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

[qjz123]

Got my copy yesterday here are a bunch of random screenshots from the first 10 episodes of the Season 3 blu ray.
http://min.us/mb1ymOAvlpvlKz

[Metalwario64]

Looks like that one super bright episode from the DVD season three is still very bright, which is odd since they fixed the overbrightness on the "season two" Blu-ray.

Blu-ray:


DVD:


Then you've got some episodes that are really dark, blue-tinted and very saturated:

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Got my copy yesterday here are a bunch of random screenshots from the first 10 episodes of the Season 3 blu ray.
http://min.us/mb1ymOAvlpvlKz

These look great as expected. Can't wait for mine to arrive Monday/Tuesday.

[qjz123]

Looks like that one super bright episode from the DVD season three is still very bright, which is odd since they fixed the overbrightness on the "season two" Blu-ray.



Then you've got some episodes that are really dark, blue-tinted and very saturated:

Yeah the quality really heavily depends on the quality of Funimation's master for that episode. You would hope for some level of consistency with a "remastered release" but hey it is what it is.

[Metalwario64]

I'm curious: how does this shot look on the Blu-ray? It's from the episode where Freeza transforms into his third form, and it's shortly after Piccolo takes his turban and cape off.

[qjz123]

Here you go
Dvd

Blu ray

[Ajay]

Oh cool, more smudgy trash!

[RocktheDragon]

I do love me some cleaned up Japanese audio though. Great stuff! And Season 3 looks to be more of what we've already gotten, for better and for worse.

[JEFFMAN219]

Are these new blu ray sets even good lool?

[RocktheDragon]

Are these new blu ray sets even good lool?

Going beyond simple "lol" responses, yes these BD season sets are decent, depending on how you look at it.

They are a marked improvement over the orange brick releases and can really pop on an HD TV. The cleaned up Japanese audio is a huge plus for me and many others as well. Though I would have welcomed the inclusion of the original Japanese title cards and end credits.

[Ajay]

Are these new blu ray sets even good lool?

Going beyond simple "lol" responses, yes these BD season sets are decent, depending on how you look at it.

They are a marked improvement over the orange brick releases and can really pop on an HD TV. The cleaned up Japanese audio is a huge plus for me and many others as well. Though I would have welcomed the inclusion of the original Japanese title cards and end credits.

To go the total opposite way; no, they're pretty abysmal.

Being an improvement over the Orange Bricks is hardly an accolade, especially when the improvement really isn't that much. Yeah, no vanishing lines is a plus but the crop isn't exactly as good as some are making it out to be; at least when compared to Kai's efforts.

In exchange for no vanishing lines and a higher resolution, you now deal with a constant instance of grain attempting to fight its way though the heavy use of DNR, as such the backgrounds and characters' shading 'wobbles' where the grain is moving. As you can see in the screenshots above, any small amount of detail is smudged to pieces by the aggressive filtering. That's poor work on Funimation's part since we've seen via Kai that you can actually remove the grain while retaining details.

Inconsistent brightness as well as strange shifts in colour plague every season on top of the already terrible over-contrasted and saturated image. It's just not good.

No filtering of the Japanese audio is ever going to make up for how undeniably awful everything else is.

Yes, it's cheap, it's an entire 'season' per release but that doesn't negate what the actual content is. It doesn't matter what their 'aim' was, the product should be judged based on aspects that every media release is subjected to.

[Gokuden]

The thing is, you can just rip the original japanese audio, and use it for other releases that have a stuffy version.

[Kaboom]

Oh cool, more smudgy trash!

This really doesn't add anything to the conversation.

[samuraix123]

Here you go
Dvd

Blu ray

Wow! the Blu-ray looks a-lot better than the DVD. Now I can see the top of piccolo's head haha I was kinda shaky on believing them when they said they selectively cropped the series but it does look like they did/are and I like their attempt at what they're doing.

[Ajay]

Oh cool, more smudgy trash!

This really doesn't add anything to the conversation.

Neither do the 'Wow, this looks great!' responses either but I don't see them being called out.

I expanded on my points in a later post anyway.

[samuraix123]

Whoa there bud what did I do to you? lol What I said was totally adding to the conversation. I didn't really believe Funimation when they said ''Were selectively cropping the series'' but seeing that image of Piccolo proves me wrong and I like it and think it looks better than the DVD.

[Ajay]

Whoa there bud what did I do to you? lol What I said was totally adding to the conversation. I didn't really believe Funimation when they said ''Were selectively cropping the series'' but seeing that image of Piccolo proves me wrong and I like it and think it looks better than the DVD.

I wasn't actually referring to you. You're also not the only person on this page to say something along those lines. Your post certainly added to the conversation too.

I just find it amusing that positive off-hand comments regarding this release are left alone but as soon as I make a negative one, in swoops an admin with a telling off. I'd rather moderating were consistent.

[samuraix123]

Haha that's okay but let me ask since you do seem to not really care for this release(Not meaning that in a negative way either. just some people like different things) but how do you feel about the selective cropping? sure it's still cropped and Funimation is still making the mistake by cropping the series but it seems like they're trying to make the pain of the cropping a little less painful haha I mean, do you feel that the Blu-ray is a heck of a-lot better than the Orange Bricks?

[Ajay]

Haha that's okay but let me ask since you do seem to not really care for this release(Not meaning that in a negative way either. just some people like different things) but how do you feel about the selective cropping? sure it's still cropped and Funimation is still making the mistake by cropping the series but it seems like they're trying to make the pain of the cropping a little less painful haha I mean, do you feel that the Blu-ray is a heck of a-lot better than the Orange Bricks?

It's better than the Orange Bricks certainly but, like I said in my previous post, I don't think that's too difficult of a feat to accomplish. Regarding the cropping, yeah, I mean, it's not center cropped so that's a plus! However, it feels quite lazy with many crops breaking basic compositional rules that you'd expect a professional to adhere to. Examples include chins sitting centimeters away from the edge of frame with huge head-space above them. It's much better to have more space towards the bottom of the frame as 1) it more accurately represents the original composition and 2) it's just poor composition without it.

Something I recently learned is that these releases had more screenspace than Kai did at 16:9. To me, that makes things far worse as they have much more freedom with their crop. Instead, Kai still comes out on top as it seems their editor was far more versed in basic cinematography as well as moving the frame between almost every cut to ensure each shot is perfect. FUNi's work just feels quite lazy despite being an improvement over the center crop of old.

Kei17 actually posted a nice video showing how often Kai's framing changes. You can see just how much effort was put in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC0ZX0ABQkI

Hope that answers your question!

EDIT:

I should probably note that Kai isn't perfect too. There's a few instances I would have done differently. For example, take this shot from the first episode:

Spoiler:

I feel like seeing the bottom of the character's chin whilst they deliver a line is more important the top of their head. I'm more inclined to be reminded that this is a crop when instances like that occur. I mean, can you imagine watching a movie and suddenly you lose the bottom of a dude's face?! Totally off-putting.

Let me use a shot from The Avengers as an example. Which do you find more offputting? The top of the head gone or his chin missing? I'd argue most people would go with the former.

Spoiler:

[qjz123]

Here's more screenshots from the next 11 episodes on the set. http://min.us/mINTa7OKBMrPh