FUNimation Dragon Box Z #1 (In-Hands) Discussion

[DBZfan29]

I wanted to know just how you do a price match at Best Buy. I know it's not directly related to the topic, but I may be going to the brand new Best Buy near me and I want to price match the Dragon Box with Target's low online price. Do I just go up to them and say, "I want to buy this here set, but I found a cheaper price in Target. Can you please price match it so I can get the best buy I can find?"

Well, that's a little cheesy...

[Jon Jon]

So how do you suppose they supplied FUNi with these masters? Your comment implies that they just ship gimped versions...

My assumption (same guess I made on the podcast, which is purely my assumption, could be completely wrong) is they were probably provided with digibetas or another similiar digital video device.

Nothing wrong with digibetas mind you.

Based on the caps thus far, I'd say Toei sent quite good quality masters.

My comment was in relation to the relatively well known 'quality' of releases Toei has given to multiple companies over the years (ignoring all the problems we already know about the DB related masters, ADVs special uncut Sailor Moon boxes were missing an episode, were laserdisk quality video, and I believe had the dub spliced in for a few seconds somewhere. And ADV only had access to what Toei gave them for a 'sub only' box.)

Part of my point in general was, the releases were never going to be 1:1, ever.

If you (not you specifically, I mean 'you' as in anyone reading) were expecting pixel perfection from Japan to the USA (and I'm aware most people WEREN'T), well... that's a bit delusional.

Hey! What you be talkin about my laser discs!? ::rolls up sleeve::

XD, but seriously, that's ridiculous. It's also saddening, I own the ADV Sailor Moon sets. Granted, I'm very happy with them, so that's all that counts.

Also, of course that's a bit delusional. Anyone who has done any bit of video editing would know that you could never produce a final product that looks identical to the source material used.

EDIT:

@DBZFAN29:

You just need to print out the ad off Target's web site and bring it in. Just go up to one of the sales reps and ask, "Hey, you guys price match with Target right?" and hand him the sheet of paper and the product you want.

[MarcFBR]

Hey! What you be talkin about my laser discs!?

While there isn't anything wrong with the laserdisc, when better masters are available, and they send those... well yeah.

[Jon Jon]

Hey! What you be talkin about my laser discs!?

While there isn't anything wrong with the laserdisc, when better masters are available, and they send those... well yeah.

I don't understand why Toei does this. I guess they realize that they'll get the money they expect from royalties regardless of the quality of footage they send out.

EDIT:

The only thing I dislike so far about this set is that the audio is so low. I have to increase the volume on my TV significantly to get the volume I want. Someone else mentioned that this was due to the high level of compression they used on the audio. It's definitely not a major con, but it's something to mention.

[SSJ2 Dark]

I wanted to know just how you do a price match at Best Buy. I know it's not directly related to the topic, but I may be going to the brand new Best Buy near me and I want to price match the Dragon Box with Target's low online price. Do I just go up to them and say, "I want to buy this here set, but I found a cheaper price in Target. Can you please price match it so I can get the best buy I can find?"

Yeah, that's pretty much it. I'd recommend you print out the Target search result for DragonBall Z: Dragon Box instead of the direct product listing. Namely, the direct listing indicates the item isn't available in stores yet, and that's why the Best Buy I went to first declined the price match. I'll try again this weekend at another Best Buy with the different ad and see how it goes.

[Velasa]

I never really liked that not-so-OVA. I don't see what the excitement is about.

Because we don't have it, and that means that we wants it all the more.

[Metalwario64]

Hey! What you be talkin about my laser discs!?

While there isn't anything wrong with the laserdisc, when better masters are available, and they send those... well yeah.

I don't understand why Toei does this. I guess they realize that they'll get the money they expect from royalties regardless of the quality of footage they send out.

From what I remember, the general consensus was that they do that to try and prevent reverse-importing.

I could be wrong though.

[MarcFBR]

From what I remember, the general consensus was that they do that to try and prevent reverse-importing.

I could be wrong though.

That has traditionally been the guess, but it doesn't seem to apply when Toei is 'involved' to some extent with the American release (although they often find ways to fuck it up in other ways), so I'd say more it's just they honestly don't give a shit.

[Velasa]

There also could be the matter (in this case particularly) that the original film stock itself is way too damn valuable to the company to be shipping out to random other companies in other countries. As I recall taking it from that would be the best picture, but it's much safer to send a copy made from the film, whether the generation change will drop the quality automatically or not.

[MarcFBR]

There also could be the matter (in this case particularly) that the original film stock itself is way too damn valuable to the company to be shipping out to random other companies in other countries. As I recall taking it from that would be the best picture, but it's much safer to send a copy made from the film, whether the generation change will drop the quality automatically or not.

Moot point.

The copies Toei sells/shows to the Japanese public are far superior to what are sent in many cases.

To the extent that had Toei actually just 'sent' DVD-Rs the quality would be better in many cases.

That also doesn't even get to where releases are purposely gimped, like the original DBZ master missing things (reverse importation, I suspect, wasn't a huge concern in the mid 90s...)

[SHINOBI-03]

What does that fine text next to the Dragon Box logo say?

[SSJ2bardock]

"A journey that began long ago, in a place..."

That's all I can make out of it.

[SSj_Rambo]

What does that fine text next to the Dragon Box logo say?

"A journey that began long ago, in a place neither near no far...
A story of heroes passed down through the ages...
Until now. This is our story. These are our heroes."

It's from the original Dragon Box. And it's on the back of the FUNiBox.

[SHINOBI-03]

What does that fine text next to the Dragon Box logo say?

