The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[chronoclast]

Originally Posted by Pyoko

Took a quick look at the Patlabor complete collection after reading the subtitles were redone and sure enough, all of the discs have been reauthored. Subtitles are still yellow, so bleh, but at least they're not ludicrous in size anymore and as an added bonus they're actually anti-aliased this time, nice!

Would you mind checking if some of the reported subtitle errors from the previous TV discs have been corrected?

Episode 1 at the eyecatch, the subs come on too early
Episode 23 at 05:24 the screen would turn white for 5 seconds with the subs on
Episode 38 at 12:24, timing problem of a line disappearing too early

Also, are the TV discs still using the unfiltered masters?

[Girls With Guns]

Originally Posted by Pyoko

I also think they could be much smaller still, but I'll take what I can get. More importantly I'd want them to be white. /rant

Yes, I also much prefer white subtitles, I just didn't want to bring that topic up and start another "Field Day of Fisticuffs" on here, lol...

[Pyoko]

Originally Posted by chronoclast

Would you mind checking if some of the reported subtitle errors from the previous TV discs have been corrected?

Episode 1 at the eyecatch, the subs come on too early
Episode 23 at 05:24 the screen would turn white for 5 seconds with the subs on
Episode 38 at 12:24, timing problem of a line disappearing too early

Also, are the TV discs still using the unfiltered masters?

All of those are fine. If by unfiltered you mean it has the pulsating aliasing, chroma bleeding and ample ringing artifacts typical of crappy anime telecines of that time then yes, that's still the case.

[chronoclast]

Originally Posted by Pyoko

All of those are fine. If by unfiltered you mean it has the pulsating aliasing, chroma bleeding and ample ringing artifacts typical of crappy anime telecines of that time then yes, that's still the case.

Thank you. Yeah, the Japanese discs had DNR and filtering done to them to try to clean them up. Maiden Japan's were unfiltered though so they were more detailed since they weren't DNR'd, that's what I was referring to.

This difference: US | JP

[Pyoko]

Originally Posted by Girls With Guns

Yes, I also much prefer white subtitles, I just didn't want to bring that topic up and start another "Field Day of Fisticuffs" on here, lol...

Hah... For real though I'd like to bring this up with maybe Discotek or something since they seem fairly connected to their fan base. Do people really want yellow subtitles, as opposed to being fine with either? Is it really demonstrably better in any way? Is it really a tradition worth perpetuating?

Originally Posted by chronoclast

This difference: US | JP

Oh yeah, I remember seeing that now, definitely still like the old discs.

[cooperb21]

Anyone know how good Funimation Mob Psycho 100 release was? It seemed to be a collaboration between Crunchyroll. With that deal ending, blu-rays probably won't be produced much longer. I think Crunchyroll has the rights after that.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by cooperb21

Anyone know how good Funimation Mob Psycho 100 release was? It seemed to be a collaboration between Crunchyroll. With that deal ending, blu-rays probably won't be produced much longer. I think Crunchyroll has the rights after that.

Well, Mob has the standard 9-3 split (9 on the first BD-50, and 3 on the BD-25). Seeing as Mob is insanely well animated, with minutes on end of some sakuga sequences, you need a very talented compressionist to achieve detail in the fast motion animation. The JP BDs averaged 38-39 mbps, which is pretty much the maximum bitrate (of which is 40), and the FUNi one, well... I don’t know. It probably averages above 20 or something, and has worse compression.

How much worse? I have no idea. Never seen screenshots of the FUNi release, but I know it’s not a Re:Zero level of train wreck.

[Enigmo_1]

Are there any digitally-composited, early 2000s, 4:3 anime you guys know that received recomposited Blu-rays?

I'm hoping there are, to somewhat give me hope that older digital animes like Naruto could one day see recomposited Blu-rays and not upscales by Viz

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by Enigmo_1

Are there any digitally-composited, early 2000s, 4:3 anime you guys know that received recomposited Blu-rays?

