Official "Dragon Box: The Movies" Thread

Kaze no Mune · Post by **Kaze no Mune** » Wed May 10, 2006 5:29 pm

Blitzen wrote:
Kula wrote:I've really not been interested in the Dragonboxes because of the lack of subtitles, but seeing them all together...they look freakin' gorgeous!
Maybe if I save up some money, I could track down some copies.
You'll only be in store for heartbreak. You all will be.

I checked yesterday, and I think that Amazon Japan still has The Movie box up for $350, still. But then again, I could be wrong... since I kind of figured that it had a "buy now" button, unlike the rest of the Dragon Boxes that were in the list.

Grandmaster J · Post by **Grandmaster J** » Wed May 10, 2006 6:58 pm

You know what's crazy though? These Dragon Boxes have been out for what....2 or 3 years now (I'm guessing)? I haven't seen one single Dragon Box on eBay yet. Not one! I'm not suprised, since I too would never, ever sell mine if I had any. But still....You'd think that there would be at least a few sellers out there trying to make some money off of them. I haven't even seen anyone trying to sell bootleg Dragon Boxes

.

Is there any chance the Dragon Boxes will ever get reproduced in the future?

DBW · Post by **DBW** » Wed May 10, 2006 9:40 pm

Grandmaster J wrote:You know what's crazy though? These Dragon Boxes have been out for what....2 or 3 years now (I'm guessing)? I haven't seen one single Dragon Box on eBay yet. Not one!

Yahoo Auctions Japan...it's full of 'em. But don't think you're gonna walk away with a bargain. All the movie boxes over there are selling for retail price or more, while the older boxes sell for well above retail price. In fact, in the past year I don't recall seeing a Z Box sell for less than $1000.

*cough* Of course, I did get my first Z box off ebay for $300 US, but that was basically just taking advantage of another DragonBall fan in desperate need of money. Thankfully this was back when nobody really knew what Dragon Boxes were, so the competition was slim. (It was also only 3 months old when I got it...it was really the devil's luck).

Is there any chance the Dragon Boxes will ever get reproduced in the future?

These exact sets? Not a chance. Future sets on future formats (Blu-ray, HD-DVD, etc.)? Perhaps, but not too likely (at least not for a VERY long time). In the meantime you can just look forward to the DVD singles, which are just as good anyways.

Blitzen · Post by **Blitzen** » Thu May 11, 2006 5:04 am

If there was another revitalization of the franchise (think like how fist of the north star has new movies, etc), then it wouldnt suprise me if the boxes get reprinted, even with singles out. but you'd have to wait for the singles to come out and well, you'd be waiting a long time regardless.

As lovely as the dragonboxes are, unless you just want the movie box, stick with the singles or whatever, but for the love of god, DONT try to hunt down boxes unless you have a shitload of expendible money. In which case, buy something more worthwhile still, because to be honest, it's not worth it anymore.

Grandmaster J · Post by **Grandmaster J** » Thu May 11, 2006 1:52 pm

DBW wrote:Yahoo Auctions Japan...it's full of 'em. But don't think you're gonna walk away with a bargain.

Yeah, you ain't kidding. I just took a look over there and I saw some mighty prices going on. I think the cheapest auction started at $380, but I bet it will get a lot of bids before it ends.

Conan the SSJ · Post by **Conan the SSJ** » Thu May 11, 2006 1:54 pm

MajinVejitaXV wrote:Hm...interesting.

Well, I guess we can rule out FUNi using the full 4:3 image now, since it's obvious they zoom it as they do for the TV releases.

Zooming vs. Cropping. w00t.

-Corey

It's not a very big deal with FUNi's "zoom-in" issue with the movies. You're only losing a small bit of the sides of the screen. In comparison with the Dragonbox's cropping letterbox, which takes up a considerable chunk of the top and bottom of the screen, I choose FUNi's prints. Just my outlook on the situation.

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Thu May 11, 2006 10:15 pm

Conan the SSJ wrote:It's not a very big deal with FUNi's "zoom-in" issue with the movies. You're only losing a small bit of the sides of the screen. In comparison with the Dragonbox's cropping letterbox, which takes up a considerable chunk of the top and bottom of the screen, I choose FUNi's prints. Just my outlook on the situation.

Simply stating the facts, neither version has the "full" 4:3 master ;p

Besides, like I mentioned earlier, as anal as I am about getting the most complete version, I can honestly watch DragonBox: The Movies with its 16:9 image and have no problems whatsoever. In my opinion (take it for what its worth, no more and no less), if you're sacrificing image quality for a bigger picture, it's not a good deal.

-Corey

Blitzen · Post by **Blitzen** » Fri May 12, 2006 5:18 am

Well, it's not really a big chunk taken out, moreso it's "trimmed". It's like a haircut, somewhat, you can take at your hair with scissors and it'll look arkward and stupid, but if you know what you're doing and working to parameters, then it'll work. Dragonbox is the second thing.

Post by **desirecampbell** » Fri May 12, 2006 10:20 am

The bottom line is that 'widescreen looks better'. I refuse to watch movies that are not in widescreen because I'm losing that widescreen dynamic.

The DragonBox Movies were designed to be widescreen so nothing important is taken out.

That said - I'm still overly concerned with what is 'cropped' in the DragonBox Movies. And am still leaning towards the FUNi releases (mainly for the subs though) so maybe I'm not one to talk

Tsukento · Post by **Tsukento** » Sat May 13, 2006 2:33 am

Movies Dragon Box wins for two reasons. Better video and better audio.

The visuals are cleaned up more and the audio is fantastic. It's actual worth turning up the volume with these DVDs.

Sure, FUNi's has subtitles, but they're still zoomed in, have rather pastey visuals and really bad Japanese audio. That and I don't care for the English dub, so I really don't mind not having that on my DVDs.

