The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread - Page 15 - Blu-ray Forum

BigOnAnime · 10-16-2015, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vincentric

The bands on his hand, neck and shirt are greatly reduced on the Kuro thanks to the deep color sampling but are a lot more noticeable on the Sony set. Steinsgate is filled with banding that's hard to ignore.

It should be noted the banding is apparently source related. I've heard from people that imported the JPBD's that those were full of banding as well.

vincentric · 10-17-2015, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naiera

Well, duh

Haha yep, I even nitpicked for any small imperfections, maybe just maybe I could see some slight traces of banding in a few of the scenes but that's really going out on a limb. It's just one of the best transfers I've seen on Blu-ray in general.

Naiera · 10-17-2015, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vincentric

Lol, just have to laugh at it and move on to the next.

MoonFly · 10-18-2015, 04:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vincentric

Checked out Sentai's Limited edition release of Persona 4. Am not sure I can say that this is a 'massive' improvement. This release still exhibits a fair amount of moderate to severe banding. And since they are continuing to stuff 9 eps into one disc, compression blocking is still very much an issue, as well.

All images captured from the first episode:

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5806/2...10088b37_o.png
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5662/2...93b75eca_o.png
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/704/22...df35e102_o.png
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5797/2...47cea50f_o.png
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5709/2...7d20337f_o.png
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/715/22...8993d159_o.png
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/738/22...f8bb71fc_o.png
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/591/22...833aa5d8_o.png
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/696/22...917ebb6b_o.png
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/771/21...8b3c176b_o.png
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/639/21...f7b3e166_o.png
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5646/2...ecafaa2d_o.png
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5757/2...22d95b56_o.png

Had I known that it would look like this, I would not have purchased. It looks like the same old shite Sentai quality.

I'll be taking a look at Brynhildr up next.

Edit: As for stats, each episode is given around 4.7 GB of data | around 4gb for the vid and 700mb for the audio. The (directors cut) ep1 runs around 5 minutes longer and is given 5.4GB; 4.7gb for the video and 700 mb for the audio

I'd say it's one of their better encodes but it's still not too great at all, though I always have a problem spotting compression. The banding here ins't too particularly bad when compared to the scenes you'll find on discs 2-3.

vincentric · 10-20-2015, 05:22 AM

Naiera · 10-20-2015, 11:42 AM

They're probably not blind, but monkeys they probably are.

vincentric · 10-21-2015, 12:21 AM

Indeed, they are probably just in need of new glasses.

Checked out the Mardock Scramble trilogy. The show looks great. Whichever one worked on it got it right (or got very lucky!). There's no banding. After Brynhildr, this is only the second release from Sentai I've seen where the picture is pretty much band free. Almost fainted a few times out of shock.

Girls With Guns · 10-21-2015, 01:01 AM

So that means it can be possible to get a decent transfer at the lower bit rates Funi and Sentai uses, if they made a concerted effort to get the best results... Still, 9 episodes on a disc is way too many.

SeaFox · 10-21-2015, 04:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Girls With Guns

So that means it can be possible to get a decent transfer at the lower bit rates Funi and Sentai uses, if they made a concerted effort to get the best results... Still, 9 episodes on a disc is way too many.

Noteworthy the Mardock Scramble films look great -- the Mardock Scramble films that are only about an hour each yet still got released as one (BD25?) disc per film. Three hours total runtime would have been put all together on a single BD50 if this was a TV series.

I wonder if there is a connection here...

BigOnAnime · 10-21-2015, 05:12 AM

Out of curiosity, who is credited for doing the Blu-ray authoring? I wonder if these were re-authored from the original release. The original releases were authored by David Williams. He used to do the BD authoring for everything Sentai would release, so he'd be doing so many BD's per month before they decided to get more people to do BD authoring.

Also while we're at it, who authored Byrnhildr? Unfortunately no one has submitted that info to ANN's encyclopedia entry for the show.

Naiera · 10-21-2015, 06:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeaFox

Noteworthy the Mardock Scramble films look great -- the Mardock Scramble films [I]that are only about an hour each yet still got released as one (BD25?) disc per film.

The Japanese put three eps on BD25s all the time. That's a little over an hour.

vincentric · 10-21-2015, 06:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeaFox

Noteworthy the Mardock Scramble films look great -- the Mardock Scramble films that are only about an hour each yet still got released as one (BD25?) disc per film. Three hours total runtime would have been put all together on a single BD50 if this was a TV series.

