Dragon Ball Z "Seasons" On Blu-ray: News & Discussion

[Daimo-Rukiri]

If they actually gave us the option to watch either in 4:3 or in 16:9 on the same release (And not two separate releases), I'd probably buy it.

Hell, if it pleases both sides, why not do it?

I guess 16x9 could be view 1 and 4x3 view 2, this would require more disks though.

[eledoremassis02]

Or maybe less episodes per disc? I'll have to check the storage on the level sets to see how much the episodes take up. I'd assume the'd be about the same for the new sets for the same amount of episodes.

[bkev]

It's probably possible using seamless branching considering how absolutely massive Blu-Ray storage is, but I doubt they'd go to the trouble. Like, that's about as likely as public space travel to the moon happening in the next year. I mean, this is the company that dropped multiple angles because of bitrate concerns; it paid off. They haven't gone back since.

[MarcFBR]

Or maybe less episodes per disc? I'll have to check the storage on the level sets to see how much the episodes take up. I'd assume the'd be about the same for the new sets for the same amount of episodes.

Normally I'd pull out my 'encoding maths' and explain why they aren't doing this, but it really isn't necessary this time... they aren't going to do this.

It's probably possible using seamless branching considering how absolutely massive Blu-Ray storage is, but I doubt they'd go to the trouble. Like, that's about as likely as public space travel to the moon happening in the next year. I mean, this is the company that dropped multiple angles because of bitrate concerns; it paid off. They haven't gone back since.

You are overestimating the storage size of the disk.

[Hellspawn28]

Well, I'm not buying this and wait till Toei releases their own Blu-rays.

Same here. I don't think it will be that hard for Toei to restore DBZ on Blu-Ray. I seen older shows older then DBZ that look good on Blu-ray.

[TheOverlyMadHatter]

Wait, if we're getting another cropped release now, does this mean we're getting another Dragon Box in 2 years?

[DragonBoxZTheMovies]

Wait, if we're getting another cropped release now, does this mean we're getting another Dragon Box in 2 years?

I hope so...I might actually be able to buy them on my own by then.

[kei17]

Well, I'm not buying this and wait till Toei releases their own Blu-rays.

Same here. I don't think it will be that hard for Toei to restore DBZ on Blu-Ray. I seen older shows older then DBZ that look good on Blu-ray.

Actually, in HD, much older shows before the '80s tend to look far better than newer ones because they had been using 35mm films that look as good as movies. Most of the anime companies including Toei began using 16mm from the early '80s, and 16mm doesn't look very good in HD, especially when you crop it.

The irony is that as technologies and details of animation advanced, the masters became inferior and inferior. 35mm > 16mm > D-2 video

Wait, if we're getting another cropped release now, does this mean we're getting another Dragon Box in 2 years?

I'm pretty sure DVDs are going to be seriously outdated by then, though.

[CODii]

Boy do I feel bad for anyone who was looking forward to this release. I simply cannot understand the justification for making this 16x9. Why can't they just accept that it's an old show and as such is never going to look "cutting edge" anymore? Hopefully it is at least a step up quality wise from the Orange Bricks. I just can't help but worry about one thing. Funimation made such a big deal of the film for the Orange Bricks being "scanned in HIGH DEFINITION," that part of me wonders if this isn't going to be the same crummy release re-encoded for Blue Ray.

[Tanooki Kuribo]

So, I've been thinking about these Blu-rays today, probably more than I should. I've come up with something like a conspiracy theory about this whole fiasco. I know this might sound crazy but hear me out.

FUNimation was probably gonna release these Blu-rays in widescreen anyway, despite the "survey". I put survey in quotes because, well, I think maybe it wasn't really a survey. I think it was already decided that these were gonna be widescreen way before this survey came out. So why even put out a fake survey? So that this time around fans would blame other fans for DBZ being in widescreen instead of FUNimation. FUNimaiton is in the clear, their defense now is it's because it's what the fans want.

So, why even put out a widescreen DBZ release knowing it's not really that popular? Besides knowing it'll sell anyway, they just created another reason to put DBZ on Blu-ray AFTER this release. They can now have this widescreen release come out, make it's sales, run its course and then rest assure that they can put out yet another Blu-ray set of the series a few years later. If they release a 4:3 version now, then a widescreen version later, it wouldn't sell as well because people would have 4:3 DBZ and be like why the fuck do I need widescreen? But now that we're getting widescreen first it creates a demand for 4:3.

::drops mic, walks off stage::

Please keep in mind I'm insane so, feel free to shoot this down if you wish. Thanks.

[kei17]

I just can't help but worry about one thing. Funimation made such a big deal of the film for the Orange Bricks being "scanned in HIGH DEFINITION," that part of me wonders if this isn't going to be the same crummy release re-encoded for Blue Ray.

In that case, we're getting this:














Taken from an HD trailer on the first Broly Blu-ray.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

I just can't help but worry about one thing. Funimation made such a big deal of the film for the Orange Bricks being "scanned in HIGH DEFINITION," that part of me wonders if this isn't going to be the same crummy release re-encoded for Blue Ray.

In that case, we're getting this:
<Images snipped by moderator>
Taken from an HD trailer on the first Broly Blu-ray.

I really doubt it's this... but I can't knock it off either...

