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

[jjgp1112]

Is my VLC the only one working properly or some shit? It was having problems before, but I downloaded some bugfix that they ept telling me to download and it works just fine now.

VLC has been having more and more issues lately, which is part of why... well... unless you have to because of issues (and I know someone who does)... don't use VLC as your 'normal' player (I'll admit the added DVD controls are nice, but more and more it's not outputting shit right.)

Well yeah, I use MPC as my normal player and I only use VLC when I want to take a large number of screencaps right away.

[MarcFBR]

Thank you very much man, I really appreciate all this information. I'm using CS4, so thanks a lot for the warnings as well.

I used to switch between image editors, since I got CS4, I only open anything else when I'm on a machine that doesn't have CS4 (like the one I'm using while my PC is in the shop...)

Since you are on CS4 you can largely follow my instructions exactly, those using CS3 or the Gimp will need to look around a bit (it's likely CS3 has Bicubic also, but it may be an OLDER, and therefore different Bicubic, and it's likely that the Gimps 'Cubic', is the same thing, but I don't know, nor have I looked.)

[MarcFBR]

Well yeah, I use MPC as my normal player and I only use VLC when I want to take a large number of screencaps right away.

Go into the settings of MPC, where all the key shortcuts are, and change the shortcut for the 'no popup' screencapping (on my backup machine, which is a mediabox modified Mac, so no MPC on here to check the actual name) and change the shortcut to the numpad 0 key, it'll let you hit them as fast as you need (which is why I included the step of saving a single cap manually, so you can switch the 'no popup' version to .PNG.)

[.:PoetikaL:.]

I'm having a bit of confusion as to how to capture using MPC-HC and the CCCP codec. Sorry to be a pain, but I just wanna get it right you know?

Basically where do I go to set the things and everything, like File>Options>do this and that and click this doohickey.

[russ869]

Another annoyance I've found--

If you want to skip past the episode recaps, be prepared to fast forward. Using chapter skip during the OP brings you to the episode recap. Using chapter skip during the recap brings you to the eye catcher, and not the beginning of the actual episode.


I can already tell this is going to be a huge annoyance for me later on during the episodes that really drag along-- I'll never want to see those recaps.

Actually that sounds good. I didn't like how when you skip the recap on the season sets it skips to right after the episode title. I wanna see the title for the episode without having to rewind. I think I prefer it like this.

[Mystery Person X]

So what's wrong with 720x540 exactly? I fail to see how resizing the source image so that you lose resolution (and hence detail) makes for a more accurate screencap. I'm skeptical that DVD player software reduces the image to 640x480 and then resizes it to fill your screen.

On a related note, in general I don't recall this level of obsession about precisely correct screencaps at any previous point in this board's history (and I've lurked for years - much longer than I've been a member). I think the important thing is that whoever's taking screencaps of the Japanese and US Dragon Boxes both use the same method, not that they use the method with some guy's stamp of approval.

[MarcFBR]

Basically where do I go to set the things and everything, like File>Options>do this and that and click this doohickey.

It's one of the menus in settings (or options... don't remember which it's called.) You'll get a full list of commands and key combinations.)

[nathantheguitarist]

Apparently, my post office isn't as lazy as I thought! Dragon Box is here, hurray!

Now I just need to find time to sit down and watch it, with no annoyances or obnoxious people

I popped in the first disc though, and watched about 5 minutes. It looks good for 5 minutes worth lol. Nice, full picture. No bad DVD encoding I could see (though I didn't watch anything with fast motion yet).

I'm genuinely impressed with this boxset. Fiddling around with the box and book was fun. All of the pictures and videos etc don't do it justice. It's really, really shiny. And the cardboard is nice and thick. No flimsy-ness to it at all.

[MarcFBR]

So what's wrong with 720x540 exactly? I fail to see how resizing the source image so that you lose resolution (and hence detail) makes for a more accurate screencap. I'm skeptical that DVD player software reduces the image to 640x480 and then resizes it to fill your screen.

No, if you fullscreen it, it will use the source resolution, but then every single persons PC will upscale something differently (which is part of why you either have to compare at native on disc, or 'native viewing', and since native on disc has an incorrect aspect ratio for viewing on a PC monitor, it makes far more sense to use native viewing.

The native viewing for DVDs on a computer monitor is 640x480, which is why nearly every computer based PC player plays them at that resolution in windowed mode.

On a related note, in general I don't recall this level of obsession about precisely correct screencaps at any previous point in this board's history (and I've lurked for years - much longer than I've been a member).

Because there hasn't been a release where quality was actually expected.

I think the important thing is that whoever's taking screencaps of the Japanese and US Dragon Boxes both use the same method, not that they use the method with some guy's stamp of approval.

That's a cute opinion.

By that reasoning you can go buy the orange bricks, cause they were all done the same.

Having multiple people do shit wrong still means its wrong.

720x540 is inherently wrong for capping DVDs because it is upscaling vertically.

The reason we use 640x480 is because, as I said, that is native viewing on the PC.

