The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[professorwho]

You don't have to show the bitrate graph made by Bitrate Viewer, it's optional. What I do recommend is at least showing the average and max bitrates. You can do it like how I'm doing it now.

Example from Kyousougiga (Discotek):

Video:
1080i MPEG-4 AVC
29.97 fps
1.78:1 Aspect Ratio
24965 kbps AVG (mbps)
48337 kbps MAX (mbps)
27.1 GB

Audio:
Japanese LPCM 2.0 16-Bit 48kHz 1536 kbps
1.67 GB

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by pikagreg

Cool I was interested in checking out exactly how bad the US Metropolis steelbook is lol

Some people had stated that it was most similar to the old Bandai Japanese Blu than the Eureka disc but I’ve found nothing concrete (Hell, I don’t even know what master the BD-R Choice Collection used).

[pikagreg]

I think I did this right

Metropolis (New Steelbook)

Video:
1080p MPEG-4 AVC
23.976 FPS
16:9 Display Aspect Ratio
34999 kbps AVG
60889 kbps MAX
31.2 GB

Audio:
English DTS-HD 24-Bit 48kHz
Japanese LPCM 2.0 16-Bit 48kHz 1536kbps
1.15 GB

[professorwho]

That's WAY higher than I thought it would be. I thought it'd simply be a BD-25 with a bitrate less than 20 mbps. That looks to be a constant bitrate automatic encode, like what Shout Factory does.

Is it 1.85:1 or 1.78:1? The difference is that 1.78:1 fills every pixel on an HDTV, and 1.85:1 has some slight black bars above and below the frame.

[pikagreg]

Originally Posted by professorwho

That's WAY higher than I thought it would be. I thought it'd simply be a BD-25 with a bitrate less than 20 mbps. That looks to be a constant bitrate automatic encode, like what Shout Factory does.

Is it 1.85:1 or 1.78:1? The difference is that 1.78:1 fills every pixel on an HDTV, and 1.85:1 has some slight black bars above and below the frame.

Where would it say that? Here is the media-info for the video file. It looks like there are small black bars when I play the file in MPC so I am thinking 1:85:1

[Naiera]

It’s a theatrical feature, so of course it’d be 1.85:1.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by Naiera

It’s a theatrical feature, so of course it’d be 1.85:1.

I own plenty of discs where their aspect ratio was 1.85 but presented in 1.78

[NLScavenger]

Yeah, sometimes the AR is opened up to 1.78:1, but this is sometimes done by cropping off the sides. That's why I didn't pick up the Anchor Bay BD of Snowpiercer.

Speaking of Snowpiercer, I recently picked up the Dutch Blu-ray for €5 and it's ****ing terrible. Looks like a Youtube stream compared to the French Blu-ray.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by pikagreg

Where would it say that? Here is the media-info for the video file. It looks like there are small black bars when I play the file in MPC so I am thinking 1:85:1

The only way to tell for sure is to check it out on an HDTV. When you have the time, just choose a random scene for a few seconds. If it fills every pixel, it’s 1.78:1 but if there’s some black bars it’s 1.85:1

[Lambadelta]

Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion - Initiation (UK Blu-ray)

Screenshots (I didn't take many soz) (screenshot 1 has an example of the subtitle style)

After checking it against a screencap from the Japanese release someone gave me. The UK Blu-ray is brighter than the Japanese release, but I didn't find this distracting. I gave the blu-ray a quick skim, and I didn't notice any glaring issues banding/compression wise. Overall I think its a decent release.

Bitrate Viewer


AVG - 26,033kbps | MAX - 64,367kbps | MIN - 77kbps

Audio

Japanese - 2.0 - LPCM - 1,536kbps
Japanese - 5.1 - DTS XLL - 2,278kbps

Audio #1
ID                                       : 2
ID in the original source medium         : 4352 (0x1100)
Format                                   : PCM
Format settings                          : Little / Signed
Codec ID                                 : A_PCM/INT/LIT
Duration                                 : 2 h 14 min
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 536 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 30.000 FPS (1600 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 16 bits
Stream size                              : 1.44 GiB (5%)
Title                                    : Stereo
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Audio #2
ID                                       : 3
ID in the original source medium         : 4353 (0x1101)
Format                                   : DTS XLL
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Commercial name                          : DTS-HD Master Audio
Codec ID                                 : A_DTS
Duration                                 : 2 h 14 min
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 2 278 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel layout                           : C L R Ls Rs LFE
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 93.750 FPS (512 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 16 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossless
Stream size                              : 2.14 GiB (8%)
Title                                    : Surround 5.1
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

[pikagreg]

Originally Posted by professorwho

The only way to tell for sure is to check it out on an HDTV. When you have the time, just choose a random scene for a few seconds. If it fills every pixel, it’s 1.78:1 but if there’s some black bars it’s 1.85:1

My PC is hooked up to my TV so it is definitely 1:85:1

[Yuripa]

Originally Posted by Lambadelta

Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion - Initiation (UK Blu-ray)

Screenshots (I didn't take many soz) (screenshot 1 has an example of the subtitle style)

After checking it against a screencap from the Japanese release someone gave me. The UK Blu-ray is brighter than the Japanese release, but I didn't find this distracting. I gave the blu-ray a quick skim, and I didn't notice any glaring issues banding/compression wise. Overall I think its a decent release.

Do you happen to know who is the authoring studio?
@anime LTD should really stop to use them if they constantly mess-up the brightness/color, it was the same for Amanchu.
It's failmation level of QualitY.

[Thedoctor2016]

Ugh thin subs too. I’m glad I gave that a miss due to the price of all 3.

[pikagreg]

Which "view" do you guys use on MediaInfo?

[professorwho]

They weren't credited on the Amanchu BD, so it's possible they aren't here.

They are competent enough to have many high bitrate spikes, but the brightness issue seems weird and out of place. If the compressionist can do huge spikes in intense moments, why is the brightness wrong?

Also, Pika, I updated the Database entry for Metropolis with your stats. Thanks!

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by pikagreg

Which "view" do you guys use on MediaInfo?

What do you mean?

[pikagreg]

Originally Posted by professorwho

What do you mean?

Nvm, I am dumb lol

Do you guys rip the whole disc usually or just one file when checking for stats?

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by pikagreg

Nvm, I am dumb lol

Do you guys rip the whole disc usually or just one file when checking for stats?

Depends. If it's a show, I'll rip the file with all the episodes on it so I get a real average bitrate. If it's a movie, I just rip the movie, unless I want to check out some extras or something.

[professorwho]

Also, Pika, which BD is the US Metropolis more like?

The ancient Bandai Visual JP release which is windowboxed, or the superior, but not quite perfect Eureka UK one encoded by compressionist God David Mackenzie?

Here's a comparison

David M's BD is certainly better, but it uses a different master, and one that isn't optimal, but knowing his skills, it's as good as what Eureka was given.

Oh, and for those wondering why he's God-tier:
Carrie (Arrow)
The Thing (Arrow)
Dekalog (Arrow)
Mulholland Drive (Studio Canal)

Those are just a few examples off of the top of my head.

[pikagreg]

I want to say it is more similar to the UK one since I don't remember the bars being that thick at all like the JP one. I would need to check again when I get home. What is the best way to take screenshots?