The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[NLScavenger]

Future Boy Conan - GKIDS BD & Dynit BD

Comparison (expected to expire in June 2024)
Screenshot gallery

GKIDS BD features both the original Japanese and the English translated opening and end titles via branching. FuniCrunchy could learn from that.




BDInfo GKIDS BD episode 1 (Japanese text playlist)

Disc Title: Future Boy Conan Disc 1
Disc Label: FUTURE BOY CONAN DISC 1
Disc Size: 47,795,500,532 bytes
Protection: AACS
Playlist: 00012.MPLS
Size: 5,864,312,832 bytes
Length: 0:29:08.788
Total Bitrate: 26.83 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 21987 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
* Audio: English / DTS-HD Master Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1572 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio: Japanese / DTS-HD Master Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1564 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1509 kbps / 24-bit)
* Subtitle: English / 21.870 kbps
* Subtitle: English / 1.741 kbps
Subtitle: English / 16.071 kbps

Average video bitrate of Dynit BD is around 28.7 Mbps.

[Kyle15]

I'd stick with the Japanese text cuz it looks cool, but hats-off to them on font matching. That's pretty cool!

[mikezilla2]

there a French comparison considering ALs one isnt out yet ?

[NLScavenger]

French AL BD is widescreen crop of old remaster, so not worth checking imo.

[Total Procall]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

Future Boy Conan - GKIDS BD & Dynit BD

Comparison (expected to expire in June 2024)
Screenshot gallery

GKIDS BD features both the original Japanese and the English translated opening and end titles via branching. FuniCrunchy could learn from that.




BDInfo GKIDS BD episode 1 (Japanese text playlist)

Disc Title: Future Boy Conan Disc 1
Disc Label: FUTURE BOY CONAN DISC 1
Disc Size: 47,795,500,532 bytes
Protection: AACS
Playlist: 00012.MPLS
Size: 5,864,312,832 bytes
Length: 0:29:08.788
Total Bitrate: 26.83 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 21987 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
* Audio: English / DTS-HD Master Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1572 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio: Japanese / DTS-HD Master Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1564 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1509 kbps / 24-bit)
* Subtitle: English / 21.870 kbps
* Subtitle: English / 1.741 kbps
Subtitle: English / 16.071 kbps

Average video bitrate of Dynit BD is around 28.7 Mbps.

How do you rate the encode of the G-KIDS? I have the set as i pre-ordered early, then when people started complaining about the encode it was too late for me to hold off.

Those screenshots look indistiguishable.

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by Total Procall

How do you rate the encode of the G-KIDS? I have the set as i pre-ordered early, then when people started complaining about the encode it was too late for me to hold off.

Those screenshots look indistiguishable.

Watched the first 4 episodes and don't have much to complain about. There are some compression kinks that are probably ironed out on the Anime Limited UK BD (should have better compression and better disc space utilization than GKIDS' BD 166 GB), but the GKIDS BD is fine.

Some people like the reviewer on Amazon confused the defects on the film elements with compression artifacts. These defects were also present on the old remaster (example)

[Total Procall]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

Watched the first 4 episodes and don't have much to complain about. There are some compression kinks that are probably ironed out on the Anime Limited UK BD (should have better compression and better disc space utilization than GKIDS' BD 166 GB), but the GKIDS BD is fine.

Some people like the reviewer on Amazon confused the defects on the film elements with compression artifacts. These defects were also present on the old remaster (example)

Thats fantastic thanks. Good job we have people on here with such an eye for detail!

[TThomas]

AniMoon Germany created their own upscale for Lucky Star:
https://www.anisearch.de/news/review...-1-von-animoon
(open screens in new tab for full, uncompressed images)

- Colors slightly off (wrong Gamma?)
- no visible Aliasing artifacts(!)
- washed out details
- some translations (e.g. last screenshot) burned into the imagae

[professorwho]

Lucky Star's non-German BD master is what happens when you do a straight upscale with little to no work done to it, and it shows the issues of not doing even some basic filtering. The German BD seems to have the right idea but so-so execution on a technical level (low bitrate, incorrect frame rate- remember that the series is VFR so you're loosing frames by IVTC'ing to 23.976 fps, incorrect gamma, and burned in sign subs). The DVDs are a mess due to blocky MPEG-2 encoding rearing its ugly face, so either Blu-ray is preferable due to superior compression.