I wonder if there is a connection here...

They ended up using two encodes to separate the TC and DC in each disc. It breaks down like this -

Disc 1 is a BD50 containing First Compression TC (66 minutes 15.7 gb) and DC (70 mintues 16.6 gb), plus some ads and trailers. Total size of disc is 35.8 gb.

Disc 2 is a BD25 containing Second Combustion TC (62 minutes 10.9 gb) and DC (65 minutes 11.3 gb), plus some trailers. Total size of disc is 23.3 gb.

Disc 3 is a BD50 containing Third Exaust TC (69 minutes 13.8 gb) and DC (72 minutes 14.4 GB), plus a bunch of extras. Total size of disc is 43.6 gb.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

Out of curiosity, who is credited for doing the Blu-ray authoring? I wonder if these were re-authored from the original release. The original releases were authored by David Williams. He used to do the BD authoring for everything Sentai would release, so he'd be doing so many BD's per month before they decided to get more people to do BD authoring.

Also while we're at it, who authored Byrnhildr? Unfortunately no one has submitted that info to ANN's encyclopedia entry for the show.

I think they are using the same discs (tgus the same encode) from the individual releases and just bundled them together for this trilogy package. In the main menu -> special features -> disc credits, David Williams is listed as the author.

For Brynhildr, the end credits mentions the name of the disc author - Joel McCray... but I also checked the author for Black Bullet and you guessed it, it's the same guy - https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5746/2...a4f8440b_o.png

Went ahead and checked the Devil Survivor 2 author, that same Joel chap comes up again - https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/705/21...e0701a10_o.png

From the looks of it, he only had the Midas touch for Brynhildr.

Edit: Inserted Mardock Scramble run times.

Naiera · 10-21-2015, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vincentric

The only issue I have is the encode could use a higher bitrate. First Exhaust DC is around 70 minutes with 16.6 GB of data | 13.1 gb for the video and 3.5 for the audio. If the runtime and bits are broken down to standard episode length, it equals around the same amount of data that Sentai/Funi crams into their 9 ep discs.

Encoder dialed in to the exact same quality as their TV series releases

FUNi did the same thing over a decade ago when they released shoddy Fruits Basket DVDs with six/seven eps per disc and then used the same settings for years afterwards for their 3-5 ep discs.

vincentric · 10-22-2015, 01:59 AM

Girls With Guns · 10-22-2015, 03:07 AM

lol, we need him in this thread as a blu-ray.com member, so we can give him some kudos for his successes... and then grill him about what went wrong with Black Bullet - especially since I'm planning to get that one.

Mangaranga · 10-22-2015, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vincentric

Edit: Forgot to mention the author of the disc is once again Joel McCray. Has struck encode gold twice now, with hopefully more to come.

FYI, Joel McCray has also authored some of the worst examples in this thread like Space Bros and Muv Luv. I'm not really trying to defend R1 companies here, but I do think a fair amount of these issues may come down to the state materials are in when received by the encoder. You're reliant on having competent encoders at both the Japanese and overseas Licensors end to get a good end product.

NLScavenger · 10-22-2015, 03:08 PM

Looks like the Australian release of Fate/Stay Night: UBW could be great in terms of PQ. Season 1 comes on 4 discs. Can't see how many eps there are on discs 1-3, but disc 4 contains episode 12 plus the bonus features. The LE is limited to 1000 units and costs 130 Australian dollars. No standard release confirmed yet.

https://hanabee.myshopify.com/produc...set-season-one

vincentric · 10-22-2015, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Girls With Guns

lol, we need him in this thread as a blu-ray.com member, so we can give him some kudos for his successes... and then grill him about what went wrong with Black Bullet - especially since I'm planning to get that one.

Indeed. Was it because of crappy source material, too much alcohol during lunch break or something. Ask him about all the other horrible encodes while we're at it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

Looks like the Australian release of Fate/Stay Night: UBW could be great in terms of PQ. Season 1 comes on 4 discs. Can't see how many eps there are on discs 1-3, but disc 4 contains episode 12 plus the bonus features. The LE is limited to 1000 units and costs 130 Australian dollars. No standard release confirmed yet.

https://hanabee.myshopify.com/produc...set-season-one

Hopefully it ends up great. I have the AoA release. If needed, I can provide the data amount for comparison.

