FUNimation DBZ TV Blu-ray Official On-Going Thread

[Pokewhiz7]

Oh lord, I must comment on this one. Most 4x3 HDTV's were faced out a while ago. From 2004 onward the majority has been 16x9 screens. I still don't see how the format "derps" itself in that way. Many classic movies, a giant majority from Criterion, have been 4x3 releases and have been praised by many, despite them not being widescreen.

And I'm sure there's people that still have 4:3 HDTVs. 16:9 may be the majority, but that doesn't change the fact that 4:3 HDTVs exist.

[OutlawTorn]

Why would you have a Blu-ray player hooked up to a standard definition television?

What about someone who uses his PS3 as his Blu-Ray player, and doesn't currently have an HDTV (but will in the future), so they go ahead and buy the Blu-Ray. I don't think it's that far-fetched.

This exactly.

Aside from not being HD, there's nothing wrong with my current TV (4:3) and I just don't have the setup to get an HD TV at this time, so I have to work with what I have. While I am missing out on the visual advantages Blu-ray has to offer, I can still watch them just fine on my antiquated TV and going Blu-ray with a standard def. TV is basically future-proofing my library.

As most DVD players have the ability to zoom into the picture and my parents' 16:9 TV has various settings to zoom into the picture as well, it's not changing the aspect ratio just utilizing all of the screen. As I don't have a remote for the PS3's Blu-ray player (don't intend to get one, either. I didn't like the PS2's DVD remote and the PS3 version is way too similar) I wanted to know if there was an option from a menu accessible from the PS3 controller so I could zoom in to negate the letterbox and pillarboxing. I don't need a commentary on how it's not made for my TV or why I have it even hooked up to an older TV, all I need is a simple "Yes, it can. Here's how..." or "Sorry, can't help you there."

Thanks.

[AgitoZ]

If people have such a problem with it can't they just pick up the DVD version? If you have a PS3 it'll upscale it pretty adequately.

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

If people have such a problem with it can't they just pick up the DVD version? If you have a PS3 it'll upscale it pretty adequately.

Because "the DVD version" will soon mean the Orange Bricks?

[funrush]

If people have such a problem with it can't they just pick up the DVD version? If you have a PS3 it'll upscale it pretty adequately.

Because there is no DVD version? Unless you're talking about the Dboxes or the Bricks...

[Ashura]

Super informative awesome post that doesn't need to be quoted for the third time.

Greg is indeed one of the coolest, nicest guys I ever had the pleasure to work and hang out with back in the day, so I can't agree with that sentiment enough.

When I mean having fun... having fun doesn't include going around harassing people with it. That's not the meme's fault though, that's people indulging in douchebaggery and not respecting other people's wishes and feelings. It would be one thing if the meme was somehow racist or sexist, but it's not in this case. It's more that they were treating him like a trained monkey and demanding 'dance monkey, dance!' even after he asked them to stop.

Sabat seems to have his own fun with it now, though. He says it really fast when you don't have the camera up, and does other things with it too. It seems like he must've come to terms with it, otherwise I don't think it would've been in the Nicktoons version if he hadn't or he wouldn'tve opened the livestream he did recently the way he did.

But...the Blu-Ray footage is the original 4x3 format from FUNimation's masters, correct? Only with hard-coded pillar boxes?

EDIT: Yes, it's perfect 4x3.

As most DVD players have the ability to zoom into the picture and my parents' 16:9 TV has various settings to zoom into the picture as well, it's not changing the aspect ratio just utilizing all of the screen. As I don't have a remote for the PS3's Blu-ray player (don't intend to get one, either. I didn't like the PS2's DVD remote and the PS3 version is way too similar) I wanted to know if there was an option from a menu accessible from the PS3 controller so I could zoom in to negate the letterbox and pillarboxing. I don't need a commentary on how it's not made for my TV or why I have it even hooked up to an older TV, all I need is a simple "Yes, it can. Here's how..." or "Sorry, can't help you there."

Thanks.

Funny enough, I think if it's a video file on a memory stick you can zoom the crap out of it, but not for a BR. Unfortunately, most BR players -- include the PS3 -- do not have an option to crop the sides off. It really, really should just because it would be such an easy thing to add, but it doesn't. Really there's no reason not to add the feature. Sorry to say you're out of luck.

