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

[qjz123]

An idea just popped in my head. Is it possible, with modern tech, to make the 4:3 and 16:9 versions switchable?

I'll try to explain it better. Imagine that the master is so high quality that quality isn't lost when zoomed in. Just like some DVDs and Blu-Rays contain alternate angles (which basically means having the video stream twice, I checked that with the Ultimate Uncut Sets), could a Blu-Ray have two angles, one with the 4:3 version and the other one automatically doing selective cropping? That way, everyone'd be happy.

It would require two separate video streams so either double the discs or half the bit rate. The former results in increased cost for Funimation the latter results in decreased video quality.

[dbboxkaifan]

It would sacrifice the picture quality and raise the cost which is why they stick to English text only rather than having dual options on Blu-ray, or DVD any more.

They should have released it in full screen, blu-ray players can crop 4:3 to 16:9 for people who insist on having no black bars.

Which ones? My Blu-ray Players (PS3 60GB, 250GB) can't crop a 4x3 AR picture to make it widescreen so I'd need to zoom it in using the TV feature.

[UltimateHammerBro]

It would require two separate video streams so either double the discs or half the bit rate. The former results in increased cost for Funimation the latter results in decreased video quality.

That's exactly what I meant. Is it really that expensive for Funi to double the discs if they double the streams? I mean, wouldn't it be simply duplicating the DVD menu, adding another disc and changing the box layout? When you buy tons of units of a same article (I don't know the exact term in English for this) it becomes cheaper, and the higher the amount is, the cheaper it gets per unit. If they bought twice the discs from whichever company is selling them to them, would the price difference be that big? They could benefit from better publicity and it may even be good for them in the future (think about this: if the OB had come with the option to play the remastered cropped version, or the original 4:3 version, would they have needed to release the Dragon Boxes, which weren't that much of a economical benefit for them? I bet the sales of the OBs would still be giving them a lot of more profit).

[ABED]

It would require two separate video streams so either double the discs or half the bit rate. The former results in increased cost for Funimation the latter results in decreased video quality.

That's exactly what I meant. Is it really that expensive for Funi to double the discs if they double the streams? I mean, wouldn't it be simply duplicating the DVD menu, adding another disc and changing the box layout? When you buy tons of units of a same article (I don't know the exact term in English for this) it becomes cheaper, and the higher the amount is, the cheaper it gets per unit. If they bought twice the discs from whichever company is selling them to them, would the price difference be that big? They could benefit from better publicity and it may even be good for them in the future (think about this: if the OB had come with the option to play the remastered cropped version, or the original 4:3 version, would they have needed to release the Dragon Boxes, which weren't that much of a economical benefit for them? I bet the sales of the OBs would still be giving them a lot of more profit).

The term you're looking for is economies of scale.

[UltimateHammerBro]

Yes. A quick search made me realise that I was actually talking about wholesale, but economics of scale fits it even better

[dbboxkaifan]

Is it really that expensive for Funi to double the discs if they double the streams? I mean, wouldn't it be simply duplicating the DVD menu, adding another disc and changing the box layout? When you buy tons of units of a same article (I don't know the exact term in English for this) it becomes cheaper, and the higher the amount is, the cheaper it gets per unit. If they bought twice the discs from whichever company is selling them to them, would the price difference be that big? They could benefit from better publicity and it may even be good for them in the future (think about this: if the OB had come with the option to play the remastered cropped version, or the original 4:3 version,

FUNimation figured out that the customers were satisfied with the 16x9 AR version and so they just stuck to it rather than trying to do a dual version of it. If the Orange Bricks weren't profitable then they would've considered bringing back the 4x3 AR version for an always in-print release.

would they have needed to release the Dragon Boxes, which weren't that much of a economical benefit for them?

Why do people feel the need to say that the Dragon Box Z release wasn't lucrative? It was done in limited quantity and the sales were good hence why there's still consumers hunting to have the 7 boxes on eBay for $200+, the set that gets usually the highest amount is BOX 2 while the others still range around $100 (+/-).

Logically something that isn't able to make profit won't make any money at all but this isn't the case with FUNimation's Dragon Box Z release. Besides this, if they didn't care about any more Dragon Box releases they wouldn't have had had a survey asking fans what they'd want next of a Dragon Box collection.

[TheGmGoken]

No disrespect to LegendKiller282 hard work on these videos but...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5_0t6SY0Gk&hd=1

Read the comment section. I'm not bashing the fanbase. But I'm calling these fans casual quality fans. Meaning they(like me honestly most of the time) see the term HD, Blu-ray, or 16:3(I don't respond to forced 16:3) and go wild. Hence why I think Funimation does this because they can make easy money off of these for a cheap remaster(For what I understand from you people this is a cheap remaster). Now look at the comment section of that video. That is not his "worst" IMHO. His "Piccolo Motivation Speech" is. However the comment section is filled with

NeoGameSpark1 year ago

Oh god. This scene was so bad in the original dub. Love the visual quality btw. xD

Hell a year ago before I even knew about this quality stuff(Thanks a lot Kanzenshuu ) I even had to complain:

Blingman121v31 year ago

You lost allot of details in this video. The quality was worst then the orange bricks. Thank god your improved

There is more examples on Youtube like this besides LegendKiller. So imagine they're the average quality fan. If they find those videos better than any DBZ DVD/Blu-Ray. Then I''m sure they're loving the Level Sets and these Season Blu-rays.