[theoriginalbilis]

I am just hoping that the lines of animation don't disappear again. there's no excuse for that.

Seriously. That actually upset me more than the cropping. When the drawn outlines are disappearing and flesh-toned characters' faces are turning ghostly white (Orange Brick Seasons 1 and 2), you've seriously screwed up your remastering job.

Though the cropping is a shame, hopefully the video will be presented better than the Orange Bricks. I can't imagine they'll look worse.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

I really don't think we'll see the orange brick transfer at all, you can set an aspect ratio during a film transfer(fun fact^^) and the orange bricks was definitely set during the film transfer, so video wise we'll see closer to the level sets and the orange bricks shouldn't be in are heads. We're getting a bit paranoid here... most of the hate was on the horrible remastering job, yes many complained about it not being 4x3, I won't complain about it being in a different aspect ration but I will rant the hell out if it over horrible picture quality.

If funimation wanted the orange bricks on blu-ray we would have seen this last year.

[DragonBoxZTheMovies]

So, I've been thinking about these Blu-rays today, probably more than I should. I've come up with something like a conspiracy theory about this whole fiasco. I know this might sound crazy but hear me out.

FUNimation was probably gonna release these Blu-rays in widescreen anyway, despite the "survey". I put survey in quotes because, well, I think maybe it wasn't really a survey. I think it was already decided that these were gonna be widescreen way before this survey came out. So why even put out a fake survey? So that this time around fans would blame other fans for DBZ being in widescreen instead of FUNimation. FUNimaiton is in the clear, their defense now is it's because it's what the fans want.

So, why even put out a widescreen DBZ release knowing it's not really that popular? Besides knowing it'll sell anyway, they just created another reason to put DBZ on Blu-ray AFTER this release. They can now have this widescreen release come out, make it's sales, run its course and then rest assure that they can put out yet another Blu-ray set of the series a few years later. If they release a 4:3 version now, then a widescreen version later, it wouldn't sell as well because people would have 4:3 DBZ and be like why the fuck do I need widescreen? But now that we're getting widescreen first it creates a demand for 4:3.

::drops mic, walks off stage::

Please keep in mind I'm insane so, feel free to shoot this down if you wish. Thanks.

That makes Funimation sound truly evil, but yeah, I've been having similar thoughts.

It's almost like the first 16 episodes of GT, where they're creating demand for something that should've been there to begin with.

[MarcFBR]

Someone put forth that same 'woo crazy conspiracy theory' about the survey a day ago on twitter to me.

You seem to be forgetting it's a private survey. We don't know the answer, nor is it likely they will tell us. Not to mention the fact that Funimation doing these surveys is relatively common (and asking such a question in regards to DBZ is actually rather smart honestly. Us fans are very loud about 16:9 being a problem, but sales on the orange bricks have always been quite robust. Such a poll if it was done with the intent of confirming if 16:9 BDs would be fine would be more akin to trying to confirm if such a release would be a problem or not.)

Regardless of the survey, purely from a business perspective, there is little to argue with what they're doing.

Although on the positive side... if I decide to sell any of my Dragonboxes, no doubt the value will shoot up immensely since you'll now have people thinking they 'really' have to get the dboxes now.

It's almost like the first 16 episodes of GT, where they're creating demand for something that should've been there to begin with.

We've long since known the reason for this. The first 16 episodes of GT are slower and more akin to DB than DBZ. And DBZ is the cash cow. Skipping to the parts of GT that are 'more Z' was smart from a marketing perspective, even if it was annoying to fans.

[penguintruth]

Well, even if Funimation intended to release it this way the whole time, plenty of the fans were dim enough to vote for 16:9 because they MUST have their widescreen, regardless of whether a show was intended that way or not. That's probably what they were counting on.

[MarcFBR]

Well, even if Funimation intended to release it this way the whole time, plenty of the fans were dim enough to vote for 16:9 because they MUST have their widescreen, regardless of whether a show was intended that way or not. That's probably what they were counting on.

This still ignores the fact that they are unlikely to make the poll public, and most importantly... they don't need a poll to agree with them to release the product any which way they choose.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

Well, even if Funimation intended to release it this way the whole time, plenty of the fans were dim enough to vote for 16:9 because they MUST have their widescreen, regardless of whether a show was intended that way or not. That's probably what they were counting on.

Let's not start "how it was meant to be seen", unless you were in Japan to catch the broadcast you did not see the way it was meant to be seen.

I don't care about it being cropped, pan scanned, as long as it's not auto cropped I can live with it. The only thing I don't want to see is turn up the brightness, dvnr it death(leave dvnr out the question to begin with...), turn up the contrast, turn down the sharpness(it was pretty blurry at times).

As I've said earlier eliminating 20% footage over a 291 episode count will save them a tremendous amount of money, if it allows them to still remaster it as before than so be it. I never saw the cancellation of the blu-rays as a sign of poor sales, they did pretty well it was just not cost effective for what they were doing. What they should have done is just release a freaking US dragon box with that footage for $500, sure big price tab but not uncommon though.

I wouldn't hold my breath for a toei hd release anytime soon or ever.

[Ringworm128]

The only way I could see Toei releasing DB on Blu Ray is if pretty much every fan in Japan asks for it at once.