GT Singles vs. Green Bricks

[PhoenixEX]

I'm looking to buying one of these sets of DVDs but I don't really know what the difference is. Can anyone enlighten me on the difference between the GT singles released by FUNi and the Green Bricks? and which one is worth my money?
All I really know is that they're both 4:3, but besides that, I don't know anything else really.

[dbboxkaifan]

GT Singles:
- Original GT logo
- Japanese credits
- NEPs (dubbed in English too)
- Episodes sometimes can have choppy quality due to the compression on a DVD5 rather than a DVD9 (never really bothered me)

Green Bricks
- They don't have any of that.
- English dub has the original GT score (the GT Singles are with Menza's score only)
- Video is sort of smoothed/blurred
- Metallic GT logo
- TV Special is included

The GT Singles are the closest we'll get to an English Dragon Box GT, imo.

Edit: Screenshot comparisons of the GT Singles Vs. the Japanese Dragon Box GT:

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/52368
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/52369

[Gaffer Tape]

Yep. What dbboxkaifan says. If you are looking for the complete, Japanese broadcast experience of the show, the green bricks are woefully lacking compared to the singles. From my personal perspective, I would very much recommend the singles over the bricks, and, in terms of timing, it just seems really disappointing that they jumped backwards in terms of inclusion of content.

If you don't care about that, are more interested in convenience and availability, only intend to watch the series in English, and really want the dub with the original score included, then the bricks are more up your alley.

[Shnuki]

Also, if you care about shelf-space and the low price, the Complete Series GT Green Brick would be the best way to go. But considering what this set lacks, the singles would be the better choice.

[sumpter360]

I know the Green Bricks are interlaced, but what about the GT Singles? Are they progressive or interlaced?

[Metalwario64]

I know the Green Bricks are interlaced, but what about the GT Singles? Are they progressive or interlaced?

They're interlaced as well.

[Cipher]

From a purely picture-quality standpoint, the green bricks, while subject to the standard DVNR blurring, I actually find easier to recommend than the singles. FUNimation's singles for GT are absurdly dirty and grainy, and there's some pretty gratuitous macro-blocking throughout. Your mileage may vary, but I actually find that to be more of a distraction by far.

[Hellspawn28]

Don't the singles have dub titles since I remember the old Funi singles have dub titles then subs that follow the Japanese scripts?

[Cipher]

Don't the singles have dub titles since I remember the old Funi singles have dub titles then subs that follow the Japanese scripts?

No, the singles have the Japanese title cards if you select the Japanese audio track (or use the "angle" option included on most DVD remotes).

The green bricks lack this feature, although, as the narrator reads each Japanese title card anyway, meaning the original title is included in the subtitle track, I've never found it to be a deal-breaker. Again, though, your mileage may vary.

[Gaffer Tape]

I could be wrong, but I think he means dubtitles as in a subtitle track containing the dialogue for the dub. FUNimation's older discs had separate subtitle tracks for each audio option.

[Cipher]

I could be wrong, but I think he means dubtitles as in a subtitle track containing the dialogue for the dub. FUNimation's older discs had separate subtitle tracks for each audio option.

Woops, you are right. My bad.

[dbboxkaifan]

From a purely picture-quality standpoint, the green bricks, while subject to the standard DVNR blurring, I actually find easier to recommend than the singles. FUNimation's singles for GT are absurdly dirty and grainy, and there's some pretty gratuitous macro-blocking throughout. Your mileage may vary, but I actually find that to be more of a distraction by far.

I would personally take grainy and dirty over a blurry release without any JPN credits or NEPs, it's weird that people would complain about such thing considering that's part of the animation and its details.

I also noticed that the eyecatches on the Green Bricks were cut down to last less and the transition to the episode just feels awkward.

Still, the only thing that's better on the bricks over the singles is the English dub uses the original score whereas the singles have Menza's score, but I'm no dub watcher so I couldn't care less.

