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

[Daimo-Rukiri]

The sad part is while we may get what we had before we're losing picture due to them cropping to 16x9...

That's the point. In this situation: The better quality of the remastering, the more pissed off I become

They already tried to do the release the fans wanted. It did not sell at the numbers they needed, at the price they needed, based on the level of remastering required to make it an acceptable product.

1. It was a bad time for the new release.
2. It wasn't properly marketed.
3. Many fans didn't know about it.
4. The rest of them was super-skeptical about "HD remaster" from FUNimation.

After the Level sets were cancelled, I've sent more than 60 PM's with comparison shots, here on kanzenshuu, and many emails to people around the internet. They all were really surprised and stunned by this quality. Nobody expected that good old Dragon Ball can look like that. I'm sure that the sales would look totally different today. You didn't comment this:

I'm sure that many of them believe that there will be no image loss in 16:9 AR. I think that if we would start a proper marketing campaign, fans of 4:3 would become the majority.

Random fans being loud at this point won't help, because they tried, and cancelled the attempt at doing the release for fans, because it didn't sell.

Is my English really that bad? I'm saying: Lets focus on 16:9 fans! Let's explain why cropping is bad. Many of them will definitely change their minds when they will understand the problem. Storming FUNimation comes after gathering an army. Let's DO something in our interest!

I mean... the set hasn't even officially been announced, has no advertising, etc. and is already nearly in the top 25 anime Blu-rays at Amazon. That tells you all you need to know (and it's at $25.)

We are promoting it here (and there). The second argument is that only Orange Bricks are available now - this release is the only alternative. The third argument: Dragon Ball Z on Blu-ray - for many, it is enough.

But hey! Maybe they mean 16:9 with black bars at the sides?

Lol actually that could be a possibility due to the higher resolution. Why promote 4x3? Market the the release as widescreen (even though it now has bars on the right).

We should see some trailer in october if it's a winter release.

I don't think you understand that this community represents a vocal minority. I highly doubt that this site has much to do with the sets being pre-ordered so quickly, and if that was the case, again, THE LEVEL SETS NEVER WOULD'VE BEEN CANCELLED IN THE FIRST PLACE.

If 16x9 is a marketing deploy but still 4x3 it would still be correct if the resolution is 1920x1280 it would just mean bars on the sides which not a false statement saying it's not widescreen.

[Kendamu]

I gotta wonder if the team that was involved in the 4:3 remastering is going to be the team responsible for the 16:9 remastering. They seemed like they were great at their jobs and, without all the huge problem areas that had to be cleaned up before, things should be a lot easier on their part. I mean, if we're getting 16:9 Dragon Ball Z no matter what, I'd like to hope that what we are getting will at least look really nice.

[Hellspawn28]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3aVGzpaMFY

I agree with this guy for once.

[Levlik]

Does anyone remember the hubub back in 2007 about how FUNimation stated their orange brick masters were scanned in 1080p and then downscaled to 480p for the DVD? I have a strange feeling if money was truly an issue then they're just going to slap those 1080p masters onto the BD if that's the case.

[Kendamu]

Does anyone remember the hubub back in 2007 about how FUNimation stated their orange brick masters were scanned in 1080p and then downscaled to 480p for the DVD? I have a strange feeling if money was truly an issue then they're just going to slap those 1080p masters onto the BD if that's the case.

Nah. The product description pretty much guarantees a new crop that allows for a more Kai-like presentation of 16:9 DBZ. This gives me some hope that this version of DBZ won't have horrible colors.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

Does anyone remember the hubub back in 2007 about how FUNimation stated their orange brick masters were scanned in 1080p and then downscaled to 480p for the DVD? I have a strange feeling if money was truly an issue then they're just going to slap those 1080p masters onto the BD if that's the case.

Nah. The product description pretty much guarantees a new crop that allows for a more Kai-like presentation of 16:9 DBZ. This gives me some hope that this version of DBZ won't have horrible colors.

The second pan & scan entered the description it pretty much said "We're not the bricks, move along".
I can pretty much say these will be the level sets but without a trailer it's an unknown.

The orange bricks remember had the same crop along the entire series, like a window it doesn't move. With Kai it changed quite often and I liked that, sure I want DBZ in 4x3 and I have that with the dragon boxes and if the cropping is as good as Kai or better I can live with it until a better release as the dboxes look like crap on an HDtv and I just got a 4K TV recently and it's complete crap... Well I have upscaled to 1080p and it helped(better than my blu-ray player anyway) but was still pretty bad.

A lot of the reviews on the level sets said they loved it but wished "they were in 16x9" across the board on every commerce site, hard to say if Funimation would read them but if they did Amazon would be on their reading list.

[theoriginalbilis]

I was actually at the FUNimation Industry Panel at AWA yesterday, and I was going to ask them about the upcoming Blu-Rays, but they "had no time for Q&A."

That didn't stop them from pimping the crap out of their "Rock The Dragon Edition" boxset. *groan*

[MarcFBR]

I was actually at the FUNimation Industry Panel at AWA yesterday, and I was going to ask them about the upcoming Blu-Rays, but they "had no time for Q&A."

That didn't stop them from pimping the crap out of their "Rock The Dragon Edition" boxset. *groan*

A $100 MSRP DVD box based on catalog material still in the top 60 a month and a half after release?

Who wouldn't pimp the crap out of that?

[Daimo-Rukiri]

I was actually at the FUNimation Industry Panel at AWA yesterday, and I was going to ask them about the upcoming Blu-Rays, but they "had no time for Q&A."

