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

[eledoremassis02]

Glad I got the D-Boxes. I do Want a proper Blu-ray release to though. Its getting heated in the FUNi forums.

Gonna go read them now!! I have Dboxes 1,3,5-7. I have season sets to cover episodes missing for vol 2 and 4. If the blu ray is 4:3 I'll replace them. If not then I'll just get the singles (Will be stuck with the season sets for Namek)and make a makeshift box to hold the singles discs and recycle the original cases or something. Depends how much room I need.

[OutlawTorn]

I assume Toei created both digital masters and actual film masters ten years ago when they did the Dragon Boxes? If so I would have to assume that the digital masters are not up to code with high definition standards so the film prints would have to be re-scanned for an actual high-definition release.

Wow, it's crazy to believe it's been 10 years since the Dragonball Z Dragon box!

Back on topic. I still wonder if 16x9=4:3 w/ black bars.

If the black bars are a part of the image than yes it's 16x9 and is not false marketing.

Blu-ray's native format is non-anamorphic 16:9. This includes any pillar or letterboxing. The Levels, for example, specifically listed the show as being presented in 4:3 but I'm sure if you looked at the back of the package (sorry, I don't have it in front of me to verify) it would also include the 16:9 description because of the blu-ray picture itself, as you can see from screenshots of the reviews from Blu-ray.com.

Note on the Blu-ray.com review, they list the Aspect Ratio as well as the Original Aspect Ratio for the set as 1.33:1, whereas the listing for the Season One blu-ray lists the Aspect Ratio as 1.78:1 and the product description on sites like Amazon state "This epic collection presents the first thirty-nine episodes of the legendary series in remastered, high definition quality and 16:9 aspect ratio using frame by frame, pan and scran technology." (Yes, it actually does say "scran" on Amazon.) whereas the description for the Levels stated "The classic 4:3 format is captured in true 1080p HD with the original, director-approved color scheme!"

I think it's quite blatant that, unless there was some exceptional miscommunication, the new release is intended to be presented in widescreen. Perhaps if Toei had provided them with film masters which weren't little better than trash, the concept of cropping the image to eliminate the problem areas would never have been an option, nor would the butchered masters have proliferated into other markets because Toei is too lazy to provide a quality product to their licensees.

But it is still 100% FUNimation's fault for crapping the damned thing in the first place.

[Kojiro Sasaki]

http://www.funimation.com/forum/showthr ... Z-blu-rays

Maybe somebody would like to help a little bit?

[KingofWisdom]

I don't think arguing in that thread would be very productive.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

I doubt Funimation checks the forums, I'm sure they're using steve's transfer but just selectively cropping it in post transfer.
I doubt steve has anything to do with the remastering process other than the digital transfer.

Now I'm just waiting for the freaking trailer if there's going to be one I mean release right now is 12/31/13 which probably isn't right... it's probably in November like every other db release.

[ect5150]

Now I'm just waiting for the freaking trailer if there's going to be one I mean release right now is 12/31/13 which probably isn't right... it's probably in November like every other db release.

I wondered about this as well. Sometimes the end of the year is just used as a palceholder when sites like Amazon don't have a specific release date. If this is just for the casual fans as well, I'm guessing they would want it out before the holidays? I went ahead and pre-ordered just to see what we get. I guess I can post screens when it comes in (if others don't get it early).

[qjz123]

Now I'm just waiting for the freaking trailer if there's going to be one I mean release right now is 12/31/13 which probably isn't right... it's probably in November like every other db release.

When the listing for it first leaked the blu rays had a January 8 release date

[qjz123]

Bluray.com posted news about the Dragon ball z blu rays 16:9 is official now. http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=12353

[dprez]

Official eh? Hope not...

Well so much for this release! It's a turd...

[jeisurii]

I really wish I had been buying the Level sets, those look like damn perfection for DBZ. Shame these aren't just those continued in "season" sets.

I remember the survey making the rounds and even though my DBZ nostalgia bug hadn't bit me yet, I filled it out and chose OAR 4:3, but just knew even then we'd end up getting 16:9

[eledoremassis02]

Yea....gonna pass on this. I'm tired of Z in 16x9. However, I hope they have level set quality.

[Ajay]

How unfortunate.

Well, I guess we'll see how the quality is. If the quality is solid and the crop truly is on par with Kai then perhaps I will pick it up during a sale. Unlikely but we'll see.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

How unfortunate.

