The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[NLScavenger]

Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (NT) Anime Limited UK/FR BD vs Bandai JP BD vs Nozomi US BD

UK/FR BD picture quality is disappointing. It's certainly not the worst BD ever and I think it's watchable, but the transfer is brighter to such a degree that noise and posterization in darker colors is exposed and enhanced. This is also a problem on the FR BD of Weathering With You that like Gundam NT was authored by Com'On Screen.

https://slow.pics/c/tlzGSHl9

Compression doesn't hold up well when beams are involved

https://slow.pics/c/GHS9ougj

As disappointing the picture quality may be, it's not the biggest issue with the FR/UK BD. The UK/FR BD is based on theatrical version and missing most extras that are on the US BD. There are framing mistakes and perhaps other errors that were fixed in home video version:

Left: UK/FR | Right: JP BD


Left: UK/FR | Middle: JP BD | Right: US BD


I lost all interest in this release. I don't feel like watching it anymore. Maybe I'll wait for US standard edition.

UK/FR BD


JP BD


US BD


BDInfo UK/FR BD

Disc Title: MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM NT (NARRATIVE)
Disc Label: GUNDAM_NT
Disc Size: 28,628,187,139 bytes
Protection: AACS
Playlist: 00000.MPLS
Size: 27,437,067,264 bytes
Length: 1:28:54.537
Total Bitrate: 41.15 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 30161 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: Japanese / DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz /  4201 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz /  1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio: English / DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz /  4451 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz /  1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitle: French / 41.172 kbps
Subtitle: French / 44.092 kbps

[svenge]

Shout is responsible for the encoding for all of the recent GKIDS re-releases, typically using the same source materials as Studio Ghibli's Japanese releases. That's why the re-release of Nausicaa used the updated master from the Japanese "Miyazaki Box" instead of the original master that the Disney BD and Japanese stand-alone release both used.

[professorwho]

I've never been a fan of the updated master of Nausicaä. There's added DNR, and the colour grading is suspect- accuracy to the animation cels is questionable, as you can see images that show both grades are correct. Type in

ナウシカ セル画

to Google Images and you'll see what I mean.

[NLScavenger]

Animation cells aren't necessarily a good color reference. It's possible they took the generation loss in release prints and projection environment into account during production.

I think I had said it before, but the old remaster seems to be grainier because of the color grade.

-----------------------------------------

Paprika - Manga UK BD vs Sony BD

Manga UK BD is an improvement over the Sony BD. Windowboxing is gone and detail that was previously obscured by filtering is now visible again (see wood texture in #7). Conversely, there is also more banding (see #10). Maybe degrained a bit, or Sony added dithering.

Manga UK BD


Sony BD (caps-a-holic screenshots)


BDInfo Manga UK BD

Disc Title: Paprika
Disc Label: PAPRIKA
Disc Size: 42,004,848,321 bytes
Protection: AACS
Playlist: 00000.MPLS
Size: 25,492,730,304 bytes
Length: 1:30:32.844
Total Bitrate: 37.54 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 28160 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: Japanese / DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz /  3789 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz /   768 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio: English / DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz /  3644 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz /   768 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitle: English / 25.235 kbps

[sgbraden1]

So as I understand, for most of the anime, if I only care about the video quality when buy anime BDs, usually the BD from JP will have the highest video quality in most cases right ? I remembered read somewhere else: JPN > ITA > US,UK...

Do you guys have a list of BD anime titles that other regions have higher video quality than JPN BD ? So I can take a look when making my list to buying them.

[BigOnAnime]

I recall people saying back on the AnimeOnDVD Mania forums that FUNimation's Ouran High School Host Club Blu-ray upscale was better than the Japanese upscale that came out later. The Maiden Japan Blu-rays for Patlabor were also said to be better than the Japanese release as well.

[TThomas]

And to mention: Whilest Dynit Italia usually does a good job, Yamato Video (sometimes sold under Anime Factory brand) had some questionable releases.

[SpaceDandy]

In the case of Yamato Video, you can just discard any release which credits Amakusa Corps for "video restauration" or compression.

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

The Discotek BD of KonoSuba appears to be slightly better encoded than the Madman BD, despite the lower average bitrate. I kind of noticed it in the screenshots I took (and the smaller file sizes of the PNG caps), so I checked some shots in episode #2 and the difference is noticeable in the upper side of this shot:

https://slow.pics/c/r6eWENCd

In motion it's pretty much impossible to pick up the differences between the two, but it is interesting nonetheless.

