FUNimation DBZ TV Blu-ray Official On-Going Thread

[MarcFBR]

Choujin, I think you're being a little dramatic.

It's not like Funimation hasn't put hard work into DB. It's more amount ownership one has over the other and amounts of money they have to put into the property. The fact that Funi were trying this DBZ Bluray release on their own at all is proof positive that they love the franchise and were willing to go out on a limb money-wise for it.

Also, the Dboxes were in SD. It's far easier to hide imperfections in SD than it is in HD.

Double dramatic when you consider I'd be shocked if more than 1 or 2 people who put their 'hard work' into DBZ were involved even in the Dragon Box remastering.

Toei's animation staff put hard work into the show. That doesn't equate to the people who make the decisions about how stuff will be done.

[Ashura]

Yeah.

Also, while the Dragonboxes are awesome, you also have to remember Toei didn't even try to do basic color correction on it when the colors were obviously way off. They even acknowledged the colors are off from broadcast, so there's some amount of money they were and were not willing to spend on even their own remaster.

[DinoChow]

I've never been happier that I got the DragonBoxes at the right time....and even though I ultimately wasn't interested in the Level releases, I feel really bad right now for everyone who DID invest in them. I totally understand being excited about DBZ on Blu-Ray, especially when the end product was so strong, and I feel disappointed for that entire segment of the fandom. It's not fair, and if this release really is cancelled...well, it might be the right thing for Funimation to offer some sort of monetary compensation/exchange.

Sorry but that's not gonna happen, if Funimation didn't offer any sort of monetary compensation/exchange back when they canceled the UUE DVD sets (and they still have yet to apologise to the people who invested in them I might add) then what makes you think that they'll do it this time? I get your point that from a moral standpoint it's the right thing to do, but the reality is they're not legaly obligated to do such a thing so they won't.

I'm not saying I expect them to do anything of the sort. I know they won't. It's just that, after two cancelled release lines, it would be the nice thing to do. The practical or realistic thing? No, of course not.

[MarcFBR]

I'm not saying I expect them to do anything of the sort. I know they won't. It's just that, after two cancelled release lines, it would be the nice thing to do. The practical or realistic thing? No, of course not.

Technically no.

Cause if the UUEs OR the BDs sold as much as the orange bricks did, then regardless of any issues with production... they would have kept doing them.

[Gotham22]

The BDs aren't cancelled.

[Pokewhiz7]

The BDs aren't cancelled.

I think it's safe to say they are.

[Gotham22]

We're just speculating when we don't have all the facts.

Safe to say they aren't yet.

[MarcFBR]

We're just speculating when we don't have all the facts.

Safe to say they aren't yet.

You can keep saying they aren't cancelled... but they are.

The term 'suspended production' along with the literal CANCELLATION of previously solicited product (along with them literally saying in the press release that they are unable to continue) means they are cancelled.

Deal with it.

[kei17]

Is there any information about the number of sales of this BD release?

[Krycek7o2]

Is there any information about the number of sales of this BD release?

I've been curious about this myself. I admit I'm bit disappointed with the outcome, but there were early warning signs that they might hit a road block.
As much as I hate to say it, the remastering process was something I knew would bite them in the ass.

[Tanooki Kuribo]

See, now I'm kinda worried that FUNimation is gonna just release the "season" sets on Blu-ray.

I mean, it would be so much easier, and I think it would target the same people who bought the "season" sets on DVD. Do you think this is even a legit thing to worry about or am I just being crazy?

[Krycek7o2]

See, now I'm kinda worried that FUNimation is gonna just release the "season" sets on Blu-ray.

I mean, it would be so much easier, and I think it would target the same people who bought the "season" sets on DVD. Do you think this is even a legit thing to worry about or am I just being crazy?

You are not alone. I fear that simply because they have the masters ready and available and why not have a "HD" release to bring more of that Orange cash in.

[Metalwario64]

See, now I'm kinda worried that FUNimation is gonna just release the "season" sets on Blu-ray.

I mean, it would be so much easier, and I think it would target the same people who bought the "season" sets on DVD. Do you think this is even a legit thing to worry about or am I just being crazy?

