The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[pikagreg]

RIP at least the retail one is cheap

[segapluto]

how good is the quality of the BT'X and BT'X Neo DVDs?

[Gowho]

Originally Posted by segapluto

how good is the quality of the BT'X and BT'X Neo DVDs?

The video is based off TMS' old international masters (same as on the Illumitoon DVDs) but it's decent.

It's streaming on Tubi if you want to see a bit before you decide.
https://tubitv.com/series/300009549/b-t-x

[NLScavenger]

Comparison of Gunbuster US BD, JP BD and some rips by anonymous https://slow.pics/c/Tf6zaU9n

[AreaFive]

I can't seem to recall if there any substantial differences between these two releases of Grave of the Fireflies.

[BigOnAnime]

The SteelBook has superior video quality and smaller subtitles.

Original Blu-ray: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/scree...88&position=20
SteelBook: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/scree...462&position=7

[AreaFive]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

The SteelBook has superior video quality and smaller subtitles.

Original Blu-ray: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/scree...88&position=20
SteelBook: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/scree...462&position=7

Thanks, as always. That is quite a difference.

[SpazeBlue]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

The SteelBook has superior video quality and smaller subtitles.

Original Blu-ray: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/scree...88&position=20
SteelBook: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/scree...462&position=7

Are we sure this isn't just the menu though (or maybe the original wasn't captured properly)? Don't think anyone's actually compared the two discs yet.

[BigOnAnime]

Nobody's compared anything, but the menu probably was captured properly. When David Williams was authoring Sentai's Blu-rays, it was very common to see plenty of compression artifacts on the menus despite them being static. His track record of authoring Blu-rays was not very good, most of their more problematic discs were authored by him. After he stopped authoring their Blu-rays and Joel McCray took over (he seems to now be gone from the company, but authored the new disc), the video quality improved quite a bit across the board.

[pikagreg]

I waited too long on the steelbook and it is expensive now so hoping for a rerelease lol

[segapluto]

Originally Posted by Gowho

The video is based off TMS' old international masters (same as on the Illumitoon DVDs) but it's decent.

It's streaming on Tubi if you want to see a bit before you decide.
https://tubitv.com/series/300009549/b-t-x

looks decent enough. I'll jump on them soon.

[v_i]

Tweeny Witches on Blu-ray showed up today, and considering I also own the old DVDs, I feel that I should probably do some comparisons here, especially considering Media Blaster's spotty track record, but I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to do it. Just screenshot VLC a couple of times? My eyes and ears are not great, so I doubt I'll be able to notice any issues myself, this is more for people who actually care.

If this is the wrong thread to ask for this, my apologies, I'll ask elsewhere, I just want to make sure I do this right.

[pikagreg]

I think VLC has post processing on by default. I remember using some weird program recommended by a friend but it has been a few years.

[AreaFive]

Does the Anime Limited release of Cowboy Bebop offer any improvements over the Funimation?

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by AreaFive

Does the Anime Limited release of Cowboy Bebop offer any improvements over the Funimation?

Every English-friendly BD of Cowboy Bebop has some trade off; there is no 100% perfect release.

So, the FUNi/CR discs have the infamous degrain, smear, then regrain presentation, and are CFR (constant frame rate) with some bad interlacing artifacts left in because I guess nobody noticed them, in addition to awful compression. The positives are that at least it has correct gamma and the audio is good. The new CR re-release has some new extras, so for supplemental material, it is the most stacked release.

The Anime Limited release has incorrect gamma (brighter than intended) and so-so compression (still better than FUNi's, however), but is VFR (variable frame rate) with no interlacing issues (because it was left in 1080i to retain the VFR nature of the series; VFR was a mistake to begin with, but if something's produced that way, might as well respect it, I guess), and maintains the original grain structure. The audio is also good.

All Blu-ray releases use the Remix version of the series, and thus obviously lack the original stereo mixes due to not syncing up 1:1 without a ton of edits (not a positive or negative for either, just how it is; I'm fine with it, but some diehard purists aren't).

So really, it's a YMMV type situation for the English-language releases. There have been comparisons posted here over the years, so track them down and see which you prefer. Non-English releases are better, but even then, aren't 100% flawless (even though some come really close)

[Show spoiler]I don't like making overly negative posts anymore, which is why I held off answering the question (and is also why I haven't been posting much here, tbh); but seeing that nobody's given an answer yet, I figured I might as well just answer it

[Mangaranga]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Every English-friendly BD of Cowboy BebopThe Anime Limited release has incorrect gamma (brighter than intended) and so-so compression (still better than FUNi's, however), but is VFR (variable frame rate) with no interlacing issues (because it was left in 1080i to retain the VFR nature of the series; VFR was a mistake to begin with, but if something's produced that way, might as well respect it, I guess), and maintains the original grain structure. The audio is also good.[/SPOILER]

I wouldn't say the audio is good considering at least two episodes have borked dub audio (episode 2 is one of them). Last I checked, the version on Netflix uses the audio from the UK BD too, so it might be worth checking there to get an idea of what I mean. Also, iirc I don't think all the episodes have incorrect gamma, just some of them, but I've long since sold my UK discs. The compression is kinda bad too from what I remember. Lots of examples of grain just becoming big messy blocks, especially in darker areas/colours. Personally I have the IT BD with audio and subtitles from the Funi BD.

