Princess Mononoke & The Cat Returns!

[Cat III]

Here it is Princess Mono-freaking-noke. Looks like it's scheduled for May 19. No cover yet or any other info. Will update this thread as more news arrives.



Also, coming in May (the 29th to be exact) is The Cat Returns... or... uh... I mean, The Cat Re-freaking-turns. Haven't watched this yet, so will be a good excuse to finally see it.



With the release of Pom Poko in April, it appears 2014 will be as Ghibli as ever. We're getting down to the films I've never seen. I expect Only Yesterday and The Ocean Waves to make their way later this year. What Ghibli releases do you most look forward to?

[rollinwith26s]

Usually a North American release follows a year later...Hope this pattern continues!

[RDA]

Great news on both releases!

[Cat III]

Originally Posted by rollinwith26s

Usually a North American release follows a year later...Hope this pattern continues!

It certainly should. Can't think of a reason it wouldn't, though I pity you for having to wait an extra year.

[rollinwith26s]

Originally Posted by Cat III

It certainly should. Can't think of a reason it wouldn't, though I pity you for having to wait an extra year.

Don't worry. You have given me hope with this post.

[insomniac013]

Originally Posted by Cat III

With the release of Pom Poko in April, it appears 2014 will be as Ghibli as ever. We're getting down to the films I've never seen. I expect Only Yesterday and The Ocean Waves to make their way later this year. What Ghibli releases do you most look forward to?

I wouldn't count on Ocean Waves making it to Blu Ray any time soon as even Japan seems to have skipped it.

[Cat III]

Originally Posted by insomniac013

I wouldn't count on Ocean Waves making it to Blu Ray any time soon as even Japan seems to have skipped it.

Curious. I could've sworn Japan had released it. Well, they still have time to. I'll cross my fingers.

[David M]

Are the UK versions of the film-sourced Ghibli movies still degrained? I'll wait for US versions if so.

[Jafar]

Good news for the UK fans. What a pity StudioCanal seems to have skipped "Only Yesterday". Would've loved to own it on Blu For Mononoke, I think I'll just wait for the US release.

[dfmorgan]

Amazon UK have The Cat Returns listed as a May 19th release.

[EddieLarkin]

Originally Posted by Lyris

Are the UK versions of the film-sourced Ghibli movies still degrained? I'll wait for US versions if so.

I've only seen caps, but Totoro appears to be degrained compared to the Disney disc, and that was released as recently as 2012. There are a few Disney discs with dubtitles only and English only credits, plus many of the films appear to have little prospect of release in the U.S., so I just decided to shell out for a complete collection of JP discs instead. Not cheap.

[David M]

That's a real pain. The Japanese ones are expensive as you point out, but I wouldn't be able to watch degrained versions knowing there was something better out there. To have the best available is the entire point of BD.

[insomniac013]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

I've only seen caps, but Totoro appears to be degrained compared to the Disney disc, and that was released as recently as 2012. There are a few Disney discs with dubtitles only and English only credits, plus many of the films appear to have little prospect of release in the U.S., so I just decided to shell out for a complete collection of JP discs instead. Not cheap.

Which comparison did you see? Because i use this comparison thread and i can barely tell the difference between the two. The UK version has a slight contrast boost but that's about it.

They've certainly come a long way from the DNR mess that Nausicaa was...

[EddieLarkin]

I've not been able to find a proper comparison anywhere on the net, but the closest frames are these two:

Disney: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/scree...46&position=15
SCanal: http://cdn.blu-raydefinition.com/wor...o-UK-BD_01.png

Grain seems reduced and blotchy on the SC. Compare the space of blue sky above Satsuki and Mei's heads. Though I guess it could be down to the fact they are not exact frames. Lyris' opinion is worth a lot more than mine though, so it'd be interesting to know what he thinks...

Originally Posted by Lyris

That's a real pain. The Japanese ones are expensive as you point out, but I wouldn't be able to watch degrained versions knowing there was something better out there. To have the best available is the entire point of BD.

Yes, I find myself thinking that way. If there's a better looking version I have to get that one. I remember getting the ITV disc of The African Queen, thinking it coming out at a similar time to the Paramount disc, and from the same transfer, they'd be identical. Then I saw this:

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergl...ess=#vergleich

[insomniac013]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

I've not been able to find a proper comparison anywhere on the net, but the closest frames are these two:

Disney: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/scree...46&position=15
SCanal: http://cdn.blu-raydefinition.com/wor...o-UK-BD_01.png

Grain seems reduced and blotchy on the SC. Compare the space of blue sky above Satsuki and Mei's heads. Though I guess it could be down to the fact they are not exact frames. Lyris' opinion is worth a lot more than mine though, so it'd be interesting to know what he thinks...

I would need a magnifying glass in order to tell the difference in grain, really. Hardly a dealbreaker. But hey that's just my two cents.

[David M]

It's probably not professional for me to go too much in depth regarding BDs I didn't work on, given what my job is. Certainly though it's a technically verifiable fact that in those screen grabs, the US disc looks better encoded - but that could easily just be the screen grab.

What I will say is that the US Ghibli titles are done at Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory using their own proprietary AVC encoder. I got to tour that facility in my job as a journalist, and have a lot of trust in them.

Although in those grabs, it's apparent that the US version has been grain-reduced as well, with what looks like median filtering (just a little). I've not seen how it looks in motion.

Yes, I find myself thinking that way. If there's a better looking version I have to get that one. I remember getting the ITV disc of The African Queen, thinking it coming out at a similar time to the Paramount disc, and from the same transfer, they'd be identical. Then I saw this:

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergl...ess=#vergleich

Oof. That's a tough encoding job owed to the finely detailed grain.

The Paramount (US) BD was almost certainly done on CinemaCraft HDe. A lot of European facilities are using Sonic Cinevision (based off of Mainconcept's encoding engine) which I don't rate as highly for handling stuff like that, personally. The higher bitrate obviously helps a lot, though. One of them looks to have been decoded using the wrong matrix values also (hence the color shift).

[EddieLarkin]

You're right about the Disney disc I think; here is a print screen (crude, I know) of the same frame from my Japanese disc:

http://i.imgur.com/GHYAAOQ.jpg
(and another matching the cap from the UK disc: http://i.imgur.com/85aAfqg.jpg)

It shows a tad more grain than the Disney cap, again mostly noticeable above Satsuki and Mei's heads. All in, I'm happy with my purchase.

As for The African Queen, I'll be double dipping next time I feel the need to run it.

[David M]

Well, in that shot comparison, the colors don't change. So that calls into question the accuracy of the one from the other site and suggests the Euro disc is fine.

[EddieLarkin]

Sorry, I should have been clearer. My two caps are not a comparison, but rather both are from the Japanese disc (I don't have the SC one), the first matching the Disney cap posted earlier, the second matching the SC cap posted earlier.

[insomniac013]

I'm just saying unless there's aggressive DNR in place (ala Nausicaa) I'm not that bothered and can settle for Studio Canal. They are decently priced and decently produced. I do plan on getting some JP releases in the future, but for now the UK releases will do just fine.