Rock The Dragon VS. Dragon Box

[Ajay]

Couldn't find any really detailed comparisons on the Rock The Dragon footage vs. other releases - particularly the Dragon Box so I figured I'd throw together something myself.
So, let's start! I'll only be using a few examples but what I say is consistent across the board so what I say about one episode or movie is just as true when it comes to another.

NOTE: These screenshots were taken uncompressed, saved uncompressed and uploaded to i.minus.com that doesn't compress either. What you see here is what you get - to view at fullsize, just right click and hit 'view image' or whatever your browser's equivalent is.

NOTE 2: When I speak of macroblocking, you may not see it quite as clearly when viewing the image at its exact resolution on your monitor but take it to any TV at fullscreen and those issues pop out at you as clear as day.

Movie 2:

Spoiler:

Being a movie, it's generally accepted that everything was animated with a 16:9 frame in mind so the aspect ratio is really down to your preference. Quality-wise, we can see some clear ghosting on the Rock The Dragon set as well as some rainbowing around Roshi's ear. The general encode of the Rock The Dragon set seems fairly poor. Whilst it does possess a higher bitrate than the Dragon Box, it is clear that is purely bloat, there's some clear instances of macroblocking present throughout. On the positive side of things, grain is present and I can see little to no traces of DNR used.

As always, the Dragon Box set possesses a near flawless transfer. Grain is intact, lines are crisp and there's not a hint of any artifacting throughout the entire film. You can debate away about the intended colour timings but as shown, it possesses more of a green tone as opposed to the Rock The Dragon's very blue and cold look.

Again, as I mentioned earlier, this is a pattern you'll see throughout the Rock The Dragon set. You'll certainly notice the flaws in the transfer but it's not going to distract you or have you cursing at your TV like the Orange Bricks do.

TV Episodes:

Spoiler:

Again, similar issues plague the Rock the Dragon set - most notably the compression artifacting in Raditz's hair is pretty bad. Take a look to the left of his face and to the right of his scouter, it's abundantly clear and even more so in motion, unfortunately. Fortunately, we're not getting any cropped releases from Funimation with this release, the aspect ratio is kept in tact and whilst it's slightly zoomed in compared to the Dragon Box, it's not an issue at all. Once again, colour timings are pure preference although I personally lean towards Rock The Dragon's colours over the Dragon Box's in this instance.

Spoiler:

The comparison is one frame out, Piccolo had just clenched his fist but it's close to use for a comparison. In this instance, the superficial differences aren't particularly large at all - you've got the slight zoom on the Rock the Dragon set and there's the different colour timing too. Looking at it more closely, you can begin to see where the Rock The Dragon set fails in comparison to the Dragon Box. Again, macroblocking is clearly visible in the shadows of Piccolo's outfit and there's rainbowing showing up in his arm. Line's aren't quite as crisp as they are on the Dragon Box but grain is fully intact and that's always a positive in my book.

==

To sum it up really, the Rock The Dragon set is no Dragon Box, I don't think anyone expected it to be but regardless, it sports a very watchable transfer despite some of the very strange macroblocking issues and the occasional ghosting. Perhaps it can be put down to a particularly old transfer and some ancient compression methods, who knows?! Either way, the product they've put out is going to make Canadian and UK fans very happy, along with the folks who've been keeping up with the English dub since it began.

With regards to the packaging, I've been seeing a lot of complaints about the way the DVDs are held within the book. They're certainly valid complaints considering the price point but I think they've been blown out of proportion. The discs are held very snugly inside the wallets and unless you're unbelievably clumsy, they're no more at risk to scratching than something in a regular DVD case.

If you have any requests for screenshot comparisons in the box or want any general info regarding the set, I'm happy to fill and answer them.

[Metalwario64]

The general encode of the Rock The Dragon set seems fairly poor.

The encoding is okay (but there's a weird focus issue in random spots, perhaps due to FUNimation mindlessly zooming in the interlaced footage), it looks bad because the footage is from old, crappy digibetas.

