The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by kevers7290

^I mean in terms of video quality. I really don't care about extras.

The Universal disc has lots of bad banding, but the UK/FR BD was encoded by @Anime (AL’s French branch... thing), so there’s a good chance it may be worse, though it could be better.

And yeah, AL should be ashamed. The US release has 170 minutes of fully subbed Japanese extras- something that never happens on any western anime release, so it’s a major loss, IMO.

[BlackCondor93]

Originally Posted by professorwho

The Universal disc has lots of bad banding, but the UK/FR BD was encoded by @Anime (AL’s French branch... thing), so there’s a good chance it may be worse, though it could be better.

I'm guessing because it was released by Universal and not Shout, it didn't have the issue of not being able to show more than one subtitle caption at a time?

Also, @Anime France had different encoded discs to the UK, as they had some of those extras included in the US and Australian releases, considering that the UK release has the subtitles unlocked both during playback and on the main menu.

[professorwho]

In which case, it’s possible their Mirai was done by the mysterious freelancer who worked on Amanchu and the first Code Geass movie. If that is true, it’s very well encoded... except for incorrect gamma levels.

I wish AL would go back to using MediaOCD or perhaps some other authoring house that knows what they’re doing.

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by professorwho

... except for incorrect gamma levels.

It's a pretty big freakin' deal on Amanchu and Silver Spoon 1. You can just tell that they don't look right. Especially Amanchu.

[professorwho]

Satoshi Kon's Millennium Actress is getting a limited theatrical screening here in America tomorrow (subbed) and a new dub has been produced for it (the old dub was done at PAL 25 fps so it would have to be frame rate converted and pitch shifted to even match NTSC 24 fps). Based on the trailer Eleven Arts uploaded, it appears they are using the new 4K remaster. This isn't like the TMS remasters where detail is stripped from the image, nor was it outsourced to a French company like Perfect Blue.

I mention this as I'm going to the subbed screening, and being very familiar with how the film is "supposed" to look (aka, I love the JP BD and how it looks), I'll report back on how it looks. The trailer was super compressed for YouTube, so I have zero clue if there is actual film grain in it. It would be unfair to make an assumption on it (as, you know what happens when you assume), but I can make a guess on what I hope it'll look like, knowing the circumstances of it.

Unlike Perfect Blue, an original element still exists, and may have been used in the new scan. I would guess Bandai Visual handled the remaster, and would expect results very similar to the recent Gundam remasters- very detailed, but with some grain reduction, though no major side effects to it. Scavenger made a great comparison with Char's Counterattack, linked right here.

Since Shout! Factory will handle the Blu-ray's release in North America, I'm curious as to who will do the actual compression and authoring. If it's Shout, it'll turn out fine- not perfect, but better than FUNi handling it for example (like the Bebop movie- a film of a similar vintage done on 35mm). Personally, I'm hoping MediaOCD handles it like Perfect Blue, but in that case, Anime Limited in the UK already was working on it for years. The JP BD has a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix at 96kHz, and if it's legit (as in, it wasn't upconverted from 48kHz), it would be a nice inclusion on the disc.

[Misioon_Odisea]

Originally Posted by professorwho

The JP BD has a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix at 96kHz, and if it's legit (as in, it wasn't upconverted from 48kHz), it would be a nice inclusion on the disc.

I hate to break it on you, but the Japanese Blu-ray's back of the package (picture provided by the database in this website https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Mille...Blu-ray/87329/) clearly states in English that the audio is "DOLBY TrueHD (5.1ch) with advanced 96k upsampling". What would I give for more native 96KHz+ audio tracks for so many movies, too...

[portishead]

I'm going to the dubbed version. The subbed showing is practically sold out. The dubbed show is 10% filled.

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Satoshi Kon's Millennium Actress is getting a limited theatrical screening here in America tomorrow (subbed) and a new dub has been produced for it (the old dub was done at PAL 25 fps so it would have to be frame rate converted and pitch shifted to even match NTSC 24 fps).

That the dub was produced for 25fps is a non-issue: any potentially missing frames are the real issue.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

That the dub was produced for 25fps is a non-issue: any potentially missing frames are the real issue.

Sure, but it probably wasn’t worth the effort to recover the audio, slow it down and pitch convert it.

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by Thedoctor2016

Nope its not, it has no extras on disc. Zero, AL should be ashamed.

The UK collector's edition has the soundtrack as an extra.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by fatboyslim142

The UK collector's edition has the soundtrack as an extra.

That’s not the same as 170 minutes of video extras. I’m willing to bet it cost AL more to get a crappy soundtrack CD in the CE than actual video extras, fully subbed- something that never happens on western anime releases.

[BigOnAnime]

Originally Posted by portishead

I'm going to the dubbed version. The subbed showing is practically sold out. The dubbed show is 10% filled.

Meanwhile the theater I work at, we don't have a single pre-sale for either showing which I find quite depressing. This other theater I go to when they get stuff we don't, I looked at their online ticketing and they don't have a single pre-sale either which I find shocking. When I went to see the subbed showing of Perfect Blue there last year, had quite a few people. When I went to see the Danmachi movie there, was almost completely sold out. I swear if this bombs as hard as Sound! Euphonium: Our Promise did...
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies...umthemovie.htm
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies...st_yr=1&p=.htm

I hope I'm not in there by myself tomorrow or on Monday like I was for the dubbed screening of Sound! Euphonium: Our Promise. The subbed showing had only 3 people excluding myself.

[Lambadelta]

Originally Posted by professorwho

That’s not the same as 170 minutes of video extras. I’m willing to bet it cost AL more to get a crappy soundtrack CD in the CE than actual video extras, fully subbed- something that never happens on western anime releases.

