The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[professorwho]

To continue the incompetence of Maiden Japan, I took a look at the Patlabor movies. Movie 1 is on a BD-25, but is only 99 minutes, so if optimized well, can still look fine... haven't watched it yet, but the bitrate is stupidly low. Below 20 mbps.

Now, I held out hope that Patlabor 2, a film which is longer (113 min) and is confirmed to be on a BD-50 would at least have higher rates. Well, I'm scanning the disc and... wow. Take a guess what the disc size is...

25.1 GB

That is literally like the lowest you can add over a BD-25 to put on a BD-50. Damn. The bitrates are sure gonna be lower with the longer runtime.

Also adding to the mess is the lack of original audio mixes. These films were originally released with Dolby Surround and the LPCM 2.0 mixes on the Japanese BDs replicate that perfectly. These just have the 5.1 remixes done for the DVD releases. Now, I've yet to actually watch these films ever, but I know many changes were done for the 5.1 mixes, so lacking the OG audio is a big loss.

In short, get the Patlabor box set for the TV show and OVAs... not the films, as the Japanese BDs have subtitles and even the dubs.

[professorwho]

From what I can tell, few people care for the third Patlabor film, as Oshii wasn't involved, so it's baffling to me why that one gets more disc space utilized than the ones that people actually care about and will sell better?

WXIII: Patlabor 3 uses 28.3 GB, which isn't great, but a huge improvement over the last two in terms of data rates.

[Naiera]

A lot of people care a lot for the third Patlabor film; it’s just that it didn’t really need to be a Patlabor film.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Naiera

A lot of people care a lot for the third Patlabor film; it’s just that it didn’t really need to be a Patlabor film.

I see. Well, again, I've never seen any of Patlabor outside of some awesome sakuga cuts from the films, and will be starting with the TV series. I'm just going off of some stuff I read years ago that may not have been that accurate.

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Also adding to the mess is the lack of original audio mixes. These films were originally released with Dolby Surround and the LPCM 2.0 mixes on the Japanese BDs replicate that perfectly. These just have the 5.1 remixes done for the DVD releases. Now, I've yet to actually watch these films ever, but I know many changes were done for the 5.1 mixes, so lacking the OG audio is a big loss.

The JP 5.1 tracks are complete redubs with different sfx and different music placement, just like the MSG Trilogy.

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by professorwho

... and will be starting with the TV series.

You should start with the original OVA and then do the first two movies.

[kevers7290]

Are the Korean versions of the Patlabor movies on par with the Japanese releases?

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by kevers7290

Are the Korean versions of the Patlabor movies on par with the Japanese releases?

They seem like they're clones.

[Naiera]

Pretty sure they are. That's why I have them

[Enigmo_1]

Anybody know how the compression is on MVM's UK Berserk BD set?

It's gotten quite cheap so I'm thinking of buying it if the compression fairs well with the Japanese BD.

Or if any other issues with the UK set, please let me know too

[emgesp]

Whats the best release of Spirited Away?

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by emgesp

Whats the best release of Spirited Away?

Japanese Blu-ray by Ghibli. It has English subs, too.

[Mangaranga]

Originally Posted by Enigmo_1

Anybody know how the compression is on MVM's UK Berserk BD set?

It's gotten quite cheap so I'm thinking of buying it if the compression fairs well with the Japanese BD.

Or if any other issues with the UK set, please let me know too

I briefly had the set yonks ago. Never did any real analysis on it, but being a Madman authored set it definitely had the brightness issue.

EDIT: Found some old caps I took at the time and uploaded to Imgur. Madman encode vs BDrip.
Excuse the messy formatting here, but I'm literally posting this as I'm about to go to sleep

https://i.imgur.com/ohWJK1v.png
https://i.imgur.com/q9XljkJ.png

https://i.imgur.com/6yww9O1.png
https://i.imgur.com/yosccfh.png

https://i.imgur.com/YltQ1c5.png
https://i.imgur.com/J8rXhhC.png

https://i.imgur.com/V4ncge2.png
https://i.imgur.com/HqJRbKm.png

https://i.imgur.com/n5bCYDQ.png
https://i.imgur.com/kpxdsdS.png

[Enigmo_1]

Originally Posted by Mangaranga

I briefly had the set yonks ago. Never did any real analysis on it, but being a Madman authored set it definitely had the brightness issue.

