The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[chronoclast]

The site has a review up for B: The Beginning and the encode looks poor from the screenshots. https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/B-The...7/#Screenshots

[Rosenkreutz]

So I just found out that Funimation's Blu-ray of Cowboy Bebop: The Movie actually had inferior image quality to that of the previous Sony release. It does have better audio apparently, but I thinking that the quality of the image probably trumps the quality of the audio so I'm leaning towards the Sony release. Plus I saw that professorwho had recommended any version, but the Funimation one. However, it doesn't appear that any official retailers still carry the Sony release so I'll have to look for it on Amazon or Ebay. Are there any bootlegs of the film that I'll have to worry about? I'm probably just being paranoid, but currently I don't know too many of the identifying features of bootleg BDs outside of the back of the disk sometimes looking wrong. The only anime BD bootleg that I'm currently aware of is the FMA (2003) one.

Speaking of which, professorwho it seems that you're fairly knowledgeable when it comes to the many failings of Funimation's releases, but do you know if this was true for their DVD releases of series previously owned by ADV, Geneon, etc.? I've heard that Funimation's release of Hanbei Renmei was actually inferior to that of the Pioneer/Geneon one and I believe I've also heard similar talk regarding Funimation's release of Trigun. I thought that all of Geneon's re-releases were identical to their Pioneer ones, but I believe I recall reading the Geneon release of Trigun was actually better for some reason.

Regardless, I was specifically curious if the Funimation releases of Hellsing (2002), Texhnolyze and Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 were the same, better or worse than their previous Pioneer/Geneon & ADV releases since to my knoledge none of these series have gotten BD releases yet, at least not in NA.

[professorwho]

With regards to Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door (the movie), the best release is actually the Italian Dynit Blu-ray, due to the best compression, high bitrate, and having English subtitles and the dub. Since the film was licensed from Sony, I believe that's why they could be included, as otherwise, they would be unavailable. However, note that it is Region B locked, so unless you're region free or have a Region B player, then it may not be an option.

With Haibane Renmei, the FUNimation DVD used the master from the Japanese Blu-ray release, which seems promising enough, but it was sadly a poor decision, as the old Geneon DVDs look better because the DVD master is less filtered (the BD master was a poor upscale that smeared away some detail, and even when shrunk down to DVD, it's still noticeable).

As for Trigun, that's interesting. The initial Pioneer single DVDs had this weird issue where the OP from episode 1 was used for every single episode. Trigun has dynamic OPs, where a shot or two was changed in every single episode, so that was lost. Later, "Remix" DVDs which fixed that were released, had better picture quality, and new 5.1 mixes (though I'd stick with the stereo tracks, because I'm a purist). The FUNi release uses the Remix masters, which is great, but I believe the issue was something to do with video compression (and the original stereo tracks being removed), though please don't quote me on this.

As for the last 3, I don't know about those. You'd assume a newly encoded DVD from the 2010s would be better than early 2000s DVDs, which is usually the case, but you never know...

[BigOnAnime]

I'm not aware of any bootlegs for that movie, but any look-a-like bootlegs when it comes to Blu-ray can be a bit easy to spot. If the cover looks faded, or if the disc is a BD-R (black back), then it's a bootleg. There's only 2 official anime release I know of that were on BD-Rs, the initial NA release for Metropolis, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V Season 2. There's been plenty of look-a-like bootlegs made for FUNimation's stuff (primarily Dragon Ball stuff), and the same goes for Bandai Entertainment, Media Blasters with Rurouni Kenshin, ADV Films with the Evangelion Platinum Thinpak, a few Aniplex USA releases, and Discotek. With FUNimation, if there's shrinkwrap over the slipcover and the cutout for the UPC on the slipcover is very rectangular and not curved on the corners, it's a bootleg as FUNimation doesn't do that.

As for Haibane Renmei, FUNimation's release is indeed inferior, both with video quality and the subtitles. It's a downscale of the not so good Japanese Blu-ray upscale for an early digipaint show (Fall 2002).

