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

[Daimo-Rukiri]

Was dragon box a raw transfer?

The dragon boxes were a serious film restoration however I don't think they went back and did any color correction, what you saw on the dbox is probably what you saw on the film prints.
Wasn't there an extra on the JP Dbox that went over the restoration?

[dbboxkaifan]

Sorry to go off-topic a sec,
If I buy a blu-ray drive for my laptop will that both burn and rip Blu-Rays? Or will I have to fork out more for one that will burn too?
Thanks.

You have to be certified it's a Blu-ray Burner otherwise it's probably just Blu-ray Reader.

[final_flash]

This is what I'm talking about:
Orange Brick:
http://imageshack.us/a/img15/4021/f9cl.png
Season:
http://imageshack.us/a/img69/3079/jmo6.png

Notice how the peach flesh tone turned to pink. The 4 way shot of Vegeta, Goku, Krillin, and Gohan's another good one to compare (I don't know where that comparison is in this thread). This is actually a serious issue in the android/cell saga right up until Gohan kills Cell.

Wait... That's kind of like the Dragon Box colouration.[/quote]

There is a difference in color. Also look how the sky is blue instead of green. There was a color correction.. just not a good one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnzM9CHWDfo Dont know why those pics looked the same. Still cant stand those bleached colors, they're the worst.

[darkknightkryta]

This is what I'm talking about:
Orange Brick:
http://imageshack.us/a/img15/4021/f9cl.png
Season:
http://imageshack.us/a/img69/3079/jmo6.png

Notice how the peach flesh tone turned to pink. The 4 way shot of Vegeta, Goku, Krillin, and Gohan's another good one to compare (I don't know where that comparison is in this thread). This is actually a serious issue in the android/cell saga right up until Gohan kills Cell.

Wait... That's kind of like the Dragon Box colouration.

There is a difference in color. Also look how the sky is blue instead of green. There was a color correction.. just not a good one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnzM9CHWDfo Dont know why those pics looked the same. Still cant stand those bleached colors, they're the worst.[/quote]

No, Funimation's film is in better shape than Toei's (colour wise) since it's newer. The peach is what faded only, the blues haven't gone yet. From what I can tell anyways. It just gets pretty bad in the android/cell arc. The next season looks good from the new trailer; but I noticed the Namek arc had held up pretty well(The Dragon Box holds up for that season too; Bulma's hair is mostly blue).

[Daimo-Rukiri]

This is what I'm talking about:
Orange Brick:
http://imageshack.us/a/img15/4021/f9cl.png
Season:
http://imageshack.us/a/img69/3079/jmo6.png

Notice how the peach flesh tone turned to pink. The 4 way shot of Vegeta, Goku, Krillin, and Gohan's another good one to compare (I don't know where that comparison is in this thread). This is actually a serious issue in the android/cell saga right up until Gohan kills Cell.

Wait... That's kind of like the Dragon Box colouration.

There is a difference in color. Also look how the sky is blue instead of green. There was a color correction.. just not a good one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnzM9CHWDfo Dont know why those pics looked the same. Still cant stand those bleached colors, they're the worst.

No, Funimation's film is in better shape than Toei's (colour wise) since it's newer. The peach is what faded only, the blues haven't gone yet. From what I can tell anyways. It just gets pretty bad in the android/cell arc. The next season looks good from the new trailer; but I noticed the Namek arc had held up pretty well(The Dragon Box holds up for that season too; Bulma's hair is mostly blue).[/quote]
The peachy skin was a color correction, funimation just seemed to seriously bump the brightness/contrast as even the UUEs had some pink skin.
http://i.imgur.com/MBFw7KV.png

[VegettoEX]

Folks, all your quotes are broken. Please be more careful in what you're posting (preview it beforehand) and remove any extraneous quotes since there is indeed a limit on how deep you can go back.

[qjz123]

No, Funimation's film is in better shape than Toei's (colour wise) since it's newer. The peach is what faded only, the blues haven't gone yet. From what I can tell anyways. It just gets pretty bad in the android/cell arc. The next season looks good from the new trailer; but I noticed the Namek arc had held up pretty well(The Dragon Box holds up for that season too; Bulma's hair is mostly blue).