That didn't stop them from pimping the crap out of their "Rock The Dragon Edition" boxset. *groan*

A $100 MSRP DVD box based on catalog material still in the top 60 a month and a half after release?

Who wouldn't pimp the crap out of that?

I'll admit if you're looking for the original 53 episode toonami broadcast this is pretty good, doesn't have the oh sweet commercials though to really top the cake.

[kei17]

One of the problems with cropping here is that the footage would look abysmally grainy without DNR if you cropped 16mm film footage to fit it to HD widescreen. Of course, removing grains too much makes it look like the orange bricks, but keeping all of them is not a good idea as well when it comes to 16mm. I wonder how they will handle it.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

One of the problems with cropping here is that the footage would look abysmally grainy without DNR if you cropped 16mm film footage to fit it to HD widescreen. Of course, removing grains too much makes it look like the orange bricks, but keeping all of them is not a good idea as well when it comes to 16mm. I wonder how they will handle it.

The levels were very grainy and it was super noticeable but than again didn't bother me.

[MarcFBR]

One of the problems with cropping here is that the footage would look abysmally grainy without DNR if you cropped 16mm film footage to fit it to HD widescreen. Of course, removing grains too much makes it look like the orange bricks, but keeping all of them is not a good idea as well when it comes to 16mm. I wonder how they will handle it.

It definitely will. The release I can most remember that used cropped old 16mm that looked surprisingly good was the Blu-ray of Evil Dead.

The levels were very grainy and it was super noticeable but than again didn't bother me.

That doesn't really matter in this case. To get 16:9 footage out of the 16mm they have, it'll basically be zooming in, so it'll look even grainier than the Level sets unless they filter it out.

[eledoremassis02]

I'm reading the reviews of the new set on Amazon. The level sets wernt true blurays because they weren't in "seasons". I serously hope I read that wrong cause that worse than 4:3 is not "HD". lol

[Daimo-Rukiri]

I'm reading the reviews of the new set on Amazon. The level sets wernt true blurays because they weren't in "seasons". I serously hope I read that wrong cause that worse than 4:3 is not "HD". lol

There's like 3 reviews up on amazon.. Just because it's in 4x3 doesn't mean it's not in HD. I hate idiots that think this>< [facepalm} -> surprised no emoticon is available for facepalm...

I couldn't resist posting a comment to the person that thinks 16x9 = hd.

Just because it's 4x3 doesn't mean it's not HD! 16x9 does not equal HD period.

[bkev]

The only question I have that worries me is image stabilization. There is a lot of jitter on the Bricks, particularly in the early seasons. I hope they have some sort of stabilizing algorithm involved because that bugged me even more than the bleeding colors.

[Rukura]

The only question I have that worries me is image stabilization. There is a lot of jitter on the Bricks, particularly in the early seasons. I hope they have some sort of stabilizing algorithm involved because that bugged me even more than the bleeding colors.

You can probably go by the Level Blu-rays, as reference, in this case. After all, that seemed like a more automated process than anything else from that remastering. At least from what I remember in their video.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

The only question I have that worries me is image stabilization. There is a lot of jitter on the Bricks, particularly in the early seasons. I hope they have some sort of stabilizing algorithm involved because that bugged me even more than the bleeding colors.

Read the description of the blu-ray season sets, it gives it away that it's not the bricks as the bricks were auto cropped likely at the transfer, selectively cropping takes more time and thus is done after the fact.
It was also an automated process...

If you have the level sets I would be using these as reference and if anyone wants to chip in to buy 2.1 as a reference for season 2(parts of it anyway...) that'd be great...

The reviews of the level sets were positives but the major negative was "it's not 16x9!" so I'll bet $270(what it'll cost to buy these sets) that these are the levels in 16x9.

[ect5150]

Read the description of the blu-ray season sets, it gives it away that it's not the bricks as the bricks were auto cropped likely at the transfer, selectively cropping takes more time and thus is done after the fact.
It was also an automated process...

Yeah, but similar statements were made regarding the quality of the Orange Bricks. Don't go by the description - the proof is in the pudding. Critique it when we have screen shots or some of us post videos a few months from now. I will be surprised if they use a true selective cropping since the I think the primary motivator behind the cropping is a cost issue (they won't have to repair the most damaged portions of the film, thus making it a cost saving measure). I'm betting we'll get cropping right in the middle of the picture.

[Fennekin]

I was actually at the FUNimation Industry Panel at AWA yesterday, and I was going to ask them about the upcoming Blu-Rays, but they "had no time for Q&A."

That didn't stop them from pimping the crap out of their "Rock The Dragon Edition" boxset. *groan*

A $100 MSRP DVD box based on catalog material still in the top 60 a month and a half after release?

Who wouldn't pimp the crap out of that?

I'll admit if you're looking for the original 53 episode toonami broadcast this is pretty good, doesn't have the oh sweet commercials though to really top the cake.

Seriously, why are so many people complaining the DVD doesn't have COMMERCIALS on it, of all stupid things? Honestly, it's just thirty-second promos for the actual shows (Which you can EASILY find on YouTube), and would only be a waste of space. You never hear people asking for commercials for any other FUNimation title, so why of all things, are people asking for these silly commercials?

Sadly, however, FUNimation actually tried to get these promos but they couldn't get them due to the music rights.

[KingofWisdom]

Well, Toonami promos aren't just any commercials. They hype you the hell up to watch the show. Nowadays, they're probably the only advertisements worth sitting through.