[Jabberwock xeno]

Let people have their fun, I say. I know there are memes and 'net slang I don't particularly like, but that doesn't mean other people don't like it.

Okay, I didn't want to have to write this but now I feel that I have to because people are too oblivious into how out-of-hand this meme really is.

I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Every year we have our own anime convention called Ai-Kon which attracts anime fans local and out of province. One of our frequent recurring guests every year is Greg Ayres. Now Greg is a great guy who really helps keep things lively. Double that when his brother, Chris is also a guest. He provides great panels on voice acting, fansubs and the anime industry in general.

Back in 2010, I had a talk with Greg about various things including his thoughts on the whole over 9000 meme. Greg stated that while the meme was popular, apparently it led to major misunderstandings between Chris Sabat and the fans regarding the fact that he [Sabat] never had a role in it. Greg stated that Sabat had constantly explained to fans over and over at other cons that he never did over 9000 as it was done by Canadian actor, Brian Drummond. However, that didn't stop some fans from following Sabat around, expecting him to do the line. Some fans would beg, whine and even go as far as demand Sabat do the line or they wouldn't leave him alone. Sabat would not do the line as he constantly stated that it wasn't him who did it to begin with. It was getting so bad that Sabat was even contemplating not making any more con appearances.

Cue to the following year. Ai-Kon 2011 was in full swing and we actually had Chris Sabat as one of our guests. During the opening ceremonies, Sabat addressed the crowd by doing the over 9000 line and then reminded them that it was the only time he would be doing that for the convention. Later after the end of a panel, I talked to Sabat regarding his honest thoughts on the over 9000 meme. Sabat looked upset and stated that he didn't really want to talk about it. And I can't blame him considering what Greg told me the previous year.

This is also one of the big reasons why I don't like the meme. It's one thing to have fun with it but it's another thing to harass somebody famous in the industry like Sabat with it. If people still want to have fun with it, then they can have fun with it. They just have to remember when fun stops being fun and starts being harassment.

See, I have to agree on this point.

While I personally find the over 9000 thing humourus, I see how annoying it would be for sabat to have to deal with this when he wasn't the one who said the line, and I can't imagine how Drummond feels about the issue.

Anyways, Sorry for getting you guys all of topic on the fan remasterings. (The example that was posted was easily the worst one I have ever seen though, they normally aren't that bad).

But can I get a quick awnser on my question?

Are these worth it?

As I stated, I didn't like the color distortion and cropping on the orange bricks, but the lack of falcnour and the large amounts of grain turned me off of the dragon boxes.

And I still don't get the thought process behind keeping grain.

I get that if you indiscriminately smear the image to remove it, it loses some quality, but there are ways to remove it without losing the detail.

I get the feeling that if the entire series was re-animated like some parts of kai and the cutsecens in Ultimate tenkaichi were, you guys would complain about something too

Honestly, the Dragon Ball community is filled with some of the whiniest, elitist, purist, fanboyitic and downright embarrassing people out of any group of people. It's places like Daizex where I can just kick back and talk Dragon Ball with sensible people.

I can vouch that this goes for ANY fanbase, and it only get's worse the more popular the series get's.

I am a HUGE halo fan, for instance, and back before Call of Duty became the big FPS out there, our fanbase was plagued by rude screaming kids who shouldn't have been even allowed to play the games, expletive yelling teenagers, BRAH gamers, etc.

The only respite was on bungie's website where mostly everybody was calm and cool, up until cod came along and even there the mere mention of that word would cause a flame war.

Eventually though, all of those people above left and played cod, and the community has been relatively happy since then.



....Sorry if this ends up causing everybody to go off topic again.

[Levlik]

Aaaand as of yesterday, 1.2 shipped!

[dbboxkaifan]

Funny enough, I think if it's a video file on a memory stick you can zoom the crap out of it, but not for a BR. Unfortunately, most BR players

They're called BD Players, or BDP.

BDP = Blu-ray Disc Player
BD = Blu-ray Disc (or just Blu-ray)

include the PS3 -- do not have an option to crop the sides off. It really, really should just because it would be such an easy thing to add, but it doesn't. Really there's no reason not to add the feature. Sorry to say you're out of luck.

