The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[professorwho]

Galaxy Express 999
(Discotek, USA)


Disc 1 (Episodes 1-13) Bitrate

Japanese LPCM 2.0 Dual Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)





Galaxy Express looks pretty darn good to me, but it's not completely perfect. This is an upscale of the scan done for Toei's DVD. In Japan, Q-Tec did their own smeary upscale for BD, while Justin Sevakis did this one here. It looks fantastic, and from a distance, looks native HD.





13 episodes have been placed per disc, which did concern me, but compression is pretty good throughout, though there's a bit more in the way of macroblocking than I expected. It's not noticeable in motion at viewing distance, but only seen on a frame-by-frame or screenshot level. Had this been spread across 4 discs, maybe it could look a bit better, but these could be source issues for all I know- it's an old master, after all.

Also, I had to upload using Imgur, as PostImg is down right now, and Imgur may have potentially added some additional compression, so until PostImg is up, these are the best I have.





This is basically an untouched 16mm print, and as such there is a lot of grain (which I am fine with, and love) and some specs and occasionally some artifacts (not in terms of compression) on the bottom portion of the screen. See below;





Honestly, I prefer the look here over Giant Robo, which still looked amazing, but was degrained. This is 100% the total opposite.

Audio is pretty good for an anime of its vintage. Not sure what source it is, considering Toei was known to throw away master tapes, but it is clear, has no compression, and very few hisses and pops. Certainly WAY better than the Japanese audio on official releases of Dragon Ball Z, that's for sure.

Honestly, until this gets a full on HD remaster, then this is the best GE999 TV will look on home video. And if that remaster is Q-Tec, then I'll certainly prefer this BD here due to the superb grain.

[sagadego]

btw if you wan't to compared to the old masters, they stream on the pluto tv app

[SuperFlyHighGuy]

Thanks for the review and pics of GE999 series, definitely buying it.

[NLScavenger]

Millennium Actress US BD screenshots (from Sensuifu)

[UseY0ur1llusi0n]

Christ.

[themp3000]

Did the same people who did Perfect Blue’s recent BD also do Millennium Actress?

Because uh, yikes I think.

[NLScavenger]

It's not the worst remaster out there, but I will probably buy the Taiwanese BD instead and remux it with English subs.

Originally Posted by themp3000

Did the same people who did Perfect Blue’s recent BD also do Millennium Actress?

Because uh, yikes I think.

The recent Perfect Blue "remaster" is French (commissioned by Anime Limited UK). Millennium Actress is a Japanese remaster.

[Logan Jones]

Wait... Taiwanese BD?! How does that look compared to this release?

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by Logan Jones

Wait... Taiwanese BD?! How does that look compared to this release?

It should be a clone of the JP BD with the older, grainier remaster.

[professorwho]

When I saw this in theaters, even at a distance, I could I tell there was some heavy DNR at points, and this scene here was the worst offender. Damn!

[klasma]

Originally Posted by UseY0ur1llusi0n

Christ.

What's wrong with that one?

[UseY0ur1llusi0n]

The abhorrent compression during fast-motion. Nothing but macroblocks.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

Kon is becoming the Leone of anime where all of his films get bad remasters.

So Dailyan and I PM each other and have conversations about BD, film, anime, games and more. He said the above to me, and that got me thinking... yeah, Kon is the Sergio Leone of anime (for those who don't get the comparison, Leone made influential Spaghetti westerns like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, and many more. Since his death, all his films have been handled by incompetent companies releasing subpar releases of his classic films.) in this regard.

Let's break it down.

Perfect Blue: Original camera negative destroyed. Old BD is better than "remastered" (DNR'd) BD.

Millennium Actress: OCN exists. 4K remaster off of 5K scan of interpositive is produced and has severe DNR, is on only Western BD; Old BD is better. (Old dub is in PAL so wouldn't fit, new dub sucks and doesn't even match perfectly to lip flaps, like WTF?!)

Tokyo Godfathers: AU BD is windowboxed and lossy audio; UK BD is in proper AR and has lossless audio, but has moderate DNR applied.

Paprika: Digitally produced, so least "bad" in terms of source (Millennium Actress is technically best, but the remaster is not good). Sony BD is MPEG-2 and windowboxed. Manga UK BD is in proper AR and MPEG-4 AVC at a higher bitrate.

[klasma]

Originally Posted by UseY0ur1llusi0n

The abhorrent compression during fast-motion. Nothing but macroblocks.

Huh, I can't see it. Is it in the blacks? Or in the warp lines? If you (or someone) could mark some of the macroblocks on the image that would be neat.

[SeaFox]

Originally Posted by professorwho

So Dailyan and I PM each other and have conversations about BD, film, anime, games and more. He said the above to me, and that got me thinking... yeah, Kon is the Sergio Leone of anime (for those who don't get the comparison, Leone made influential Spaghetti westerns like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, and many more. Since his death, all his films have been handled by incompetent companies releasing subpar releases of his classic films.) in this regard.

I'm still waiting for a new version of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly that does not look like it was (literally) pissed on.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by SeaFox

I'm still waiting for a new version of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly that does not look like it was (literally) pissed on.

The yellow-timing is actually almost similar to a Techicolor dye-print (which have very low-fade) of the film:
https://filmcolors.org/galleries/il-...-cattivo-1966/

I'll take it over Kino's attempt to "fix" it.

[NLScavenger]

The real problem with the TGTBTU remaster is the green push and crushed blacks.

[kevers7290]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Perfect Blue: Original camera negative destroyed. Old BD is better than "remastered" (DNR'd) BD.

Does the US BD share the same encode as the new UK BD (for Perfect Blue)?

Originally Posted by professorwho

Millennium Actress: OCN exists. 4K remaster off of 5K scan of interpositive is produced and has severe DNR, is on only Western BD; Old BD is better. (Old dub is in PAL so wouldn't fit, new dub sucks and doesn't even match perfectly to lip flaps, like WTF?!)

Looks like I'll be hanging on to my Bandai Japan BD after all...

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

The real problem with the TGTBTU remaster is the green push and crushed blacks.

That's something Kino seemed to forgot at their attempt. Scenes like this look bad in addition to their mastering at a high gamma (they seemed to of stopped doing it):
https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&...104696&i=1&l=1

It's so much worse in-motion.

Originally Posted by kevers7290

Does the US BD share the same encode as the new UK BD (for Perfect Blue)?

Yes, it does.

[Kyle15]

Called it, Kon's movies keep getting the short end of the stick. Who knows when anyone will attempt to undo this garbage.