FUNimation's Dragon Boxes have indeed been discontinued

[Rukura]

Sparking Neo NTSC-J works on a PAL PS2, doesn't it? The only downside I can think of is being black and white, I think.

Unfortunately, no. While we share the dvd region 2 with Japan, the NTSC-J games don't work on our console (in fact, they don't even work on the North American NTSC PS2s). Not without stuff like Swap Magic, anyway (And, for a long time now, our TVs actually support NTSC, so stuff like Sparking! Meteor or a Dragon Box disc are viewed normally )

WOW! I didnt think I would see this here. I still can't believe I was foolish enough to get it oh so many years ago.

How's the quality? Could you provide some screenshots?

I don't know why people are so impressed with the design of the bootleg covers, it's basically Sparking Neo PS2 NTSC-J/PAL cover and Sparking Meteor NTSC-J/PAL cover for each volume.

Because the art on them is really high res, someone clearly took some time trying to make those just right lol. Which is ironic, because I've seen people that have them saying the quality is macroblock heaven They just really stuffed as much episodes as they could on the disc and didn't care about bitrates or...making them look good lol.

[dbboxkaifan]

But Rukura, I remember playing an NTSC game on my PS2 several years ago, the difference was just that it was black and white instead of coloured TV.

So, NTSC-J don't work but NTSC-U do?

The reason I'd prefer to buy Sparking Neo NTSC-J than Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is simple, the Japanese version features the original Dragon Ball Z music and the international edition doesn't.

[Rukura]

Unless you have a modded PS2, they don't work at all. The "black and white" display issue was just on older PAL TVs that didn't support NTSC display. (That stopped being an issue years ago)

The only thing you need to get past is the region coding in the games and on American dvds, but you'll be able to view them in your TV perfectly. And with the japanese Dragon Box dvds it's even better because we have the same dvd region, so you can just pop them in any dvd playing hardware you want.

So, for example, to watch FUNimation's Dragon Boxes on my TV, I still need a region free dvd player but my TV shows it just fine even though it's a different signal.

[DBfan4life]

WOW! I didnt think I would see this here. I still can't believe I was foolish enough to get it oh so many years ago.

How's the quality? Could you provide some screenshots?

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/856/pdvd000b.png/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/849/pdvd001b.png/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/233/pdvd002fy.png/ (gets about as bad as this one, sometimes worst)

Yeah the quality is horrible. They eventually jam so many episodes onto just 6 DVDs.
Disc 1: 1- 22
Disc 2: 23-44
Disc 3: 45-65
Disc 4: 66-84
Disc 5: 85- 118
Disc 6: 119-153

[Android 50]

Jeez those look like the quality of videos I'd get off the computer back in 2002 when i first saw GT uncut in japanese....the not so legal way.

I bet that DBOX bootleg was dirt cheap. You get what you pay for. And bootlegs rarely look even half as good as the official stuff. Which is why i gave up buying/watching bootlegs years ago.

[BluezaBladeNZ]

Wow, that sure does look like those old rips seen on sharing programs like Kazaa many years ago.

Here's the same shots from the R2 discs if anyone wanted to compare them:

[DBfan4life]

^ Those look so much better! Yeah I remember when I got them and I was watching the episodes. I was just thinking to myself, is it really supposed to look like this?

[kidglov3s]

My order of Box 3 from Second Spin got canceled. I have a target gift card for $25 so I thought I'd check for Box 3. They didn't have Box 3, but they had Box 1 listed as in-stock for $38.99. I immediately ordered it. It's now listed as out-of-stock again. I hope I get it. It seems like it might be a good idea to keep an eye on target.com. They have Box 6 and 7 in stock for $34.49.

[eledoremassis02]

My order of Box 3 from Second Spin got canceled. I have a target gift card for $25 so I thought I'd check for Box 3. They didn't have Box 3, but they had Box 1 listed as in-stock for $38.99. I immediately ordered it. It's now listed as out-of-stock again. I hope I get it.

EDIT: It's listed in stock again.

