Dragonbox Overrated?

[dbboxkaifan]

If there's any DBZ release out there which is overrated then that's definitely the Orange Bricks.

Dragon Boxes are what you'd want to get the complete experience out of DB/DBZ/DBGT/Films.

[kei17]

I guess they're faithful enough for DVD releases in the early 2000s. However, the audio being out of sync for about 0.2 seconds is terrible that they'd surely be recalled if the same thing happened to releases of other major series like Gundam which have more enthusiastic and older fans. As for the other flaws like faded colors, they couldn't be helped because of the technologies back then. Were they good enough at the time? Yes. Are they still up to snuff today? No. They're obviously outdated products.

Considering how some people seem to still praise them as a perfect presentation of the series, I feel that they're overrated. Not as much as they were before I started criticizing them, though.

I also hate that some episodes are "Season Two" bright in the Boo arc (and some Daimao episodes I believe I've heard).

Yeah, some episodes look too bright like these:




The same shots from the Blue Brick Season 4:

Spoiler:

Colors look far more faithful, too.

On the other hand, a lot of Red Ribbon Army arc episodes look too dull and only a tiny little part of the footage always looks brighter for some reason.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

They are the best release so far, they are great, but they could be far better. The colors are aged, the sound is both in bad quality & slightly out-of-sync, which is mostly annoying for me when Red gets shot in the head. So yes, they are overrated, but I still love them.

[dbboxkaifan]

If the DBZ Levels on Blu-ray were completed then that in my opinion would be the definitive version of Dragon Ball Z but that's cancelled so it doesn't matter.

[FireLordZuko]

It has Japanese AND English audio with the best quality we've received. Overrated? No. Overpriced? Oh hell yes.

[B]

Considering the age of show, it's great. Any other release wants to compete, it's probably going to need to be from those original masters.

[Ajay]

It's the best (complete) release of the show. I don't think there's really an argument there so in that sense, no they're not overrated.

In terms of accurate colours and audio, it's a flawed product, absolutely but I don't think that negates the high praise they receive. Why? See point 1.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Considering the age of show, it's great. Any other release wants to compete, it's probably going to need to be from those original masters.

I'm not sure...I honestly think the Level Sets look better than the Dragon Boxes, and those weren't made from the original masters.

[bkev]

There are some here who feel the Levels sets were incomplete solely based on the lack of Japanese credits and next episode previews. While the former I'm indifferent on, I think the latter would have been worth including in the extra features section at the least. I think I would end up watching the show in marathon mode for the most part, though, so that was never a dealbreaker for me.

[kei17]

Considering the age of show, it's great. Any other release wants to compete, it's probably going to need to be from those original masters.

I'm not sure...I honestly think the Level Sets look better than the Dragon Boxes, and those weren't made from the original masters.

That "original master" thing always makes me wonder whether there really are any differences between the masters of the DBoxes and the Level Sets. Toei must have used film prints directly produced from the original negatives, but there's still a possibility that FUNI's prints were produced exactly the same way. When you distribute Hollywood movies, you must produce some duplicate negatives from the master positive printed from the original negative in order not to damage the originals through producing countless numbers of prints for theaters around the world, but when it comes to Japanese movies and TV shows, they tend not to produce duplicate negatives and directly print a lot of positives from original negatives because they don't distribute them as widely as Hollywood does. For example, Nausicaa of the valley of the wind is known for its original negative being in a bad condition because of this. If it's the case with the DB series, it means that FUNi's film prints are not inferior to those used for the DBoxes.

[Tyro]

I honestly think the Level Sets look better than the Dragon Boxes

I think a lot of people feel that way, myself included. The color corrections are welcomed and their picture is amazing, but there's no denying that their blacks were crushed.

[Puto]

That's episode 1 though, which from what I understand is the worst episode in the entire set because FUNimation's print of it is extremely damaged (or so I hear, anyway).

