The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[vincentric]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

And they have apparently been proven correct for say Kadokawa titles in the singles era. From what I've heard from ANN/TheFandomPost, Kadokawa sabotaged the R1 releases for Scrapped Princess, Girls Bravo, Full Metal Panic! Fumoffu, and some other titles. They gave R1 companies composite masters.

That is just sad, very sad only.

Here were those comparisons I meant to post earlier between the JP and Funi Noir BDs. To reiterate, Funi image is slightly zoomed in with a little more compression and some small dnr applied at times. The difference is subtle:

01 - Funi BD | JP BD

02 - Funi BD | JP BD

03 - Funi BD | JP BD

04 - Funi BD | JP BD

Here are some shots showing how both transfers can look quite identical at times (around the same amount of compression and grain) minus the slightly more zoomed in Funi image, obviously:

01 - Funi BD | JP BD

02 - Funi BD | JP BD

03 - Funi BD | JP BD

04 - Funi BD | JP BD

In spite of some advantages that the JP encode contains, the Funi one isn't too far behind.

Lastly, regarding data usage for the entire show, the JP release weighs in at 138 GB - around 120 for the video and 18 for the audio. 4 discs in a 7/7/7/5 layout (the first and third disc contain the same amount of data):

[Show spoiler]

The Funi release clocks in at 119 GB - around 92 for the video and 27 for the audio. 3 discs in a 9/9/8 layout:

[Show spoiler]

Edit: Linked wrong images in the first set of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th comparisons. Fixed it.

[BigOnAnime]

Originally Posted by Norbie

Poor behavior on the Japanese side, and then the American distributors get all the blame, ie. Lain.

Well we can't assume every case of R1 discs being messed up is Japan sabotaging us, but it is a possibility as just mentioned it has happened before.

Also doesn't help sometimes people don't know what the JPBD's look like. I still haven't watched my Steins;Gate BD's, but I've heard they're plagued with banding, and apparently it's the same thing on the JPBD's as well, so it's probably baked into the source (Ala Black Lagoon). Speaking of this, really wanting to see JP BD vs. R1 BD comparisons for Psycho-Pass. A while back I was checking something in the show with my BD's (Still haven't actually watched them), and the banding, good gawd.... People weren't kidding when they said it was filled with it and really distracting.

[Sylontack]

Do we know anything about banding here? None present in the screenshots, just going off the review on here, I'm assuming it's from the sources but does anyone know a shot where it's present so we can get a rough comparison?


FUNi seems to have done good here. I mean yes, it's slightly less crisp, the DNR is unnecessary and a little too present in one or two of those screen shots and that zoom in is a little baffling and I'm not sure if I'm okay with it or not yet (was the JPBD interlaced? I hear you sometimes have to rework the ratio or crop when going from interlaced to progressive but I don't know much about that) but all of those issues are very minor in this case, I doubt they'd be noticeable in movement at all.

That's pretty decent considering it's FUNi, one disc less and ~28gb less video-wise (granted that's only approx 1gb per episode). Considering it's a good $200+ cheaper and has subs I think I might actually go FUNi instead of the JPBD for once.
Having said that I might go JPBD in the end for a nicer box and slightly better release as I really love Noir. Who knows I might end up with both.

EDIT: Maybe the zoom in/crop is to get rid of that small black bar along the right of the JP BD screenshots? I mean it's about that size, though it's present on tonnes of BDs so I don't know why it's done here but not always elsewhere.

[vincentric]

Regarding Noir banding, I looked in areas where it would be most noticeable such as darker/night lighting, and or where light casts shadows. The third comparison (of the guy firing the gun) in the second set has perfect lighting conditions for banding to show up but there's thankfully none to be found. I thought I saw some here and there during fast moving background but I think it was just part of the design aesthetic. I'll keep checking for banding but as of now, am pretty confident in saying that it's pretty much a non-issue here.

Regarding the zoom/crop, am not sure what's going on with that. At first I also thought they did it to get rid of the miniscule pillarbox bars but parts of the image on the sides get cut off, as well. They should've just left it as it were, imo.

As for which version to get, it's a tough one to answer. The most sensible choice would be to just stick with the Funi version. But am not sensible.

Have got a few more comparisons.

Here's another with noticeable (but slight) Funi DNR:

Funi BD | JP BD

And another where the image is pretty identical:

Funi BD | JP BD

I tried looking for banding again along the way but it just doesn't seem to be there. So far would have to say good job on Funi's end in that regard. No black crushing from what I can tell as well, shadows and objects in the dark are well rendered.

Edit; forgot to say, the Noir JP BD is not interlaced.