EDIT: Found some old caps I took at the time and uploaded to Imgur. Madman encode vs BDrip.
Excuse the messy formatting here, but I'm literally posting this as I'm about to go to sleep

Thanks! And by "BDrip" is it the raw rips of the Japanese BD?

I actually don't mind the brightness, but I notice a little more "green" in the colour which I don't like much. But I guess that can be dealt with some simple adjustments to my display. PQ seems fine (or even better if I'm honest. Really looking into the darks, the grain looks more fine than what this BDrip source is).

[Ccharmanderk]

Yknow, after being here for a good while, I'm a bit curious as to what you guys all consider the best-looking US anime Blu-rays. I'd imagine the answers would vary a bit from person to person.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by Ccharmanderk

Yknow, after being here for a good while, I'm a bit curious as to what you guys all consider the best-looking US anime Blu-rays. I'd imagine the answers would vary a bit from person to person.

Out of my minuscule collection, I'd say my favorite "best-looking" US Blu Ray releases probably have to be "Caglisotro", "Gold of Babylon","Noir","Urusei Yatsura Movie 2: Beautiful Dreamer", and "YuYu Hakusho". Of course, there's still releases I haven't watched yet ("Robot Carnival" is calling me constantly in my watch-pile). I also think “Street Fighter 2” looks good but the scanner noise can be a lot more noticeable on bigger screens.

[professorwho]

I think a good ground rule is no 1:1 clones of the Japanese encode. That means no Aniplex releases, and the rare clones from other distributors like Cagliostro and 5cm from Discotek, and Twelve Kingdoms from Media Blasters (though if you do count them as US releases, then they're great).

Some of mine include:

Kimagure Orange Road (Discotek- my go-to for 16mm anime)
Revolutionary Girl Utena (Nozomi- mainly the TV series, as the movie has optimization issues but otherwise looks amazing)
Ranma 1/2 (Viz)
Space Adventure Cobra 4K (Discotek- lots of DNR but easily the best HDR I've ever seen- besting both Blade Runners, Aquaman and Spider-Verse)
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU (Sentai- both seasons)
Akira (FUNimation- it's not the best release of it worldwide, but currently the best with English subs)
Ouran High School Host Club (FUNimation- one of the best upscales you can get)
Full Metal Panic IV (FUNimation)
Galaxy Express 999 Films (Discotek- the grain filter really does help hide Toei's DNR)
Patlabor TV series and OVAs (Maiden Japan- compression isn't perfect, but they actually have grain unlike the Japanese releases)
Liz and the Blue Bird (Shout Factory)
Vision of Escaflowne (FUNimation- the UK release is better, but the US FUNi release is still pretty good)
Street Fighter II (Discotek- lots of well rendered grain)

There are obviously some more, but those are some ones I feel look great.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Street Fighter II (Discotek- lots of well rendered grain)

I can't fully agree on "well rendered grain". Maybe it's because I watched "Birdman of Alcatraz" yesterday night, which is littered with scanner noise for the whole 140 minute run-time, but I found the scanner noise a lot more noticable in-motion on my rewatch tonight of SF2. I still enjoy the disc and it's definitely the best we have the film thus far.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

I can't fully agree on "well rendered grain". Maybe it's because I watched "Birdman of Alcatraz" yesterday night, which is littered with scanner noise for the whole 140 minute run-time, but I found the scanner noise a lot more noticable in-motion on my rewatch tonight of SF2. I still enjoy the disc and it's definitely the best we have the film thus far.

Can you point out what the scanner noise is? I have no clue what it is.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Can you point out what the scanner noise is? I have no clue what it is.

It's a by-product of a lot of older HD masters.

For example, take this shot of "Birdman of Alcatraz":

[Show spoiler]

Malden's jacket (and bits of his hair) is littered with a similar kind of scanner noise in this shot from SF2 (despite being made decades apart, different film stocks, and different types of medium)

[Show spoiler]