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

[ect5150]

Just for fun, I made this up from the Levels Set--

VIDEO

I'm guessing we'll get something like it. Good quality, but it is a bit difficult to watch (for me at least).

[Ajay]

Was this just a center crop or did you manually go through and mask out the best looking crop you could?

[jeisurii]

Just for fun, I made this up from the Levels Set--

VIDEO

I'm guessing we'll get something like it. Good quality, but it is a bit difficult to watch (for me at least).

Not horrible, but I kind of expect if they're going to cater to the FILL MY SCREEN crowd then they won't leave the grain and continue the frame-by-frame from the Level sets. Expect lots of DNR.

Even with 4:3 that may still be a big concern.

[ect5150]

Was this just a center crop or did you manually go through and mask out the best looking crop you could?

I cropped it based on "roughly" where the Orange Bricks were. Although the Orange Bricks do have a bit more visable area than we can get given the Level sets. I'm betting we're going to get cropping near identical to Orange Bricks - just better quality. I often wonder if the Orange Bricks wouldn't have been so bad if they had DBox remastering but still in 16x9 (which is basically what my little test video is).

Not horrible, but I kind of expect if they're going to cater to the FILL MY SCREEN crowd then they won't leave the grain and continue the frame-by-frame from the Level sets. Expect lots of DNR.

Even with 4:3 that may still be a big concern.

I hadn't really thought of that -- you might be spot on. Hopefully it won't be over kill. Kai had some form of DNR which most thought was fine.

[eledoremassis02]

Was this just a center crop or did you manually go through and mask out the best looking crop you could?

I cropped it based on "roughly" where the Orange Bricks were. Although the Orange Bricks do have a bit more visable area than we can get given the Level sets. I'm betting we're going to get cropping near identical to Orange Bricks - just better quality. I often wonder if the Orange Bricks wouldn't have been so bad if they had DBox remastering but still in 16x9 (which is basically what my little test video is).

I'm sure it would have been loads better if it was Dragon Box quality. The video you posted wasn't bad. But no matter how it's selcetivly cropped there will still be cringe "why is it so cut off" moments. Such as the group shot of Bulma and the others.

[dbboxkaifan]

I guess someone thought the idea of widescreen DBZ was neat.

They're catering the casual audience which complains about "WHY ARE THERE BLACK BARS ON THE SCREEN AND HOW CAN I REMOVE THEM?!! AND WHY ISN'T THIS WIDESCREEN?!" rather than the hardcore which would stay on its original aspect ratio.

The obvious use of "Season" is already a dead give away that something's not gonna be right.

[theoriginalbilis]

What they're failing to see is that the aspect ratio isn't the big appeal of these Blu-Rays, it's going to be the price per number of episodes in "HD" quality. They honestly could just slap their 4:3 SD masters onto the BD disc and it would sell about the same...

By even bringing out the whole 16:9 cropping in the first place, once again FUNimation has created a divide in the fanbase. (First with their heavily reversioned English version, and now with the video format.)

[jeisurii]

I hadn't really thought of that -- you might be spot on. Hopefully it won't be over kill. Kai had some form of DNR which most thought was fine.

Yeah, but Kai was a Toei remaster, I'm afraid given the chance Funimation's automated DNR will be the first Orange Brick all over again.

I wish I hadn't just given up on DBZ when the Orange Bricks came out, because of that I missed the Dragon Box releases and those are nigh impossible to get at a decent price. I just discovered how awesome the Level sets are, unfortunately those only lasted 34 episodes. So I guess right now that's why I'm so interested in maybe these turning out okay, but time will tell.

[ect5150]

What they're failing to see is that the aspect ratio isn't the big appeal of these Blu-Rays, it's going to be the price per number of episodes in "HD" quality.

Fair enough - but aren't these two items linked this time? The cropping/aspect ratio is almost certainly being used as a cost saving measure... to bring down the price. It's cheaper to crop that damage out of the picture than to restore it on a frame-by-frame basis.

[funrush]

Do we know how well the level sets sold? If they sold well, I see no reason for them to even think about changing things up, thanks to the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" motto. Were there any fans that complained about the 4:3?

[qjz123]

Do we know how well the level sets sold? If they sold well, I see no reason for them to even think about changing things up, thanks to the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" motto. Were there any fans that complained about the 4:3?

