The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[Gouki]

Yep, and I despise Funimation.

[llj]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Yeah, there is nothing substantially wrong with Bandai's The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. I've had it for years but the animation isn't the kind that screams visual masterpiece.
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Visually it is really nice though. Lots of subtle little touches like reflections in the window, weather effects, etc,.

[omarchafa]

Originally Posted by Gouki

Yep, and I despise Funimation.

Not everything is bad from them. I still buy a few shows once in a while. The Haruhi series turned out great. They preserved the original OP/ED sequences with Japanese text, and there were parts that looked better than the JP version which is a miracle for them.

Good that you bought the Bandai release, I still have mine since it came out.

[Gouki]

Funimation still squeezes money out of me, but like you said above, this is what breaks my heart for them. The Haruhi release is near perfect. (I would complain about plastering a "Ultimate Collector's Edition" label on it without the GD movie, but) Transfer is nice, translation is good, I had go back and check to see if the box had a Sentai logo on because the op/ed are left alone. I wish there were buttons on the main screen that you could press that would start a marathon of either 2009 broadcast order and original broadcast order. That would be way, way less annoying than having to decode and figure out what the order was without taking a picture of the booklet. (Which is what I did)

On the other hand you have super fails like Asobi Ni Iku Yo, which got yankified into, groan, Cat Planet Cuties. Now, if you are super down for dubs, fine, I get it. But I'm strictly original language only, and the episode breaks have various characters literally saying "asobi ni iku yo" and funimation subtitles it as "cat planet cuties". And I will never forgive them for translating "onee-sama" as "sissy". FMF.

I can't wait for that Bandai release to show up so I can finish the movie.

[omarchafa]

Those bad translations for the Railgun/Index series is what is holding me back on getting their releases.

[SirYodaJedi]

I've noticed that quite a large number of Funi BDs upmix shows with 2.0 Japanese audio to 5.1 audio for the dubs. Keeping in mind that Funimation will be Funimation, how much effort do you guys feel they put into the sound mixing (not the dubbing itself). Does it sound like they take the time to properly hand upmix it (move dialogue to center, ambiance and offscreen action to sides, etc.), or is it not much better than a basic Pro Logic II-type automation? I don't have a surround setup yet (working on it), but this subject has always intrigued me. I usually am against upmixing, as it usually isn't necessary and can betray the director's intents (so does dubbing and subtitling, but those are necessary evils).

[Naiera]

Dubbing is not necessary

[SeaFox]

Originally Posted by SirYodaJedi

I've noticed that quite a large number of Funi BDs upmix shows with 2.0 Japanese audio to 5.1 audio for the dubs. Keeping in mind that Funimation will be Funimation, how much effort do you guys feel they put into the sound mixing (not the dubbing itself).

If Code Geass and Spice and Wolf are any indication Funimation does a great job with dub audio. They like to make sure everything is exactly the same between the two channels.

[Gouki]

I seriously doubt they are mixed correctly, and I don't really see the need to mix something that was originally 2.0 into 5.1. I haven't watched a dub on purpose in decades, but my guess would be that their mixing skill is akin to putting a 2.0 signal into Dolby Prologic on your receiver.

[professorwho]

Sentai does dubs in Stereo and sound virtually identical to the Japanese in terms of spacing. Some 5.1 remixes are great- FMA Brotherhood has a great dub, and the surround track, from what I've heard on a good setup- sounds great, with good separation and spacing.

[Traveller]

With the Discotek SD on Blu Ray releases do most of you go with those or just stick with the DVDs? How is the Wizard of Oz that was released recently?

[One-Eye]

Originally Posted by SirYodaJedi

I've noticed that quite a large number of Funi BDs upmix shows with 2.0 Japanese audio to 5.1 audio for the dubs. Keeping in mind that Funimation will be Funimation, how much effort do you guys feel they put into the sound mixing (not the dubbing itself).

If we leave out their mono issues, which other companies have also had, then I would say that some people tend to find Funi dubs to be a few to several decibels lower than the Japanese dub. It can range from barely noticeable to obnoxious imho.

[Ccharmanderk]

Originally Posted by Traveller

With the Discotek SD on Blu Ray releases do most of you go with those or just stick with the DVDs? How is the Wizard of Oz that was released recently?

The thing with those is that even if the video is standard definition, it's more than likely going to be better than the DVD due to better video encoding and higher possible bitrate on Blu-ray. On top of that, Discotek fits around 50 episodes of content per disc on each SD BD they produce, so in regards to space economy, it's preferable to the DVDs. To give a good example, Discotek's upcoming SD BD of Fist of the North Star is going to be only 3 discs in a standard Blu-ray case. I own Discotek's complete series DVD set, and that thing is 21 discs in a giant plastic box the size of three regular DVD cases (meaning all the discs are also stacked on each other; not something I'm a fan of considering DVDs lack Blu-ray's protective coating).

In short, there's really no reason to not go for the SD BDs. Superior encoding, better space economy, plus Blu-rays are just way sturdier than DVDs

EDIT: Speaking of DVDs sucking, my Here is Greenwood DVD is starting to exhibit disc rot. Joy...

[Naiera]

Has anyone done comparison shots for the JP amd FUNi Hyouka Blu-rays?

I just put disc 1 from FUNi in the Oppo, and it seems to be pretty good.

[Jeo]

I noticed some compression and banding when I watched mine, but I've no idea how that compares to the JPN discs.

[Naiera]

I honestly didn't notice MUCH banding in the first two episodes. I've seen much worse, from FUNi in particular.

[omarchafa]

Originally Posted by Naiera

Has anyone done comparison shots for the JP amd FUNi Hyouka Blu-rays?

I just put disc 1 from FUNi in the Oppo, and it seems to be pretty good.

If you send me some PNGs from certain scenes, I can grab some from the JP version and compare them. Find some where it has color banding or scenes that got your attention.

[professorwho]

Gundam The Origin came in yesterday, and I'll do a full breakdown here later, but know this- I'm no videophile.

I only noticed banding once in the first episode, in Casval's bedroom, but it was only for 5 seconds or so. The PQ was superb, and the audio (in glorious LPCM, unlike the Japanese BDs, which were in DTS-HD MA) was rich and full with no distortion.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was a clone of the JP BD, considering Sunrise's involvement. I'll do a BD scan later, and don't be suprised to see high bitrates.

[professorwho]

Episode 1 is 63 minutes, and is on a BD25. The stats are as follows (I don't have surround sound, so I watched it and ripped as the Stereo tracks):

AVC Codec: 28 Mbps
Max Bitrate: 33Mbps
Size: 12.3GB

PCM Stereo
Bitrate: 1536Kbps
Size: 694Mbps

Overall, it's a very good release- the bitrate could be a bit higher, but overall, the encode is very competent, and, while I am no hardcore videophile, I noticed nothing out of the ordinary and distracting, besides that minor banding 4 minutes in.

I'm sure the Japanese BD is similar, and may have identical stats.

EDIT: Each disc is a BD25. Size ranges between 18GB to 23GB per disc. Overall good utilization of the space. They could've put the series on 2 BD50s and had no problem, but the art on the discs are nice, so I'm fine with their decisions.

[Naiera]

It does seem like it's a clone, like FUNi's GITS: Arise releases.