In general, FUNimation's DVD license-rescues tend to look worse (Ex: Vandread) than the prior company's release(s), and this continues to this day. Their Crest of the Stars DVD from 2018 reportedly looks worse than Bandai's from 2001. I've got both, and could do a comparison sometime to see how true or not that is. Additionally, if you care about extras, their license rescues prior to 2011 usually omitted nearly all the extras, sometimes even clean OP/ED.

Originally Posted by professorwho

As for Trigun, that's interesting. The initial Pioneer single DVDs had this weird issue where the OP from episode 1 was used for every single episode. Trigun has dynamic OPs, where a shot or two was changed in every single episode, so that was lost. Later, "Remix" DVDs which fixed that were released, had better picture quality, and new 5.1 mixes (though I'd stick with the stereo tracks, because I'm a purist). The FUNi release uses the Remix masters, which is great, but I believe the issue was something to do with video compression (and the original stereo tracks being removed), though please don't quote me on this.

Worth noting, FUNimation's initial release repeated Geneon's mistake of using the same OP on every episode because that was the only clean opening they received, just like Geneon. FUNimation later corrected that on the Anime Classics release.

[Rosenkreutz]

Originally Posted by professorwho

As for Trigun, that's interesting. The initial Pioneer single DVDs had this weird issue where the OP from episode 1 was used for every single episode. Trigun has dynamic OPs, where a shot or two was changed in every single episode, so that was lost. Later, "Remix" DVDs which fixed that were released, had better picture quality, and new 5.1 mixes (though I'd stick with the stereo tracks, because I'm a purist). The FUNi release uses the Remix masters, which is great, but I believe the issue was something to do with video compression (and the original stereo tracks being removed), though please don't quote me on this.

As for the last 3, I don't know about those. You'd assume a newly encoded DVD from the 2010s would be better than early 2000s DVDs, which is usually the case, but you never know...

I actually own both the original Pioneer Trigun boxset as well as the collector tin boxes which I think have the remix versions iirc, though I might get around to looking for the standard remix DVD releases instead since I'm not a fan of the packaging for the collector's tin. Either way, it must have been the remix versions that I was thinking about and not the standard "signature series" re-release, I guess those ones are probably the same as the old Pioneer DVDs. Too bad the remix versions apparently don't include the stereo tracks, I guess it's a good enough reason to keep the old Trigun box set too though.

As for the other titles I mentioned, you would indeed assume that the newer releases would be at least the same quality if not better, but this is Funimation we're talking about and for some bizarre reason they seem to really suck when it comes to video encoding which is really annoying considering that they're the biggest anime distributor in the west. Regardless, I'm really not sure if I should take my chances with the Funimation releases or just go get/stick with the older individual DVD releases.

[Rosenkreutz]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

I'm not aware of any bootlegs for that movie, but any look-a-like bootlegs when it comes to Blu-ray can be a bit easy to spot. If the cover looks faded, or if the disc is a BD-R (black back), then it's a bootleg. There's only 2 official anime release I know of that were on BD-Rs, the initial NA release for Metropolis, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V Season 2. There's been plenty of look-a-like bootlegs made for FUNimation's stuff (primarily Dragon Ball stuff), and the same goes for Bandai Entertainment, Media Blasters with Rurouni Kenshin, ADV Films with the Evangelion Platinum Thinpak, a few Aniplex USA releases, and Discotek. With FUNimation, if there's shrinkwrap over the slipcover and the cutout for the UPC on the slipcover is very rectangular and not curved on the corners, it's a bootleg as FUNimation doesn't do that.

Interesting, do bootleg BDs have any consistent red flags throughout such as small disk size? Every bootleg anime DVD I've ever seen was only 4GB whereas authentic ones were always 6GB, tough there are some rare cases like Orguss 02 which was larger than 6GB since they crammed so much onto just one disk.