I'm hoping there are, to somewhat give me hope that older digital animes like Naruto could one day see recomposited Blu-rays and not upscales by Viz

I doubt it. Depending on the series it could be time consuming to re-rez the original files, original source files could of been trashed and/or files might be corrupted.

[samrt]

Originally Posted by Pyoko

I also think they could be much smaller still, but I'll take what I can get. More importantly I'd want them to be white.

I will never understand the infatuation anime distributors in the US have always had with yellow subtitles. White works with everything; yellow is distracting, looks terrible and ruins the visuals if the show itself doesn't happen to be colorful, always introducing a strong color element that wasn't meant to be there. Apart from the Papyrus subtitles on Avatar I don't think I've ever seen them on anything "live-action", and I've never seen them period on anything that didn't originate in the US. JP anime releases with English subtitles are always white. Anime Limited's release of Cowboy Bebop used white subtitles, then they switched to yellow for Escaflowne and Outlaw Star when surprise, surprise, those were authored in the US.

As for the legibility they certainly pop more but I don't think that makes them much more readable when watching, or it's extremely marginal on the whole and not worth the drawbacks. /rant

the worst is when they use purple for the subs and they outline it with a over saturated white.

[SeaFox]

Originally Posted by Pyoko

Took a quick look at the Patlabor complete collection after reading the subtitles were redone and sure enough, all of the discs have been reauthored. Subtitles are still yellow, so bleh, but at least they're not ludicrous in size anymore and as an added bonus they're actually anti-aliased this time, nice!

Old left, new right:

Pwah! This is exactly the information I was looking for when I asked about this back on the blu-ray deals thread. It looks like HiDive is using the older set's subtitles if you compare with that first pair of screen-shots. The oversize subs is ultimately why I passed on the RightStuf megadeal.

I guess I'll just put the money towards the KOR pre-order.

[cooperb21]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Well, Mob has the standard 9-3 split (9 on the first BD-50, and 3 on the BD-25). Seeing as Mob is insanely well animated, with minutes on end of some sakuga sequences, you need a very talented compressionist to achieve detail in the fast motion animation. The JP BDs averaged 38-39 mbps, which is pretty much the maximum bitrate (of which is 40), and the FUNi one, well... I don’t know. It probably averages above 20 or something, and has worse compression.

How much worse? I have no idea. Never seen screenshots of the FUNi release, but I know it’s not a Re:Zero level of train wreck.

It would be better than streaming it at least? I can't really afford or want to spend 200-250$ on Japanese BD. This goes for like under 30$ now.

[jd213]

Originally Posted by Pyoko

Took a quick look at the Patlabor complete collection after reading the subtitles were redone and sure enough, all of the discs have been reauthored. Subtitles are still yellow, so bleh, but at least they're not ludicrous in size anymore and as an added bonus they're actually anti-aliased this time, nice!

Old left, new right:






On the other hand the first OAV now has a gamma change and very mild black crush, though an OK price to pay for sensible subtitles. I don't have any other of the older discs so I don't know the extent of the issue, but comparing WXIII to the Korean disc that one doesn't seem affected. Compression on the US disc is kind of not so good though (notice ringing around the letterbox).

US left, KR right:

Do the OVA subtitles still translate "melon pan" as "melon jam buns" or something like that? I remember that made me LOL back in the day when I watched the CPM DVD (for those that don't know, melon pan is called that because of its appearance, not its flavor).

[jd213]

Originally Posted by Enigmo_1

Are there any digitally-composited, early 2000s, 4:3 anime you guys know that received recomposited Blu-rays?

I'm hoping there are, to somewhat give me hope that older digital animes like Naruto could one day see recomposited Blu-rays and not upscales by Viz

I only know of The 12 Kingdoms (which was probably HD to begin with since it was an NHK show) and Manabi Straight (Japan only, IIRC)

[pikagreg]

Originally Posted by cooperb21

It would be better than streaming it at least? I can't really afford or want to spend 200-250$ on Japanese BD. This goes for like under 30$ now.

