The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[Naiera]

I don't think there are (engsubbed) AOT discs out there that aren't FUNi.

I've sat through everything released so far (except for live action and compilation movies), and nothing truly bothered me. Especially not when season 3 got all wild

[Dino-Killer 912]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Exact same discs.

So with incomplete English telops, huh.

I wonder whether Anime Ltd's future release of Black Lagoon would be a clone of Kaze release (low bitrates) or FUNi release (English telops).

Have Anime Ltd ever cloned Sentai's discs? They have also resuced Penguindrum in UK so I'm kinda worrying...

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by Dino-Killer 912

Have Anime Ltd ever cloned Sentai's discs? They have also resuced Penguindrum in UK so I'm kinda worrying...

Yes, several times. Children Who Chase Lost Voices, Tamako Market + Love Story, Angelic Layer, probably more titles than those.

They've already confirmed that they're re-authoring Penguindrum. Will be 1080p.

[TThomas]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

Seems like you took these screenshots in VLC (see vlcsnap in file name). VLC screenshots don't have correct colors and they also have jagged color contours due to poor chroma upscaling.

https://i.imgur.com/5MdIkvJ.png

I did not realise that VLC may cause issues here that are unrelated to the compression of the Blu-ray.
I'm open for easy to use alternatives.

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by TThomas

I did not realise that VLC may cause issues here that are unrelated to the compression of the Blu-ray.
I'm open for easy to use alternatives.

MPC-HC or MPC-BE, both with madVR renderer installed is not hard to use.

I personally use MPV most of the time, but it's harder to use because config file needs to be customized and GUI is very minimalistic (there are some user-friendlier GUIs such as mpv(.net)).

[SpaceDandy]

I use MPV as well. Only problem I have is that it creates bloated PNGs which I need to optimize with OptiPNG before uploading. But it's probably just because I never made the effort of writing a proper config file.

[NLScavenger]

PNG compression factor can be adjusted in mpv.conf

These are the settings in my mpv.conf that are relevant to screenshots:

--screenshot-format=png
--screenshot-tag-colorspace=no
--screenshot-png-compression=7

--dither-depth=auto
--cscale=spline36
--scale=spline36

png-compression=7 is default setting, 9 is highest factor. tag-colorspace=no because of issues with slowpics ('no' is default). Dither is enabled to prevent rounding errors.

cscale is set to spline36, but can be replaced with lanczos, ewa_lanczos, ewa_lanczossharp. Doesn't make much of a difference though, at least when scaling chroma to native res. MPV uses bilinear for cscale as default which is not the greatest:

https://slow.pics/c/1ztnVEkm

MPV - 1: bilinear / 2: spline36 / 3: lanczos / 4: ewa_lanczos


VLC - 1: snapshot / 2: software-render OpenGL + printscreen



I have a lot more settings in mpv.conf, but also in input.conf (mainly FFmpeg IVTC and deinterlace filters mapped to 'd' key because default deinterlacer isn't great)

[mp3dom]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

They've already confirmed that they're re-authoring Penguindrum. Will be 1080p.

At that time, the only masters available were in HDCAM format (not SR) due to the 2011 earthquake and HDCAM-SR shortage, so even if 1080p, the masters suffered from (natural) chroma filtering of that support, clearly visible on reds and blue. Japanese blurays didn't suffer from that because they made them directly from their NLE output and not from tape. I don't know if they re-did the export to HDCAM-SR tape, tho... but it's possible to fix/attenuate that problem (we did it on our end).

[AreaFive]

Is the Anime Limited 4K release of Millennium Actress a substantial improvement over previous blu-ray releases?

[SpazeBlue]

Originally Posted by AreaFive

Is the Anime Limited 4K release of Millennium Actress a substantial improvement over previous blu-ray releases?

Here's some comparisons screenshots from andreasy969: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=1675

I believe professorwho said they were working on a review, but I'm not sure if it was posted yet or not.

[AreaFive]

Originally Posted by SpazeBlue

Here's some comparisons screenshots from andreasy969: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=1675

I believe professorwho said they were working on a review, but I'm not sure if it was posted yet or not.

Thank you, much appreciated.

[Mangaranga]

Viz Media's new authoring house isn't very good. Impressively the K Seven Stories BD actually has worse compression than CR on top of incorrect gamma.

https://slow.pics/c/s7EB5EUs

I even compared the Boruto trailer from the Jojo GW Part 2 disc to the one on the Osomatsu BD and the results are also dire. Said trailer is also encoded with mono audio!

https://slow.pics/c/ZIqtk0k7

Just a friendly reminder that this is the company who will be handling titles like Tower of God and Jujutsu Kaisen on home video...

Also, obligatory おかえり I suppose.

[NLScavenger]

doud provided me footage from US BD ZZ Gundam and JP BD Space Dandy before the site went down. I'll be posting a comparison with UK/FR BD of ZZ later in the week and perhaps also Space Dandy (if not next week)

doud also made comments regarding Lodoss War and Miss Hokusai

I have compared Lodoss to Senki and to my good surprise it turns out that the Kazé BD is virtually a clone of the JP BD (+ the Fr audio). The authoring scheme is the exact same for the two discs : same JP audio track, same splitting, only the encode has a slighty lower bitrate but still very high (38~39mbps vs 39~40 for Kadokawa) and I could not differentiate them during my comparison.

I have also compared Miss Hokusai, and unsurprinsingly the FR/UK BD is inferior to the Bandai BD, it has less small detail, some banding and some artifacts ; it is not a disaster but I would not recommend it.