Look at this screen shot
Raw film scan cropped to 16:9
http://imageshack.us/a/img21/4544/fnhh.png
Season 1 blu ray
http://imageshack.us/a/img24/7311/e4z1.png
and here it is uncropped
http://imageshack.us/a/img51/9107/2c0h.png
This release is clearly based on Steve Franco's transfer that was used for the level sets. The transfer they're using for this release has already been color corrected they are just altering them in post in an attempt to modernize the show.

[ect5150]

(The Dragon Box holds up for that season too; Bulma's hair is mostly blue).

Interestingly enough, looking at cel animation shows Bulma's hair isn't supposed to be blue though. We covered this in an older thread and someone pointed this out.

I'll copy/paste the pictures found by AnimeMaakuo in the Spoiler tag below--

Spoiler:

But I seem to remember FUNI's Level Sets having her hair more blue-ish. I never seen anyone bring up an original broadcast recording to show her hair though. That is still something I would like to see.

[GarrettCRW]

No, Funimation's film is in better shape than Toei's (colour wise) since it's newer. The peach is what faded only, the blues haven't gone yet. From what I can tell anyways. It just gets pretty bad in the android/cell arc.

It was my understanding that the Dragon Boxes are transferred straight from the O-negs. Barring poor storage and poor film stock, I'm more inclined to have faith in the color timing of the Dragon Boxes than that of a print that's been restored in America.

[theoriginalbilis]

The Dragon Boxes so far have the best "traditional film" look to them, which makes sense, considering they're from the original source footage. The tints aren't a big deal to me. It's only somewhat noticeable during the Nappa/Vegeta fight, and even then, I trust their light/dark contrast and colors far more than an overly filtered remaster.

Between that and Kai's footage, that's most likely the best-looking DBZ we'll get unless Toei decides to release Blu-Rays of their own.

Though I do really like the faded but super-detailed look of the Level sets. It's like you're watching an awesome restored classic film.

[KingofWisdom]

I wonder how that shot of the Saibaimen turned out in the final product. Example: http://imageshack.com/a/img802/9387/p16d.png

That, along with glowing Piccolo were some of the worst out of the initial trailer.

[qjz123]

I wonder how that shot of the Saibaimen turned out in the final product. Example: http://imageshack.com/a/img802/9387/p16d.png

That, along with glowing Piccolo were some of the worst out of the initial trailer.

This is how the Saibaimen shot looks on the actual blu ray. http://imageshack.us/a/img11/1014/m8mg.png
Here is the piccolo shot from the blu ray compared to the trailer
Trailer
http://imageshack.us/a/img59/2954/43l1.png
Blu ray
http://imageshack.us/a/img547/4159/f3ua.png
The trailer seems to be brighter and it has an issue with crushed blacks.

[Fizzer]

I wonder how that shot of the Saibaimen turned out in the final product. Example: http://imageshack.com/a/img802/9387/p16d.png

That, along with glowing Piccolo were some of the worst out of the initial trailer.

This is how the Saibaimen shot looks on the actual blu ray. http://imageshack.us/a/img11/1014/m8mg.png
Here is the piccolo shot from the blu ray compared to the trailer
Trailer
http://imageshack.us/a/img59/2954/43l1.png
Blu ray
http://imageshack.us/a/img547/4159/f3ua.png
The trailer seems to be brighter and it has an issue with crushed blacks.

At this point we can say for sure that we can't make final judgements (or write reviews) based on the trailer. The final product looks much better.

[dbboxkaifan]

This is how the Saibaimen shot looks on the actual blu ray. http://imageshack.us/a/img11/1014/m8mg.png
Here is the piccolo shot from the blu ray compared to the trailer
Trailer
http://imageshack.us/a/img59/2954/43l1.png
Blu ray
http://imageshack.us/a/img547/4159/f3ua.png
The trailer seems to be brighter and it has an issue with crushed blacks.