Well, I guess we'll see how the quality is. If the quality is solid and the crop truly is on par with Kai then perhaps I will pick it up during a sale. Unlikely but we'll see.

Funimation probbably has horrible masters and the damage is everywhere and sadly 16x9 is really the only way to fix it as you can't just restore information that was destroyed... Funimations season 1 always looked the best, season 3-9 had roughly the same quality. The damage is probably during the "profitable" seasons and with any business sense they'll do whatever to gain those profits.

16x9 won't bother me, have the dragonboxs if I want to watch full frame and kai if I want to watched the refreshed version.

Almost everyone loved the levels but the biggest complaint was "no 16x9=No HD" It's sad but the fact is Funimation has crummy masters, and if TOEI would give them a proper master there wouldn't be this 16x9 mess to begin with.

They're obviously choosing seasons instead of levels just to say for the first time on blu-ray, and also these are more expensive than the levels at least when I bought the levels which was on amazon for like $28 bucks at the time.

Okay Funimation, release the trailer so we can at least see if these are worth it PQ wise. And if it is level quality I would not hesitate to purchase.

I personally don't get why they're not trying to push the full film frame, so there's more on the sides if it's 16x9 but I wonder if we'd see more if it was the full frame without it zooming in to create a perfect square.

[qjz123]

They're obviously choosing seasons instead of levels just to say for the first time on blu-ray, and also these are more expensive than the levels at least when I bought the levels which was on amazon for like $28 bucks at the time.

These are not more expensive than the level sets they are much cheaper the season 1 blu ray is on amazon for $25 for 39 episodes at their lowest the level sets where $21 for 17 episodes.

[Super Sayian Prime]

Bluray.com posted news about the Dragon ball z blu rays 16:9 is official now. http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=12353

"Uncut"

Tell that to the aspect ratio.

"FUNimation is making the original Dragon Ball Z seasons available on Blu-ray for the first time."

That's some sly marketing right there. It makes it sound like this is DBZ TV's first BD release, but instead they're referring to the almost random way Funimation bundled the episodes for the orange bricks.

[theoriginalbilis]

Well, hopefully with the exception of the cropping, the remaster will at least look decent.

I won't be buying these new or on release date after all. The price would have to be less than $20 before I'd even consider it...

Of course, I keep forgetting this release isn't meant for us hardcore fans. If this release at least gives FUNi enough funds to release the later specials or BoG, then I guess it'll be worth it.

[bkev]

Oh, wow. You know you're screwing up when Blu-Ray.com users are actually complaining about a picture quality decision.

[Kojiro Sasaki]

I don't think arguing in that thread would be very productive.

If 100 fans will ask "why?" maybe we will get an explanation. Results of the survey, for example.

However, I hope they have level set quality.

I hope that big amount of grain, after zooming in, will force them to use heavy DVNR. I hope that this release will look like opening sequences from Double Feature But this is completely not important. I would only like to know the real reasons of this decision. Costs of the remastering process? Heavy damaged masters? "Let's do it in 16:9. People will complain, but they will buy it."?

It seems that entire internet is against 16:9...

[MarcFBR]

I don't think arguing in that thread would be very productive.

If 100 fans will ask "why?" maybe we will get an explanation. Results of the survey, for example.

You've pulled a random number out of thin air. It's very unlikely they will share valuable marketing data publicly. The survey matters to Funimation, it doesn't matter to us. The decision was made on how to produce these sets, us seeing a survey doesn't change anything.

I hope that big amount of grain, after zooming in, will force them to use heavy DVNR. I hope that this release will look like opening sequences from Double Feature But this is completely not important. I would only like to know the real reasons of this decision. Costs of the remastering process? Heavy damaged masters? "Let's do it in 16:9. People will complain, but they will buy it."?

We know the reason. The fact they haven't told us doesn't change this fact.

It seems that entire internet is against 16:9...

Which is why the orange bricks had horrible sales, and don't still sell gobs more than most anime.

[Kojiro Sasaki]

It's very unlikely they will share valuable marketing data publicly.

I dont see any value in the percentage of votes.

We know the reason.

I don't know.

Which is why the orange bricks had horrible sales, and don't still sell gobs more than most anime.

"Let's do it in 16:9. People will complain, but they will buy it."