Need an opinion on orange bricks

Metalwario64 · Post by **Metalwario64** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 3:40 am

Fuzz? That's grain; 16mm film texture. If it's a part of the source material, then yes, I do consider that clear. Wiping it away only removes detail (though Kai did a very good job of it, only being very slightly softer than the US Dragon Boxes, which I think is damn fine). The Z sets, until the 6th set, went way overboard and smudged lots of sharp details, not to mention they look out of focus.

The completely smudged line-art under Vegeta's shoulder pad is anything but "clear".

chaosyoshimage · Post by **chaosyoshimage** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 3:44 am

Also, I have to put this out there. But I honestly found it hard to see just how good the Dragon Boxes looked from screenshots. They just kind of looked whatever to me, but then I got some of them and they were just gorgeous in motion. You really have to actually WATCH them to understand why they're praised so much. This isn't just the best I've seen Dragon Ball Z, it's the best I've seen any cartoon from that era. The colors just pop and it's really hard to go back to older Funimation footage of the franchise.

Zenkai · Post by **Zenkai** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 3:53 am

Metalwario64 wrote:Fuzz? That's grain; 16mm film texture. If it's a part of the source material, then yes, I do consider that clear. Wiping it away only removes detail (though Kai did a very good job of it, only being very slightly softer than the US Dragon Boxes, which I think is damn fine). The Z sets, until the 6th set, went way overboard and smudged lots of sharp details, not to mention they look out of focus.

The completely smudged line-art under Vegeta's shoulder pad is anything but "clear".

But it doesn't matter if it's part of the source material or not. That doesn't make it clear. Natural? Yes. Clear? No.

I would rather have barely noticeable smudge than a lot of grain.

Metalwario64 · Post by **Metalwario64** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 4:07 am

I'd say it is clear, because you have a clear view of the film itself. All of the detail is there (well, in the Dragon Boxes' case, minus some darker details that Kai has). I'll never understand the hate for natural film texture. Dragon Ball wasn't made yesterday.

Zenkai wrote:I would rather have barely noticeable smudge than a lot of grain.

Aaaand that's where I make my exit.

IIMaxII · Post by **IIMaxII** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 6:08 am

Lol, if you hate grain, you must hate watching movies on Blu-ray.

dbboxkaifan · Post by **dbboxkaifan** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 8:21 am

DemonRin wrote:Yeah, looks like they're going on Amazon for not so expensive either.

Also, as I posted before DBox 1 is here for $26 and DBox 4 is here for $29.

Between those two links and Amazon, you can get all but 2 for a reasonable price. 2... is going to be hard to track down, for some reason they printed less of those... but it's doable, you just might have to pay a little more for them.

This way, you get best quality Dragon Ball Z is available completely, as in every episode uncut.

Also, I've watched my DBoxes a fair bit and I don't remember there ever being sync issues with the audio track... you mean sync as in "Nozawa's voice starts before Son's mouth opens" kinda thing?...

I was just getting ready to pay for Dragon Box 1 to find out they only ship within America.

Oh well, found Dragon Box 3 for £22.99 (dispatched from Cyprus to UK). Gonna go with this, considering the one I have has the back cover slightly ripped and the discs from that box also have light scratches.

SSJJezter · Post by **SSJJezter** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 12:21 pm

Where abouts did you find it for £22.99?

DoomieDoomie911 · Post by **DoomieDoomie911** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 1:08 pm

I own all of the blue, orange, and green bricks. I don't obsess over quality too much, I just want the series. But if you are obsessed with quality and want the series, I don't recommend the orange bricks. You might like the blue or green bricks a little better though since they're not widescreen.

dbboxkaifan · Post by **dbboxkaifan** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 1:20 pm

SSJJezter wrote:Where abouts did you find it for £22.99?

Play.com guess that was the last one because now it's up to £36.

The day that all FUNimation Dragon Boxes become expensive (between $100-$200) that's gonna burn those who want it but can't afford to pay too much for it. Still, for those who bought additional boxes to make money off of them in that time they'll come in handy.

I'll just be selling then my other Dragon Box 3 which has a slight rip on the back and a few light marks on the discs, nothing major, though.

Gaffer Tape · Post by **Gaffer Tape** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 2:15 pm

DoomieDoomie911 wrote:I own all of the blue, orange, and green bricks. I don't obsess over quality too much, I just want the series. But if you are obsessed with quality and want the series, I don't recommend the orange bricks. You might like the blue or green bricks a little better though since they're not widescreen.

