The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[Raye]

Thanks Jackson_H and Mangaranga for your input! I had no idea about the English audio inconsistencies across those releases despite owning a few of those releases. Guess I never noticed since I watch everything in Japanese anyway.

This almost certainly convinces me that FUNi will release their own compressed version of Kimetsu no Yaiba since they're probably going to redo the OPs and EDs to feature English credits. I can't fathom it being a clone of AOA's release.

[Mangaranga]

Originally Posted by Raye

This almost certainly convinces me that FUNi will release their own compressed version of Kimetsu no Yaiba since they're probably going to redo the OPs and EDs to feature English credits. I can't fathom it being a clone of AOA's release.

There's also no way Funi would ever use 3 BD50s per cour. I very much see this becoming a case of the good and the bad release, where those willing to pay Aniplex's premium get the good release. The fact that the Rightstuf description has been updated to suggest they're going to start implementing Region and/or Geolocking also suggests that the Funimation standards will be the discs everyone else in the family gets (AUS via Madman, UK via Manga), probably set to region AB. With that it'd close the reverse importation route people have taken over the years. You want Aniplex quality, you pay for Aniplex quality (Or Dynit if you're so inclined).

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Mangaranga

Video wise they have a pretty much perfect track record, hence why they're liked so much here for that. As Jackson_H stated above though, their earlier releases up until 2015/2016 are wildly inconsistent when it comes to audio for English tracks, with anything from DD 192kbps/DD 640kbps and lossy DTS to 16/24bit PCM and DTS-HD audio. The only other title I can think to add to that list is the Madoka recap movies. The Australian authored counterparts of SAO Season 1, Aldnoah.Zero and Fate/Zero do have lossless 16bit PCM audio though if you're into that, albeit at the cost of awful video in the case of SAO and Fate/Zero.

Then there's the Heaven's Feel movies, where, because of the high bitrate encodes on the films, the audio was downmixed to 16-bit DTS-HD MA 5.1, but seeing as the films may have been mixed at 20-bit audio, dithering down to 16-bit makes sense. For reference, the JP BDs have DTS-HD MA 2.0 and 5.1 ar 24-bit, while the AoA is 5.1 at 16-bit, and the Dynit has Japanese and Italian 5.1 at 24-bit because mp3dom is a god.

[jala12]

So I gotta ask since I'm not finding answers anywhere, but are there PQ differences between the Gundam library edition blu rays that came out in September compared to the Rightstuf releases?

[MrSniper1401]

Originally Posted by Raye

Since there's been some speculation about the upcoming quality of FUNi vs. AOA's release of Kimetsu no Yaiba, would anyone happen to know if AOA actually released something with subpar PQ?

I'm out of the loop on this one, but I thought Aniplex was just releasing their premium sets soon with standard editions to come, so are you saying Funi is gonna be handling the standard edition release?

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by jala12

So I gotta ask since I'm not finding answers anywhere, but are there PQ differences between the Gundam library edition blu rays that came out in September compared to the Rightstuf releases?

Yes. The Japanese releases are better encoded, plus some of them have the original audio mixes that are NOT present on the Nozomi/Rightstuf releases. Those are:

The Movie Trilogy (of the original series)
0083 Stardust Memory
08th MS Team

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by jala12

So I gotta ask since I'm not finding answers anywhere, but are there PQ differences between the Gundam library edition blu rays that came out in September compared to the Rightstuf releases?

No windowboxing in CCA and F91.

[jala12]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

No windowboxing in CCA and F91.

Interesting. And do they also utilize the new remasters from the 4Ks as well?

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by jala12

Interesting. And do they also utilize the new remasters from the 4Ks as well?

Older remasters.

[jala12]

Ah, I see. Are there any screenshot comparisons out there comparing the different releases?

[Raye]

Originally Posted by MrSniper1401

I'm out of the loop on this one, but I thought Aniplex was just releasing their premium sets soon with standard editions to come, so are you saying Funi is gonna be handling the standard edition release?

Yeah, basically that's what is going to happen, although none of us know if this will occur going forward or will be a case-by-case situation. There has been no confirmation if FUNi will release AOA's back catalog either. Unfortunately, it's a wait-and-see situation.

[BlackCondor93]

I'm not sure if this is the right thread to ask, but how was GKIDS/Universal's release of When Marnie Was There, in terms of subtitle options?

The Studio Canal UK release has the signs hardsubbed, but the rest of the subtitles optional. One review of the US release on here states that you can't change the audio on the fly, but a review on another site states that the subtitles are optional, so it could be only the audio is locked, but I'm not sure what is actually the case. Also, are the signs hardsubbed on the US release too?

[Mangaranga]

Anyone got their copy of City Hunter Shinjuku Private Eyes yet and can check the Japanese audio tracks?
To my ears both the Surround and Stereo tracks are messed up.

If it's of any use to anyone you can view the wavforms for the raw DTS-HD audio from the JP BD and US BD.
Admittedly I don't really know what I'm looking at, I just go by ear, and my ears are usually pretty good when it comes to audio.

[NLScavenger]

Could you post a one minute sample or something?

I have the Dynit BD and I don't recall anything being wrong with the JP audio of that.

[Mangaranga]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

Could you post a one minute sample or something?

I have the Dynit BD and I don't recall anything being wrong with the JP audio of that.

DM'd you.

[NLScavenger]

I've only listened to the first sample (the opening scene). I'm not an audio expert, but it seems the audio levels are compressed on the US BD and especially the center channel suffers from it. The US BD LFE channel is also quite different for whatever reason. US BD doesn't sound right to me.

US BD:

[Show spoiler]

JP BD:

[Show spoiler]

IT BD sounds similar to the JP BD to my ears, but I don't have it ripped right now, so can't check in Audacity.

EDIT: Opening titles also sound messed up on US BD.

EDIT2: Quickly checked the dub. Sounds better, but will check again tomorrow.

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

I've only listened to the first sample (the opening scene). I'm not an audio expert, but it seems the audio levels are compressed on the US BD and especially the center channel suffers from it. The US BD LFE channel is also quite different for whatever reason. US BD doesn't sound right to me.

US BD:

[Show spoiler]

JP BD:

[Show spoiler]

IT BD sounds similar to the JP BD to my ears, but I don't have it ripped right now, so can't check in Audacity.

EDIT: Opening titles also sound messed up on US BD.

EDIT2: Quickly checked the dub. Sounds better, but will check again tomorrow.

IT BD audio is fine. US BD opening scene sfx and voices are quieter than the JP/IT BD. It doesn't sound too bad in 5.1 setup, but with headphones it sounds bad. Opening theme also sounds less detailed. The dub mixing fares better, but it's also not as good as JP/IT BD audio.

IT BD:

[Show spoiler]

IT BD ITA dub:

[Show spoiler]

US BD dub:

[Show spoiler]

[sagadego]

damn that's a problem :/

[Jackson_H]

@Mangaranga

Dumb question but what retailer did you get your US BD of City Hunter Shinjuku Private Eyes from?

Even Right Stuf who is known for shipping 2 weeks early (or earlier) doesn't seem to have received their stock yet.

e.g.

https://www.rightstufanime.com/City-...e-Eyes-Blu-ray

Release Date: 5/26/2020

Pre-Order, Not Yet Shipping
Release Date: 5/26/2020


vs

https://www.rightstufanime.com/Domes...friend-Blu-ray

Release Date: 6/16/2020

In Stock (month early)

[Nostalgic Twilight]

My copy from RightStuf shipped several weeks ago. I’m guessing they didn’t get very many in and are waiting on more stock to fill the remaining orders.