[AreaFive]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Every English-friendly BD of Cowboy Bebop has some trade off; there is no 100% perfect release.

So, the FUNi/CR discs have the infamous degrain, smear, then regrain presentation, and are CFR (constant frame rate) with some bad interlacing artifacts left in because I guess nobody noticed them, in addition to awful compression. The positives are that at least it has correct gamma and the audio is good. The new CR re-release has some new extras, so for supplemental material, it is the most stacked release.

The Anime Limited release has incorrect gamma (brighter than intended) and so-so compression (still better than FUNi's, however), but is VFR (variable frame rate) with no interlacing issues (because it was left in 1080i to retain the VFR nature of the series; VFR was a mistake to begin with, but if something's produced that way, might as well respect it, I guess), and maintains the original grain structure. The audio is also good.

All Blu-ray releases use the Remix version of the series, and thus obviously lack the original stereo mixes due to not syncing up 1:1 without a ton of edits (not a positive or negative for either, just how it is; I'm fine with it, but some diehard purists aren't).

So really, it's a YMMV type situation for the English-language releases. There have been comparisons posted here over the years, so track them down and see which you prefer. Non-English releases are better, but even then, aren't 100% flawless (even though some come really close)

[Show spoiler]I don't like making overly negative posts anymore, which is why I held off answering the question (and is also why I haven't been posting much here, tbh); but seeing that nobody's given an answer yet, I figured I might as well just answer it

Thank you. Very informative and much appreciated.

[SpazeBlue]

Originally Posted by v_i

Tweeny Witches on Blu-ray showed up today, and considering I also own the old DVDs, I feel that I should probably do some comparisons here, especially considering Media Blaster's spotty track record, but I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to do it. Just screenshot VLC a couple of times? My eyes and ears are not great, so I doubt I'll be able to notice any issues myself, this is more for people who actually care.

If this is the wrong thread to ask for this, my apologies, I'll ask elsewhere, I just want to make sure I do this right.

Originally Posted by pikagreg

I think VLC has post processing on by default. I remember using some weird program recommended by a friend but it has been a few years.

Yeah, VLC isn't 100% accurate to the video. I'd recommend MPV.

[MrSniper1401]

Anyone have a comparison of Sentai's blu-ray of Vinland Saga vs UK version from MVM? Or are they the same discs?

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by SpazeBlue

Yeah, VLC isn't 100% accurate to the video. I'd recommend MPV.

MPV is fine, but it's not the most user friendly player because of lack of user interface and the need for customization because default settings aren't the greatest. MPC + MadVR combo is more user friendly.

When using MPV, I'd at the very least add these lines to mpv.conf

#Video
--profile=gpu-hq
--deband=no

#Screenshots#
--screenshot-format=png
--screenshot-template="%f_snapshot_[%P]"
--screenshot-directory= add your preferred directory here
--screenshot-tag-colorspace=yes

#OSD#
--keep-open=yes
--script-opts=osc-timems=yes
--osd-duration=2000
--osd-font-size=30

--profile=gpu-hq enables debanding by default, but it's turned off here via --deband=no because debanding filters should not be used when taking screenshots.

MPV doesn't have inverse telecine by default. Needs to be added to input.conf:

Alt+- add video-zoom -0.001
Alt+= add video-zoom 0.001
d cycle-values vf  "lavfi=[bwdif=deint=all:mode=1]" "lavfi=[idet,bwdif=deint=interlaced:mode=1]" "lavfi=[bwdif=deint=all:mode=0]" "lavfi=[idet,bwdif=deint=interlaced:mode=0]" "lavfi=[pullup,dejudder]" "lavfi=[dejudder,fps=30000/1001,fieldmatch,decimate]" ""
ctrl+d cycle-values deband yes no

Pressing d normally enabled yadif deinterlacing, but I've replaced yadif with various deinterlacing and inverse telecine filters from ffmpeg (filter documentation). First 4 are BWDIF with different settings: deinterlace all frames or only frames flagged as interlaced, double rate (mode=1) or single rate (mode=0). Last 2 filters are 2 different inverse telecine filters. Might be better to use Vapoursynth filters instead of ffmpeg, especially in regards to vfr content, but haven't looked into that yet.

I use Avisynth scripts in AvsPmod nowadays for screenshots if I'm not in a lazy mood.