The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[Glorian]

Originally Posted by Rosenkreutz

Yikes, I recently did read about that and I was worried that might be the case, I'll have to take a look at mine and make sure they aren't suffering the same fate as my aforementioned relative's copies, though they don't exactly take the best care of their stuff so hopefully its just a result of that and not the discs themselves being of poor quality. At least this explains why I didn't remember them looking like that before though. Regardless, worst case scenario I could just settle for the Funimation release, but their release of the first season is so much darker than it's supposed to be for some reason, it's really distracting, that and it has their typical cruddy disc packaging.

What you're being told about the disc color isn't correct, at least in this case. A normal DVD made NOW always has a silver bottom, but in the early days of DVD production, some discs would be made with small amounts of gold as an ingredient, giving the bottom surface a gold color. This can be seen in a number of early DVD releases from CPM (my Slayers and Maze discs are the same way, and I bought them when they came out) and other companies (the copies of Viz's release of Key the Metal Idol I have are gold as well).

After a while, companies stopped using gold, as it drove up production costs and wasn't required. However, the gold discs should theoretically last longer, as gold is immune to corrosion, preventing disc failure under a wider range of conditions. Companies like Verbatium even make gold archival DVD-Rs explicitly for that reason, if you're willing to pay extra for them.

Note that things kept in print for an extended period might not have gold bottoms for all copies; the first print run might have used gold, but the second or third print run might have been pressed after companies stopped using it.

And the region ALL thing was really common; CPM did that with lots of their DVDs, it's not an indication of bootlegs.

Oh, and finally, the second, "remastered" release of Slayers fixed an audio issue with the original release (swapped left and right speakers, I think?), but IIRC, it also restored missing footage. The original set was missing 30 seconds or so of footage from the very end of episode 26, which was restored in the remastered set.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Rosenkreutz

It's good to hear that there may be some genuine pros to SDBD over DVDs outside of them just being more compact and less prone to scratches. This makes me feel a little bit more confident about the idea of switching out my DVD copy of A.D. Police: To Protect and Serve for the SDBD one. I remember a while back a Nozomi representative told me their version was better, but never gave any specifics. Granted, it's not like it's even really a favorite or mine or anything, but it's still tenuously related to Bubblegum Crisis.

...You do realise that literally almost every SD-BD is better than its DVD counterpart, correct? It's not so hit-and-miss (unless it's from Sentai/Maiden Japan- took them a long while to get it right), and Discotek's output on the format has been first rate, setting the worldwide example for how to do it.

[Rosenkreutz]

Originally Posted by professorwho

...You do realise that literally almost every SD-BD is better than its DVD counterpart, correct? It's not so hit-and-miss (unless it's from Sentai/Maiden Japan- took them a long while to get it right), and Discotek's output on the format has been first rate, setting the worldwide example for how to do it.

I know Discotek can be trusted when it comes to their releases, but I haven't really heard anything about the few SDBDs that Nozomi has put out which is why I've been hesitant to upgrade a couple of titles. Though overall I know that SDBDs are usually better than their DVD counterparts or at the very least have the potential to be so.

[Rosenkreutz]

Originally Posted by Glorian

What you're being told about the disc color isn't correct, at least in this case. A normal DVD made NOW always has a silver bottom, but in the early days of DVD production, some discs would be made with small amounts of gold as an ingredient, giving the bottom surface a gold color. This can be seen in a number of early DVD releases from CPM (my Slayers and Maze discs are the same way, and I bought them when they came out) and other companies (the copies of Viz's release of Key the Metal Idol I have are gold as well).

After a while, companies stopped using gold, as it drove up production costs and wasn't required. However, the gold discs should theoretically last longer, as gold is immune to corrosion, preventing disc failure under a wider range of conditions. Companies like Verbatium even make gold archival DVD-Rs explicitly for that reason, if you're willing to pay extra for them.