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

In general, FUNimation's DVD license-rescues tend to look worse (Ex: Vandread) than the prior company's release(s), and this continues to this day. Their Crest of the Stars DVD from 2018 reportedly looks worse than Bandai's from 2001. I've got both, and could do a comparison sometime to see how true or not that is. Additionally, if you care about extras, their license rescues prior to 2011 usually omitted nearly all the extras, sometimes even clean OP/ED.Worth noting, FUNimation's initial release repeated Geneon's mistake of using the same OP on every episode because that was the only clean opening they received, just like Geneon. FUNimation later corrected that on the Anime Classics release.

Darn, I thought this would end up being the case, but thanks a lot for the information, this is very good to know. It looks like I should stick with the older releases of any of Funimation's rescues then, at least when it comes to DVDs. Thankfully their BD anime releases still seem to (mostly) be upgrades from previous DVDs even if said BDs are still often inferior to that of releases in other regions.

Also, just to clarify, all of the Geneon "Signature Series" re-releases were identical to their old Pioneer releases right? I mistook the remix version of Trigun for the signature series release, but now that I know that they're not I'm assuming that there isn't anything special about any of the Signature Series re-releases outside of their gaudy logo (still better than Funimation's gross "S.A.V.E." logo though.)

[BigOnAnime]

I don't know own any Signature Series releases from Geneon yet (I will get a few in the future for collecting reasons), but I honestly doubt the discs were new, especially as that was their budget-line and also the fact Geneon was king at repackaging things, note how rare more compact releases were from them. While the disc art is different (every Geneon Signature Series release I've looked up is just a completely red disc-no red case though, wasted opportunity), the contents are most likely the same. I mean, ADV's short-lived Essential Anime Collection budget-line which lasted only a year (March 2004-March 2005) had new discs, but they made it obvious by advertising on the front "Digitally Remastered in 5.1" (except with Martian Successor Nadesico and Sorcerer Hunters which still had new discs). Geneon had no such advertising like that anywhere from what I've seen.

[The Collector FX]

Originally Posted by Rosenkreutz

Also, just to clarify, all of the Geneon "Signature Series" re-releases were identical to their old Pioneer releases right?

Pioneer (without Geneon label) and Pioneer Signature, as well as Geneon label DVD's use the same disc.

[TThomas]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

With FUNimation, if there's shrinkwrap over the slipcover and the cutout for the UPC on the slipcover is very rectangular and not curved on the corners, it's a bootleg as FUNimation doesn't do that.

With the UPC cutout you are absolutely right.

But I've already seen legit Funimation releases, that were distributed in Australia by Madman, that got an additional shrinkwrap over the slipcover:
https://imgur.com/a/c2yGUde
(so first sealed the usual funimation way - than got an age rating sticker on the slipcover - and after that a second shrinkwrap over the slipcover)

I don't know exactly why they did it (and don't know if it was Madman or a store), but I imagine it was easier to place the age rating on slipcovers only instead of putting it on the amaray - and they need to make sure that the slip is always included (as selling without the slip that carries the age rating might be against australian law)

[BoscoTheMan82]

The only difference I would think of on Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 is the ADV releases used the composite master and the Funimation one would only be an upgrade if they got the component master

[Rosenkreutz]

Originally Posted by BoscoTheMan82

The only difference I would think of on Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 is the ADV releases used the composite master and the Funimation one would only be an upgrade if they got the component master

Didn't know about that, now I'm curious which master Funimation acquired. Did ADV's "Essential Anime" release of the series use the composite master as well?

[jd213]

I have the BGC2040 Essential Release from ADV somewhere and I'm pretty sure it uses a component master, but still looks meh for DVD (and of course has ugly English credit replacements). Have a lot of nostalgia for it so would like it to have a proper BD release someday, but kinda doubt it will ever happen, other than possibly an upscale or SDBD.

[Rosenkreutz]

Originally Posted by jd213

I have the BGC2040 Essential Release from ADV somewhere and I'm pretty sure it uses a component master, but still looks meh for DVD (and of course has ugly English credit replacements). Have a lot of nostalgia for it so would like it to have a proper BD release someday, but kinda doubt it will ever happen, other than possibly an upscale or SDBD.

