The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[dlb99]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Escalowne looks amazing, but Bebop is bad. De-grained, then smeared, then re-grained with artifical grain. Plus, the 30fps stuff is slowed down, so there's interlacing artifacts.

Most of Bebop is animated at 24fps. The Funimation release is the only one I am aware of that is released as 1080p24 Blu-ray vs 1080i60 Blu-ray.

Many TVs will take 1080i60 and produce 1080p60 with 3:2 pull-down judder.

I would much rather have a few minor 30fps slow-down instances than constant 3:2 pull-down judder.

There is some de-graining with Bebop, but when I looked at the screenies vs the Japanese release years ago it did not seem that far away in quality.

Sentai is way better now. SNAFU 2 is practically flawless with zero compression artifacts whatsoever. Best western encode anime BD I've seen.

Worst FUNi release is either Psycho Pass Season 1, Steins;Gate, or Re:Zero. Fitting how shows I hate get bad Blu-rays... but it still sucks that they're abominations of the Blu-ray format.

With Sony ownership Funimation hopefully should become more consistent.

[Dailyan]

I've been watching the UK release of "Outlaw Star" for the past few days and I have to say...it just might be the best cel-animated Blu I own. I've watched the first four episodes but grain so far is greatly distributed, black levels are nice and deep, and detail is amazing.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

I've been watching the UK release of "Outlaw Star" for the past few days and I have to say...it just might be the best cel-animated Blu I own. I've watched the first four episodes but grain so far is greatly distributed, black levels are nice and deep, and detail is amazing.

Damn right. 1:1 clone of the Japanese release. 10/10 PQ. Perfect.

Sunrise titles have the best restorations. Escaflowne I'd say is on par, as is several Gundam titles. Bandai Visual spares no expense.

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by dlb99

Sentai have been worse (aka Penguindrum).

That isekai show I forgot the name of is arguably worse than Penguindrum, and that’s an extremely recent release, which just proves how random FUNi is.

Sentai has consistently been far better than FUNi.

[Robbl]

AL's Euphonium set is a 7/7 split which is a good sign https://blog.alltheanime.com/unboxing-sound-euphonium/

[Lambadelta]

Just a reminder since Tanya is out to ask if anyone can get me screencaps from various episodes as I want to compare gainst the Japanese release I have.

If possible stuff from ep 1,2,5,7 or more would be good :3

[kevers7290]

Originally Posted by dlb99

Most of Bebop is animated at 24fps. The Funimation release is the only one I am aware of that is released as 1080p24 Blu-ray vs 1080i60 Blu-ray.

Many TVs will take 1080i60 and produce 1080p60 with 3:2 pull-down judder.

I would much rather have a few minor 30fps slow-down instances than constant 3:2 pull-down judder.

There is some de-graining with Bebop, but when I looked at the screenies vs the Japanese release years ago it did not seem that far away in quality.



With Sony ownership Funimation hopefully should become more consistent.

The Funimation release is garbage. Get the UK release. Vincentric posted some really good caps, I'll see if I can dig them up.

EDIT--Here:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...3#post11645893

[professorwho]

Actually, FUNi has gotten worse with the Sony merger, at least in the UK. Some of our British friends (perhaps Grav) can explain it for those not informed?

[Thedoctor2016]

FUNi/CR titles got removed from AL so they lost sound (yes it was returned after FUNi said it wouldn’t sell) dimension w and the final Project Itoh film even though it was shown in cinemas. Meanwhile “big” titles like MHA were released by universal for s1 in a overpriced LE set then s2 Sony released it in SE only at least they allowed the PAL DVDs to be in a different SKU. However as the DVDs flopped all the Sony shows which so far are Black Clover, Yuri on ice (7 months after US release) and Smartphone (3 months after Us) are forcing us to own the PAL DVDs and to add insult to injury they are making them in fatpacks which is bizarre as US do combos in normal size cases.
The effect of AL losing FUNi/CR can be seen with them getting a lot of Netflix shows (Kakeguri,VE,B)

[Mangaranga]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Actually, FUNi has gotten worse with the Sony merger, at least in the UK. Some of our British friends (perhaps Grav) can explain it for those not informed?

As I understand it, generally any titles that Funimation license tend to come with UK rights, but as an extension to that, any titles which they distribute for CR in the US they also get UK rights for. Any titles which were given the green light to be announced by AL but not finalized prior to the Funiroll partnership have also transferred to Funi/Sony for the UK like Bungo, Mob Psycho 100 and Free S1.

Given how seemingly clueless Funimation are about the UK market and how few titles have actually been released so far - AoT Season 2 in Feb, My Hero Academia S2 Parts 1 (April) & 2 (June), Black Clover Part 1 (August - also comes in a fatpack case!!!!) and with Yuri on Ice scheduled for October - yes, October - what that effectively leaves us with here in the UK is a massive void of titles from the last year or two and beyond, as well as going forward, which will likely never see physical releases. Oh, bear in mind that only AoT S2 got a LE release and even that was exclusive to Zavvi.

Neither Funi UK themselves, CR or Sony do any actual active marketing beyond a press release either. As a brand Funi UK have little to no actual presence in the UK. I'm pretty sure My Hero Academia S2 Part 2 wasn't even available to order on Amazon until just before or after release.