Okay this pretty much kills the point of making comparison using the inaccurate screens of the trailers.

Piccolo looks a lot better in the Season BDs. Also, notice how his t-shirt goes from blue (trailer) to purple (Season BDs) this is interesting.

[Metalwario64]

Trailer

Spoiler:

Blu ray

Spoiler:

The trailer seems to be brighter and it has an issue with crushed blacks.

That's strange... I have an old screenshot from the trailer here that seems to be from FUNimation's website, and the colors are accurate to the final product...


So... the trailer was brightened when FUNimation put it on YouTube? Were they trying to appeal to the overbrightened YT crowd or something? Anyway, if the colors are accurate on FUNi's website, then I think the S2 trailer has accurate colors.

Here's an Orange Brick shot for comparison:


I still think it has better colors...

[kei17]

That's strange... I have an old screenshot from the trailer here that seems to be from FUNimation's website, and the colors are accurate to the final product...
*snip*

So... the trailer was brightened when FUNimation put it on YouTube? Were they trying to appeal to the overbrightened YT crowd or something? Anyway, if the colors are accurate on FUNi's website, then I think the S2 trailer has accurate colors.

Here's an Orange Brick shot for comparison:
*snip*

So, the final product of Season 2 is very likely to look the same as the trailer. I never thought we would get something brighter than Orange Brick season 2.

[Kojiro Sasaki]

I don't think that anyone who is interested in this release, after reading the description, has a right to complain. By buying/being interested in this, you are accepting the company's politics which is "modern experience"/remastering. Remastering - mastering again - by writing this on the cover, producers have right to do anything they want. If you will add a "modern experience" term, which has no clear meaning, it gives unlimited possibilities. Maybe they think that neon Piccolo looks more modern? You agreed to that by accepting FUNimation's "vision".

I cannot judge the product without buying it - really? All that I need for speaking my opinion is reading FUNimation's description.

The bolder, more vibrant color of this ultimate Dragon Ball Z release closely mirrors the visual aesthetics of today’s entertainment. Lastly, we undertook a precise shot-by-shot reframing of the entire series to create a modern HD widescreen presentation of...

STOP. This is enough. I'm not even commenting the fact that kanzenshuu users have access to lossless samples which are more than enough to judge 80% of "parameters of quality".

I don't understand why so much hate is spread against people who are just loyal to the originality of the show. I think that those fans have the most serious reasons to be angry. Question to the users who are complaining about bad reviews on amazon:
Who finds himself in a better situation?
1. Person who cannot get a proper release of his favourite show.
2. Person who reads bad reviews of the product he considers to be good.

All the crap that people are writing has absolutely no influence on the product and casual fanbase - casual fanbase has complete dictatorship over the market. Unfortunately, there is only one release available. Believe me - if the Level sets would be continued as the edition for the hardcore fans, nobody would bother to write a single bad word about this piece of garbage on amazon. Why nobody complains about five stars reviews?

The level of acceptance for this release makes me really sad. I'm not criticizing people's preferences - I meant that in this situation there are no chances for the Level sets-like release. The thing that I fear the most is that this "it's shit, but I will buy it" attitude may send a wrong message also to Toei Animation... The show is more important to me than watching it. I prefer not to have it over supporting actions against it.

[KentalSSJ6]

I wanna say I care that this is happening, but to be honest I'm just so tired of fighting the inevitable.

We know a lot of people will buy these, and we know Funimation is taking full advantage of the fanbase who dont know any better. And we know this will likely continue.

At this point, I'm just happy I got my 8 parts of Kai on bluray. I'm calling it a day on this fight and will return to fighting the youtube hordes.

[ect5150]

I cannot judge the product without buying it - really?

I'm reminded of a quote "I don't need to try a dog turd to know I'm not going to like it..."

[Sin]

The screenshots and footage I'm seeing looks like some kind of flash animation, it seems so flat compared to other releases. I'm at the point where I really want to buy DBZ at a reasonable price but there are just no complete releases with 4:3 footage which are readily available, I feel like I might have to just start pick-n'-mixing with the Dragon Boxes and DVD singles.