Note that things kept in print for an extended period might not have gold bottoms for all copies; the first print run might have used gold, but the second or third print run might have been pressed after companies stopped using it.

And the region ALL thing was really common; CPM did that with lots of their DVDs, it's not an indication of bootlegs.

Oh, and finally, the second, "remastered" release of Slayers fixed an audio issue with the original release (swapped left and right speakers, I think?), but IIRC, it also restored missing footage. The original set was missing 30 seconds or so of footage from the very end of episode 26, which was restored in the remastered set.

Wow, they really used to add gold to as an ingredient back in the day? That's quite the bizarre bit of trivia.

As for the region "ALL" thing I did come to the conclusion that it must have just been something that CPM used to do back in the day since I started to notice a lot of their older releases had it, though they must have transitioned from it at some point in the early 2000s or something since the third season and the remaster of season 1 are both Region 1.

I was curious what the whole "remastered audio" thing was about, I did read something about the Japanese audio not working on Mono players or something like that on the original release so maybe that was the audio thing that they fixed? I never knew about the missing footage though as I've only ever watched the remastered release.

[Glorian]

Originally Posted by Rosenkreutz

Wow, they really used to add gold to as an ingredient back in the day? That's quite the bizarre bit of trivia.

Yeah, I think it was because of a concern over quality control; the use of gold makes the discs more stable and less likely to "rot" or fail, so they used it to reduce the chance of having issues with a new format. But once DVD production was more of a familiar process, that wasn't nearly as much of a concern, and using gold made production more expensive, so they just stopped using it.

[BoscoTheMan82]

Ok I pulled out and checked what I have by left by CPM, Lodoss War OVA has a little of the gold tint in it while my Harlock Saga and Maetel Legend DVD's are bronzing, while the Yu Yu Hakusho Poltergeist Report Movie silver colored and completely fine. So there are some CPM discs that are going bad.

[jd213]

Anyone see any screenshots or hear anything about the recent $1000 Votoms BD box recently released in Japan? https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B08KTLP593/

Might pick it up if it retains most of the film grain (the R2 JP DVDs were nice and grainy). It would also be nice if Mellowlink is in HD, but I kinda doubt it as it was never remastered on DVD and its masters were said to be lost.

[The Collector FX]

Originally Posted by jd213

Anyone see any screenshots or hear anything about the recent $1000 Votoms BD box recently released in Japan? https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B08KTLP593/

Might pick it up if it retains most of the film grain (the R2 JP DVDs were nice and grainy). It would also be nice if Mellowlink is in HD, but I kinda doubt it as it was never remastered on DVD and its masters were said to be lost.

Were you planning on ripping English subtitles to that yourself? It doesn't have sub/dub.

[Zhou]

Originally Posted by jd213

Anyone see any screenshots or hear anything about the recent $1000 Votoms BD box recently released in Japan? https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B08KTLP593/

Might pick it up if it retains most of the film grain (the R2 JP DVDs were nice and grainy). It would also be nice if Mellowlink is in HD, but I kinda doubt it as it was never remastered on DVD and its masters were said to be lost.

Collector Toro Inoue posted these screenshot comparisons on Twitter:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvYi-6gV...name=4096x4096

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvYi_jSV...name=4096x4096

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvOfse8U...name=4096x4096

Clearly degrained, as I'd expect from Sunrise nowadays, but it still looks much better and more detailed than the DVDs, especially in Mellowlink's case.

[jd213]

Originally Posted by The Collector FX

Were you planning on ripping English subtitles to that yourself? It doesn't have sub/dub.

I'm bilingual with no need for English subtitles, but thanks for asking.

Originally Posted by Zhou

Collector Toro Inoue posted these screenshot comparisons on Twitter:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvYi-6gV...name=4096x4096

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvYi_jSV...name=4096x4096

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvOfse8U...name=4096x4096

Clearly degrained, as I'd expect from Sunrise nowadays, but it still looks much better and more detailed than the DVDs, especially in Mellowlink's case.