Funimation said they canceled/postponed the level sets because of technical difficulties in the remastering process. They said that they came across a batch of episodes that were difficult to remaster and the cost would have been more than they were willing/able to pass on to the consumer. Now while that doesn't mean the level sets didn't sell well we assume that if they had sold as well as the orange bricks than the more expensive cost of remastering the more damaged batch of episodes would have been taken care of, and yes there were people who complained about the aspect ratio and the grain you can check amazons reviews to see people saying that the release wasn't really in HD because it was 4:3.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

Do we know how well the level sets sold? If they sold well, I see no reason for them to even think about changing things up, thanks to the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" motto. Were there any fans that complained about the 4:3?

Funimation said they canceled/postponed the level sets because of technical difficulties in the remastering process. They said that they came across a batch of episodes that were difficult to remaster and the cost would have been more than they were willing/able to pass on to the consumer. Now while that doesn't mean the level sets didn't sell well we assume that if they had sold as well as the orange bricks than the more expensive cost of remastering the more damaged batch of episodes would have been taken care of, and yes there were people who complained about the aspect ratio and the grain you can check amazons reviews to see people saying that the release wasn't really in HD because it was 4:3.

It's funny as I always considered the namek-freeza arks the worst damaged even from the old singles.

I think the 16x9 would allow them to continue the same remastering as they've done but not worry about the over expensive season 2 and season 3 which would cost more than any other season.

[Ajay]

Just some comparison shots that lead to my prediction.

[Kendamu]

Just for fun, I made this up from the Levels Set--

VIDEO

I'm guessing we'll get something like it. Good quality, but it is a bit difficult to watch (for me at least).

I saw a couple spots where I might've done things a bit differently, but overall I didn't hate it.

[Kojiro Sasaki]

Funimation said they canceled/postponed the level sets because of technical difficulties in the remastering process. They said that they came across a batch of episodes that were difficult to remaster and the cost would have been more than they were willing/able to pass on to the consumer.

If remastering in 4:3 is impossible/not affordable, what is the point in asking about aspect ratio?

Now while that doesn't mean the level sets didn't sell well we assume that if they had sold as well as the orange bricks than the more expensive cost of remastering the more damaged batch of episodes would have been taken care of, and yes there were people who complained about the aspect ratio and the grain you can check amazons reviews to see people saying that the release wasn't really in HD because it was 4:3.

Two or three reviews. They are properly commented and you have 30 other positive ones. Level sets would sell much better today.

Just some comparison shots that lead to my prediction.

Don't forget that you are using "Level sets masters". If they will opticaly zoom in to match 1920x1080 you will get a lot more grain or heavy DVNR. By the way, if you want 4:3 release, use more proper examples

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Gone-with ... u-ray/758/
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Wizar ... -ray/6366/
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Phantom-o ... ray/49134/
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Drums-Alo ... ray/74637/

No one even dared to ask about aspect ratio. If somebody would like to say that Dragon Ball is an "old animation":

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Cinderella-Blu-ray/7650/
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Pinocchio-Blu-ray/754/
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Bambi-Blu-ray/7708/
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Snow-Whit ... -ray/5220/

Pessimism of people here is really killing me... Even I'm starting to think that this is not worth hitting the keyboard. May America get what she wants.
I also do not believe in 4:3, but the main reason is the laziness of the fanbase.

[qjz123]

Funimation said they canceled/postponed the level sets because of technical difficulties in the remastering process. They said that they came across a batch of episodes that were difficult to remaster and the cost would have been more than they were willing/able to pass on to the consumer.

If remastering in 4:3 is impossible/not affordable, what is the point in asking about aspect ratio?

When Funimation suspended/canceled the level sets they set that "due to technical challenges of restoring from the original film frame by frame, we are unable to continue these releases by way of this process." and that they would research more efficient methods so they could continue the release.

[Ajay]

If they will opticaly zoom in to match 1920x1080 you will get a lot more grain or heavy DVNR.

For sure but there's no real way to replicate that without producing horrible artifacting on my end.

[qjz123]

Don't forget that you are using "Level sets masters". If they will opticaly zoom in to match 1920x1080 you will get a lot more grain or heavy DVNR. By the way, if you want 4:3 release, use more proper examples

I doubt they would zoom optically and create new 1080p film masters. If this release is in 16:9 then it will probably be a crop of the level sets masters and then that would be upscaled to 1920x1080p

[TheWhiz]

Just some comparison shots that lead to my prediction.

That last image looks pretty legit.

[eledoremassis02]

Not to bad. Just as some noise/grain removal and it might be close (where the trailer FUNi!! )