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

[TheGmGoken]

Properly remastering the footage is too expensive to justify cheap box sets, which is the only thing casual fans will buy. The anger is justified.

I believe Steve Franco said a while back that Dbz would never generate the sales required to justify a full blown restoration. I guess he was right.

Shenron002:
So let me get this right, when they went to down convert it for DVD at 480p, they managed to damage the composition? and has nothing to do with the remastering you and your team applied to it?

Is there any chance that you and your team could do a frame by frame remastering by hand and realigning of the frames, that is comparable to Dragon Box/PONY Canyon's?

And is there any chance of turning it back to 4:3? I know if you turned the original Star Trek/Wizard of Oz to 16:9 there would be a heavy backlash of complaints for the Original Aspect Ratio.

Steve Franko:
here's the deal, i color corrected 16mm release prints with optical sound tracks. these prints are several generations down from the original interpositives (IP). i have to say for the age of the prints, they have held up remarkably well. in any case, you are correct, the original format was 4x3. the decision was not mine to re-crop these prints to fit into a 16x9 hd frame. that decision was made by the people at funimation. transfer was done 16x9 to a 24psf hd master. my job is to try to faithfully restore these prints as best as possible with in a tight budget. you are correct you can color correct frame by frame, but that would be cost prohibitive. until this project reaches the status of star wars, wizard of oz, snow white and the seven dwarfs, Lawrence of Arabia, sand pebbles and the godfather trilogy, this process will not happen. you really need to see these transfers on a hi def projector from the master transfer reels, then you might see the difference.

http://www.kanzenshuu.com/forum/viewtop ... &start=340

and you can see full links at here Steve Frank Responds

[Big Momma]

We did try to get a 4:3 AR for these sets, but FUNimation was likely going to make them widescreen from the beginning.

I doubt that. If anything they would have been fine releasing 4:3, but a majority voted 16:9 back when they did that survey.


I really wish we could see those results...

[KingofWisdom]

We don't know that. If anything, the average Joe probably didn't even know about the survey. It's people like us that voted. I have a feeling the footage was remastered from the start in 16:9, and the survey was only put up to cover their asses.

[eledoremassis02]

We don't know that. If anything, the average Joe probably didn't even know about the survey. It's people like us that voted.

Sadly, we don't know that either. We can assume majority of the people voted for 16x9. So we'll have to wait for another 4x3 at some point in time by either Funimation or someone else.

Using the poll as a cover up doesn't really make sense either since they could have said "The Season sets are still a hot seller and besides we got you the Dragon Boxes"

[KingofWisdom]

That's not necessarily the case. The survey could have been put up as a front to say, "It's what the fans wanted," since we can't see the results. Then they can sell their cheaply remastered widescreen version and people will buy it because it's less than one dollar per episode.

"We gave you Dragon Boxes," isn't a valid defense now that they're out print. Trying to justify the new Blu-Rays by saying that the Orange Bricks are still hot sellers doesn't make sense either, because it's the only readily available edition on DVD.

[eledoremassis02]

That's not necessarily the case. The survey could have been put up as a front to say, "It's what the fans wanted," since we can't see the results. Then they can sell their cheaply remastered widescreen version and people will buy it because it's less than one dollar per episode.

"We gave you Dragon Boxes," isn't a valid defense now that they're out print.

True, but if they did not get the dragon boxes, there would be more complaining as a lot of people, here, are like "Thank god I still have Dboxes". I Just don't see them wasting the time a resources making a fake survey when at the very least they could make these blu rays without any servery at all just based of how the orange bricks sold.

[KingofWisdom]

But then the blame would be targeted at FUNimation. The survey redirects the blame to the fanbase. A 4:3 remaster isn't even viable for Dragon Ball Z at this point.

[eledoremassis02]

But then the blame would be targeted at FUNimation. The survey redirects the blame to the fanbase. A 4:3 remaster isn't even viable for Dragon Ball Z at this point.

Truce, but the Orange Bricks, which were 100% on FUNi, haven't really seem to hurt them much. :/

[KingofWisdom]

The Orange Bricks weren't without fault, but they were the first consistent Z release and it had the English audio track with replacement music, which is how most of the US fanbase wants to experience it. This release, on the other hand, isn't bringing anything new to the table.

[eledoremassis02]

Well...they are in HD (I guess you could call it that) and on Blu Ray? Will they sell like the Orange Bricks, no idea, but FUNimation must have a pretty good idea that it will based of either the Orange brick sales or the servery.