If you've got an HDTV/etc then you can zoom in.

With Yu Yu Hakusho Blu-rays I just zoom in slightly because I don't too much cropped out video. YYK and DBZK, basically I tend to do this when watching 4:3 BD's.

[AgitoZ]

Are these worth it?

As I stated, I didn't like the color distortion and cropping on the orange bricks, but the lack of falcnour and the large amounts of grain turned me off of the dragon boxes.

You just answered your own question. They are worth it to you, the image quality is great, there is just enough grain, and it will eventually have the score you like.

And I still don't get the thought process behind keeping grain.

I get that if you indiscriminately smear the image to remove it, it loses some quality, but there are ways to remove it without losing the detail.

Again, you just answered why grain is kept. Grain is part of the image, nobody likes grain, but we know that if you remove to much you'll remove detail and run the risk of making the image seem smeared. You just can't completely remove it without losing said perks of keeping a bit of it.

I get the feeling that if the entire series was re-animated like some parts of kai and the cutsecens in Ultimate tenkaichi were, you guys would complain about something too

And what's wrong with that? There are still plenty of things wrong with both of those products (which I don't see how Kai's reanimated scenes compare to UT). God forbid if people have differing opinions.

----------

They're called BD Players, or BDP.

BDP = Blu-ray Disc Player
BD = Blu-ray Disc (or just Blu-ray)

Thank God you're here to correct all of us on such an important detail.

With Yu Yu Hakusho Blu-rays I just zoom in slightly because I don't too much cropped out video. YYK and DBZK, basically I tend to do this when watching 4:3 BD's.

Why?

[Levlik]

I don't know about nobody liking grain. I like grain. I'm a fan of the way older movies were shot and filmed more than I am of the digital video we have in theaters today, and Dragon Ball reflects that opinion. I dunno, I just find grain very aesthetically pleasing when watching a film from 20+ years ago, moreso on animation than anything. Another case of a grainy Blu-ray is the recent transfer of The Last Unicorn, a Topcraft-animated movie from 1982, which is incredibly grainy and I think it looks fantastic, though I'm sure others wouldn't.

[Corpsecreate]

I think you would be surprised by what a good denoiser can accomplish. Of course, you WILL lose detail because as mentioned, the grain is part of the image. You can, however, keep most details intact. In my opinion, the minor loss of detail is worth the trade-off.

I have here a side by side shot of an encode I did compared with the Blu-ray. They have been downscaled to 720p.

Blu-Ray


Denoised

[Levlik]

See, I'm not a big fan of that. The one on the right looks exactly like an average shot in Kai, which I really don't like the look of. As if it's trying to make DBZ look like something it isn't. It's sort of between ink and digital coloring and the result just looks very messy to me.

[Corpsecreate]

I got rid of the old picture. The frame on the right of the old picture was lossy, the one I have now is lossless.

[Rory]

...That's pretty nice looking actually.

[CyberpunkCentral]

People really shouldn't complain about grain. Especially considering the Orange Bricks and Double Features have been DNR'ed. If you don't like grain, you either love the picture quality on those releases or don't know anything about film. Even Dragon Ball Kai doesn't look great without grain as far as I've seen. Really, Dragon Ball Z is never going to like a brand new series, so stop expecting it to be. I say this because I don't want to see any future releases to be DNR'ed, all because some people don't like how the show is suppose to look. Take Predator for example, I was really looking forward to the Ultimate Hunter Edition until I found out that the picture quality was bad. All because of the grain haters who complained about the first Blu-ray edition.

[Pokewhiz7]

As I stated, I didn't like the color distortion and cropping on the orange bricks, but the lack of falcnour and the large amounts of grain turned me off of the dragon boxes.

The BDs are grainier.

[thedarkuniter]

I guess I kinda see how people dislike grain. While in a perfect world no grain would be nice, it's pretty much impossible due to the limitations of film, like how digital video has limitations, resulting in video noise.

[funrush]

Aaaand as of yesterday, 1.2 shipped!

Hooray! Please post some screenies if you have a BD drive, or take shots of the packaging.

[Pokewhiz7]

Aaaand as of yesterday, 1.2 shipped!

Hooray! Please post some screenies if you have a BD drive, or take shots of the packaging.

And let us know if it has a character card.