The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[dubudavid]

1080i is almost always 29.97 frames per second, or 60 fields per second natively. TV broadcasts like sports would benefit from this a lot for sure, due to the high-speed action going on. In PAL regions, though, 50 fields per second or 25 frames per second is also possible with 1080i.

As for how much an HD recomposite would aid digital shows, well, I guess it largely depends on what it is. But at least you'd be rid of nasty composite artifacts for older ones mastered on that media. It's a lot less of a pain in the butt nowadays since nothing is mastered on tape anymore.

[Streetlight]

Any Blu-rays sourced from HD recomposites?

[The Collector FX]

Originally Posted by gloomranger

Wasn’t the movie still a clone of the Funi release though?

Originally Posted by kk1

I thought the regular release (which also came with the CE) was a clone of Funi's the one with the UE was the only one that was different.

I think this might be worth investigating considering that just about every Bandai Visual blu ray release is superior to newer releases by different companies.

[Mangaranga]

Originally Posted by Streetlight

Any Blu-rays sourced from HD recomposites?

There's very few recomposites when it comes to anime - unsurprising given the cost and ultimately how short the relevancy of most shows are. Off the top of my head, the only company who's done any is Aniplex, with those being Gurren Lagann, Kannagi and Working Season 1, all of which were recomposited at 720p. In the case of Working, they also fixed some animation errors as well as generally touching up the quality of the animation. The only one of these titles that actually got a western BD release is Gurren Lagann though, with the NISA DVD only release of Working S1 also using the old SD DVD master, rather than the fixed BD one.

[Naiera]

Kannagi is awesome. Not exceptionally expensive from Japan, but no subs, of course.

[JEArgumedo]

Originally Posted by Streetlight

What frame rates were those 1080i shows mastered at?

The final conform was done for 30p or 60i, but usually the majority of scenes are animated with 24 fps in mind and then have a 3:2 pulldown performed to make them display at 30p/60i. Some scenes in the early HD days, especially ones with CGI might animate certain sections at 30p, like Moribito. This has been a common practice since television networks began showing films shot for theaters originally. To this day, all shows go through a 3:2 pulldown if they were shot at 24fps and then shown on TV. Again, if we've done our jobs right, no one notices. TV anime (and most other TV shows) now usually does a full 24fps production knowing that 3:2 pulldown will applied by the network, but it works out for streaming and Blu-ray as well.

Originally Posted by Streetlight

How much would a HD recomposite improve compared to the highest quality SD master?

I think it might depend on the show and materials, but a recomposite is more likely to be of better quality than an upscale from the SD master. In remastering a show, you always want to try and go back as far as possible in a production chain to make the show look better.

[SpaceBlackKnight]

Originally Posted by Streetlight

Any Blu-rays sourced from HD recomposites?

The HD version of Gundam Seed has several recomps and reanimated sections, some upscaled from the original 540p EXR animation files. Even some scenes recomp using the original upscaled animations and newly created ones all in the same shot.

[BigOnAnime]

New site reviews so one can dissect the screenshots:

Ascendance of a Bookworm
Asura Cryin'
Baki
Golden Time (2019 release)
Queen's Blade - Rebel Warriors Collection

The Asura Cryin' review is uh...

Asura Cryin' is a science-fiction fantasy anime created by Gakuto Mikumo.

It's based off of a light novel written by Gakuto Mikumo that was adapted into an anime...

Arriving on Blu-ray from Sentai, Asura Cryin' is presented in 1080i MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The release isn't as impressive as one might hope to find but it still gets the job done. The interlacing on the release is a bit of a disappointment, though.

The lack of a true progressive encoding means the presentation has jaggies and occasional artifacts. The release simply isn't as polished looking as a result. Nonetheless, the action scenes are well produced, and the encoding does a solid enough job of showcasing the series and the colorful animation.

The release also includes a selection of trailers promoting other releases available from distributor Sentai Filmworks: BPS – Battle Programmer Shirase (HD, 1:16), Basquash! (HD, 00:50), Kanamemo (HD, 1:32), and This Art Club Has a Problem (HD, 1:32).

What's a Maiden Japan?

On the topic of interlacing, I hope it's not like the mess that's on Crunchyroll, especially Episodes 9-13 where it's a horrible interlaced mess with the wrong aspect ratio... Screencaps from my Twitter thread on this mess. Something to note, the series was released only on DVD in Japan, I'm not sure if it was ever broadcast in HD despite airing in 2009.