[Kaboom]

godofchaos knows what he's doing with this stuff. Taking his suggestions on how to properly take screencaps is not only a good idea, but currently the best idea.

[Mystery Person X]

No, if you fullscreen it, it will use the source resolution, but then every single persons PC will upscale something differently (which is part of why you either have to compare at native on disc, or 'native viewing', and since native on disc has an incorrect aspect ratio for viewing on a PC monitor, it makes far more sense to use native viewing.

"Native viewing" still involves a resizing process, only it's down instead of up. It'll still be done differently by everyone's PC.

Furthermore, if everyone uses the same process to upscale, the results will be just as equal as if everyone uses the same process to downscale. The only difference is that you aren't losing so much of the detail from the source video.

That's a cute opinion.

By that reasoning you can go buy the orange bricks, cause they were all done the same.

Um. What? This is no way a logical argument. No, really, I have no idea what point you're trying to make.

[MarcFBR]

"Native viewing" still involves a resizing process, only it's down instead of up. It'll still be done differently by everyone's PC.

Yes it does, but then downscaling tends to be slightly LESS destructive, because you aren't 'creating' nonexistant data, but 'squeezing' what does exist (plus the very manner of decoding will change from computer to computer, which does render upscaling and downscaling arguments slightly moot mind you, which is why I tend to stick with going DOWN.)

Keeping them 720x480 is one way to do as little as possible, but I generally find it unacceptable because the resolution isn't correct. There is a reason most of the digital video you buy on the internet in SD is 640x480, because that is the proper resolution for it to be at.

As for my one comment, I was being condescending to you, largely at the suggestion that 'as long as everyone does it incorrectly in the same fashion, then it will be alright.'

Everyone can honestly do whatever they choose to do. My general goal is to keep the vertical 480, which is the most obvious base line of comparison (source is always 720x480, so I take the caps, move them down to 640x480 for 4:3, for 16:9, I be very careful scaling them to 853x480, while upscaling, I do it carefully, and it's the resolution basically every player displays them at, because it's the proper way to do so.)

Someone asked for a clean way for people to stay consistent, I gave the way that works best as far as quality is concerned.

[.:PoetikaL:.]

Alright, there's not use arguing, and by taking godofchaos' advice, I think I got this right. Here we go with some screen caps:














Is this to your liking goc?

[jjgp1112]

I took screencaps from the Orange Brick of the Goku vs Vegeta screencaps that Haseowolf took. Laugh away:

[MarcFBR]

Is this to your liking goc?

It doesn't need to be to my liking, just done right.

It appears those were done as such though (don't have my discs, so I can't say for sure. More importantly... does it look accurate to what YOU see in MPC-HC?)

[email2003]

Yeah, I finally got mine today. About time postal service.

[.:PoetikaL:.]

Is this to your liking goc?

It doesn't need to be to my liking, just done right.

It appears those were done as such though (don't have my discs, so I can't say for sure. More importantly... does it look accurate to what YOU see in MPC-HC?)

When I compared the still to the scene (because I paused for safe measures) they looked similar in quality, and so I took the snapshots, resized them with the bicubic gradient option, and that's that.

So yes, it looked pretty accurate to me.

[Mystery Person X]

downscaling tends to be slightly LESS destructive

This is an actual argument and one I can get behind. I can see your point.

As for my one comment, I was being condescending to you, largely at the suggestion that 'as long as everyone does it incorrectly in the same fashion, then it will be alright.'

Bear in mind that this is in the context of tiny differences between screencaps taken using different methods. I can appreciate the need to make sure that differences in the colours and level of detail and compression artifacting are genuinely differences in the DVDs and not just in the way the screencaps have been taken, but there's a difference between that and the insistence that screencaps made in certain programs or at certain resolutions are WRONG WRONG WRONG even if they correctly represent the way the DVD will look when viewed.

FWIW, you can be as condescending as you like, but if there's no substance to go along with it, don't expect me to act as if you've made a point. This isn't high school.

Someone asked for a clean way for people to stay consistent, I gave the way that works best as far as quality is concerned.

Put this way, it's a valid cause and a worthwhile effort. Better without all the hyperbole though I think.

[MarcFBR]

Put this way, it's a valid cause and a worthwhile effort. Better without all the hyperbole though I think.

I prefer the hyperbole.

And yes, it isn't high school. Which means you don't get babied, and sometimes people aren't obligated to explain things to you, especially when they've explained it 100 times to 100 different people (who as anyone in the chatroom can tell you, the people who want to know often don't listen anyways.)

[Mystery Person X]

I prefer the hyperbole.

Then we'll have to agree to disagree.

And yes, it isn't high school. Which means you don't get babied, and sometimes people aren't obligated to explain things to you, especially when they've explained it 100 times to 100 different people (who as anyone in the chatroom can tell you, the people who want to know often don't listen anyways.)

Look, it's up to you if you want to answer a simple question or not. You're in charge of how you present yourself to the world. Just don't expect your irrelevant theatrics to be taken as a satisfactory answer to someone making a reasonable point. I was always going to ask again.