I don't know. I kind of think that even if they did, they still wouldn't sell, because honestly, I think their orange brick marketing is coming back to bite them in the B-Hind. All that talk about "HD" and "remastered into 1080p" and misleading crap of the sort made so many uninformed folks (i.e. the average, uninformed buyers of the season sets) truly believe that their orange bricks DVDs were really producing 1080p. Therefore they see no need to upgrade to the Blu-rays, because hey, they already have an "HD" release, right?

So many people on YouTube and even random people joining here to this day asserting such "facts" lend credence to that idea.

[Ashura]

At this point the orange bricks aren't even marketed anymore. They just sell because they're in highly visible places, like Wal Mart. Most people who picked them up probably didn't even read much of the marketing or even look at the back of the box before they purchased it. They just wanted to see Vegeta punch Goku and bought it.

The probable reason they aren't picking up the BD is because they already HAVE Vegeta punching Goku, so they see no reason to pay more... not because they have some sort of idea that it's already HD. Similar, but simpler reasoning.

I have tons of movie DVDs that I'll likely never repurchase on BluRay, since I don't see the point in having it in HD. I say this, and I'm a videophile by nature. I'm sure a lot of people think the same about DBZ.

[MarcFBR]

I have tons of movie DVDs that I'll likely never repurchase on BluRay, since I don't see the point in having it in HD. I say this, and I'm a videophile by nature. I'm sure a lot of people think the same about DBZ.

That doesn't even bring the other part of the argument into it...

That plenty of people are convinced that anything older than a few years old "can't" be HD. Plenty of people are under the impression that older material is all like filmed on tape TV shows, that it can never have a proper HD release.

[Ashura]

Yeah... the average person isn't going to understand film vs. digibeta vs. etc. etc. etc. It's just a cartoon on a format they're comfortable purchasing.

Also, the guys speculating that they'll go back to the orange brick masters; No, probably not.

[Gotham22]

We're just speculating when we don't have all the facts.

Safe to say they aren't yet.

You can keep saying they aren't cancelled... but they are.

The term 'suspended production' along with the literal CANCELLATION of previously solicited product (along with them literally saying in the press release that they are unable to continue) means they are cancelled.

Deal with it.

You're jsut speculating like the rest of us.

See, now I'm kinda worried that FUNimation is gonna just release the "season" sets on Blu-ray.

I mean, it would be so much easier, and I think it would target the same people who bought the "season" sets on DVD. Do you think this is even a legit thing to worry about or am I just being crazy?

They wouldn't sell because everyone knows how much of a mess they are.

[Ashura]

But he's not speculating. The announced release of 2.1 and 2.2 as they stood are definitely cancelled, and will not be coming out on the days announced. If they continue another Blu-Ray release, they will be using a completely different methodology to their remastering process.

And, also, here, they updated the news story:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... production

-As the update says, sales were not a factor. So, there's something less to speculate. According to Funimation, enough people bought them and sales aren't waning..
-The cost of the remastering process vs. a realistic MSRP is what did the release in. This is really likely all there is to this cancellation.
-They're looking for other methods of being able to continue with DBZ on BD. This could be many of the things people have mentioned in this thread. Looking for more automated proccesses, looking to Toei, etc. etc.
-The fact that they're looking for other methods of remastering the series is a strong indication that they aren't even thinking about using the old 1080p Orange Brick masters.

One thing this makes me wonder -- since they probably did cost projections as many people have pointed out -- is if they ran into an episode or a batch of episodes which were much harder to restore than the others. The big thing about the orange bricks is they were pretty much cutting out the most damaged parts of the film.

[kei17]

To me, the best case scenario would definitely be that FUNi cooperate with Toei to release the definitive HD edition of the Dragon Boxes with more extras, corrected colours, and the better Japanese audio. I'd not hesitate to pay tons of money by going in debt if they did it. It's quite unlikely to happen if you consider the awfully poor sales of the home video releases of Kai in Japan, though. It is clear that Toei would not be interested in it.

[sangofe]

To me, the best case scenario would definitely be that FUNi cooperate with Toei to release the definitive HD edition of the Dragon Boxes with more extras, corrected colours, and the better Japanese audio. I'd not hesitate to pay tons of money by going in debt if they did it. It's quite unlikely to happen if you consider the awfully poor sales of the home video releases of Kai in Japan, though. It is clear that Toei would not be interested in it.

I couldn't agree more with you, although, if that is the case, I hope they'd made some multi-international release to include a lot of different dubs... That would be my dream.