Dramatic picture quality difference between DVD and Blu-Ray?

[masterz13]

I have parts 1-6 all on DVD (1-4 being Yamamoto) and was wondering what I'm missing that Blu-Ray has. Is picture quality that big of a difference? And are there any other features?

[BluezaBladeNZ]

Aside from the opening/ending animations or anything with new animation, there's little from what I've seen due to the smoothening. The only episodes that have a huge difference is the ones that contain footage from Z episodes 73-80 since they were done on 35mm film

[Innagadadavida]

Just a correction, those episodes weren't done on 35mm film. They were produced the same way as every episode, Toei just happened to still have the 35mm negatives for those episodes. I don't know if it has ever been covered why they kept those in particular. But it was a storage issue so the negatives for every other episode wsa canned. Every episode could have looked like those episodes on Blu-Ray if they kept those negatives.

[dbboxkaifan]

You'll notice the difference between both once you see side-by-side DVD x Blu-ray.

DBZK was meant to be seen in HD, not SD.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Just a correction, those episodes weren't done on 35mm film. They were produced the same way as every episode, Toei just happened to still have the 35mm negatives for those episodes. I don't know if it has ever been covered why they kept those in particular. But it was a storage issue so the negatives for every other episode wsa canned. Every episode could have looked like those episodes on Blu-Ray if they kept those negatives.

So, just like DBZ will never be available in its original audio quality because Toei trashed the audio masters, DBZ will also never be available in its original visual quality (save a few episodes) for the same reason. Interesting.

[BluezaBladeNZ]

Just a correction, those episodes weren't done on 35mm film. They were produced the same way as every episode, Toei just happened to still have the 35mm negatives for those episodes. I don't know if it has ever been covered why they kept those in particular. But it was a storage issue so the negatives for every other episode wsa canned. Every episode could have looked like those episodes on Blu-Ray if they kept those negatives.

That's interesting, so if that's true, then Toei have made a big mistake throwing those out as well as the Master audio tapes (even if it was to save space).

[Innagadadavida]

No more of a mistake than you throwing out an empty box of Cocao Puffs only to find out 20 years later you could have sold it for profit.

[TheBlackPaladin]

No more of a mistake than you throwing out an empty box of Cocao Puffs only to find out 20 years later you could have sold it for profit.

True. I understand that the industry is wildly different today than it was back then. Back then, film storage was an issue, and a home video release of the entire TV series was not feasible. I just find it interesting that for many years, people held up the Dragon Boxes as divine items, and felt that as far as home releases went, they were perfection incarnated. This view was probably made stronger when we received the Orange Bricks, which made the Dragon Boxes look even better and more appealing than they already were.

Flash-forward a few years, and people start posting taped episodes of DBZ when they originally aired, demonstrating how, even on tapes, their audio more accurately captured what DBZ sounded like when it first aired. Then comparisons of the original picture quality against the Dragon Boxes began to emerge. So now, after all that, Dragon Boxes are still coveted, but they are coveted as "the best available" release of DBZ rather than the "perfect" release of DBZ.

[dbboxkaifan]

So now, after all that, Dragon Boxes are still coveted, but they are coveted as "the best available" release of DBZ rather than the "perfect" release of DBZ.

I hate to say this, but the Orange Bricks are the best version available, in terms of availability and price, they're by far the optimum choice for a viewer who wants the complete series.

As for quality, it's total shit.

[superrayman3]

Something I don't get about the poor Japanese audio problem is if people have better quality audio sources why don't these people do the smart thing and send a copy of such better quality audio to TOEI?

[dbboxkaifan]

Something I don't get about the poor Japanese audio problem is if people have better quality audio sources why don't these people do the smart thing and send a copy of such better quality audio to TOEI?

Kei did but apparently Toei Animation never gave him any feedback.

TOEI probably enjoys more going around websites taking down stuff that fans uploaded for others to see (nonprofit) than receiving high quality audio from the fans for free.

[AgitoZ]

TOEI probably enjoys more going around websites taking down stuff that fans uploaded for others to see (nonprofit) than receiving high quality audio from the fans for free.

I highly doubt they're taking out sites for shits and giggles. Even if they were, it's perfectly in their right to do so.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Something I don't get about the poor Japanese audio problem is if people have better quality audio sources why don't these people do the smart thing and send a copy of such better quality audio to TOEI?

My guess is that there are probably some legal issues associated with that. Either that, or they simply didn't feel the need. After all, in Japan, the anime was made to help sell the merchandise, which is kind of backwards from the mentality we have over in North America where the show is the product.

[dbboxkaifan]

I highly doubt they're taking out sites for shits and giggles. Even if they were, it's perfectly in their right to do so.

That's true, it belongs to them but they only attack the small uses/YouTubers' not the big ones which have videos of "over 9000" with a million views, and other DBZ English videos.

Talking about YouTube, Google's not a safe place any more. Time to change to Bing! or Yahoo!.

[Corporate_Nothing]

they only attack the small uses/YouTubers' not the big ones which have videos of "over 9000" with a million views

How do you know this? You really should make such a claim without any evidence to back it up.

[dbboxkaifan]

How do you know this? You really should make such a claim without any evidence to back it up.

I do because I used to upload a ton of Dragon Ball videos to YouTube and then someone from Toei would take them down, while the 9000 are kept on forever.

DBZOceanStudios, TheWhiz93, dragonballmchange77, ImmaKai1, CastorTroy, garret123456789, DBKaiFANSonGoku/Rises, DBKaiFANSokuGokuSSJ, HyD (a really cool Spanish guy was suspended), and many other Dragon Ball uploaders have been suspended or given strikes.

At least ImmaVegeta's back baby!

You can get rid of the strikes by sending a copyright claim to YouTube with X text and within 13-14 days the strikes' are off. It got too boring and not worth it, so I desisted from it.

Now I just upload small stuff like informational videos or trailers (just one or two).

It's really sad to lose the account because I did put effort into the videos and then boom, they're gone.

[kei17]

Just a correction, those episodes weren't done on 35mm film. They were produced the same way as every episode, Toei just happened to still have the 35mm negatives for those episodes. I don't know if it has ever been covered why they kept those in particular. But it was a storage issue so the negatives for every other episode wsa canned. Every episode could have looked like those episodes on Blu-Ray if they kept those negatives.

That's one of the hypotheses. I once thought the same way, but I asked to a famous anime critic (well, I don't write his name here because he told me not to do) and he said it was nearly impossible for them to film every episode on 35mm. Filming TV series on 35mm negatives was a common practice until the end of the 70s since directly filming on 16mm wasn't popular probably for some technical difficulty. Most of the anime productions, including Toei, started using 16mm negative after that. The critic said it would cost additional several million yen if you filmed an episode on 35mm instead of 16mm. As you know, Toei is known for being cheap, so there must have been no reason for them to film every episode on 35mm at the time. That is to say, they temporarily used 35mm only in those episodes for some unknown reason. Maybe there was a plan to reuse the footage by some form in a movie or something.

[Innagadadavida]

Oh wow, that is interesting! I'll keep that in mind. As always, thanks for the input, Kei17.