EDIT II: I think it's just appearing to be listed as in-stock while the page is loading. When it completely loads it changes to out-of-stock. Still it seems like it might be a good idea to keep an eye on target.com. They have Box 6 and 7 in stock for $34.49.

I noticed this on most of the boxed (especially 1+2+4) I see box 7 is going up in price on Amazon.

[Echo64]

My local store has Dragon Box 2 and a couple others on sale for $40, do you think it's worth it to buy them now and sell them sometime in the future?

[DNA]

My local store has Dragon Box 2 and a couple others on sale for $40, do you think it's worth it to buy them now and sell them sometime in the future?

If they have Dragon Box 4 and you'd be a dear a bought it for me, I'd be more than happy to pay you the $40, plus postage and handling, plus either give you something back in return or a little extra money.

[kidglov3s]

If anyone's interested in Box 6 (or whatever one GoHastings decides to send in its place), it's on sale used at GoHastings for $21.28 through Saturday with the coupon code ZANY (Used DVDs/CDs/Games 30% off). The other ones are out of stock at this time but they might come back in stock you never know.

[TriforceCaptre]

My local store has Dragon Box 2 and a couple others on sale for $40, do you think it's worth it to buy them now and sell them sometime in the future?

If they have Dragon Box 4 and you'd be a dear a bought it for me, I'd be more than happy to pay you the $40, plus postage and handling, plus either give you something back in return or a little extra money.

I second that, (boxes 2 and 4)! I don't have anything special to offer in return except some extra cash on top of the cost of the item and shipping.

Just throwing it out there .

[ET93]

'movie-mars' has listed one Dragon Box 4 on ebay (again)?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DRAGONBALL-Z- ... 1115540772

[dbboxkaifan]

MM is pretty reliable I bought some Dragon Boxes from them, Amazon, ImportCDs and supermart_usa (via Amazon UK).

Dragon Box 1 for £30 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listin ... dition=new

Just didn't bought all of the Dragon Boxes from Amazon because their prices were a bit too high during the initial release time ($60-70), Dragon Boxes 6 & 7 had them for $25 (pre-order price) lucky me!

[ET93]

MM is pretty reliable I bought some Dragon Boxes from them, Amazon, ImportCDs and supermart_usa (via Amazon UK).

Dragon Box 1 for £30 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listin ... dition=new

Just didn't bought all of the Dragon Boxes from Amazon because their prices were a bit too high during the initial release time ($60-70), Dragon Boxes 6 & 7 had them for $25 (pre-order price) lucky me!

You'd think there reliable with their very high feedback, but if you look a couple of pages back you'll see that they've listed a bunch of Dragon boxes which they don't seem to have.

[dbboxkaifan]

Well, at the time I bought from them, they did have, this seems odd from them.

[TriforceCaptre]

Don't bother buying it. I have a feeling it's listed there because I JUST requested a refund for my copy of DBox 4 from them. It's a ghost item man, it doesn't actually exist.

Edit: Should probably clarify more. I ordered mine on the 8th and it still hadn't shipped. I've gotten two emails since then telling me that the item isn't available and that if it does become available they'll ship it out and if not within 15 days then they'll automatically refund me. It became pretty obvious that they wouldn't be sending it to me so last night (the 13th) I cancelled and this morning I have an email saying that they've refunded me the cost.

So like I said, they're listing an item that they don't actually have available. That or I have the worst timing of anyone on the planet...

[Jawdrahb]

To echo TriforceCaptre with evidence:

Your order has not yet shipped due to an error in our inventory...We’ll keep trying to get it for you from our suppliers and ship it as soon as it’s available

This was a response I received today by Movie Mars regarding my purchase made almost a week ago of the 'holy grail', box #2. I wouldn't take these listings seriously.

[CobraCookiez]

My local store has Dragon Box 2 and a couple others on sale for $40, do you think it's worth it to buy them now and sell them sometime in the future?

Yes. Hell, just selling them now you'll make a profit. I'll give you $70 for #2. I wouldn't blame you if you'd rather make moogoo bucks on ebay though.

And yeah I'd avoid moviemars right now. I tried to get a few Boxes from them but every order was cancelled.