While I agree with your overall sentiment, I don't think you have to "obsess over quality" to not be pleased with the orange bricks. I own tons of home releases that could be better, that have subpar masters or encoding or are missing things I feel are important. But the orange brick release stares quality in the face, pulls down its pants, and slaps it in the face with its dick.

IIMaxII · Post by **IIMaxII** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 4:15 pm

Dragonbox 2 is going to be near impossible to get at a reasonable price.

superrayman3 · Post by **superrayman3** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 5:03 pm

Metalwario64 wrote:Mystical Adventure and "Path to Power" look superior on the newer 4 pack set.

I don't know if Path to Power looks better on the movie 4 pack set but as for Mystical adventure I don't think so I mean just take a look at the comparisons I did here: http://www.kanzenshuu.com/forum/viewtop ... 20#p617079

DragonBalllKaiHD · Post by **DragonBalllKaiHD** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 5:07 pm

Majority of us has agreed that the orange bricks are horrendous to watch; it is unwatchable. There are too much saturations going on. The cropping is a bit annoying as you can't see much of details on top and bottom most of time. At times someone's head was cropped off. Why Funimation had decided to crop the footage, we will never know. The TV series was never meant to be seen in widescreen.

In addition to the complaint of grain, I don't really get what you are saying. The grain is a part of natural image in the film. What you saw on Dragon Box is what you see on the film itself (or cels if you want to put it this way). Essentially, it's how you view the series. Although recently there has been some doubt regarding of how the series was supposed to be seen on Dragon Boxes. There has been some debates that Pony Canyon had handled Dragon Boxes poorly. If I recalled right, the Dragon Boxes' colors were off (and slightly bleached) and the company had done some lazy job of remastering the footage. If you compare this to the level sets, you will see what I mean.

Still, Dragon Boxes are the winner over the orange bricks. It's shame that Funimation discontinued the level sets. If they didn't, then the level sets would be the best releases ever. Dragon Boxes will never be able to come out on top.

dbboxkaifan · Post by **dbboxkaifan** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 5:27 pm

DragonBalllKaiHD wrote:Dragon Boxes will never be able to come out on top.

The Dragon Boxes have the Original Japanese Text whereas the Level sets is in English, and the NEPs are also exclusive to the Dragon Boxes.

For completionists like myself, Dragon Box is the winner.

DragonBalllKaiHD · Post by **DragonBalllKaiHD** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 5:34 pm

dbboxkaifan wrote:
DragonBalllKaiHD wrote:Dragon Boxes will never be able to come out on top.
The Dragon Boxes have the Original Japanese Text whereas the Level sets is in English, and the NEPs are also exclusive to the Dragon Boxes.

For completionists like myself, Dragon Box is the winner.

Does the Japanese text really matter? It's not our primary language. I'd prefer English so I can comprehend it. And the reason the level sets don't have NEP is because of Toei.

Metalwario64 · Post by **Metalwario64** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 5:35 pm

superrayman3 wrote:
Metalwario64 wrote:Mystical Adventure and "Path to Power" look superior on the newer 4 pack set.
I don't know if Path to Power looks better on the movie 4 pack set but as for Mystical adventure I don't think so I mean just take a look at the comparisons I did here: http://www.kanzenshuu.com/forum/viewtop ... 20#p617079

The colors are closer to the cels, and the encoding is much better. The old DVD has lots of macroblocking, as per the norm of FUNimation's pre-2008 or so DVDs.

Gaffer Tape · Post by **Gaffer Tape** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 5:44 pm

DragonBalllKaiHD wrote:Does the Japanese text really matter? It's not our primary language. I'd prefer English so I can comprehend it. And the reason the level sets don't have NEP is because of Toei.

It's part of the show; therefore, it does matter.

IIMaxII · Post by **IIMaxII** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 5:50 pm

Have no idea what you guys are talking about in regards to the Japanese text, but if you're talking about next episode previews than that matters. Japanese title cards? Don't see the problem in it being translated.

DragonBalllKaiHD · Post by **DragonBalllKaiHD** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 5:52 pm

Dragon Box was originally part of Japanese release. The Level is not. That's the difference. Toei gave Funimation the footage without text. And it does not matter anymore since most of you already own Dragon Boxes. The quality should always be primary for you, not some extras.

IIMaxII wrote:Have no idea what you guys are talking about in regards to the Japanese text, but if you're talking about next episode previews than that matters. Japanese title cards? Don't see the problem in it being translated.

Like I already stated, Toei never gave Funimation NEPs for any releases, except Dragon Box. So it's Toei's fault, not Funimation.

Gaffer Tape · Post by **Gaffer Tape** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 5:54 pm

But again, it's not an extra. It's part of the show!

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