The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[Naiera]

Those Geneon DVDs were terrible

I had the first DVD and barely got through the first episode, so I won't be buying this Kyo Kara Maoh release. It's great to see it get a good release, though.

[professorwho]

I'll be posting stats for Lupin III Part IV (Japanese cut) tomorrow. I'll do screenshots once I figure out which episode the screenshots Yuripa made of the UK/FR release (as it wasn't listed, and it clearly isn't Episode 1).

[Naiera]

No.

[professorwho]

It’s 1080i at 29.97 FPS, as how the series was composited back in the day. 1080i takes
up more space due to the higher frame rates, in this case.

[HunterKIller]

Which version of Sakura Wars (main series) has a best quality? First edition on 6 disc or later resumption from Sentai?

[Nostalgic Twilight]

Originally Posted by professorwho

It’s 1080i at 29.97 FPS, as how the series was composited back in the day. 1080i takes
up more space due to the higher frame rates, in this case.

Another thing I forgot to note as well, the dub is lossy DD 2.0 @224Kbps, which also helps with space. The Japanese track is 16bit 2.0 LPCM @1.6Mbps, though.

[professorwho]

Huh. Guess they weren’t given high quality masters of the dub. That wouldn’t be the first time this has happened (Cyborg 009).

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by professorwho

It’s 1080i at 29.97 FPS, as how the series was composited back in the day. 1080i takes
up more space due to the higher frame rates, in this case.

Nope.

1080i is 60 half images and 1080p is 24 full images. 1080i takes more bitrate to encode well.

[professorwho]

But doesn’t 60 half images= 30 full images which is more than 24 full images?

I’m saying it takes up more bitrate, so I don’t get what you’re saying.

[Naiera]

It does take more bitrate, but your explanation is mistaken.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Naiera

It does take more bitrate, but your explanation is mistaken.

Then please correct me. I’m considered an expert on the topic of compression by some, (not that I really am) but this seems weird.

My explanation is: more frames per second= more bitrate.

[Nostalgic Twilight]

While I was at it last night, I ripped Discotek's Like the Clouds, Like the Wind BD release as well. I've been meaning to create some screenshots of it for some time now. This is a title that received an HD broadcast in Japan but to my knowledge hasn't been released on BD over there yet.



Screenshots.

[slerch666]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Huh. Guess they weren’t given high quality masters of the dub. That wouldn’t be the first time this has happened (Cyborg 009).

With dialog driven shows like this one, without lots of action or music, I'm guessing lossless wouldn't really net much of a bonus for folks anyway.

[professorwho]

So, I just got Lupin III Part IV The Italian Adventure (Japanese cut), and without having even watched a second, I can say this is going to be a really interesting release to analyze, for both good and possibly bad reasons (though I hope not much, or none).

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by professorwho

So, I just got Lupin III Part IV The Italian Adventure (Japanese cut), and without having even watched a second, I can say this is going to be a really interesting release to analyze, for both good and possibly bad reasons (though I hope not much, or none).

I watched the first three episodes and there is quite a decent amount of banding (could be more inherit to the source).

[Dailyan]

Speaking of Rupan, some "Dead or Alive" screencaps. It feels like they might of used an Internegative for this transfer but it still looks damn good.

http://imgbox.com/g/CHDe5eMjNe

In terms of Lupin films it's definitely middle of the road but sweet Jebus I want some of these backgrounds framed. I'm also a sucker for cel-animated night scenes.

[professorwho]

Lupin III Part IV The Italian Adventure (Japanese cut)
(Discotek, USA)

I'll do a full breakdown once I've seen the full series (which shouldn't be that long- a few days), but based on Episode 1 and half of Episode 2 it's a pretty damn solid release.

Yes, there are 13 episodes per disc, but it's been optimized to not waste space when not necessary. The average bitrate is shockingly low, at just under 15 mbps, but, as with Fate/Heaven's Feel, I say to look at the graph to really see the true average:



Top is disc 1, then disc 2. As you can see, it rarely goes below 15 mbps, and generally averages between 20-25 mbps, with lots of spikes when needed (look at the 51 mbps spike on disc 1!), so it never truly feels compressed. So, while the technical average is 15 mbps, in reality it's 20-25 with spikes up to 50 when needed.

As for banding- well, it's there. But, it's rarely distracting. It's momentary and as said by Dailyan, mostly in darker shots, so it could be a source issue. I could not spot any other compression artifacts. Overall, I am very pleased with the image. While the bitrates may be low, I cannot argue with what I see- it's very good.

The episodes only take up about 36 GB, so there's some extra space on the disc. I wish it was used to increase the bitrates, but that's a nitpick, really.

Audio is LPCM 2.0 16-bit and it's flawless. No audible compression, hisses, pops or anything wrong. The mixing is solid, but the music is a bit too loud for my liking (I love Ohno's score, but sometimes dialogue isn't as audible as a result of the mix), but this is a source issue. I won't knock any points off there, as it's faithful to the original sound design.

I'll post some comparisons to the UK/FR BD in the next few days, and I'm curious to see how it stacks up- being on half as many discs (but remember, the UK/FR BD has lots of banding, so we'll see if it's the same as here or even worse. I would assume the latter.)

[SeaFox]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Then please correct me. I’m considered an expert on the topic of compression by some, (not that I really am) but this seems weird.

My explanation is: more frames per second= more bitrate.

You can't compress a bunch or fields as efficiently as you can an entire full frame image. Having "the whole picture" to work with at once is better.

This is why encoders get so annoyed when they can't IVTC older material that has been through stupid intermediate steps.

[professorwho]

Thanks SeaFox.

Also, update on Lupin. Having finished Episodes 2 and 3, I can say there’s more banding there than in the first episode. In fact, in Episode 3, there’s a couple of shots were it’s incredibly noticeable and distracting. But in total, I’d say those shots are less than 10 seconds in total when added up. Am I going to knock off points because a couple of seconds have extremely severe banding and the rest doesn’t? Nope. I think that’s too harsh. Though, if similar things occur in later episodes, then I may have to.

This is probably the side effect of putting it on 2 discs. It’s mostly fine, but there’s some tiny moments, maybe 3% where it’s banding City. Otherwise it’s very well encoded. Would 3 discs have helped? Maybe. The minor stuff would probably be there, as it looks like source issues, but try major stuff would have slightly more room to breathe.

If you’re reading this Justin, it’s just a tiny issue. I see little to change, as the quality here is very good. If it sounds like I’m focusing on these tiny issues, it’s because I am, really due to how the other 97% of the encode is spot on. It’s all about focus- I’m making it out to be worse than it actually is, I guess.

Overall, so far, I’d give the image a 9.75/10 as its the best you could hope for.

[slerch666]

Originally Posted by SeaFox

You can't compress a bunch or fields as efficiently as you can an entire full frame image. Having "the whole picture" to work with at once is better.

And then you have broadcast which still likes interlaced because it helps with their bandwidth constraints. Different set of problems to solve for and all that.