But yeah, overall for some people like myself, the Funimation/CR/Sony thing has killed a lot of enthusiasm for the industry in general, especially with the combination of Funimation products being more expensive nowadays and the increased cost to import - there is effectively no legal option outside of paying almost £50 for an import standard edition, or over £60 for a LE. The shit bit is that for the few local distributors here, Funimation titles are off limits, CR titles are off limits unless Funi pass on them (like Sound) which leaves the options of bidding directly against Funimation for UK rights or licensing from Amazon, Netflix, AoA, Sentai or Nozomi. Sounds okay on paper, but a certain monopoly tends to pick up all the quality titles each season, so there's few actual good titles to go around...

[Thedoctor2016]

My importing has dropped since loop holes such as WOW HD etc starting charging tax so I now only buy FUNI or Sentai shows I love luckily Sentais Les are poor and not worth it but yeah funi it does make you lose a lot of interest Free! for example I only have matching sets because I imported S2 due to being impatient in 2014 as I thought AL would get all of them later on which they did announce s1. Now S3 will be FUNi US and if they ditch CEs like they seem to have F matching sets. Bungo doesnt match due to no LE for "Season 2" and random digital copy. Also AL Netflix deal seems very slow as Kakeguri aired 13 months ago now and no word as they said 2019 as the earliest anyway. Films from FUNI are the biggest annoyance how well FT seemed to do means I bet AL would put MHA in cinemas if they could (They are with SLA) but apparently FUNi only let them for two screenings only. ALs slow releases and losing all titles due to FUNi and Sony has dampened my anime collecting mood past year

[dlb99]

Originally Posted by kevers7290

The Funimation release is garbage. Get the UK release. Vincentric posted some really good caps, I'll see if I can dig them up.

EDIT--Here:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...3#post11645893

From that very post you linked:

There are four main differences - UK version renders the line work in more detail. Funi version contains more grain though am not sure how much of it is natural or artificial. UK version is brighter and more washed out but not in every episode

UK version is also 1080 interlace 60fps (last time I check) vs 1080 progressive 24fps for the Funi.

On my Panasonic plasma TV the UK set would have constant 3:2 pulldown judder whilst the Funimation run silky smooth at 96Hz with no pulldown judder (using Oppo 203 as source).

I don't think it is a slam dunk either way. Both the UK and US Cowboy Releases have pros and cons. For most of us, either is fine and neither is botched.

And lastly, I do agree Funimation has botched quite a few releases over the years (e.g Serial Experiments Lain); but Bebop (with its minor flaws) is not one of them.

P.S. I prefer the less washed out look of the US Bebop for the screenshots noted in that post.

[UseY0ur1llusi0n]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Escalowne looks amazing

With that bummy-ass banding/compression?

https://i.imgur.com/UBrtRK4.png

https://i.imgur.com/7C8s7vv.png

[NLScavenger]

Never forget:

http://www.screenshotcomparison.com/...3209/picture:2

I own the Funimation Bebop BD. It looks bad in motion from normal viewing distances.

[Primal Sage]

Anyone here have this Bluray version of Perfect Blue and can comment on the quality of the transfer? It will most assuredly be better than my non-anamorphic DVD from back in the day but was wondering whether this one is worth getting or if I should hold out for a later remaster.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfect-Blu...t+blue+blu+ray

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by UseY0ur1llusi0n

With that bummy-ass banding/compression?

https://i.imgur.com/UBrtRK4.png

https://i.imgur.com/7C8s7vv.png

Yeah, Escaflowne is pretty darn good. The UK release is slightly better.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by UseY0ur1llusi0n

With that bummy-ass banding/compression?

https://i.imgur.com/UBrtRK4.png

https://i.imgur.com/7C8s7vv.png

That’s just an edge case. If you watch it, you realize 98% of it doesn’t look like that. Obviously, that’s ugly, but the rest of it looks great, so while I can’t forgive it, it makes it easier to deal with.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Primal Sage

Anyone here have this Bluray version of Perfect Blue and can comment on the quality of the transfer? It will most assuredly be better than my non-anamorphic DVD from back in the day but was wondering whether this one is worth getting or if I should hold out for a later remaster.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfect-Blu...t+blue+blu+ray

Definitely better than any DVD, but hold out- Anime Limited will be re-releasing it in a Collector’s Edition with a new 4K scan. Also, having Justin Sevakis as compressionist helps.

[Primal Sage]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Definitely better than any DVD, but hold out- Anime Limited will be re-releasing it in a Collector’s Edition with a new 4K scan. Also, having Justin Sevakis as compressionist helps.

Thank you, just the info I was looking for.

[kevers7290]

Originally Posted by dlb99

From that very post you linked:



UK version is also 1080 interlace 60fps (last time I check) vs 1080 progressive 24fps for the Funi.

On my Panasonic plasma TV the UK set would have constant 3:2 pulldown judder whilst the Funimation run silky smooth at 96Hz with no pulldown judder (using Oppo 203 as source).

I don't think it is a slam dunk either way. Both the UK and US Cowboy Releases have pros and cons. For most of us, either is fine and neither is botched.

And lastly, I do agree Funimation has botched quite a few releases over the years (e.g Serial Experiments Lain); but Bebop (with its minor flaws) is not one of them.

P.S. I prefer the less washed out look of the US Bebop for the screenshots noted in that post.

To each their own I suppose. I sold my Funimation copy off in favor of the UK release and I've never looked back. Take a look a screenshot number five in particular to see just how much of the linework was lost in Funimation's release. The character's face on the left is blurred into an incomprehensible mess on the Funimation release but is perfectly legible on the Anime Ltd disc.