"A journey that began long ago, in a place neither near no far...
A story of heroes passed down through the ages...
Until now. This is our story. These are our heroes."

It's from the original Dragon Box. And it's on the back of the FUNiBox.

Didn't they use it for the Kai Blu-Ray?

[Kendamu]

What does that fine text next to the Dragon Box logo say?

"A journey that began long ago, in a place neither near no far...
A story of heroes passed down through the ages...
Until now. This is our story. These are our heroes."

It's from the original Dragon Box. And it's on the back of the FUNiBox.

Didn't they use it for the Kai Blu-Ray?

Yeah, they used it for that, too. Originally, it comes from the Japanese Dragonbox.

[SSVegetto]

There also could be the matter (in this case particularly) that the original film stock itself is way too damn valuable to the company to be shipping out to random other companies in other countries. As I recall taking it from that would be the best picture, but it's much safer to send a copy made from the film, whether the generation change will drop the quality automatically or not.

Moot point.

The copies Toei sells/shows to the Japanese public are far superior to what are sent in many cases.

To the extent that had Toei actually just 'sent' DVD-Rs the quality would be better in many cases.

That also doesn't even get to where releases are purposely gimped, like the original DBZ master missing things (reverse importation, I suspect, wasn't a huge concern in the mid 90s...)

Hold on a second, if the Dragon Box masters is digital. Then why wouldn't Funimation get a 1:1 copy of the source? Obviously Toei isn't going to send their original dragonbox masters source to them. But instead they would give them a 1:1 copy of the masters to them. And since it's digital it would be unaltered. Unless you are saying Toei purposely gave them a altered Dragonbox masters source, because they never want them to produce the quality that they made. To prevent people from Japan from importing their sources.

I'm assuming that both have same source, one a copy and one the original. So the rest is in the hands of Funimation's to encode and make superior DVDs to the Japanese Dragonbox. The encoding methods from the same 1:1 sources from two different companies will prevent them from ever being 1:1 on DVD's though.

So correct me if I'm wrong though. That's what I'm assuming you are getting at.

If one of these is the case, then I think that is why R2J anime is always higher quality than what we get here in the States.

[Jon Jon]

There also could be the matter (in this case particularly) that the original film stock itself is way too damn valuable to the company to be shipping out to random other companies in other countries. As I recall taking it from that would be the best picture, but it's much safer to send a copy made from the film, whether the generation change will drop the quality automatically or not.

Moot point.

The copies Toei sells/shows to the Japanese public are far superior to what are sent in many cases.

To the extent that had Toei actually just 'sent' DVD-Rs the quality would be better in many cases.

That also doesn't even get to where releases are purposely gimped, like the original DBZ master missing things (reverse importation, I suspect, wasn't a huge concern in the mid 90s...)

Hold on a second, if the Dragon Box masters is digital. Then why wouldn't Funimation get a 1:1 copy of the source? Obviously Toei isn't going to send their original dragonbox masters source to them. But instead they would give them a 1:1 copy of the masters to them. And since it's digital it would be unaltered. Unless you are saying Toei purposely gave them a altered Dragonbox masters source, because they never want them to produce the quality that they made. To prevent people from Japan from importing their sources.

I'm assuming that both have same source, one a copy and one the original. So the rest is in the hands of Funimation's to encode and make superior DVDs to the Japanese Dragonbox. The encoding methods from the same 1:1 sources from two different companies will prevent them from ever being 1:1 on DVD's though.

So correct me if I'm wrong though. That's what I'm assuming you are getting at.

If one of these is the case, then I think that is why R2J anime is always higher quality than what we get here in the States.

This is dependent on the media being used. On optical, flash, and hard drive mediums, this would hold true. This is because when accessing the files from these devices, no physical contact is being made to the data itself.

When it comes to digibeta tapes, there is contact being made, thus a degredation in the quality of the data every time the data is accessed.

This is why VHS tapes go bad and the quality degrades after a while, the players made physical contact with the film. This is also why Laser Discs were the better medium, because they were optical so the data never made physical contact with the player (aside from resolution differences and etc.).

Yes, digital is digital. Zeros and Ones are Zeros and Ones. However, when you are storing them on tape, data becomes less and less 1:1 due to corruption. This corruption is due to the physical contact being made to the tape every time the data is being accessed.

Oh Bluray, we need you in 400gb disc capacities PRONTO!

[MarcFBR]

Hold on a second, if the Dragon Box masters is digital. Then why wouldn't Funimation get a 1:1 copy of the source? Obviously Toei isn't going to send their original dragonbox masters source to them. But instead they would give them a 1:1 copy of the masters to them. And since it's digital it would be unaltered. Unless you are saying Toei purposely gave them a altered Dragonbox masters source, because they never want them to produce the quality that they made. To prevent people from Japan from importing their sources.

I'm assuming that both have same source, one a copy and one the original. So the rest is in the hands of Funimation's to encode and make superior DVDs to the Japanese Dragonbox. The encoding methods from the same 1:1 sources from two different companies will prevent them from ever being 1:1 on DVD's though.

So correct me if I'm wrong though. That's what I'm assuming you are getting at.

If one of these is the case, then I think that is why R2J anime is always higher quality than what we get here in the States.

You wouldn't send the masters, you would send an intermediary. Something that is (nearly) visually identical, or as close as possible. Like a digibeta.

[jjgp1112]

Awesome, Amazon shipped my DBox today! I should be getting it some time this weekend or next week.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

I say we all sing Head Cha La and Zenkai Power till the night ends. :d

That'd be quite hard to do, FUCK... I can't wait for this to turn up in the mail!! I SHOULD HAVE ORDERED SOONER><!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!