The Harmony Gold Dub & Broadcast Audio Discussion Thread

[superrayman3]

I don't own any of the GT discs so I've never heard the Japanese audio on them. Does FUNimation or Toei need higher quality audio for that series? Should we send them those tapes as well?

No. Toei still has the D-2 videotapes with the original stereo audio that they unfortunately forgot to use for the GT DBox.

Perhaps Toei wanted to keep the audio quality of GT consistent with the previous TV series', either that or they couldn't locate where the GT D-2 tapes were at the time.

[qjz123]

Perhaps Toei wanted to keep the audio quality of GT consistent with the previous TV series', either that or they couldn't locate where the GT D-2 tapes were at the time.

Or they were lazy.

[kei17]

Perhaps Toei wanted to keep the audio quality of GT consistent with the previous TV series', either that or they couldn't locate where the GT D-2 tapes were at the time.

They used the D-2 master of GT TV special, so I guess they did have access to and simply missed them.

Or they were lazy.

According to the product descriptions, they bothered to remaster the inferior film audio tracks, which was so pointless and nothing but waste of money.

[JulieYBM]

I am thinking the team assembled for creating the Dragon Box masters were not entirely well-read on the subject so they simply used the optical audio tracks, unaware of the other available resources. For all we know Toei might actually have better masters for the first two shows mislabeled somewhere.

[superrayman3]

I am thinking the team assembled for creating the Dragon Box masters were not entirely well-read on the subject so they simply used the optical audio tracks, unaware of the other available resources. For all we know Toei might actually have better masters for the first two shows mislabeled somewhere.

It's possible but highly doubtful, Toei has a bad habit of throwing certain things materials for their stuff away after they're finished with them a habit that continues even today, either that or they have a bunch of people with poor memory and management skills storing their stuff and not taking notes as to where everything is.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I am thinking the team assembled for creating the Dragon Box masters were not entirely well-read on the subject so they simply used the optical audio tracks, unaware of the other available resources. For all we know Toei might actually have better masters for the first two shows mislabeled somewhere.

Unlikely, but I wouldn't rule it out. That kind of stuff has happened before. For the restoration of "Blade Runner" for Ridley Scott's Final Cut, the only remaining original film master copy they could find was in a storage warehouse in Los Angeles, where it had been marked to be thrown out as trash several years ago...and it didn't happen purely because of a (VERY fortunate) clerical error.

[Puto]

Who knows. Captain Tsubasa for example has the same problem of only having optical audio available on the Japanese DVD releases... except the Italian DVDs, which are based on the film they received back in 1987 or so, actually have the original broadcast Japanese audio. So it's possible that some random licensor out there has high quality DB/Z audio.

[kei17]

From what I heard, anime studios, especially the major ones that produce many shows like Toei, used to often junk "needless" masters because they would be taxed. I think it's very unlikely that they bothered to store the master audio tapes.

[qjz123]

So are there any updates regarding Christopher Sabat and the Japanese broadcast audio?

[DerekPadula]

None so far. Chris said we should sit tight and be patient as he tries to negotiate with FUNimation and find a way to transfer all of the audio. Apparently it's expensive to do it right and they need to find an affordable studio to process all of them. So the ball is in his court and I'll let you know if I hear anything.

I am confused by the recent press release for DBZ on Blu-ray, as apparently there *was* mention of higher quality Japanese audio on it, but it was then removed, or something? Anybody know?

[qjz123]

I am confused by the recent press release for DBZ on Blu-ray, as apparently there *was* mention of higher quality Japanese audio on it, but it was then removed, or something? Anybody know?

They said they were remastering the audio tracks in the interest of noise reduction. I just assumed they were remastering the audio sources they currently have.

[sangofe]

Any news on this? Did kei17 send FUNimation the tapes?

[kei17]

Any news on this? Did kei17 send FUNimation the tapes?

No. I'm still waiting for news from Derek.

[sangofe]

Is this project still alive?

[DerekPadula]

It's alive so long as I'm alive.

Chris Sabat wants the tapes, he's just too busy to do anything with them. He's always in the middle of some huge project. For example, they're in the middle of recording Resurrection 'F' at the moment. And then on the weekends he goes to conventions.

But I need to speak with him anyway, so I'll see if I have time to mention it to him among other things. Thanks for the reminder.

[Akira]

I just spent half my morning reading through all 25 pages of this topic, post by post. Not only was it extremely informative, but extremely impressive how much information and materials you all dug up and worked out together. Kudos to you all for your efforts. How I never noticed this topic is surprising to me, but, come to think of it, I had a lot of stuff going on personally during the time frame this was all going down, so I probably didn't visit the site much during that period. Again, good work everyone, I am thoroughly amazed at what all you did manage to accomplish.

[DB1984]

Since this thread has been revived, I have a couple of questions I would like to ask about the Harmony Gold Dub:

1) I live in the Los Angeles area, where such dub was recorded in. Did this dub ever air on any independent L.A. station; KHJ (now KCAL), KTLA, KCOP, or even the Fox-owned KTTV?

2) Did this dub REALLY have a limited VHS release, or is this just a myth?

[DerekPadula]

Since this thread has been revived, I have a couple of questions I would like to ask about the Harmony Gold Dub:

1) I live in the Los Angeles area, where such dub was recorded in. Did this dub ever air on any independent L.A. station; KHJ (now KCAL), KTLA, KCOP, or even the Fox-owned KTTV?

2) Did this dub REALLY have a limited VHS release, or is this just a myth?