JP BD has some debanding going on, hence the increased amount of dither noise. See Megumin's cape on the right:

https://slow.pics/c/PoCHaGxa

One more comparison of KonoSuba. A scene from episode #5 where the compression in the AU BD is struggling to keep up.

https://slow.pics/c/IhLhehly

AU BD


US BD


JP BD


I finished watching the Madman BD. It's good overall, but not worth picking up if you're not in AU/NZ. Picture quality is slightly worse than Discotek BD despite of the higher bitrate and a bunch of extras are missing.

[kuroshi]

Does anybody have any additional info about the Cyber city oedo U.K. release, apart from what's been mentioned in the U.k. thread.

[Mangaranga]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

Paprika - Manga UK BD vs Sony BD

Manga UK BD is an improvement over the Sony BD. Windowboxing is gone and detail that was previously obscured by filtering is now visible again (see wood texture in #7). Conversely, there is also more banding (see #10). Maybe degrained a bit, or Sony added dithering.

Isn't the Manga BD encoded with raised gamma here?

[Member-571539]

In regards to Cyber City Oedo 808

https://twitter.com/worldofcrap/stat...346764289?s=21

I see a little bit of grousing about the video quality on Cyber City Oedo. Guys, it’s a restored upscale. I need you to temper your expectations. I think it might’ve come out looking so sharp, people have forgotten that.

https://twitter.com/worldofcrap/stat...011435029?s=21

Not really. The AstroRes website is being worked on. It wasn’t used on this title (and not sure it would’ve been a good candidate).

https://twitter.com/worldofcrap/stat...852360195?s=21

We ARE the first ones to use it!!

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by Mangaranga

Isn't the Manga BD encoded with raised gamma here?

It is slightly raised compared to the Sony BD.

[kuroshi]

Originally Posted by gloomranger

In regards to Cyber City Oedo 808

https://twitter.com/worldofcrap/stat...346764289?s=21

Thanks.
So the discotek release will probably be identical.

[BoscoTheMan82]

Justin made both discs so I'm guessing other than the logos and the region of the disc it will be the same

[NLScavenger]

Mine shipped today. Can do a comparison with the Russian DVD when the BD arrives. Russian DVD is apparently a clone of the Japanese DVD.

[Cplhicks]

Anybody make the mistake of buying the Jubei 2 blu-ray? I compared it to my original DVDs, and even though it doesn't have the DVD compression artifacts I think it looks worse because it has been so smeared. I am not really capable of proper screenshots but I wanted to let people know it looks terrible. Any future MB upscales I will wait for reviews.

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by Cplhicks

Anybody make the mistake of buying the Jubei 2 blu-ray? I compared it to my original DVDs, and even though it doesn't have the DVD compression artifacts I think it looks worse because it has been so smeared. I am not really capable of proper screenshots but I wanted to let people know it looks terrible. Any future MB upscales I will wait for reviews.

Screencaps from place I can't link to
https://ibb.co/pnqB4Q7
https://ibb.co/3vQ5J8d
https://ibb.co/Mf0rzV3
https://ibb.co/GRQ5JGf
https://ibb.co/pbYnY40
https://ibb.co/r4Sc7sY
https://ibb.co/xhzMpKB

[SpaceDandy]

Steins;Gate (France - Dybex)
Authoring: Dynit
Episode 1 captures

Episode 1 bitrate (mean 37.66, max 49.81 mbps)
Media-Info:

[Show spoiler]

File size                                : 6.62 GiB
Duration                                 : 23 min 55 s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 39.6 Mb/s
Encoded date                             : UTC 2021-01-18 21:43:47
Writing application                      : MakeMKV v1.15.4 darwin(x64-release)
Writing library                          : libmakemkv v1.15.4 (1.3.10/1.5.2) darwin(x64-release)

