The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[Ccharmanderk]

Originally Posted by professorwho

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...&postcount=123

Dang, that's a huge difference. Definitely prefer the darker colors of the new release. Will upgrade next chance I have.

[svenge]

It's a good buy, especially since the GKIDS edition has the full-length commentary track featuring animator Hideaki Anno (who went on to create Evangelion) and assistant director Kazuyoshi Katayama, along with an 42-minute audio-only interview with Anno and producer Toshio Suzuki.

One thing to note however is that the GKIDS release lacks the 28-minute "Birth Story of Studio Ghibli" documentary featurette that Disney's BD had. Other than that, the GKIDS release is by far superior to the previous Disney BD and is well worth the $13 Amazon is charging for it currently.

[BlackDevil]

Hey guys, I posted this in the other thread but this is probably the most appropriate place to ask. I've been collecting the original JP Blu-rays over the years and I've seen the comparison thread for which versions have the best specs depending on the region, but the main page hasn't been updated in a few years. I know theres some differences with the JP Box set but it's OOP, and with these new GKids discs coming out do any of them (besides Nausicaä) have better video/JP audio specs than the JP releases?

I know all the English dubs on the JP discs are lossy so I'm not concerned about that. But specifically does anyone know if Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away has a 24bit audio track on the new GKids release and if its worth upgrading from the JP version?

[svenge]

The GKIDS releases for Mononoke and Spirited Away both have 24-bit Japanese audio, as do the rest of their Miyazaki releases to date. The stand-alone Japanese release of Mononoke is 16-bit, while the JP BDs of Spirited Away and all the other Miyazaki films are 24-bit.

I believe that the stand-alone JP Mononoke was 16-bit not due to source issues but disc space limitations, as it's Studio Ghibli's longest film and the BD carries twelve audio tracks + bonus features. The reason I make that assertion is that the Mononoke disc in the JP "Miyazaki Box" has 24-bit audio, presumably because enough space was left on the disc after all the extras that the stand-alone edition had were omitted.

As for the video bitrates, here's a little chart I cooked up comparing the US and Japanese releases:

Movie (runtime) - Disney / GKIDS / JP stand-alone / JP "Miyazaki box"
--------------
Nausicaa (117m) - 24 / 35 / 39 / 38
Castle in the Sky (126m) - 24 / 33 / 33 / 36
Totoro (86m) - 35 / 35 / 35 / 38
Kiki (102m) - 28 / 32 / 36 / 39
Porco (94m) - 35 / 35 / 35 / 38
Mononoke (133m) - 22 / 29 / 25 / 31
Spirited Away (124m) - 24 / 30 / 27 / 30
Howl (119m) - 27 / 28 / 24 / 30
Ponyo (101m) - 23 / 30 / 24 / 33
Wind Rises (126m) - 24 / NA / 26 / 32

Note: The GKIDS and JP "Miyazaki box" BDs of Nausicaa use the superior newer transfer, while the Disney and JP stand-alone releases use the older one.

[husky1993a]

Originally Posted by Naiera

I feel the same way, and I prefer TrueHD to DTS-HD MA

I still remember when there were forums with people screaming that DTS-HD MA is a "superior" format because of a higher bitrate and "it's louder so it's better"

[Naiera]

Ha. Usually, usually, the lower the volume, the better the sound is

[BMill]

Originally Posted by professorwho

I know Koe no Katachi is gonna most likely have a higher video bitrate, as it’ll have less audio tracks (either 2 or 3- Dynit is debating over including the “inner silence” track), and being DTS-HD MA instead of LPCM takes up less space (yes, I’ve finally accepted that they are theoretically the same auditory experience, but I still prefer LPCM). Bitrate is fine, but I’m confident if they deband it’ll look better- the issue is how much can be- considering some is from the original source. (I’m no expert, granted, but this is what I’m gathering from various sources.)

They are not theoretically the same. DTS likely uses some heavy dithering and noise shaping in their conversions. This results in some added high frequency distortion, and a lower noise floor in the audible band. If you know what to listen for, PCM will always be superior. That distortion is also why some prefer DD.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by BMill

They are not theoretically the same. DTS likely uses some heavy dithering and noise shaping in their conversions. This results in some added high frequency distortion, and a lower noise floor in the audible band. If you know what to listen for, PCM will always be superior. That distortion is also why some prefer DD.

I guess that’s why I never liked DTS audio then- thought it was always my TV. PCM has always been my preference- and it annoys me that the only major studio releasing in PCM is Criterion. DTS is overrated- TrueHD is way better- and it is beyond me why people prefer DTS (despite being louder which does not mean better). Even PCM at the same Bitrate as DTS tracks will probably sound better than DTS, despite the same bitrate.