Mangaranga · 10-23-2015, 07:58 PM

Just a note for anyone interested - The UK release of Baccano via Anime Limited uses the same video/audio materials as Aniplex US/JP's BD set. There's also the addition of a Signs/Songs subtitle track, separate English credit roll and two more extras not available on the aforementioned set.
Discs authored by Justin Sevakis and locked to region B. Also worth mentioning is the booklet which is worthwhile reading too.

Naiera · 10-23-2015, 09:25 PM

That was looking increasingly likely.

Now we just need a release date. It's already been pressed and made ready to sell...

10-20-2015, 05:22 AM	#285
vincentric Blu-ray Guru Top contributor Member since:Feb 2013 Location:Bay Area, CA 4K collection:321 Blu-ray collection:1003 Trading Score:266	Sad to report that Black Bullet is another Sentai embarrassment of non-riches. It falls squarely into place with all of the other crap. Can pretty much pick any random scene from any episode and see some form of banding and blocking, ranging from moderate to severe, during normal viewing. https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5722/2...831181fc_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/653/22...04bff7df_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5744/2...09a2e389_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/612/21...bf399be0_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5691/2...74c0f893_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5711/2...d6b981bd_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/719/21...d1152bcf_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5670/2...9a18d63a_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5666/2...6f09448e_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5660/2...f7ebbeb2_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5824/2...e0387391_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5835/2...f006a44e_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5753/2...82f90a38_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5682/2...b1c62e5a_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/656/21...b20230c3_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/680/21...5994182b_o.png Stats aren't any better, the 9 eps on disc 1 average 4.2GB \| 3.8 gb for the video and 400 mb for the audio. The same amount is given for the four eps in disc 2. Sentai must truly have a bunch of blind monkeys authoring their discs. Last edited by vincentric; 10-20-2015 at 05:48 AM. Reason: my horrible math lol, corrected audio data amount

10-21-2015, 05:12 AM	#290
BigOnAnime Blu-ray Knight Top contributor Member since:Mar 2015 Location:Minnesota, USA 4K collection:17 Blu-ray collection:671 DVD collection:714	Out of curiosity, who is credited for doing the Blu-ray authoring? I wonder if these were re-authored from the original release. The original releases were authored by David Williams. He used to do the BD authoring for everything Sentai would release, so he'd be doing so many BD's per month before they decided to get more people to do BD authoring. Also while we're at it, who authored Byrnhildr? Unfortunately no one has submitted that info to ANN's encyclopedia entry for the show. Last edited by BigOnAnime; 10-21-2015 at 05:19 AM.

10-20-2015, 11:42 AM	#286
Naiera Blu-ray Prince Top contributor Member since:Jun 2012 Location:Denmark Home Theater Gallery:2 Trading Score:25	They're probably not blind, but monkeys they probably are.

10-21-2015, 12:21 AM	#287
vincentric Blu-ray Guru Top contributor Member since:Feb 2013 Location:Bay Area, CA 4K collection:321 Blu-ray collection:1003 Trading Score:266	Indeed, they are probably just in need of new glasses. Checked out the Mardock Scramble trilogy. The show looks great. Whichever one worked on it got it right (or got very lucky!). There's no banding. After Brynhildr, this is only the second release from Sentai I've seen where the picture is pretty much band free. Almost fainted a few times out of shock. The artificial grain may have helped mask the banding but am not sure. I know this is an older show so apologies for any redundancy. I haven't checked Fandom but I noticed Blu-ray Definition has screenies up for the second and third parts. I'll just post some up from the First Compression - https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5806/2...28a6f592_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/707/22...8b1321e3_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/613/22...edcb0df0_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/591/22...154af68e_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/777/22...70ac6aa7_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/669/22...02aa44ca_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/604/22...19b4f281_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5832/2...53b6627f_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5759/2...b8f356c4_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/715/22...8dd13774_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/622/22...e8055019_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/589/22...37bc5d20_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/588/22...f64e1756_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5762/2...8c34be4b_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5754/2...d189aca8_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5674/2...682ec94c_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5669/2...4edb0151_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5697/2...cd0b574a_o.png I dig the art style a lot, I may capture some more from the second and third parts if anyone else is interested. The only issue I have is the encode could use a higher bitrate. First Exhaust DC is around 70 minutes with 16.6 GB of data \| 13.1 gb for the video and 3.5 for the audio. If the runtime and bits are broken down to standard episode length, it equals around the same amount of data that Sentai/Funi crams into their 9 ep discs.