[RocktheDragon]

From a purely picture-quality standpoint, the green bricks, while subject to the standard DVNR blurring, I actually find easier to recommend than the singles. FUNimation's singles for GT are absurdly dirty and grainy, and there's some pretty gratuitous macro-blocking throughout. Your mileage may vary, but I actually find that to be more of a distraction by far.

I would agree that I find the green bricks easier to recommend as well. I still have some of the GT singles from when they were originally being released and I find them to be a bit too dirty and grainy as you've stated. Hopefully one day soon we get a definitive release of GT on Blu-ray though (but I'm not expecting anything that big from Funimation).

[Cipher]

I would personally take grainy and dirty over a blurry release without any JPN credits or NEPs, it's weird that people would complain about such thing considering that's part of the animation and its details.

This isn't Dragon Box-quality, minimal-grain-as-part-of-the-image, though. There are episodes on Funimation's singles that look like they were stored in boxes of sandpaper. And the macro-blocking, jeezus.

Again, it's a pick-your-poison sort of thing, but it's not just a "well, grain is grain" situation. These weren't good masters. Some of them look really bad.

[eledoremassis02]

I like the singles but I've also seen GT using the Green bricks. The picture quality on the green bricks didn't bother me at all

I'm a sucker for Japanese Title cards when I watch it in japanese lol

[SSJ3_Gogeta]

I picked up the green bricks a while ago because I wanted to watch GT with the Japanese score. The picture quality was decent (at least better than the orange bricks), and the music made GT more enjoyable.

The singles didn't look too bad either, though there's no English dub w/ Japanese score.

[dbboxkaifan]

This isn't Dragon Box-quality, minimal-grain-as-part-of-the-image, though. There are episodes on Funimation's singles that look like they were stored in boxes of sandpaper. And the macro-blocking, jeezus.

Again, it's a pick-your-poison sort of thing, but it's not just a "well, grain is grain" situation. These weren't good masters. Some of them look really bad.

Comparison 1: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/52368
Comparison 2: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/52369

This looks identical to the Japanese Dragon Box GT release except that the DVD5 compression has made the quality of these inferior.

If this isn't based from the Dragon Box GT then it's pretty close nonetheless.

[Landcross]

The biggest issue with the singles is that they were released across a zillion volumes with a bunch of confusing titles. "Reaction" "Conviction" etc. They also didn't even release the Black Star Dragon Ball arc until after they had released the other stuff, and they were the "Lost Episodes". Lost, as in, "We can't start with these, they're not BADAZZ AND KEWL enough for the DBZ fans!" (Funi's logic, circa 2004)

I got all of the "Lost Episodes" at an FYE for probably 3 bucks each on clearance years ago. But they don't even have episode numbers on the DVD cases or anything. Just volume 1-5. If I didn't know what episodes they were, it'd be confusing.

[Metalwario64]

These weren't good masters. Some of them look really bad.

I got a few of the singles, and the only problem with them was the atrocious macroblocking. The actual footage was always nearly identical to the Dragon Boxes.

Considering FUNi got the GT license around the time the Dragon Boxes started production, and that the footage is very close to the Dragon Boxes (sans still having the damage and being interlaced), I think it's a safe bet that FUNimation's GT masters are copies of the raw film source used to make the GT Dragon Boxes.


As for comparing FUNi's singles with the green bricks:

Here's and example of the blurring wiping out important details:

Single:


Green Brick:


Here's and example of the singles' horrific macroblocking:

Single:


Green Brick:


Basically, the way to sum up the argument between these two is to pick your poison.

[dbboxkaifan]

The problem that made the compression look so bad is that there's like two versions of the same episode, one's with the Japanese credits and the other Americanised which is unnecessary seeing they're almost the same and that with one it'd have been sufficient.

I acknowledge that at times the GT Singles don't look great but I'd rather take the bad compression over the damned blurry Green Bricks.