Plus 17 movies on 8 discs in one box is better than having 17 discs in standard DVD cases that take up quite abit of space.

mimage · Post by **mimage** » Thu May 25, 2006 7:16 am

The thing I don't like about the funimation version and region 2 version is both of them have a lot of the image cut off. And the movies in this box set seem to have more cropped off than the funimation ones. I'd rather have more of the image than better image quality. Still seems like a very nice thing to have in a DB fans collection. I was drooling over this box set but I think I'd want to see more image comparisons to really decide wether I should get it or not.

Post by **desirecampbell** » Thu May 25, 2006 6:13 pm

mimage wrote:The thing I don't like about the funimation version and region 2 version is both of them have a lot of the image cut off. And the movies in this box set seem to have more cropped off than the funimation ones. I'd rather have more of the image than better image quality. Still seems like a very nice thing to have in a DB fans collection. I was drooling over this box set but I think I'd want to see more image comparisons to really decide wether I should get it or not.

"There's a site too?"

At the bottom of the 'Dragon Box: the movies' feature:

After a nice walk outside, we plopped on the couch to check out DBZ movie 1. We really enjoy this movie for its fantastic music (tons of which was later used in the TV series), its great in-between DB & DBZ animation style (everyone's so nice and round!), and its great color scheme. Lots of nice deep colors. Once again, I found myself in utter shock at how gorgeous everything looked. Bright colors, distinct outlines, pristine audio, etc. It was just an absolute pleasure. I decided to do a quick comparison of all three releases of the movie (the original joint-FUNimation/Pioneer DVD from 1997, the so-called "Ultimate Uncut Edition" re-release from FUNimation last year, and now the Dragon Box release). Click the image below for a full-sized comparison (PNG). Other than adjusting the aspect ratio and adding a border, nothing was done to the images. No filtering, no color adjustments, etc.

It's been a while since we put anything up, so let's keep going! Right now we want to share a comparison image from DBZ movie 7. Rather than a side-by-side like the above DBZ movie 1 image, this one's a single image chopped in half. On the left is the Dragon Box version, and on the right is the FUNimation version. Notice the distinct different shades of colors in each respective version. You'll also be hard-pressed to not notice all the rainbows going on in the FUNimation version (check out Trunks' hair), as well as all the grain in the sky. Also notice how FUNimation's version seems to be zoomed-in slightly towards the lower area. Click the image below for a full-sized 720x480 lossless version.

Blitzen · Post by **Blitzen** » Thu May 25, 2006 7:20 pm

mimage wrote:The thing I don't like about the funimation version and region 2 version is both of them have a lot of the image cut off. And the movies in this box set seem to have more cropped off than the funimation ones. I'd rather have more of the image than better image quality. Still seems like a very nice thing to have in a DB fans collection. I was drooling over this box set but I think I'd want to see more image comparisons to really decide wether I should get it or not.

While it is missing some video, you have to realise the movies were animated to accomidate these crops, and your tolerance when watching can vary. What you are getting is a more consistient, higher quality, nicer look.sounding release, that's lost footage that was already meant to be lost in the first place.

kenisu3000 · Post by **kenisu3000** » Sun May 28, 2006 4:57 pm

We wants it.

To complete my documentation of the BGM, I'm going to need DragonBall Movie 1 ("The Legend of Shen Long") and Z Movie 13 ("Ryu-ken Explode!! If Goku Won't Do it, Who Will?"). At first I was going to search out Toei's original VHS tapes, as it would be ridiculous to buy such an expensive thing just for those two movies, but now I've decided "Oh, what the hey." Can somebody walk me through the process of buying it on Amazon Japan?

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 12:33 am

kenisu3000 wrote:We wants it.

To complete my documentation of the BGM, I'm going to need DragonBall Movie 1 ("The Legend of Shen Long") and Z Movie 13 ("Ryu-ken Explode!! If Goku Won't Do it, Who Will?"). At first I was going to search out Toei's original VHS tapes, as it would be ridiculous to buy such an expensive thing just for those two movies, but now I've decided "Oh, what the hey." Can somebody walk me through the process of buying it on Amazon Japan?

Sure, click on the 'Display in English' button and things will get simpler. Click, "Add to Shopping Cart" then hit "Proceed to Checkout". From there, it should all be in English and you shouldn't have many problems. Select international shipping and enter your info, and it should go through without a problem. If you run into any walls, hit me up on AIM and I'll help.

-Corey

kenisu3000 · Post by **kenisu3000** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 12:43 am

Thanks Corey... well, I already did just that last night, after posting a thread for help, but I appreciate it anyway.

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:06 am

kenisu3000 wrote:Thanks Corey... well, I already did just that last night, after posting a thread for help, but I appreciate it anyway.

Oh...shit...well, credit for trying? ^^

-Corey

kenisu3000 · Post by **kenisu3000** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:13 am

MajinVejitaXV wrote:
kenisu3000 wrote:Thanks Corey... well, I already did just that last night, after posting a thread for help, but I appreciate it anyway.
Oh...shit...well, credit for trying? ^^

-Corey

Mochiron

You seem to be the leading authority on the DragonBoxes around here anyway

Castor Troy · Post by **Castor Troy** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 4:28 pm

I really hate to necropost this thread (although it's a sticky), but I just got my set off amazon japan today for $274. I ordered last friday and it came today.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B000 ... UTF8&s=dvd

Yes, the first thing I did was play with the scouters.

Get this deal while it lasts, this set is incredible!

Mystic Jack · Post by **Mystic Jack** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 4:31 am

But how are we supposed to know the full story behind the sale? Like for example, what regions they have? I know I'm in region 4. So... yeah.