Video
ID                                       : 1
ID in the original source medium         : 4113 (0x1011)
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.1
Format settings                          : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 4 frames
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 23 min 55 s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 37.6 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate                         : 40.0 Mb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.756
Stream size                              : 6.29 GiB (95%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Audio #1
ID                                       : 2
ID in the original source medium         : 4352 (0x1100)
Format                                   : DTS XLL
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Commercial name                          : DTS-HD Master Audio
Codec ID                                 : A_DTS
Duration                                 : 23 min 55 s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 1 333 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 93.750 FPS (512 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossless
Stream size                              : 228 MiB (3%)
Title                                    : Stereo
Language                                 : Japanese
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Audio #2
ID                                       : 3
ID in the original source medium         : 4352 (0x1100)
Format                                   : DTS
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID                                 : A_DTS
Duration                                 : 23 min 55 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 639 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 93.750 FPS (512 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 109 MiB (2%)
Title                                    : Stereo
Language                                 : Japanese
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Text
ID                                       : 4
ID in the original source medium         : 4608 (0x1200)
Format                                   : PGS
Codec ID                                 : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info                            : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration                                 : 23 min 34 s
Bit rate                                 : 30.0 kb/s
Count of elements                        : 575
Stream size                              : 5.06 MiB (0%)
Language                                 : French
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Menu
00:00:00.000                             : en:Chapter 01
00:01:09.652                             : en:Chapter 02
00:10:34.050                             : en:Chapter 03
00:12:03.973                             : en:Chapter 04
00:22:09.703                             : en:Chapter 05
00:23:40.919                             : en:Chapter 06

Vicklatereur had covered the second french release of Steins;Gate but no one ever investigated the first which was sub-only but had four BD50 rather than just three. It is known as the "Labomen" edition (or the Future Gadget #14 as the boxset calls it) and has been OOP for long.

Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu (France - Dybex)
Authoring: IDP Home Video
Episode 1 captures

Episode 1 bitrate (mean 29.98, max 48.92 mbps)
Media-Info: (incl. x264 settings)

[Show spoiler]

File size                                : 5.46 GiB
Duration                                 : 23 min 38 s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 33.1 Mb/s
Encoded date                             : UTC 2021-01-18 22:09:12
Writing application                      : MakeMKV v1.15.4 darwin(x64-release)
Writing library                          : libmakemkv v1.15.4 (1.3.10/1.5.2) darwin(x64-release)

Video
ID                                       : 1
ID in the original source medium         : 4113 (0x1011)
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.1
Format settings                          : CABAC / 3 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 3 frames
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 23 min 38 s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 30.0 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate                         : 40.0 Mb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.603
Stream size                              : 4.95 GiB (91%)
Writing library                          : x264 core 133 r2334 a3ac64b
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:1:1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=tesa / subme=11 / psy=1 / psy_rd=0.40:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / slices=4 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=1 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=1 / weightp=1 / keyint=24 / keyint_min=1 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=24 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=30000 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=40000 / vbv_bufsize=30000 / nal_hrd=vbr / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:0.60
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Audio #1
ID                                       : 2
ID in the original source medium         : 4352 (0x1100)
Format                                   : PCM
Format settings                          : Little / Signed
Codec ID                                 : A_PCM/INT/LIT
Duration                                 : 23 min 38 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 536 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 30.000 FPS (1600 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 16 bits
Stream size                              : 260 MiB (5%)
Title                                    : Stereo
Language                                 : Japanese
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Audio #2
ID                                       : 3
ID in the original source medium         : 4353 (0x1101)
Format                                   : PCM
Format settings                          : Little / Signed
Codec ID                                 : A_PCM/INT/LIT
Duration                                 : 23 min 38 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 536 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 30.000 FPS (1600 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 16 bits
Stream size                              : 260 MiB (5%)
Title                                    : Stereo
Language                                 : French
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Text #1
ID                                       : 4
ID in the original source medium         : 4608 (0x1200)
Format                                   : PGS
Codec ID                                 : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info                            : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration                                 : 23 min 31 s
Bit rate                                 : 41.3 kb/s
Count of elements                        : 696
Stream size                              : 6.94 MiB (0%)
Language                                 : French
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Text #2
ID                                       : 6
ID in the original source medium         : 4609 (0x1201)
Format                                   : PGS
Codec ID                                 : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info                            : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration                                 : 13 min 5 s
Bit rate                                 : 310 b/s
Count of elements                        : 6
Stream size                              : 29.8 KiB (0%)
Language                                 : French
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Menu
00:00:00.000                             : en:Chapter 01
00:01:31.174                             : en:Chapter 02
00:11:42.535                             : en:Chapter 03
00:22:06.366                             : en:Chapter 04
00:23:06.343                             : en:Chapter 05

Some people prefer the US upscale, others the Japanese one. It's based on the later. I would be interested to see how it compares to the JP boxset and the FUNi in-house upscale.

PNG are not bloated anymore. I hope they were not compressed in the process… I will try to do some Kazé France stuff next

[professorwho]

The DTS 2.0 cores on Steins;Gate are 640 kbps, so I’m 95% positive it’s the work of mp3dom.