[Ccharmanderk]

Hard to forget how much of a headache things were on Twitter when Funimation released their Blu-ray of the series and caught flack for video quality problems that were already present on the JP BD.

Turns out most less-than-legal methods of watching Lucky Star did a filter pass on the image, and the assumption most people went with is that's how the JP BD looked and it was Funimation who screwed up somewhere along the line, not Kadokawa or any of their partners. In reality, Funimation was just working with what they were given.

[Ikari]

Is Discotek's Cagliostro release worth double dipping (bluray & 4K) or is it the same PQ?

I'm guessing for Cobra, I'm fine just getting the 4K release?

[Ccharmanderk]

Originally Posted by Ikari

Is Discotek's Cagliostro release worth double dipping (bluray & 4K) or is it the same PQ?

I'm guessing for Cobra, I'm fine just getting the 4K release?

Cagliostro Blu-ray and 4K use different masters (contrary to what the main site's 4K review implies) so it's dependent on what you preference is.

4K is sharper, but it has heavy noise reduction that removes the natural film grain. That said, comparisons indicate it was done with some level of care as it still retains actual detail to a reasonable degree. And, of course, it has HDR10 color grading.

Blu-ray is slightly softer, but looks more naturally filmic. Some noise reduction is used but not to a heavy-handed degree.

As for Cobra, the 4K and Blu-ray presentations are completely different. Cobra 4K has heavy noise reduction (to a level many on this site found problematic, due to erasure of fine detail), but it's considered to have an amazing HDR10 color grade to compensate that makes the film look much more vibrant. Meanwhile Cobra BD is a more traditionally filmic transfer, but with a duller overall presentation comparatively.

In both cases, it ultimately depends on your own preference for grain, visual detail and color grading. Make a decision at your own discretion.

[Ajc228]

Does anyone know about the picture quality of the One Punch Man Japanese bluray box? I assume it’s much better than Viz’s release but I was curious if anyone can confirm details about it.

[Mangaranga]

Originally Posted by Ajc228

Does anyone know about the picture quality of the One Punch Man Japanese bluray box? I assume it’s much better than Viz’s release but I was curious if anyone can confirm details about it.

Judging by the disc count/split, I think it's safe to assume that it's just the discs from the singles. IIRC Viz's BD for the first season of OPM isn't that bad at all. It's from their good days where the only real issue with their discs was being encoded in the SD Colour space. That said, avoid their BD for the second season. The Madman encoded AU/UK BD is way better for that in almost every regard (even the subtitle font) despite being encoded from the same non filtered source.

[FarSided102]

What’s the general opinion on Discotek’s SDBRs? The only one I’ve bought is their release of Genocyber (although I haven’t watched it yet) and there are a few series I might check out that were released in that format.

[CrashOveride95]

Originally Posted by FarSided102

What’s the general opinion on Discotek’s SDBRs? The only one I’ve bought is their release of Genocyber (although I haven’t watched it yet) and there are a few series I might check out that were released in that format.

IMO it greatly depends on series and their master quality

Like as an example some may be bad composite masters with bad analog artifacting, or they could be 2000s anime with just minor artifacts of its era
Typically compression artifacts are very hard to notice, and if the show looks good enough to begin with it can look great

[Ikari]

I've seen complaints here for their Battle Athletes SD BD release claiming it has some weird artifacts. Which made me a bit reluctant to grab it or any other SD release.

[psychopuppet]

I’ve not ran across any SDBD’s from Discotek that are not watchable.

Not like they are like “some” companies SDBD where they just threw them on the disc either.

As with most things in this world don’t go in expecting perfection or your going to to be disappointed.

[Ikari]

There was a comparison here https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...s#post19574387 and I do not expect perfection but at least it should look better than this.

[omarchafa]

I finally saw Violet Evergarden the movie on standard BD, and afterwards I did a comparison between the regular BD and the UHD disc that came with the movie. I did this on my Sony A9S OLED on a Panasonic UB820. The results surprised me.

The UHD BD looks softer and the colors look very soft in a nice way, very natural. The contrast in Dolby Vision Dark looks pretty bad while in Dolby Vision Bright is much better. The Standard BD looks much more vibrant with the colors poping out more. It is also much sharper with sharper lines since the BD player does a fantastic job upscaling.

Overall the UHD superior encode gets rid of what ever banding the standard BD may have had. It's very hard which one I prefer since they both look very good in their own way.