If you're gonna get the film, either get the UK or Japanese release. I own the Japanese release, and can say it's very worth it.
Gotcha!
I already own the Manga UK's Blu-ray/DVD SteelBook release and Selecta Visión's DVD. I wanted to go for the Collector's Edition Blu-ray set but the price seemed too much for what it is.
They ended up releasing a SteelBook too with the BD, DVD Extras and a Booklet.
After reading what was done to the FUNimation BD, the green tint and they removed Vic Mignogna's interview I didn't really see any point getting it.
Bitrate viewer report episode #1 Yack Deculture Edition* *Extended version of episode #1 that combines footage from the Deculture Edition and broadcast edition. The Deculture and broadcast editions are also on the disc.
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Season 1 - Nozomi Entertainment / Anime Limited UK
Audio: Japanese & English PCM 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit + optional English subtitles / English signs+songs
Episode #1 Bitrate viewer report
Quote:
Originally Posted by ps3bd_owner
Looks awful. I'd guess it has a lot to do with the fact the distributor decided to use BD25 instead of BD50, like the old days some distributors would compress movies on DVD5s than use DVD9s. Or split the dubs into two DVD5 discs, that is, the movie is on both obviously but Part "A" has dubs 1-3 and Part "B" has dubs 4-6.
The BD25, while problematic, is not the cause of the PQ problems here.
Last edited by NLScavenger; 10-29-2019 at 04:37 PM.
You can add Yumeiro Patissiere to the botched Section23 SD-BDs list. MPEG2 encode for both S1 and SP Professional. Watched the OP for both seasons and they just looked terrible. Pixelation, artifacting, it just overall looked terrible. I wouldn't be surprised if the Crunchyroll streams (which are long gone) looked better, and CR streams from 2008-2010 don't look very good because they didn't have great compression/encoding. The HIDIVE streams likely also look better, I haven't checked how those look though. https://i.imgur.com/HaKUY3P.jpg https://i.imgur.com/E8kgv5M.jpg (Dat artifacting) https://i.imgur.com/qbLW7AO.jpg https://i.imgur.com/OFLyoom.jpg https://i.imgur.com/DK0Z8m2.jpg
At least Yumeiro Patissiere is cheap. I was probably still going to pick it up over the holidays since I really like the series. I have just been streaming it so far on HIDIVE at work. It looks fine on my phone but the TV stream was pretty bad. I didn't notice the BD had SP on it either that is pretty cool.
So I watched Cobra on UHD last night. Wow. It's interesting to say the least.
When I first saw screenshots of the Japanese UHD, I, like many of you was disgusted. The amount of DNR used was insane, and it gave an often flat appearance in those screenshots. Even with SDR conversion, it still looked rather poor. So, when Discotek announced their release of it, I was glad, in that another indie label was joining the 4K party that I would support, and hopefully the issues would be fixed. After all, the Galaxy Express 999 films had rather strong DNR, so a grain filter emulating a late 70s/early 80s film stock was used and it turned out beautiful. It didn't produce more detail, but it resulted in a filmic look. Due to the complexity of HDR and the resolution, and this being Justin's (Sevakis, the compressionist) first UHD, no such grain filter was being added. I had heard that the HDR was amazing, and the huge saving grace of the transfer... and that's 100% true.
The HDR in Cobra is so good and hypnotic that for long stretches I completely forgot about DNR due to the trance I was in.
The reason the HDR is so good lies in the film itself and its striking direction by the legendary Osamu Dezaki (the most important anime director outside of Tezuka, and yes, that means he’s more important than Miyazaki- you heard that right), the framing and compositions are often times breathtaking due to the sheer complexity of the artwork and the color usage. The latter of which has a major upgrade with HDR. The background artwork was handled by another legend, Shichirou Kobayashi, famous for his work on Castle of Cagliostro, Berserk '97, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Angel's Egg, and many other famous works. After watching the “HDR Comparison” extra on the disc, I don’t think I’ll be checking out the 1080p disc as often due to the sheer amount of improvements with HDR.
