The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[NormanicGrav]

Anime Ltd's El Presidente has provided a response to the video presentation issues with Violet Evergarden:

Allow me to chime in on this one folks (for those who haven't had a mail-out yet as anyone pre-ordering will be getting a message from our shop this morning too) �� !

The video materials we have from source are a lot trickier than normal ones and on evaluation it will be hard to get a better edition from a normal authoring house. As a result of the concerns raised with the current master, we’re pausing the release to work with a specialist authoring house to look at the masters and see if we can improve them. Assuming the answer is yes, we’ll get the disc changed over in the set as soon as we can.

Anime Ltd remains committed to delivering the best possible edition on first release we can, which is why we’re pausing the release full stop and not just shipping then offering a replacement scheme. As soon as we’ve evaluated the video masters vs the Blu-Rays, we’ll update again on timeframes for release based on what can be done.

To be clear and manage expectations, we can only confirm what can be done when the specialist authoring house has had time to evaluate the materials. If we confirm there is a better product to be had with this release then we absolutely will re-author the discs.

Everyone is on their holidays just now for the festive season, so we'll come back to folks at the start of the New Year with a proper update. Appreciate the patience while we do this as it means all shipments including our we ship are now on hold, but we will have the final product in your hands as soon as we can!

Thanks for your understanding folks and on behalf of everyone at Anime Ltd I hope everybody has a good holiday season!

[BigOnAnime]

So, there may be some hope? This shouldn't have happened in the first place though. If only they had say Justin Sevakis handle this, though, he's already got a lot on his plate with Discotek. If only we could clone him.

[NormanicGrav]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

So, there may be some hope? This shouldn't have happened in the first place though. If only they had say Justin Sevakis handle this, though, he's already got a lot on his plate with Discotek. If only we could clone him.

I mean if Justin had to choose between Violet Evergarden or something like more Kiss x Sis I think he would decide pretty quickly

[kk1]

Yeah sweet just got this email
Dear Violet Evergarden buyer,

We know many of you were looking forward to receiving shipping notifications imminently for this series - however it’s been brought to our attention that the video quality is not up to our usual standards for a release.

As a result we’re pausing the release to work with a specialist authoring house to look at the masters and see if we can improve them. Assuming the answer is yes, we’ll get the disc reauthored and replaced in the set as soon as we can before shipping your order to you.

Anime Limited remains committed to delivering the best possible edition on first release we can, which is why we’re delaying it not just shipping then offering a replacement scheme. As soon as we’ve evaluated the video masters vs the Blu-Rays, we’ll update again on timeframes.

We thank you for your understanding, and we will continue to endeavour to have Violet Evergarden out to you as soon as possible!

All the best, and Seasons Greetings
The Anime Limited Team

[BlackDevil]

Originally Posted by Mangaranga

It's 100% the broadcast version as it's a clone of the AU discs. To quote the person who made a dual audio version using the JP and AU BDs:

Was episode 13 the only episode that was different from the broadcast version? I’m having trouble finding any info of what was different on the JP Blu-ray release, besides the “movie versions”, which might be worth importing for the 5.1 track alone.

[BigOnAnime]

Well, there'd also be animation corrections (it's very common to see changes between the broadcast and Blu-ray/DVDs) even though most would be very subtle. Like note how subtle they are for Liz and the Blue Bird.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...8#post16228228

[psychopuppet]

If I’m understanding right . With Violet Evergarden Sony basically took the release from one company they own (Madman ) and used it for another they own (Funimation) . That release used/uses the broadcast masters (which is what the Netflix dub is synced to) instead of the revised Home Video masters .

[SpaceDandy]

Originally Posted by NormanicGrav

Anime Ltd's El Presidente has provided a response to the video presentation issues with Violet Evergarden:

He still uses this ridiculous egocentric name for his position? Can't wait to see Dynit, Nipponart or other's manager to do the same .

[BigOnAnime]

Originally Posted by psychopuppet

If I’m understanding right . With Violet Evergarden Sony basically took the release from one company they own (Madman ) and used it for another they own (Funimation) . That release used/uses the broadcast masters (which is what the Netflix dub is synced to) instead of the revised Home Video masters .

That seems to be what happened, yes, with slight modifications (logos, region). It also uses Madman's subtitle font instead of FUNimation's usual font they've had since late 2012 (before that, they had stuff that's hard to read), and the same bad translation Netflix had. I do wonder if there's even disc credits on here, or if it's among the few that don't.

[disneywildcat]

Originally Posted by psychopuppet

If I’m understanding right . With Violet Evergarden Sony basically took the release from one company they own (Madman ) and used it for another they own (Funimation) . That release used/uses the broadcast masters (which is what the Netflix dub is synced to) instead of the revised Home Video masters .

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

That seems to be what happened, yes, with slight modifications (logos, region). It also uses Madman's subtitle font instead of FUNimation's usual font they've had since late 2012 (before that, they had stuff that's hard to read), and the same bad translation Netflix had. I do wonder if there's even disc credits on here, or if it's among the few that don't.