10-21-2015, 01:01 AM	#288
Girls With Guns Blu-ray Baron Member since:May 2014 Location:Amish Farm Country, PA Home Theater Gallery:32 Blu-ray collection:469 DVD collection:146 Trading Score:26	So that means it can be possible to get a decent transfer at the lower bit rates Funi and Sentai uses, if they made a concerted effort to get the best results... Still, 9 episodes on a disc is way too many.

10-22-2015, 01:59 AM	#294
vincentric Blu-ray Guru Top contributor Member since:Feb 2013 Location:Bay Area, CA 4K collection:321 Blu-ray collection:1003 Trading Score:266	Happy to report some more good news. Beyond the Boundary passed the test. It still exhibits slight, even moderate, banding at times but they were very few and far. They were even less noticeable during normal viewing, had to nitpick fast moving fight scenes step by step but even then, there weren't that many. If Mardock Scramble is 100% band free, Brynhildr 99%, then I'd say Beyond is around 95%. It looks great for the most part, even compression issues are kept at a minimum (though higher bitrates in particular for nighttime scenes and fight scenes would most certainly be welcome). The first 13 screenies are from ep1, the rest are from ep9 - https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5788/2...11bbb142_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/628/22...6c9c8868_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/602/22...48bd68aa_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5692/2...31908907_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/677/21...ac690b0c_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5812/2...e7b066fc_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/634/22...438f9cbe_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5671/2...0d1500b1_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5805/2...660862db_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5629/2...243c1756_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/713/22...933e4593_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/663/22...7001a09e_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/577/21...125f02ed_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5706/2...f181f66b_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5773/2...51763e33_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/699/22...750cce88_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5621/2...a0363ab7_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5809/2...778f368b_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/775/22...9866ffb1_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5736/2...f20f1960_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/677/21...a8ae8211_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/717/22...b8d5dce5_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/772/22...e7a9110d_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5800/2...6d9afab6_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5766/2...e41b2413_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/707/22...a98ccc9f_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/646/21...459a275c_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/668/22...b6bfa56a_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/730/22...51ab6c68_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5699/2...27c8f90a_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5659/2...0c34d555_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/699/21...8c207eee_o.png https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5699/2...f6b2e9b5_o.png https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/660/22...4fa412e6_o.png Stats here are SOP; around 4.4gb per ep, 4gb for the video and 400mb for the audio. Edit: Forgot to mention the author of the disc is once again Joel McCray. Has struck encode gold twice now, with hopefully more to come.

10-22-2015, 03:07 AM	#295
Girls With Guns Blu-ray Baron Member since:May 2014 Location:Amish Farm Country, PA Home Theater Gallery:32 Blu-ray collection:469 DVD collection:146 Trading Score:26	lol, we need him in this thread as a blu-ray.com member, so we can give him some kudos for his successes... and then grill him about what went wrong with Black Bullet - especially since I'm planning to get that one.

10-22-2015, 03:08 PM	#297
NLScavenger Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Dec 2013 Location:Netherlands 4K collection:20 Blu-ray collection:831 Trading Score:9	Looks like the Australian release of Fate/Stay Night: UBW could be great in terms of PQ. Season 1 comes on 4 discs. Can't see how many eps there are on discs 1-3, but disc 4 contains episode 12 plus the bonus features. The LE is limited to 1000 units and costs 130 Australian dollars. No standard release confirmed yet. https://hanabee.myshopify.com/produc...set-season-one

10-23-2015, 07:58 PM	#299
Mangaranga Senior Member Member since:Oct 2014	Just a note for anyone interested - The UK release of Baccano via Anime Limited uses the same video/audio materials as Aniplex US/JP's BD set. There's also the addition of a Signs/Songs subtitle track, separate English credit roll and two more extras not available on the aforementioned set. Discs authored by Justin Sevakis and locked to region B. Also worth mentioning is the booklet which is worthwhile reading too.

10-23-2015, 09:25 PM	#300
Naiera Blu-ray Prince Top contributor Member since:Jun 2012 Location:Denmark Home Theater Gallery:2 Trading Score:25	That was looking increasingly likely. Now we just need a release date. It's already been pressed and made ready to sell...

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