The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[Robbl]

Originally Posted by chronoclast

So I was wrong about this. I pulled the images from the source and figured out that the screenshot comparison site isn't displaying the screenshots correctly when using Firefox and I think that's why I and few others were seeing brightness shifts while the rest of you guys weren't. Something in the Funi shot file specifically is causing it to display brighter but only in Firefox, I have no idea why.

On my PC or when using Edge, the screenshots display correctly with matching brightness levels. I haven't tested Chrome. I even reuploaded the two shots to Imgur and sure enough, displays incorrect in Firefox but correct in Edge. I would advise to not use that screenshot comparison site anymore because I think it's applying something weird to the files, plus they purge shots after while too.

Even with the brightness levels matching, the artifacts are still more visible on the Funi shot so that's just bad compression.

Yes, stop using that site. Use https://diff.pics/ instead

[NLScavenger]

Has nothing to do with screenshotcomparison.com, but with how the browser handles the PNG meta data. The gamma on the US screenshot has been set to 0.45455, whereas the JP screenshot does not have a specified gamma value.

Here's the US screenshot with gAMA stripped away: https://i.imgur.com/XVCx08S.png

[professorwho]

Also, this comparison posted on the Anime UK news forums, isn't proof that the FUNi BD uses Broadcast masters for Yuri on Ice. I see it as showing that FUNi was given an HDCAM master, which is anamorphic 1440x1080 vs a standard 1080p master either by HDCAM SR or Apple ProRes files.

[chronoclast]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

Has nothing to do with screenshotcomparison.com, but with how the browser handles the PNG meta data. The gamma on the US screenshot has been set to 0.45455, whereas the JP screenshot does not have a specified gamma value.

Here's the US screenshot with gAMA stripped away: https://i.imgur.com/XVCx08S.png

Ah so that's it. Admittedly I didn't think to check their metadata, that makes sense.

[Jeo]

Okay, so I decided to take a little look at disc 1 of AL's Amanchu! BD. Disc 1 has the first 7 episodes on it, at roughly 4GB an episode, with total disc space used just a little shy of 30GB.

The bitrate is thus a little on the lower end: mostly averaging around 20 Mbps based on the two episodes I ripped and put through Bitrate Viewer. There's the odd massive spike to levels around 65 Mbps, and dips to practically nothing when there's almost nothing on-screen: fade to whites and such.

However, visually, it seems to hold up pretty well. Someone with a better eye than me for this stuff might fare better, but based on the little bits of episode 1 that I looked at, I couldn't see a whole lot in the way of banding or compression artefacts. (I noticed some banding around Teko in screenshot 5, and a little in the background of screenshot 8, but overall, nothing particularly bad that really jumps out.) The show is fairly soft with a lot of solid colours at times, which likely helps.

Here is a link to the full BDInfo report: https://pastebin.com/VXdh69Dx

Below is the Bitrate Viewer graph from episode 1, and a few screenshots, mostly from the OP and early parts of episode 1.

[professorwho]

What's the audio codec and bit-depth? (You can access that via MediaInfo)

[Jeo]

I am completely clueless when it comes to audio, so I'll just paste it:

Audio
ID                             : 2
Format                         : PCM
Codec ID                       : A_PCM/INT/LIT
Duration                       : 23mn 40s
Bit rate mode                  : Constant
Channel(s)                     : 2 channels
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                      : 16 bits

[professorwho]

It's LPCM 2.0 16-Bit.

Thanks!

[professorwho]

In the booklet does it say who is credited for encoding and/or authoring?

[Jeo]

Doesn't appear to.

[professorwho]

That's odd. Generally if there's a booklet, the encoder is typically listed (be it an individual or company).

It looks like a solid release. Clearly the encoder is competent enough to have massive bitrate spikes when needed, but the average is lower than I'd expect.

[NLScavenger]

Encoders are sometimes credited in the disc menu.

[Footlong Shoe]

Originally Posted by Yuripa

I've seen on AUKN forum that Yuri on Ice by funimation seem's to use use the broadcast master instead of the Homevideo master.
Can anyone confirm?
If yes then... well shit, the difference between the 2 versions are... HUGE : see here : https://twitter.com/i/moments/847679834796851201

Alright, my Blu-ray arrived and I checked it against that Twitter link. Unless all of these changes were made for TV, the Funi discs for Yuri on Ice appear to use the JP Blu-ray versions. The imgur album linked below has screencaps, plus whatever comments the poster on Twitter left. In each comparison I checked, it matched the Blu-ray version. I took the screencaps from the DVD because I don't have a BD drive on my PC (I watch them all on my PS3).

https://imgur.com/a/gUswUnk

[Robbl]

Originally Posted by Jeo

Now that looks like a proper encode to me assuming the image quality is on par with the jp release.

Edit: Never mind. Unless those screenshots were taken with VLC again or imgur did something to it, the UK release has wrong brightness levels which also explains the few banding occurences.

https://diff.pics/deFIBW9BPvfb/1

[Yuripa]

VLC or imgur generaly don't screw-up brightness, so it's not their fault, more than probably the encoder.
(No it's not the french branch encode, they don't have that licence).

[professorwho]

I doubt Justin did this encode, as he uses the JP BD as a brightness comparison.

Plus, if he did it, he’d use up more of the disc space and have a higher Bitrate average.

So the question is- who did it?

[brainrotter]

What's this forum's verdict on Discotek's Golgo 13 BD from a couple years back?

Fun fact: it was actually that movie's HD debut, even in Japan... and from what I can tell, it still hasn't been released domestically. Quite odd considering G13's popularity over there and Osamu Dezaki's pedigree.

[professorwho]

I don't have it, nor have I seen any screenshots, so I can't really say, but Justin Sevakis did the encode, so it's as good as the master Discotek was given. The quality of the master? Not a clue. You can ask him on Twitter if you'd like.

[NLScavenger]

Worse than the DVD in some ways: Screenshots (compare the BDMV (Discotek Blu-ray) and fong SD (DVD) screenshots)

This was a quick and dirty HD transfer intended for TV broadcast. The contrast is poor and there's scanner noise. I prefer the DVD screenshots because of the superior colors.

[professorwho]

NANI?! Anime reviews not by the guy who's bad at it?!

Assassination Classroom:

Season 1
Season 2

Hey, at least he pointed out the banding and didn't give it near top marks. Unlike some reviews...

At least he didn't write it off as "intentional". Don't believe me? Kauffman's S;G Part 2 review says:

With all of the recent brouhaha over the new Blu-ray of Serial Experiments Lain and its quite evident banding issues, I'm almost loathe to get into this series' evidently intentional use of quasi-banding, something that crops up with pretty predictable regularity when Okabe is in alternate world lines.