The HDR10 layer is rather striking, and is probably one of the best looking HDR experiences I've personally seen, up there with both Blade Runner films and Aquaman on UHD. Color is hypnotic.
Now, this is with an asterisk. The DNR. Yes, it is very, very severe. However, in motion with the HDR, it's not as terrible as the screenshots make it out to be. I sit 15 feet away from a 55 inch HDR10 capable TV and from such a distance, the image is rather striking, but sit or stand closer, and it's a disaster. After watching the film, I checked back to certain scenes but standing in front of my TV- the HDR was just as strong, if not more so, but the DNR was horrible. Simply put, only watch the disc from a distance, as then the HDR will shine and you'll have a harder time being pissed off with the DNR. On which, the DNR is very strong, with no film grain left in the image, but I didn't notice any lines of artwork being removed- something Disney did with Cinderella's BD- and in more close up shots the smearing was less noticeable than in shots with characters in the background, whom were badly drawn to begin with and the smearing didn't do any help.
The main reason the UHD works is due to the sheer quality of the visuals the film has to offer. The artwork and imagery is breathtaking, resembling a strange combination of Godard's Pierrot le fou, Tarkovsky's Stalker, and Star Wars, with the hand drawn look of classic cel based anime.
The video compression is as good as you'd hope. There was no visible artifacting both sitting at a distance and up close. The bitrate is rather variable, often sticking below 30 mbps in less complex scenes, but when the surreal kicks in, the bitrate hovers between 70 to 90 mbps, with a few spikes over 100 mbps for good measure.
I watched the film in its original Japanese with English subtitles (which are yellow, with blue color when the songs are subtitled), presented via a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix at 48kHz, 24-bit (I believe, given the bitrate which averages around 4 mbps). It sounds rather good, with no issues whatsoever in regards to clarity, and no sound effects seemed to be re-done (a sad trend, that many 80s and 90s OVAs and films have had new effects for 5.1 mixes, like the Gundam works of the era). However, I was disappointed to see that the original Dolby Stereo audio mix was not on the disc. The Japanese UHD had an LPCM 2.0 mix at 98kHz 24-bit, but I have zero clue if it was the original mix or a downmix of the 5.1 mix. I would've loved an LPCM 2.0 mix for the purist in me, but as it is, the 5.1 mix is not offensive in any way, so it's unfortunate, but no deal breaker. The English dub is presented in LPCM 2.0 at 48kHz 16-bit, for those who care about dubs.
Overall, I am somewhat conflicted with Cobra on UHD. The HDR is insane and worth the price of the disc, but the severe digital noise reduction is the major drawback to an otherwise top notch release. Had there been no major DNR, I would have no problem giving the video a perfect 10/10 due to the strength of the high dynamic range presentation, but as it is, I'm leaning towards a 5 or 6/10 for that reason. As for the audio, I'd give a score of 7/10 due to the quality of the 5.1 mix and the slightly lower score due to the lack of the original Dolby Stereo mix.
At the low price it is at now, it is 100% worth picking up. TMS sadly will keep using Q-Tec for their UHDs to come, but what is presented here is acceptable, if a very revisionist approach to film restoration- one which strongly utilized the HDR format to its strengths, but with the downfall of a degrained image lacking an appearance films of its era should have.
I did contact them... over 6 months ago on that very topic.
Lets say FUNimation did that and released all of their Dragon Ball Z 3rd Gen footage on SD-BD as it is, it would be a huge success but for some reason they're obsessed with detraining, cropping and sell the customers a bunch of crap. And in that regard, a lot of people feel that's the best they'll ever see released.
Space Adventure Cobra and Lupin III Secret of Mamo were actually remastered by Tokyo Laboratory. Cagliostro was remastered by Q-Tec (for the 4K UHD release). Dunno who did Ashita no Joe 2.
Quote:
東京現像所が4K HDR化作業を行いました「劇場版 SPACE ADVENTURE コブラ」が4K UHD ブルーレイとして12/20に発売されました。ハイダイナミックレンジの特性を存分に生かした圧倒的な高画質に、早くも各方面から 絶賛の声が寄せられております。
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