[TheGmGoken]

Wait why are the RTD sets zoomed in? Also Dbox wins easily IMO.

[Metalwario64]

Wait why are the RTD sets zoomed in?

To eliminate the edges of the frame.

[Ajay]

The encoding is okay (but there's a weird focus issue in random spots, perhaps due to FUNimation mindlessly zooming in the interlaced footage), it looks bad because the footage is from old, crappy digibetas.

Ah, that makes a lot of sense. I was wondering how something with such a high bitrate could have such horrible artifacting. I guess, in my eyes, it's still a pretty bad encode considering the bloat of bitrate that could be reduced whilst retaining the same level of quality which would, in turn, leave room for either more episodes per disc or at least some extra features.

[Brangeta]

Which is which in the comparisons? I read the topic three times, but I don't see anywhere that you specifically said "Dragon Box is on the left, Rock the Dragon is on the right" or vice-versa.

To me, the shots on the right look the best. But I don't know which set those came from.

[TheGmGoken]

Which is which in the comparisons? I read the topic three times, but I don't see anywhere that you specifically said "Dragon Box is on the left, Rock the Dragon is on the right" or vice-versa.

To me, the shots on the right look the best. But I don't know which set those came from.

Left is the Dbox and right is RTD

[Brangeta]

Thanks, I appreciate it! I really like the better blue-tones on the sky backgrounds on the right.

[Fennekin]

It's a shame FUNimation couldn't put the Ocean audio onto better footage, and try to duplicate the edits. But I guess that would of taken way too long, and be a waste of their time.

[GetanGe]

Speaking of color timing issues, i know this may be not the right place to talk about this.

But for those who complain about the color timing of the Dragonboxes, and use the broadcasts tapes to compare them, have you ever tough that maybe, just maybe, is kinda dumb to say that the broadcast colors are in fact the real ones?

why you may ask?

A While ago i read at the Ranger Board forums about why on an episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season One, during the sentai footage, Kimberly is almost Grey, and i remember reading that when Toei transferred the footage from film to tape, it caused a HUGE image Quality deterioration, and i read something along the lines that, during the 70s, 80s and early 90s, the process of transferring film to video was quite bad, and cause a lot of image loss, not just color timing modifications, but also dirtiness and other picture blemishes, hence the "dullness" and the ugliness of broadcast quality, and that even during premiered, the picture quality look pretty sub-par, almost as if when the shows were first mastered on film, they did so with tons of dirt, print damage, and murkier picture.

And i figured out, that might have happened with Dragonball too.

[superrayman3]

Speaking of color timing issues, i know this may be not the right place to talk about this.

But for those who complain about the color timing of the Dragonboxes, and use the broadcasts tapes to compare them, have you ever tough that maybe, just maybe, is kinda dumb to say that the broadcast colors are in fact the real ones?

why you may ask?

A While ago i read at the Ranger Board forums about why on an episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season One, during the sentai footage, Kimberly is almost Grey, and i remember reading that when Toei transferred the footage from film to tape, it caused a HUGE image Quality deterioration, and i read something along the lines that, during the 70s, 80s and early 90s, the process of transferring film to video was quite bad, and cause a lot of image loss, not just color timing modifications, but also dirtiness and other picture blemishes, hence the "dullness" and the ugliness of broadcast quality, and that even during premiered, the picture quality look pretty sub-par, almost as if when the shows were first mastered on film, they did so with tons of dirt, print damage, and murkier picture.

And i figured out, that might have happened with Dragonball too.

Under normal circumstances you would have a valid point and possibly be right, however you seem to forget one important detail regarding the DBOX's, and that detail is the fact that Toei themselves acknowledged that the colors were intentionally altered for the DBOX releases thus the while the broadcast colors may not be a perfect replication of the original film stock (if what you say is true) they are a more accurate representation of what the film stock's colors are supposed to look like.