I called the CEO of Harmony Gold and he didn't know because it was before his time. Then I called a bunch of television stations across the country that may have aired it, and they didn't know either. It's a moment from over 20 years ago and anyone involved with it is long gone.

But please, by all means, call those stations up. They may have an archivist or producer who's been there forever. "You never know unless you try!"

[superrayman3]

Since this thread has been revived, I have a couple of questions I would like to ask about the Harmony Gold Dub:

1) I live in the Los Angeles area, where such dub was recorded in. Did this dub ever air on any independent L.A. station; KHJ (now KCAL), KTLA, KCOP, or even the Fox-owned KTTV?

We don't know for sure at the current moment if any independent L.A. stations (or how many stations for that manner) ever aired the Harmony Gold dub, however if you take into consideration L.A. would be a great area to do a test broadcast because of its huge population ratio it's highly possible.

2) Did this dub REALLY have a limited VHS release, or is this just a myth?

This is a very complex topic and I'll try to summerise everything up as simply as possible so you'll better understand where we're at with this. Now according to rumor online it's believed that Streamline Pictures (an anime distribution company that released mainly dub only anime some of which were sub-liscensed from Harmony Gold, for example Streamline's various Robotech releases) released a very limited print VHS run of Harmony Gold's dub of DB Movie 1&3 that aired in 1989 (I've also heard a 2nd rumor which claims that what Streamline Pictures actually released was a limited sub only VHS release of DB Movie 2 which Harmony Gold had the rights to at the time), I've been looking into these two rumors for the past three years and thus far have found absolutly nothing concrete to prove that either of these VHS releases exist, the closest I came was someone on the dbz forums who claimed to have the Streamline tape for Harmony Gold's DB Movie 1&3 dub, I attempted to make him an offer for said tape, he declined and I left it at that, so simply put at the moment we don't have any proof these tapes exist but it's possible... WAIT A MINUTE I just had a thought and I know it sounds left field but just hear me out and if I'm right we're gonna have our work cut out for us, what if Streamline Pictures did make a release of either of these two ideas or hell let's just say for the sake of argument that they released both the dub only movie 1&3 and the sub only Movie 2, but after the first two or three batches were produced and shipped something in the deal fell through and Streamline Pictures had to not only stop production but also recall any unsold stock, now let's say that the amount of unsold stock was 90-95% of what was originally produced? I know the idea sounds crazy but think about it, only three or four people at most have said anything informative about a DB Streamline VHS release in existence, this means either one of two things, either.

A. This whole Streamline thing is just a giant troll made to look the fans of the Harmony Gold dub look stupid.

or

B. Only a handful of people have these tapes and don't realize it.

What do you guys think?

[Daimo-Rukiri]

Since this thread has been revived, I have a couple of questions I would like to ask about the Harmony Gold Dub:

1) I live in the Los Angeles area, where such dub was recorded in. Did this dub ever air on any independent L.A. station; KHJ (now KCAL), KTLA, KCOP, or even the Fox-owned KTTV?

We don't know for sure at the current moment if any independent L.A. stations (or how many stations for that manner) ever aired the Harmony Gold dub, however if you take into consideration L.A. would be a great area to do a test broadcast because of its huge population ratio it's highly possible.

2) Did this dub REALLY have a limited VHS release, or is this just a myth?

This is a very complex topic and I'll try to summerise everything up as simply as possible so you'll better understand where we're at with this. Now according to rumor online it's believed that Streamline Pictures (an anime distribution company that released mainly dub only anime some of which were sub-liscensed from Harmony Gold, for example Streamline's various Robotech releases) released a very limited print VHS run of Harmony Gold's dub of DB Movie 1&3 that aired in 1989 (I've also heard a 2nd rumor which claims that what Streamline Pictures actually released was a limited sub only VHS release of DB Movie 2 which Harmony Gold had the rights to at the time), I've been looking into these two rumors for the past three years and thus far have found absolutly nothing concrete to prove that either of these VHS releases exist, the closest I came was someone on the dbz forums who claimed to have the Streamline tape for Harmony Gold's DB Movie 1&3 dub, I attempted to make him an offer for said tape, he declined and I left it at that, so simply put at the moment we don't have any proof these tapes exist but it's possible... WAIT A MINUTE I just had a thought and I know it sounds left field but just hear me out and if I'm right we're gonna have our work cut out for us, what if Streamline Pictures did make a release of either of these two ideas or hell let's just say for the sake of argument that they released both the dub only movie 1&3 and the sub only Movie 2, but after the first two or three batches were produced and shipped something in the deal fell through and Streamline Pictures had to not only stop production but also recall any unsold stock, now let's say that the amount of unsold stock was 90-95% of what was originally produced? I know the idea sounds crazy but think about it, only three or four people at most have said anything informative about a DB Streamline VHS release in existence, this means either one of two things, either.

A. This whole Streamline thing is just a giant troll made to look the fans of the Harmony Gold dub look stupid.

or

B. Only a handful of people have these tapes and don't realize it.

What do you guys think?

If you're talking about DB#2 I do remember watching that subbed on VHS, the vhs seemed legit as it had the fbi logo that was all common on VHS tapes but that was a rental though and not something I owned. The Subs were decent but because I watched it years before Funimation's subs came out I can't say how good or bad they were. The Names were all correct, no Zero funny business going on.

I remember my local blockbuster carrying "fansubbed" DB, Z, and GT back in the day but they were always taken though and they only showed "please check at the desk for availability".
They actually marked them as fansubbed, and if they were official they'd mark them as official or if they were just raw and no subs they were left blank.