[Show spoiler]

[BoscoTheMan82]

Popped in the discs to check them, they're fine and don't have the problems of the streaming version.

[Naiera]

It’s not a great looking release (probably due to source’s age), but there are no glaring issues, as mentioned.

[theberserker22]

Has anyone checked out the princess tutu steelbook? I just want to know if they fixed that release as the original Sentai bluray was a ghosting and interlace combing filled disaster

[Tylerfan]

Inuyasha Set 4 Review (took a while):
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/InuYa...lu-ray/283389/

Plus Naruto
Set 4: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Narut...lu-ray/293578/
Set 5: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Narut...lu-ray/298662/

[Ajc228]

Does anyone know how the Dynit bluray release of the Cowboy Bebop movie compares to the first U.S. release(by Sony I think?)? In terms of video quality, I wasn’t sure if the italian release was an upgrade video-wise. I know it’s been posted here but I can’t seem to find it.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Ajc228

Does anyone know how the Dynit bluray release of the Cowboy Bebop movie compares to the first U.S. release(by Sony I think?)? In terms of video quality, I wasn’t sure if the italian release was an upgrade video-wise. I know it’s been posted here but I can’t seem to find it.

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=4235&d2=13187&c=1743

[Ajc228]

Originally Posted by professorwho

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=4235&d2=13187&c=1743

Oh wow, looks like an improvement. Thank you!

[KUSOYAROU]

sorry if this has been asked before, but is the dynit release of Inuyasha and bleach the best ones so far?

i heard the JP release of Inuyasha is cropped to say the least of all its issues, and the USA's one has some serious encoding issues unlike the spanish version.

so how does dynit's Inuyasha release compare to that spanish version? and would love if someone could loop me in about the bleach one as well

[CrashOveride95]

Fatal Fury: The OVA Collection - Discotek Media BD

To my knowledge, this is another thing found at the togen/Tokyo Genzosho lot, much like A-Ko and Angel Cop.

BDInfo for Disc 1

[Show spoiler]

PLAYLIST REPORT:

Name:                   00001.MPLS
Length:                 1:59:48.764 (h:m:s.ms)
Size:                   22,414,713,216 bytes
Total Bitrate:          24.94 Mbps

(*) Indicates included stream hidden by this playlist.


VIDEO:

Codec                   Bitrate             Description     
-----                   -------             -----------     
MPEG-4 AVC Video        21647 kbps          1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1

AUDIO:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
DTS-HD Master Audio             English         854 kbps        2.0 / 48 kHz /   854 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz /   256 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio             Japanese        828 kbps        2.0 / 48 kHz /   828 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz /   256 kbps / 24-bit)
* Dolby Digital Audio           English         256 kbps        2.0 / 48 kHz /   256 kbps / DN -31dB

SUBTITLES:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
Presentation Graphics           English         2.626 kbps                      
Presentation Graphics           English         28.415 kbps

OVA 1 bitrate


OVA 2 bitrate


Video-wise it looks excellent, with a healthy grain amount that doesn't create a distraction, but leaves plenty of detail.

OVA 1 Gallery





OVA 2 Gallery






One scene (3 minutes) in Fatal Fury 2 is an AstroRes upscale, because they apparently could not find a film master. Regardless, it matches well with the rest of the film.

OVA 2 Upscale-only Gallery


Audio sounds superb in both Japanese and English.

Bonus features include a M&E track extract of the vocal version of OVA 1's insert song "Bye Bye My Love", which has never been officially released in full.

Additonally there's an art gallery with some nice key art and model sheets.

Overall, great release

[Total Procall]

Looks absolutey amazing.

[peppapigstan]

Originally Posted by Mangaranga

There's very few recomposites when it comes to anime - unsurprising given the cost and ultimately how short the relevancy of most shows are. Off the top of my head, the only company who's done any is Aniplex, with those being Gurren Lagann, Kannagi and Working Season 1, all of which were recomposited at 720p. In the case of Working, they also fixed some animation errors as well as generally touching up the quality of the animation. The only one of these titles that actually got a western BD release is Gurren Lagann though, with the NISA DVD only release of Working S1 also using the old SD DVD master, rather than the fixed BD one.

Elfen Lied is also a recomposite (surprisingly)

[peppapigstan]

Originally Posted by Ajc228

Oh wow, looks like an improvement. Thank you!

i will say there's DVNR artifacts, so take caution!