voluminous master tapes of them because Toei originally are a movie-production company. Other anime studios are mostly stand-alone, so they kept all the masters, which are their only and prime products.

Most studios didn't produce as much as Toei Animation was at the time, right? I'm not entirely sure I can blame them considering how much they had to have been producing at the time.

[kei17]

I checked out the TV program information in the back issues of Asahi Shimbun (one of the most popular newspapers in Japan) and found an evidence that they switched from mono to stereo from GT episode 5.

Until episode 4, GT doesn't have (stereo) mark, which Rurouni Kenshin has:




Then from episode 5, mark exists there:

[Daimo-Rukiri]

There already is someone out there who is remuxing the entire Kai score post episode 53 so that the dub score matches the Japanese Yamamoto Broadcast score.

So I could see someone doing the same for the DBoxes... they'd just need a LOT of time.

I've synced some of the namek era eps, it takes roughly about 4+ hrs depending on what editor you're using and also trying to remove any pops you may encounter in the audio. I use adobe soundbooth and Final Cut Pro X(it's got a long way to go..)

I was only in Japan up until GT Episode 2, I completely forgot the majority of GT was in stereo..

[GotenDaisuki]

If I had the VHS tapes, I would sync the audio up to the Dragon Box footage. I would have nothing better to do, after all.
I'm okay with the Dragon Boxes' audio, but the original run's quality is just so much better, and I have the time, so I would be willing to sync the audio up with the Dragon Box footage. However I don't have VHS tapes of the original run, so I guess there's nothing I can do at this point.

[Patient-mental]

I wonder how possible it would be to round high quality bootleg tapes up from Japan and send them to Toei/Funimation, and ask them to use this audio and release it free and entirely uncompressed with video on the Internet. (ala Youtube and it's ads.)

[VegettoEX]

I wonder how possible it would be to round high quality bootleg tapes up from Japan and send them to Toei/Funimation, and ask them to use this audio and release it free and entirely uncompressed with video on the Internet. (ala Youtube and it's ads.)

Probably about as possible as cross-breeding a panda bear with linoleum.

These companies don't care about minor issues like old sound quality. This is the type of stuff that only readers of a forum like this can even begin to possible ooze a shred of caring about.

[Ashura]

The possibility is directly proportional to how much the company is actively trying to restore the item. If it were another company who was actively trying to restore a movie or a show with an open solicitation to fans and collectors -- like the B&W classic Metropolis, the BBC with Doctor Who and its missing episodes, or even CPM and Project Ako a few years back -- then yes, they probably would.

But they're not a company like that; they're probably unaware something like that exists. The visibility of its existence on this forum is very tiny, and the Japanese audio is just a tiny part of a bigger product in their eyes. It's not something bad enough they think it needs restoring.

The only thing you can really do is bring it up to someone in the position to do something with the information at a convention and see if they're game or not. And even if they are -- which is doubtful just due to logistics -- you have to wonder what Toei's stance would be on them using it. They'd probably have to get permission to do so. And after that, make sure a complete and usable recording for every episode exists. In the end, they'd likely deem it not worth the time, though stranger things have happened.

Who knows, if someone thinks of a clever way to give them the audio -- collected it all themselves and put it out to them -- maybe they'd investigate it more. In the end, it comes down to what the fans do to get them interested, and even then they might still say no thanks. Unfortunately, I think the quotient of raving lunatics in the DB fandom over the years have probably dulled them a bit on this kind of stuff though.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

I wonder how possible it would be to round high quality bootleg tapes up from Japan and send them to Toei/Funimation, and ask them to use this audio and release it free and entirely uncompressed with video on the Internet. (ala Youtube and it's ads.)

From my personal experience trying to recover episodes I personally didn't record(hey I was small when it was airing) or my dad didn't bother. It's pricey.. Usually you'll find VHS or Beta ports to DVD on Japanese auctions, the DVDs aren't pricey they're reasonable it's the tapes themselves that are expensive because it was used to record the show.

There was a sight during the late 90s and early 2000s that had original run episodes up for downloads, however they were scattered and from the cell ark on there was about every episode. Doubt that sites still up.