It should be alright. The average buyer can't really be expected to import every Dynit/JP release muxing in the dub or fansubs to get the best possible AV quality (not to mention tv/pc settings and audio equipment/headphones). No offense to Who and the other users here who do try to get that level of quality for everything.

Give me a few and I can post up stats though I think we would have heard by now if it was super below average for a Funi release.

[pikagreg]

Did BDinfo have an update? I noticed it had a quick summary now lol

Disc Title: Mob Psycho 100 Disc 1
Disc Label: MobPsycho100_Disc1
Disc Size: 48,810,938,809 bytes
Protection: AACS
Playlist: 00008.MPLS
Size: 48,230,584,320 bytes
Length: 3:38:13.580
Total Bitrate: 29.47 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 21958 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: English / Dolby TrueHD Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2710 kbps / 16-bit (AC3 Embedded: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps / DN -4dB)
Audio: Japanese / Dolby TrueHD Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 854 kbps / 16-bit (AC3 Embedded: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -3dB)
Subtitle: English / 57.305 kbps
Subtitle: English / 8.699 kbps

This one is from the first ep



A few screenshots from ep 1

[Show spoiler]

[Show spoiler]

[Show spoiler]

[Show spoiler]

[Show spoiler]

[professorwho]

Not too bad, and the screenshots look good, but that Bitrate is too low for a series like Mob. The only compensation would be if that had good compressionists to work in such a low Bitrate, but sadly, they don’t. It looks fine, but it’s a shame it wasn’t given the 2 BD-50 treatment. It’s a series that demands a high butrate encode to preserve all detail.

And Pika, I wasn’t offended earlier. Most people aren’t compelled to import everything and mux in subtitles and/or dubs, so it’s good to hear that the FUNi release isn’t too bad.

[professorwho]

And mp3dom said they probably can’t get Mob, as in Italy, you need a dub to sell the BD well, and the cost of a dub making potential BD sales wouldn't cover the CR license and the dub. So, there’s no hope for a Dynit release...

Well, I guess I’d better get the JP releases sometime in the future...

[djfred93]

Originally Posted by Enigmo_1

Are there any digitally-composited, early 2000s, 4:3 anime you guys know that received recomposited Blu-rays?

I'm hoping there are, to somewhat give me hope that older digital animes like Naruto could one day see recomposited Blu-rays and not upscales by Viz

Naruto will be released on blu-ray with a Tsume collectible statues for 800 euro.
The blu-ray box set will include 30 blurays.

Source 1, Source 2 and picture.

[professorwho]

And here's the Bitrate scans for the FUNimation release of the FMA Brotherhood OVAs:

The OVAs:


Video:
1080p MPEG-4 AVC
23.976 fps
1.78:1 Aspect Ratio
13278 kbps AVG (13.27 mbps)
50927 kbps MAX (50.92 mbps)
5.63 GB

Audio:
Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 48kHz 24-Bit 770 kbps (334 mb)
English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 48kHz 24-Bit 2038 kbps (884 mb)

4Koma:


Video:
1080p MPEG-4 AVC
23.976 fps
1.78:1 Aspect Ratio
4869 kbps AVG (4.86 mbps)
35325 kbps MAX (35.32 mbps)
1.38 GB

Audio:
Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 48kHz 24-Bit 678 kbps (197 mb)
English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 48kHz 24-Bit 1706 kbps (495 mb)

As you can see, the main OVAs are encoded exactly like the main series- the bitrate has an insane variability. While I do appreciate that there some high spikes, the average is too low.

The 4Koma is barely animated at all, so it does not require a high bitrate, but 4.8 mbps is too low. I didn't see many artifacts- there is some banding now and then- but the average is really low.

The disc is barely above 12 GB, so there was ZERO excuse to not encode these OVAs at a higher average bitrate. Even if they still kept a BD-25, there is enough room for the OVAs, which is only 60 minutes in length, to have a bitrate in the high twenties or low thirties. The OVAs and 4Koma are barely animated, so it does not require a high bitrate, but I'd be curious how much better they would've looked with the higher bitrate.

Overall, it's standard FUNi encoding. Meh.