(While I didn't get the film in question) I personally would enjoy a OST more over video extras I won't watch.

[BigOnAnime]

Video extras/booklets>>>>OST CDs
*Continues to complain about Aniplex cutting the meaty parts from the JP booklets out in favor of giving us OST CDs*

[PegasusKenshiro]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Satoshi Kon's Millennium Actress is getting a limited theatrical screening here in America tomorrow (subbed) and a new dub has been produced for it (the old dub was done at PAL 25 fps so it would have to be frame rate converted and pitch shifted to even match NTSC 24 fps). Based on the trailer Eleven Arts uploaded, it appears they are using the new 4K remaster. This isn't like the TMS remasters where detail is stripped from the image, nor was it outsourced to a French company like Perfect Blue.

I mention this as I'm going to the subbed screening, and being very familiar with how the film is "supposed" to look (aka, I love the JP BD and how it looks), I'll report back on how it looks. The trailer was super compressed for YouTube, so I have zero clue if there is actual film grain in it. It would be unfair to make an assumption on it (as, you know what happens when you assume), but I can make a guess on what I hope it'll look like, knowing the circumstances of it.

Unlike Perfect Blue, an original element still exists, and may have been used in the new scan. I would guess Bandai Visual handled the remaster, and would expect results very similar to the recent Gundam remasters- very detailed, but with some grain reduction, though no major side effects to it. Scavenger made a great comparison with Char's Counterattack, linked right here.

Since Shout! Factory will handle the Blu-ray's release in North America, I'm curious as to who will do the actual compression and authoring. If it's Shout, it'll turn out fine- not perfect, but better than FUNi handling it for example (like the Bebop movie- a film of a similar vintage done on 35mm). Personally, I'm hoping MediaOCD handles it like Perfect Blue, but in that case, Anime Limited in the UK already was working on it for years. The JP BD has a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix at 96kHz, and if it's legit (as in, it wasn't upconverted from 48kHz), it would be a nice inclusion on the disc.

Uhm.... How can 2 movies which were animated and completely finished digitally be done on 35mm?
They obviously made 35mm film prints as most theaters weren't equipped with digital at all at those times, but those movies are purely digitally made.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by PegasusKenshiro

Uhm.... How can 2 movies which were animated and completely finished digitally be done on 35mm?
They obviously made 35mm film prints as most theaters weren't equipped with digital at all at those times, but those movies are purely digitally made.

Wrong. “Millenium Actress” and “Cowboy Bebop: The Movie” were done by cel-animation, shot on 35mm, and not digital ink and paint productions.

[Thedoctor2016]

Originally Posted by Lambadelta

(While I didn't get the film in question) I personally would enjoy a OST more over video extras I won't watch.

Why does every other release have the extras why we couldn't have both. And the OST is pretty average its not that good. And you can import most OSTs the video extras need to be subbed etc and are harder to get hold of.

[PegasusKenshiro]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

Wrong. “Millenium Actress” and “Cowboy Bebop: The Movie” were done by cel-animation, shot on 35mm, and not digital ink and paint productions.

The last animated movie to have done so is supposed to be Jin-Roh. Where's the source for this? Sunrise was the last studio to do it and so was Madhouse in general but they started using digital paints and ink with their movies and shows starting in 2000.

Edit: well fu-ck me running, I'd be damned. The films look almost digital like so it fooled me. Had no idea that Japan held on that long to the film process for animated films, they must be the absolute last animated films to do so in general on a theatrical scale. Unless Portrait Of Van Gogh was shot using film...

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by PegasusKenshiro

The last animated movie to have done so is supposed to be Jin-Roh. Where's the source forbthis? Sunrise was the last studio to do it and so was Madhouse in general but they started using digital paints and ink with their movies and shows starting in 2000.

For starters, both films have an abundance of hand-painted cels readily available online and you wouldn't see that with a digital and ink production.

[Show spoiler]

[professorwho]

Millennium Actress screenings impressions:

First, the subtitles. They were mostly fine, but I noticed a few typos and a couple of mis-translations. I’ve seen the subs for what I believe was the old DVD release and those were better- but not a huge difference. But, the old subs actually translated the opening credits unlike the new ones which only translated “Directed by Satoshi Kon.” Also, a very important line was mistimed, which was distracting and annoying. If you’re reading this, Eleven Arts and/or Shout, please fix those issues.

Now to the fun stuff- it had some grain! Yay. But, it’s not a full win. See, to me, it looked like a “frozen” grain sort of thing. It was obvious that grain reduction (DNR) had been applied, but no detail was lost, with the exception of a single shot which looked straight out of a TMS UHD. But that was a single shot, so it’s not a huge deal. However, the grain was. Now, it wasn’t consistent, and you didn’t see any movement in its patterns, but instead was more like static grains on textures (like clothing, mostly). However, keep in mind, it’s a movie theater and I wasn’t sitting in the front to notice all the grains- I was in the centre.

The colour grading wasn’t bad, and mostly looked rather beautiful- however, in the “fantasy” scenes- primarily the ones set in the Samurai movies- it looked weird. It seemed to lean more towards red- a reverse Ritrovata (who leans towards yellow)- and kind of hurt my eyes a little in a few shots. The scenes set in the “present day” and the sepia style scenes in the 30s and 40s looked just like the JP BD in terms of colour, but the Samurai film section (which started after the train derailment) was the only not perfect part.

Audio was good. It mostly seemed like a stereo affair, but occasionally you got good use of surrounds. Sadly, Hirasawa’s music seemed mostly in stereo, so I was slightly disappointed. No audio issues whatsoever in terms of clarity.