Also, regarding Funimation BDs: I've mentioned issues with chroma in Yamato 2199 and Paranoia Agent, but seems other titles are affected as well, possibly their entire output from 2017+ and maybe titles from even before. Gundam IBO (2017), Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid (2018) and SSSS.Gridman (2020) have chroma that's shifted half a pixel to the right (but not super blurry af like Yamato 2199) https://slow.pics/c/lmX57fFh

[BigOnAnime]

In case you missed it, Sentai Filmworks acquired digital rights to yet another Discotek Media title, Earl and Fairy which Discotek released DVD-only in early 2016. And just like Blue Seed, Blue Seed Beyond, Demon City Shinjuku, and Wicked City, Sentai did additional productional. And in the case of Earl and Fairy, it's streaming in HD unlike on Crunchyroll (via Discotek). It's a Fall 2008 show that was never released on Blu-ray in Japan. A quick comparison (please excuse the 1366x768). Would be nice if Sentai and Discotek collaborated on a Blu-ray release of this together.




Also, the Gargoyle of Yoshinaga House is streaming in HD despite being a Spring 2006 show that's DVD-only in Japan, another sign Sentai is going down the upscale route. This is what you can expect for SD-only shows from Sentai going forward seeing as they've abandoned DVD (outside LEs for sequels to maintain consistency) and SD Blu-ray.

[SpaceDandy]

Originally Posted by SpaceDandy

Devilman: Demon Bird Sirène [1990 OVA] (France - Dybex)
Authoring: AV Media Barcelona
(...)

Here are some captures of Devilman: The Birth from the same disc: https://postimg.cc/gallery/2jGMRtw

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

Also, regarding Funimation BDs: I've mentioned issues with chroma in Yamato 2199 and Paranoia Agent, but seems other titles are affected as well, possibly their entire output from 2017+ and maybe titles from even before. Gundam IBO (2017), Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid (2018) and SSSS.Gridman (2020) have chroma that's shifted half a pixel to the right (but not super blurry af like Yamato 2199) https://slow.pics/c/lmX57fFh

Funi's Haruhi BD from 2016 has chroma shifted to right, so does Cowboy Bebop from 2014, but in Bebop's case it's also blurry because of Funi's infamous processing. Ein's Summer Vacation doesn't seem to have incorrectly positioned and/or overly blurry chroma. Neither does the Michiko & Hatchin BD from 2013 with incorrect brightness.

Haruhi (2016): https://slow.pics/c/6cmkAW5e

Cowboy Bebop (2014): https://slow.pics/c/97D2ql5s

Cowboy Bebop: Ein's Summer Vacation (2014): https://slow.pics/c/BcjmubRa

Michiko & Hatchin (2013): https://slow.pics/c/7pvGOH8G

It's not an end of the world problem I guess because it's almost unnoticeable most of the time, but still interesting how long this has been going on.

[Mangaranga]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

Funi's Haruhi BD from 2016 has chroma shifted to right, so does Cowboy Bebop from 2014, but in Bebop's case it's also blurry because of Funi's infamous processing. Ein's Summer Vacation doesn't seem to have incorrectly positioned and/or overly blurry chroma. Neither does the Michiko & Hatchin BD from 2013 with incorrect brightness.

Haruhi (2016): https://slow.pics/c/6cmkAW5e

Cowboy Bebop (2014): https://slow.pics/c/97D2ql5s

Cowboy Bebop: Ein's Summer Vacation (2014): https://slow.pics/c/BcjmubRa

Michiko & Hatchin (2013): https://slow.pics/c/7pvGOH8G

It's not an end of the world problem I guess because it's almost unnoticeable most of the time, but still interesting how long this has been going on.

Unlike the Yamato screenshots from before, whilst I can see the difference in the chroma comparisons, in the real world comparisons I'm not really seeing it having a major impact. If nothing else the chroma comparisons do a real good job of showing off how shitty Funimation's compression is in comparison to the Japanese BDs. Considering the red tint on Funimation BDs nowadays, do they still have chroma issues now?

[Loiky]

Specs of Sentai's Kaiji Blu-rays:

[Show spoiler]

General
ID                                       : 0 (0x0)
Format                                   : BDAV
Format/Info                              : Blu-ray Video
File size                                : 3.97 GiB
Duration                                 : 22 min 36 s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 25.1 Mb/s
Maximum Overall bit rate                 : 48.0 Mb/s

Video
ID                                       : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID                                  : 1 (0x1)
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                                 : 27
Duration                                 : 22 min 35 s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Maximum bit rate                         : 35.0 Mb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate                               : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : MBAFF
Scan type, store method                  : Interleaved fields
Scan order                               : Top Field First

Audio
ID                                       : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID                                  : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : DTS XLL
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Commercial name                          : DTS-HD Master Audio
Muxing mode                              : Stream extension
Codec ID                                 : 134
Duration                                 : 22 min 35 s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
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

Text
ID                                       : 4608 (0x1200)
Menu ID                                  : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : PGS
Codec ID                                 : 144
Duration                                 : 22 min 25 s
Delay relative to video                  : 6 s 206 ms

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by Mangaranga

Unlike the Yamato screenshots from before, whilst I can see the difference in the chroma comparisons, in the real world comparisons I'm not really seeing it having a major impact. If nothing else the chroma comparisons do a real good job of showing off how shitty Funimation's compression is in comparison to the Japanese BDs. Considering the red tint on Funimation BDs nowadays, do they still have chroma issues now?

Dunno, (un)fortunately Funi doesn't release that many titles that I really desire.

[Memade]

I have been wondering about this for a while, hopefully someone can clarify this:

What script are the Funimation AOT blu-ray using?

Specifically, when the VA is original Japanese, are the subtitles based on the Japanese script or did they just reuse the English script?