The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[vincentric]

Originally Posted by Lambadelta

Didn't FUNi de-grain Bebop, and then add in artificial grain?

Yes, I just worded it poorly.

Originally Posted by professorwho

Here's my opinion on all the versions:

USA (FUNimation)
Pros: Proper brightness settings (not increased like UK), excellent 5.1 audio, less banding, all extras
Cons: Fake grain (which was added because they degrained it to begin with), CGI is lowered to 24fps to maintain 1080p, poor compression despite good bitrate

UK (Anime Limited)
Pros: CGI is at 30fps, 5.1 audio that's on par with USA BD
Cons: Brightness is boosted, more banding, missing extras (retrospectives and interviews), lower bitrate than other releases

Italy/Germany/France (Dynit/Dybex)
Pros: CGI is at 30fps, Proper brightness settings, good 5.1 audio (Japanese), Italian Dynit has high bitrate (37Mbps)
Cons: Not all extras, no English subtitles or English dub.

In general, I'd get the Italian set, and then get either the USA or UK set to remux the dub and subtitles- as the audio commentaries are subtitled on BOTH English releases.

There is no definitive version, as, while Dynit is the closest, it doesn't have English options, thus a workaround is required.

I think the UK release contains higher video bitrates than FUNi but otherwise sounds all good.

[Dino-Killer 912]

Originally Posted by vincentric

I recall doing a comparison for the UK and FUNi Bebop releases here - https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...3#post11645893

In short summary the UK BD has clearer line rendering but contains increased brightness and banding.

The FUNi BD contains more grain that seemingly does some good and bad in that it reduces/eliminates the banding but at the expense of less detailed line rendering.

God, some frames in FUNi release are unbelievably blurred! I'll buy the UK release! Thank you for providing comparisons!

[Dino-Killer 912]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Here's my opinion on all the versions:

USA (FUNimation)
Pros: Proper brightness settings (not increased like UK), excellent 5.1 audio, less banding, all extras
Cons: Fake grain (which was added because they degrained it to begin with), CGI is lowered to 24fps to maintain 1080p, poor compression despite good bitrate

UK (Anime Limited)
Pros: CGI is at 30fps, 5.1 audio that's on par with USA BD
Cons: Brightness is boosted, more banding, missing extras (retrospectives and interviews), lower bitrate than other releases

Italy/Germany/France (Dynit/Dybex)
Pros: CGI is at 30fps, Proper brightness settings, good 5.1 audio (Japanese), Italian Dynit has high bitrate (37Mbps)
Cons: Not all extras, no English subtitles or English dub.

In general, I'd get the Italian set, and then get either the USA or UK set to remux the dub and subtitles- as the audio commentaries are subtitled on BOTH English releases.

There is no definitive version, as, while Dynit is the closest, it doesn't have English options, thus a workaround is required.

I can point out two facts about the US release for non-American buyers like me: Retrospectives and interviews in the US release are made with American English dub voice cast, it doesn't attract us at all, we are more interested in Japanese voice cast; and the US release has forced English subtitles when Japanese soundtrack is playing, it bothers some people.

[Dino-Killer 912]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

I don't have the UK Blu-ray, but from what I've seen on caps-a-holic and elsewhere, it looks acceptable. There is of course still room for improvement, but I don't think it's a bad release.

What ever you do, don't buy the US Blu-ray. I still feel the buyer's remorse. The degraining artifacts, fake grain and bad compression are an eyesore.

I've known how terrible the US release is, thank you. I'll buy the UK release.

[vincentric]

Well, lol, recently picked up True Tears and they managed to stuff all 13 eps onto one disc at around 3 GB per ep | 38ish GB total. I'll edit this post or post a new one with some caps to see how bad or not the compression looks.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Dino-Killer 912

and the US release has forced English subtitles when Japanese soundtrack is playing, it bothers some people.

The UK set has forced subtitles, as well, I believe. It's a licensing thing, that sadly, has to be for specific series.

In regards to the extras, I just felt like noting it so people are made aware that the UK set doesn't have them all (Japanese audio is a given, especially Bebop. I know people are gonna hate on me for not liking the supposedly best dub ever, but it's all over the place in a bad way.)

The UK set is at a reasonable price, so it's totally worth the purchase.

[Dino-Killer 912]

Originally Posted by vincentric

Well, lol, recently picked up True Tears and they managed to stuff all 13 eps onto one disc at around 3 GB per ep | 38ish GB total. I'll edit this post or post a new one with some caps to see how bad or not the compression looks.

I heard True Tears Japanese release isn't good either. At least, the US release has a rarely cheap price.

[Dino-Killer 912]

Originally Posted by professorwho

The UK set has forced subtitles, as well, I believe. It's a licensing thing, that sadly, has to be for specific series.

In regards to the extras, I just felt like noting it so people are made aware that the UK set doesn't have them all (Japanese audio is a given, especially Bebop. I know people are gonna hate on me for not liking the supposedly best dub ever, but it's all over the place in a bad way.)

The UK set is at a reasonable price, so it's totally worth the purchase.

You sure? I learnt the UK release has optional subtitles from somewhere. Well, it's just helpless.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Dino-Killer 912

You sure? I learnt the UK release has optional subtitles from somewhere. Well, it's just helpless.

This list shows it as locked:
https://forums.animeuknews.net/threa...-thread.15589/

I don't own the UK release, so I'd wait until someone here who does can comment on it.

[SeaFox]

Originally Posted by vincentric

Well, lol, recently picked up True Tears and they managed to stuff all 13 eps onto one disc at around 3 GB per ep | 38ish GB total. I'll edit this post or post a new one with some caps to see how bad or not the compression looks.

It's an upscale anyway. One of those "it's better than the DVD because of bandwidth/color".

[Dino-Killer 912]

Does anyone have Hanasaku Iroha NISA release standard editions? I wonder the English subtitles are optional or deadly locked?

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by SeaFox

It's an upscale anyway. One of those "it's better than the DVD because of bandwidth/color".

Blu-ray does not have more/better colours than DVD.

True Tears is a fine upscale, to me.

[SeaFox]

Originally Posted by Naiera

Blu-ray does not have more/better colours than DVD.

I mean color saturation used in a blu-ray release verses a DVD version, not saying the bit depth was different.

[Lambadelta]

Main reason I'd get a blu-ray even if the PQ isn't much better than DVD.

Subtitles look fugly on DVDs...

[Naiera]

No DVD could hold a candle to the BD release of True Tears.

[vincentric]

It doesn't look as bad as I thought it would -

Some banding for sure but no major compression issues. Some shots even look native HD-ish if I didn't know any better.

And the data -


EDIT: fixed crooked thumbnails

[Dino-Killer 912]

[quote]

Originally Posted by vincentric

It doesn't look as bad as I thought it would -

[Show spoiler]



Some banding for sure but no major compression issues. Some shots even look native HD-ish if I didn't know any better.

And the data -


EDIT: fixed crooked thumbnails

I think it isn't worse than some upscaled anime BDs.

[Naiera]

Please don’t quote entire posts that are right above your own and please don’t quote pictures without spoilering them.

True Tears is a nice enough upscale. It’s really soft-looking, but it hasn’t been smeared with EE and DNR.

[vincentric]

I should have just wrapped the thumbies in a quotebox which I think I'll do now.

[Ccharmanderk]

I really like how those True Tears screencaps look. Upscales can often be hit or miss, but there's little to complain about here aside from some banding. What's especially impressive is the (apparent) lack of aliasing. I'm combing all over those screenshots and there aren't any jagged lines or edges where you'd normally find them.

It's honestly almost good enough to pass for an early HD series.