[mp3dom]

There's no difference between DTS-HD and TrueHD. Both stream, once decoded, are bit-per-bit identical to the PCM source. The choice between the two codecs only affects those who don't have the decoder for the "HD" extension, so they decode only the "core". The problem of DD is that it's lowpass filtered by design, meaning that everything above 20 KHz is always thrown away (from the core, because the full TrueHD is lossless). If the core bitrate is lower than the standard (i.e. 384Kbps for 5.1 or 160 for 2.0) the lowpass filter will start to filter even below 20KHz (18 KHz or 15 KHz -> which is *huge*). DTS, on the other side, at standard bitrate doesn't have any sort of filtering (full band, true 24bit).

The "volume difference" is due to the dialog normalization of the DD stream. Basically, to keep the volume between different sources "the same" there are metadata that tells the decoder the volume to apply. DTS doesn't have this, so the volume is the original one. If you take one audio and encode it to both DTS and DD without dialog normalization, the volumes are just exactly the same.
The problem of dialog normalization is that you need to correctly calculate it for each audio track... and as you guess, most of the times it's not calculated and the default metadata is set, which lower the original volume by 4 dB. In this case, it's far better to completely disable it.

[BMill]

Originally Posted by mp3dom

There's no difference between DTS-HD and TrueHD. Both stream, once decoded, are bit-per-bit identical to the PCM source. The choice between the two codecs only affects those who don't have the decoder for the "HD" extension, so they decode only the "core". The problem of DD is that it's lowpass filtered by design, meaning that everything above 20 KHz is always thrown away (from the core, because the full TrueHD is lossless). If the core bitrate is lower than the standard (i.e. 384Kbps for 5.1 or 160 for 2.0) the lowpass filter will start to filter even below 20KHz (18 KHz or 15 KHz -> which is *huge*). DTS, on the other side, at standard bitrate doesn't have any sort of filtering (full band, true 24bit).

And if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you. We're not talking about computer data here. We're talking about audio, with minimal buffer, near-live conversions, and non-perfect error correction.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by BMill

And if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you. We're not talking about computer data here. We're talking about audio, with minimal buffer, near-live conversions, and non-perfect error correction.

I would trust mp3dom- he’s a compressionest/encoder (hope I’m spelling it right) for an Italian anime distribution company (Dynit), so he’s probably had a lot of experience with this area of work.

I have made false claims in the past, which he’s corrected me on, and I’m sure he has a good enough explanation. Granted, I’m not trying to claim he is the be all resource, but I would take someone who’s line of work it is related to’s words in high regard.

[BMill]

Originally Posted by professorwho

I would trust mp3dom- he’s a compressionest/encoder (hope I’m spelling it right) for an Italian anime distribution company (Dynit), so he’s probably had a lot of experience with this area of work.

I have made false claims in the past, which he’s corrected me on, and I’m sure he has a good enough explanation. Granted, I’m not trying to claim he is the be all resource, but I would take someone who’s line of work it is related to’s words in high regard.

That just means he pushes a few buttons and settings. My friend is a mastering engineer and an audio DSP engineer. I think he knows a little more on the subject.

[professorwho]

Okay, let’s just try not to start an argument. That results nowhere and just makes people mad over the smallest things (I know it’s what this thread is about- but video/audio qualities on Blu-ray aren’t worth getting so mad over when there’s more important things in life).

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by BMill

That just means he pushes a few buttons and settings. My friend is a mastering engineer and an audio DSP engineer. I think he knows a little more on the subject.

Thanks, I'll stick with mp3dom.

[kevers7290]

Originally Posted by BMill

My friend is a mastering engineer and an audio DSP engineer.

My uncle works for Nintendo, so...

[Lambadelta]

Originally Posted by kevers7290

My uncle works for Nintendo, so...

My grand-father is the king of Mars, so...

[Girls With Guns]

Originally Posted by Lambadelta

My grand-father is the king of Mars, so...

So that would make you... Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia?

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Girls With Guns

So that would make you... Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia?

Then I guess

[Show spoiler]Episode 9

never happened...

[Lambadelta]

Originally Posted by Girls With Guns

So that would make you... Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia?

Damn my identity has been exposed.

[BMill]

Originally Posted by Naiera

Thanks, I'll stick with mp3dom.

That's your prerogative. But I remember you. You couldn't even diagnose a ground loop in your audio system.