I only seen Episodes 1 and 10 (subbed) and the OVA (dubbed) on the Funimation Series BD so far. I did notice that for episodes 2, 5, and 10, the BD had the original score for the original Japanese audio on scenes where the Netflix version have credits added over them with the closing theme by Minori Chihara playing (to shorten the episode runtime), while the BD has the credits separate from those scenes. It was interesting for episode 10 in particular

[Show spoiler] as the score “What it Means to Love” is played over the montage of Ann growing up and receiving her mother’s letters, and no score is used when Violet finally have the chance to express her sadness over Ann’s loss

.

As the dub was synced to the Netflix version, you get to hear the closing theme twice for the affected episodes (one before the closing credits, and during the closing credits on the BD).

I did notice that both the Series BD and Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll don’t appear to have English dub credits on the BD. I haven’t found Disc credits for the series yet, although the subtitles are credited to the same individual that worked the Netflix subs for the series.

Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll did have Disc production credits (with multiple individuals credited for the subs) and English closing credits (without credit to the dub cast/crew), the latter allows English language fans to see all the Kyoto Animation staff credited (as the credits honor the victims of the Arson attack who wouldn’t normally be credited with the film).

[themp3000]

Sometimes I don’t like PR speak because the pessimist in me sees this bit in the response as an out if it’s not financially viable or worth it at the end of the day.

To be clear and manage expectations, we can only confirm what can be done when the specialist authoring house has had time to evaluate the materials. If we confirm there is a better product to be had with this release then we absolutely will re-author the discs.

[TThomas]

Does the Sankarea Essentials release use the same uncesored master as the 2015 release?
And is the AU release uncensored?

[Thedoctor2016]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

So, there may be some hope? This shouldn't have happened in the first place though. If only they had say Justin Sevakis handle this, though, he's already got a lot on his plate with Discotek. If only we could clone him.

He did do Planetes, Millennium and is doing the big big one so I do wonder why he didnt do this I would say ALs second most hyped release (my tinfoil say France is the reason) then again he did do Origin I-IV

[NLScavenger]

Shirobako 2020 US BD vs 2016 US BD vs JP BD

If you were planning on picking up the 2020 US BD for better PQ, don't bother. The bitrate is slightly higher, but it's not much better and problems of the 2016 BD like the ringing around the credits are still there.

https://slow.pics/c/2SkHaj88

Shirobako 2020 US BD


Shirobako 2016 BD US


Shirobako JP BD


2020 US BD - episode #01

AVG: 21604 kbps | MAX: 36232 kbps

Audio: 24-bit DTS-HD MA 2.0

2016 US BD - episode #01

Disc Label: Shirobako BD-1
Disc Size: 48,345,643,558 bytes
Protection: AACS
Playlist: 00005.MPLS
Size: 3,860,355,072 bytes
Length: 0:25:27.526
Total Bitrate: 20.22 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 16915 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: Japanese / DTS-HD Master Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /  2090 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitle: English / 77.531 kbps

JP BD - Episode #01

AVG: 26094 kbps | MAX: 41443 kbps

Audio: 24-bit PCM 2.0 / 16-bit PCM 2.0 commentary track

[pikagreg]

There could still be improved subs too though I mostly want the new one for the dub and to get rid of the split release I have lol

[Logan Jones]

Darn it all... I really want to get a good release of Shirobako on Blu-ray. But with the crummy compression, I guess I'll have to wait...

I mean, is there any European release that has better compression and English subtitles?

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Logan Jones

I mean, is there any European release that has better compression and English subtitles?

Nope.

[Logan Jones]

poo.

[BigOnAnime]

Originally Posted by pikagreg

There could still be improved subs too though I mostly want the new one for the dub and to get rid of the split release I have lol

Could be? More like they are improved, though I don't know to what degree.

Originally Posted by zoid9000

It was hard to keep my mouth shut about this! Glad it finally got announced. I did some tweaks to the TL and worked with the director to make sure name pronunciations were all right. It's gonna be a great dub!

https://twitter.com/zoid9000/status/1288879012312473601

The credits like usual were redone and he is on there as "Supervising Translator". You can see them on ANN as someone I know who bought both releases shared them so I could enter them in as they were missing for 4 years.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/enc...e.php?id=16189

[Mangaranga]

Viz have put out another Stinker in the form of One Punch Man Season 2. Not the worst thing ever, but not great by any means.



Don't really have much to say about this one but it has banding, blocking and weird line artifacts which I haven't seen since pre-Joel McCray Sentai BDs (e.g. original Garden of Words release). It actually trades blows with CR in regards to which offers better image quality - moreso when you consider CR doesn't have any of the line artifacts either.

Oh, it also doesn't use CR's subtitle script, instead throwing that out for what is more or less dubtitles with some occasional minor deviations.

EDIT: NCOP also has Mono Audio.