[qjz123]

Considering the age of show, it's great. Any other release wants to compete, it's probably going to need to be from those original masters.

I'm not sure...I honestly think the Level Sets look better than the Dragon Boxes, and those weren't made from the original masters.

That "original master" thing always makes me wonder whether there really are any differences between the masters of the DBoxes and the Level Sets. Toei must have used film prints directly produced from the original negatives, but there's still a possibility that FUNI's prints were produced exactly the same way. When you distribute Hollywood movies, you must produce some duplicate negatives from the master positive printed from the original negative in order not to damage the originals through producing countless numbers of prints for theaters around the world, but when it comes to Japanese movies and TV shows, they tend not to produce duplicate negatives and directly print a lot of positives from original negatives because they don't distribute them as widely as Hollywood does. For example, Nausicaa of the valley of the wind is known for its original negative being in a bad condition because of this. If it's the case with the DB series, it means that FUNi's film prints are not inferior to those used for the DBoxes.

Steve Franco said a while back in a email to a Dbz fan that the film prints where multiple generation down from the original.

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).

So they are inferior to the one's used to create the dragon boxes.

[qjz123]

I honestly think the Level Sets look better than the Dragon Boxes

I think a lot of people feel that way, myself included. The color corrections are welcomed and their picture is amazing, but there's no denying that their blacks were crushed.

The crushed blacks problem has been blown out of proportion it's only really a problem in episode 1. Funimation's film prints for the episode are severely worse than any of the other episodes. Episode 1 looks bad on all of Funimation's releases.

[TheGmGoken]

I honestly think the Level Sets look better than the Dragon Boxes

I think a lot of people feel that way, myself included. The color corrections are welcomed and their picture is amazing, but there's no denying that their blacks were crushed.

The crushed blacks problem has been blown out of proportion it's only really a problem in episode 1. Funimation's film prints for the episode are severely worse than any of the other episodes. Episode 1 looks bad on all of Funimation's releases.

Don't some early eps have darkness issues

[samuraix123]

I actually have a friend who won't even watch the Dragon-boxes with me because he doesn't like the pinkish skin color on characters and he says that the Dragon-boxes are way overrated! I actually love the pink color on their skin but he likes that bleach white skin from the orange bricks haha

[TheGmGoken]

I actually have a friend who won't even watch the Dragon-boxes with me because he doesn't like the pinkish skin color on characters and he says that the Dragon-boxes are way overrated! I actually love the pink color on their skin but he likes that bleach white skin from the orange bricks haha

I thought only Goku had pink skin haha. Everyone else seemed White to me. Also I do KINDA like the sky colors sometimes. It gives a night , evening, and day effect

[qjz123]

I thought only Goku had pink skin haha. Everyone else seemed White to me. Also I do KINDA like the sky colors sometimes. It gives a night , evening, and day effect

The red/pinkish tint affects the whole episode not just Goku's skin.
Dragon box
http://imageshack.us/a/img23/7681/1x5m.png
Level sets
http://imageshack.us/a/img819/5815/1add.png
And as for the sky color I always found it funny how Funimation's color correction was closer to what Toei was trying to achieve with Dbz kai than Dbz Kai itself.
For example when Toei advertised Dbz Kai they showed this image http://imageshack.us/a/img7/9043/2mo2.png but when Dbz Kai came out it looked like this http://imageshack.us/a/img542/5236/tr8o.png and here's the same shot from the level sets http://imageshack.us/a/img594/2079/xkn6.png.

[Roland_ELoG]

The level sets are a bit darker, but I didn't find it as dark as that (oft reposted) comparison shot. I suspect they were made with modern high contrast displays in mind, and depending on your settings will look better or worse.

A lack of Japanese title cards is the biggest flaw for me; the singles had Japanese title cards, different opening or closings, and recaps. Seems like a shame to just lose some features an older release had.

The big draw of Blu-ray for me is some of the little things; like the quality and all the audio options, but mainly it's just really nice to have 13 episodes on a disc.