[SSJ Electric Fury]

Logically something that isn't able to make profit won't make any money at all but this isn't the case with FUNimation's Dragon Box Z release. Besides this, if they didn't care about any more Dragon Box releases they wouldn't have had had a survey asking fans what they'd want next of a Dragon Box collection.

That survey happens to still on the web. For readers who want to support this effort, go here: http://www.funimation.com/blog/2013/02/ ... hats-next/

A Dragon Ball Dragon Box release would render the dilemma of overmuch cropping/zooming (blue bricks) or bad macroblocking (saga sets) null.

[American Pelican]

So uh, what's the likelihood of Battle Point Unlimited being kept in episode 120? I've been a little out of the loop since the Yamamoto scandal and I know that piece is by him. I've always been fond of it even if it is plagiarized.

[IGhostUlt]

goin off topic a lil but which aspect ration do you like better 16:9 or 4:3?

[Metalwario64]

goin off topic a lil but which aspect ration do you like better 16:9 or 4:3?

Personally, I don't really care as long as whatever I'm watching is in its original aspect ratio.

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

goin off topic a lil but which aspect ration do you like better 16:9 or 4:3?

I don't have a preference for any particular aspect ratio, just whichever one is correct for a given show or movie.

@American Pelican: Whether or not BPU will be kept in the dub is anyone's guess, but I can tell you there's no chance that it will be removed from the Japanese audio, as everything in that track is permanently burned together.

[SSJ Electric Fury]

So uh, what's the likelihood of Battle Point Unlimited being kept in episode 120?

It was on both the 5.1 track (which is also included in the N.A. Dragon Boxes) and the Japanese mono track of the season four orange brick. Tamashii tai Tamashii was removed from the English dub of its corresponding orange brick, but Battle Point Unlimited wasn't. So, I say your chance of finding the latter on the 5.1 track of the season four Blu-ray is high.

As Tamashii tai Tamashii was still kept on the Japanese track of its matching orange brick, your chance of finding Battle Point Unlimited on the Japanese track of the season four Blu-ray is virtually certain.

[American Pelican]

Excellent. Thank you.

[Gaffer Tape]

goin off topic a lil but which aspect ration do you like better 16:9 or 4:3?

Same as the others. I don't have a preference. I just want to watch whatever it was intended to viewed in. And, what? No love for 2.35:1?

[Ajay]

goin off topic a lil but which aspect ration do you like better 16:9 or 4:3?

Are you referring to the Dragon Ball anime or just in general?

With Dragon Ball, it's clearly 4:3. It was made in it and should be the only aspect it's seen in. Cropping is an absurd practice and it blows my mind that members here approve of that nonsense for the sake of their beloved television.

In general? Whatever the damn thing was made in. I don't understand why that would even be a question. You shouldn't even have a preference with this sort of thing, you just watch what it was created in!

You don't take There Will Be Blood and change its ratio of 2.39:1 to a perfect 16:9 one just so you avoid black bars at the top and the bottom. It doesn't make any sense.

Spoiler:

You kill the composition and it's just downright disrespectful to those who took the time to frame it in such a way.

[UltimateHammerBro]

Why do people feel the need to say that the Dragon Box Z release wasn't lucrative? It was done in limited quantity and the sales were good hence why there's still consumers hunting to have the 7 boxes on eBay for $200+, the set that gets usually the highest amount is BOX 2 while the others still range around $100 (+/-).

Logically something that isn't able to make profit won't make any money at all but this isn't the case with FUNimation's Dragon Box Z release. Besides this, if they didn't care about any more Dragon Box releases they wouldn't have had had a survey asking fans what they'd want next of a Dragon Box collection.

I don't feel the need to say that it wasn't lucrative, mainly because I don't know. However, if a limited edition made a good profit, why not continue producing it and make it a regular release? Was the Dragon Boxes' profit higher than the OBs?

[ABED]

goin off topic a lil but which aspect ration do you like better 16:9 or 4:3?

I don't think sitcoms gain anything with widescreen, but I object to artificially imposing another aspect ratio.

[Fizzer]

Whichever aspect ratio the show was created in is bound to be the best. Whatever the ratio is, the thing was directed and shot with that ratio in mind, and when you change it it looks bad.

[ABED]

Whichever aspect ratio the show was created in is bound to be the best. Whatever the ratio is, the thing was directed and shot with that ratio in mind, and when you change it it looks bad.

Again, that's not necessarily the case. Widescreen has a scope to it, and sitcom sets are relatively cheap and not exactly cinematic, so 4x3, is usually a more fitting format if you had to choose which to film it in.