My little great comparison (screencaps from 12 releases)

Timo · Post by **Timo** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 4:31 pm

About four months in the making. My new comparison of DBZ DVD releases is finally complete.
It contains a picture of:
- Japanese Dragon Box
- American Dragon Box
- Spanish "Dragon Box"
- French Box set
- German Box set
- American Season one Box
- Old Italian DVD
- New Italian DVD
- Pioneer DVD
- Ultimate Uncut DVD
- Dutch DVD
- Arabic Box

The best is if you "save as..." because the file is big (especially the tif):
- PNG-Version (6,7 MB)
- TIF-Version (33,8 MB)

Before you complain:
Yes, I know that one picture maybe isn't totally fair, but I think it's enough to clearly see the differences.

All screenshots were made in VLC player.
BIG thanks to sangofe (merci beaucoup) and hudemx (dank' dir).

EDIT:
I updated the pictures with the Arabic release. Thanks to SHINOBI-03.

Khalid Shahin · Post by **Khalid Shahin** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 8:13 pm

Four months in the... What? Non-DVD comparisons would be great too, like VHS recordings of the original airings.

sangofe · Post by **sangofe** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 8:18 pm

Nice, Timo, too bad we had to have such a boring shot, though :p Edit: amazing how similar the French and Italien releases are...

.:PoetikaL:. · Post by **.:PoetikaL:.** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:37 am

I like the USA & Japan Dboxes, they're the best so far, but Spain's... wow, I really like that one, it's bit more vibrant.

Great job Timo! Huge props my man!

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 2:18 am

The Spanish one looks pretty nice. Sure, they smoothed away the grain but the blur and detail loss isn't nearly as apparent as the Orange Bricks. The Italian one would be nice but they turned up the contrast way to much. It looks almost like Orange Brick Season 2. France's looks pretty nice, too.

It's also a nice reminder of how far we've come since the Pioneer releases.

Greenman · Post by **Greenman** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 2:44 am

Thanks for the great comparison, Timo! No Arabic DVD, though?

.:PoetikaL:. wrote:I like the USA & Japan Dboxes, they're the best so far, but Spain's... wow, I really like that one, it's bit more vibrant

It's somewhat over-saturated. That's why it looks more vibrant.

Obviously the best looking releases are the Dragon Boxes, but the French, Italian, and Spanish releases are great too. The French and new Italian releases look too bright. And it looks like something might be wrong with the Italian DVD's encoding.

Kendamu wrote:It's also a nice reminder of how far we've come since the Pioneer releases.

Except for those living in Germany, unfortunately.

SHINOBI-03 · Post by **SHINOBI-03** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:04 am

Thanks for the great comparison, Timo! No Arabic DVD, though?

Nobody asked.

Dragon Ball Z (1-48)
AlWadi Co.
(UAE)

The Time Traveller ownes my DVDs, so, he might have a higher not-so-higher quality.

Greenman · Post by **Greenman** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:11 am

Thanks! That was fast.

SSj_Rambo · Post by **SSj_Rambo** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:37 am

Awesome comparison! Thanks!!

sangofe · Post by **sangofe** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 5:12 am

Kendamu wrote: The Italian one would be nice but they turned up the contrast way to much. It looks almost like Orange Brick Season 2. France's looks pretty nice, too.

It's also a nice reminder of how far we've come since the Pioneer releases.

As far as I can see, the French and Italien screen captures are identical.

SHINOBI-03 · Post by **SHINOBI-03** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 5:15 am

I hope you like this:

From Left to right:

- American Dragon Box
- Pioneer DVD
- Japanese Dragon Box
- Ultimate Uncut DVD
- Spanish "Dragon Box"
- American Season one Box
- Old Italian DVD
- German Box set
- Dutch DVD
- New Italian DVD
- Arabic DVD
- French Box set

SonGokuGT · Post by **SonGokuGT** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 5:41 am

Very nice, Shinobi! I like the Japanese, American and Spanish shots. They are worthy of the DragonBox name, and I know that firsthand on all three!

Dr. Casey · Post by **Dr. Casey** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 5:55 am

Hmm... I'm not sure whether I prefer a dark blue sky or a light one...

The contrast between the two Italian DVDs is nice. The new one's extremely bright, the older one's charming in a campy low budget sort of way. And lol at the Arabic version. In the Arabic Dragon World, it's night even when it's day.

Timo · Post by **Timo** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 6:05 am

Thanks Shinobi. I'll update it later.

It's really strange how similar the new French and the new Italian video is. Even the encoding sucks on those two.

Greenman · Post by **Greenman** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:36 am

sangofe wrote:
Kendamu wrote: The Italian one would be nice but they turned up the contrast way to much. It looks almost like Orange Brick Season 2. France's looks pretty nice, too.

It's also a nice reminder of how far we've come since the Pioneer releases.
As far as I can see, the French and Italien screen captures are identical.

They do look very similar. If you look at the mountains behind Piccolo there is a noticeable amount of detail lost in the Italian version compared to the French.

sangofe · Post by **sangofe** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 8:16 am

Greenman wrote:
sangofe wrote:
Kendamu wrote: The Italian one would be nice but they turned up the contrast way to much. It looks almost like Orange Brick Season 2. France's looks pretty nice, too.

It's also a nice reminder of how far we've come since the Pioneer releases.
As far as I can see, the French and Italien screen captures are identical.
They do look very similar. If you look at the mountains behind Piccolo there is a noticeable amount of detail lost in the Italian version compared to the French.

Okay, I was tired while looking at those captures. Thanks for pointing that out, and I guess this means that that Italiens and French worked from the exact same source.

SHINOBI-03 · Post by **SHINOBI-03** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:00 am

OK, now...

Can you all help me here to do a similer comparision with this one?

USA Dragon Box

Kai (TV Version)

FUNimation Remastered Season 1

Arabic DVD

sangofe · Post by **sangofe** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:27 am

Care to share episode number, and aproximate time (please note if you're counting opening, or not)?

SHINOBI-03 · Post by **SHINOBI-03** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:36 am

It's from episode 31 "Now, Goku! A Final Technique with Everything on the Line" / "Saiyan Sized Secret".

The time is somewhere before the Kamehameha X Galactic Cannon fight.

TheGreatness25 · Post by **TheGreatness25** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 2:26 am

Damn I thought FUNimation brightened up the picture. Now I see France and Italy's version O_O