[KingofWisdom]

I think it's basically a last ditch effort to milk Dragon Ball Z. If it doesn't sell at dirt cheap prices, then they can't really milk it anymore.

[eledoremassis02]

I think it's basically a last ditch effort to milk Dragon Ball Z. If it doesn't sell at dirt cheap prices, then they can't really milk it anymore.

I think your totally right on this. Would be interesting to see how they could re-brand it after this.

[HG-Project]

Could someone make a mock DBZ 2013 Blu-ray picture out of this or the Kai BD version? I'd like to see what the outcome may be.

Mike...were you drunk? LOL

[Roland_ELoG]

When is he not drunk?

The survey thing kind of makes me wonder. I would assume that they just reused their old 1080p transfer, since making an entire new one would fall into that "cost prohibitive" zone they seem to be avoiding. What we don't know is if the 1080p transfer was pre-cropped, or if that happened digitally after the fact (well, I don't know that).

[qjz123]

When is he not drunk?

The survey thing kind of makes me wonder. I would assume that they just reused their old 1080p transfer, since making an entire new one would fall into that "cost prohibitive" zone they seem to be avoiding. What we don't know is if the 1080p transfer was pre-cropped, or if that happened digitally after the fact (well, I don't know that).

For them to be selectively cropping this release they have to be working with a 4:3 film scan. I assume they're working with the same 1080p film scan they used to make the level sets. Digitally cropping it to 16:9 then upscaling the end product.

[Corpsecreate]

It's funny. I posted this a while ago. I made it before the new Blu-ray's footage was unveiled (I slapped the BttF logo on it after the fact), and I was shockingly accurate.
Except I think mine's backgrounds are actually much better than the water colored, layered crap on the new Blu-rays.

Let's team up and re-master DBZ

To be fair, I'd really like to see a fan-remastered version, taking the Dragon Box footage, upscaling it to HD and color correcting it so it looks like the original broadcast.
I've only seen one Dragon Box upscale release, and it didn't color correct.

You mean something like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWNnAD7JvX8

It is colour corrected, has the NEP in the right place and has all 3 audio tracks + subtitles

[Kuwabara]

It seems backwards to me that the fans are somehow at fault for not having one grand on the side to throw at FUNimation Dragon Ball releases. There shouldn't have even been another full screen Z release immediately after the Dragon Boxes (at least give us a break in between the releases).

I feel as though this post was directed at me, so let me say this: I know you're exaggerating for effect but you're right, most people aren't made of money and FUNimation was releasing way too much at once.

That being said, look at it from my perspective. The Level sets were a stellar, beautiful release directed at all fans. Several things point to this: the ads, the making of promos, the orange on the box art being a throwback to the Orange Bricks, the wide distribution etc. They were a wide release, but they were also fantastic, honest products that purists could appreciate. This was so huge to me. Even before I saw how beautiful these sets really were for myself, I was already sold as soon as I heard they were 4:3. "We won." That looped in my head over and over. Didn't people feel the same way when the Captain Ginyu - Assault single had dual audio? When the Ultimate Uncuts were announced? How about when the US Dragon Boxes were released in their entirety?

Were there factors keeping the Levels from being as successful as they could (and should) have been? Sure, I'll give you that. High price point, poor timing, market saturation etc. But in the grand scheme of things, none of that should have mattered. Were a bunch of Kanzenshuu members hibernating or something? Worse still, were there really so many people hung up over fucking title cards missing? After all of the seething hatred and contempt there was for the Orange Bricks, I'm fucking perplexed that 1.1 didn't sell above and beyond FUNimation's expectations. $34.99 or whatever the MSRP was at the time was of no consequence to me because to me, there was no looking back. "This is the future." Knowing that there was a more than competent, widespread, full release of the series seemingly on the horizon, I put my money where my mouth was. I couldn't believe it when I heard they would be discontinued. I couldn't have been the only one this excited about the Levels, could I?

[KingofWisdom]

I'm not even sure how much of an exaggeration that was, if at all. By my count, the orange bricks, dragon boxes, movies, TV specials, blue bricks, green bricks, and Kai would be at least in the realm of $800. The Level sets probably would have taken that over one grand.

[Kuwabara]

I took it as an exaggeration because most people wouldn't even buy close to all of that, at least on a consistent basis.

[KingofWisdom]

Well, all these releases were coming out within a few years of each other. It's not unreasonable to think people would be picking that stuff up over time. Hell, I was pissed when the Dragon Boxes were announced because I blew all my money on the orange bricks. Then when I waited for the prices to drop, they disappeared.