Hmm, not sure about that first comparison pic as the left side shows composite artifacts (IIRC, the R2 JP DVDs used component masters), but the Mellowlink shots at least show it uses a new HD master. Thanks!

[slerch666]

Originally Posted by jd213

I'm bilingual with no need for English subtitles, but thanks for asking.

Hmm, not sure about that first comparison pic as the left side shows composite artifacts (IIRC, the R2 JP DVDs used component masters), but the Mellowlink shots at least show it uses a new HD master. Thanks!

I bought the VOTOMS set. It still has SOME grain to it. Doing an A/B compare to the DVD, I don't see any loss in actual fine detail from SD to HD.

They also performed a full on color correction, and the results are jaw dropping. I thought the SD on BD quality of Maiden Japan's set was quite good, but after seeing what they did for color, it's not even close.

Mellowlink "the masters were burnt in a studio fire; we'll never get a proper HD showing!" (this was a common refrain of non-JP fans) looks quite fantastic as well. Comparing to the DVD set I have, gone are the composite artefacts, dot crawl and all that fun. Comparing A/B, again, no noticeable loss in finer detail. My understanding Mellowlink came from original masters not the LD sources everyone believed would be the only way we would ever get it in HD.

Brilliantly Shining Heresy still looks like dog shit. It's upscaled from SD masters, as best I can tell. Blurry. I believe this was a case of they composited in special effects and really remastering it would have required actually going back to film elements and hand rebuilding the show.

Everything else is quite good as well but nothing amazing.

The clean op/ed are jaw dropping given I believe they were taken from 35mm originals.

Attached image was just a screen shot and not pulled direct from a video stream, but indicative of the quality of the creditless ending.

[E_I]

Project A-KO 4K/HDR clip from Discotek:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVy_SHnpOqI

[Ccharmanderk]

Don't think I could've asked for a better announcement for last night's stream.

Thank you Robert Woodhead for figuring out there was a clerical mistake at the lab A-ko was stored at and helping Discotek and the Japanese licensors find the masters for a proper HD transfer. Dude's a legend.

[Logan Jones]

Originally Posted by Ccharmanderk

Don't think I could've asked for a better announcement for last night's stream.

Thank you Robert Woodhead for figuring out there was a clerical mistake at the lab A-ko was stored at and helping Discotek and the Japanese licensors find the masters for a proper HD transfer. Dude's a legend.

Oh, its more than an HD transfer. Its in 4K HDR!

[BlaizeV]

How did the Puppet Princess Blu Ray turn out? Anyone got it?

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by BlaizeV

How did the Puppet Princess Blu Ray turn out? Anyone got it?

Toro Inoue posted shots here: https://twitter.com/g6xa3awstGCEljS/...66779296763909

[SpaceDandy]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

Cyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier - Discotek Media US SDBD vs R2J NTSC DVD vs R4/R2 PAL DVD

This makes a very convincing case for MPEG-4 AVC SDBD when no high quality materials are available. […]

Heh I wish these would be more common in Europe. But no, here we had so far only one SDBD… and it manages to be 576i50
(UFO Robot Grendizer "Goldorak" - AB1, and the negatives had a HD scan right after, ofc they never bothered)

[Rosenkreutz]

Apparently I missed that Discotek was doing a blu-ray release for Lupin III part 3, I wonder if they'll do the same for parts 1 & 2, that would certainly clear up a little bit of space.

[professorwho]

Part 1 has a great HD scan that was just filtered badly, so obviously access to the raw scan (which Netflix Japan used) is ideal. Part 2 is an upscale, and a very bad one at that. That said, I remember reading that the Japanese DVDs of Part 2 looked better than the Discotek ones, but I can’t remember why, so perhaps again said scan can be used for an SD-BD if not completed in HD.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by professorwho

That said, I remember reading that the Japanese DVDs of Part 2 looked better than the Discotek ones, but I can’t remember why

The Discotek DVDs are a downscale of the Japanese Blus.