Would you by chance know if the Nozomi SDBD of A.D. Police To Protect and Serve is an improvement from the ADV DVD? I've been meaning to collect everything relating to Bubblegum Crisis, but I'm not sure if the SDBD is an actual upgrade or not quality-wise. A Nozomi representative did tell me that they thought their version was better, but they never went into a details when I asked so I have nothing to go off of other than their word.

[NLScavenger]

This set of screenshots and BDInfo report was posted "somewhere"

Jungle de Ikou

Screenshots

QUICK SUMMARY:

Disc Title: Jungle De Ikou BD
Disc Size: 17,121,881,936 bytes
Protection: AACS
BD-Java: No
Playlist: 00000.MPLS
Size: 15,460,379,328 bytes
Length: 1:25:33.161
Total Bitrate: 24.09 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 19429 kbps / 1080i / 29.970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: Japanese / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
Audio: English / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
Subtitle: English / 24.423 kbps
Subtitle: English / 2.062 kbps

[BoscoTheMan82]

Originally Posted by jd213

I have the BGC2040 Essential Release from ADV somewhere and I'm pretty sure it uses a component master, but still looks meh for DVD (and of course has ugly English credit replacements). Have a lot of nostalgia for it so would like it to have a proper BD release someday, but kinda doubt it will ever happen, other than possibly an upscale or SDBD.

I really doubt the Essential Release uses a different master than the earlier Ultimate Collection, the dot crawl in ADV's BGC2040 isn't as bad as ADV's FMP Fumoffu release

[Zhou]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

This set of screenshots and BDInfo report was posted "somewhere"

Jungle de Ikou

Screenshots

Yeesh, why did Media Blasters decide to release this on Blu-ray if the masters look like this? In the case of Jubei-chan, at least they'll have access to the Japanese upscale.

[Rosenkreutz]

Originally Posted by BoscoTheMan82

I really doubt the Essential Release uses a different master than the earlier Ultimate Collection, the dot crawl in ADV's BGC2040 isn't as bad as ADV's FMP Fumoffu release

I could always order Funimation's release and try taking some screenshots of it if jd213 or anyone else is willing to provide screenshots of ADV's Essential Anime release. Granted, I don't know if there's any special way you're supposed to go about taking screenshots for comparison, should I be using a specific video player or anything like that for it?

[jd213]

Here's some screenshots from the 2nd episode in Collection 2 Disc 1:
https://imgur.com/a/WCxeuMV
There's no composite artifacts I can see in the actual episodes (wish I could say the same about interlacing artifacts), but the OP/ED and eyecatches definitely have them. Maybe digitally enhanced scenes are composite as well?

Originally Posted by Rosenkreutz

I could always order Funimation's release and try taking some screenshots of it if jd213 or anyone else is willing to provide screenshots of ADV's Essential Anime release. Granted, I don't know if there's any special way you're supposed to go about taking screenshots for comparison, should I be using a specific video player or anything like that for it?

I've been using DGindex (only for MPEG-2, but there's DGAVCindex for h264) for like 20 years now since it isn't affected by one's graphics card or anything, but it hasn't been updated in about 20 years either.

[BoscoTheMan82]

Took a look at my ADV Ultimate Collection, the opening is riddled with dot crawl, during the episodes mostly just noticed some aliasing.

[jd213]

Originally Posted by Rosenkreutz

Would you by chance know if the Nozomi SDBD of A.D. Police To Protect and Serve is an improvement from the ADV DVD? I've been meaning to collect everything relating to Bubblegum Crisis, but I'm not sure if the SDBD is an actual upgrade or not quality-wise. A Nozomi representative did tell me that they thought their version was better, but they never went into a details when I asked so I have nothing to go off of other than their word.

Sorry, missed this earlier, but never actually owned any version of AD Police TV.