[Norbie]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

Well we can't assume every case of R1 discs being messed up is Japan sabotaging us, but it is a possibility as just mentioned it has happened before...

True, I'm just peeved at the master given to Anime Limited for their Gurren Lagann release.

Although they could have gone around the problem in a better way, which I don't understand why they didn't.

[Naiera]

Keep in mind that this release has English, Spanish and Japanese 2.0 DTS HD MA.

EDIT: English and Japanese tracks are actually 5.1.

[Mangaranga]

Originally Posted by Naiera

I got my DRRR UK replacement discs today. I actually sold my LE, thinking I'd just receive loose replacement discs some day whenever, and then I would get the Aniplex release some day. Now, I'm not so sure. But the UK release is NOT Aniplex quality. It's better than most, though.

I did BDinfo tests on both the AniplexUSA release and the old discs ages ago, and the files had the same bitrates for Video/Audio on each release. The only difference was that the JP commentary tracks/subs were removed. The new discs use exactly the same files as the old one, just with a Songs/Signs track added.

Originally Posted by Naiera

Keep in mind that this release has English, Spanish and Japanese 2.0 DTS HD MA.

It would have been acceptable at those filesizes if they actually encoded from the source...

Originally Posted by Norbie

True, I'm just peeved at the master given to Anime Limited for their Gurren Lagann release.

Although they could have gone around the problem in a better way, which I don't understand why they didn't.

The problem with Gurren is that they would have had to delay the release well into this year since they'd have to go through AniplexUSA to get new footage - and that on it's own takes a lot of time. The rationale behind the decision was that the footage missing was minimal and wouldn't really have any effect on the final product, so it'd be better to release it sooner rather than delaying it even further.

As much as people talk about the video problems with Gurren, I'm baffled that nobody else mentions the audio issues affecting the Japanese track on almost every episode. I'm assuming the Audio/SFX are in mono since downmixing the other audio tracks produces similar results.

[kk1]

Is there a list somewhere (or can we start one?)of which blu-ray's are worth the money? I just started getting into the blu-rays recently and keep reading how so many don't live up to the JP release or even bother utilizing the space on a blu. Or for older shows where blu-ray doesn't even make a difference. I'd hate to spend the money on an AOA disc when for a few dollars more I could get the JP version and much higher quality. Also seems like many of these discs have already been checked so I'd hate to see all that effort go to waste when it could all be gathered as a nice resource for everybody.

[Mangaranga]

BDinfo comparison for the first episode of DRRR.

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by kk1

Is there a list somewhere (or can we start one?)of which blu-ray's are worth the money? I just started getting into the blu-rays recently and keep reading how so many don't live up to the JP release or even bother utilizing the space on a blu. Or for older shows where blu-ray doesn't even make a difference. I'd hate to spend the money on an AOA disc when for a few dollars more I could get the JP version and much higher quality. Also seems like many of these discs have already been checked so I'd hate to see all that effort go to waste when it could all be gathered as a nice resource for everybody.

I don't know of any Blu-ray release of anime where the DVD is just as good.

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by Mangaranga

As much as people talk about the video problems with Gurren, I'm baffled that nobody else mentions the audio issues affecting the Japanese track on almost every episode. I'm assuming the Audio/SFX are in mono since downmixing the other audio tracks produces similar results.

That's what made me decide to sell the Anime Ltd. release and go Aniplex.

[Mangaranga]

Originally Posted by kk1

Is there a list somewhere (or can we start one?)of which blu-ray's are worth the money? I just started getting into the blu-rays recently and keep reading how so many don't live up to the JP release or even bother utilizing the space on a blu. Or for older shows where blu-ray doesn't even make a difference. I'd hate to spend the money on an AOA disc when for a few dollars more I could get the JP version and much higher quality. Also seems like many of these discs have already been checked so I'd hate to see all that effort go to waste when it could all be gathered as a nice resource for everybody.

FYI, AoA release = JP BD with Dub/Sub included & JP Commentaries/Subs removed. The video/audio is exactly the same.

BDs are always a massive improvement over DVD, no question. Other than Aniplex, all US BD releases are worse quality than the Japanese release to some extent since you've got a complete series compressed to fit 1 BD50 and 1 BD25 (~4-5gb each), whereas in Japan there's usually 6 - 9 volumes with a BD25 each (episodes 6-7gb+ each). Some western companies do a good job, but you get incompetent ones like Subatomic Digital (Who do most of Viz's discs) and for the most part Sentai, who's encodes tend to look pretty bad in comparison (especially the former).

[prophetic]

Originally Posted by Naiera

I don't know of any Blu-ray release of anime where the DVD is just as good.

I personally have no experience with it, but I've read that the Panty & Stocking BD is barely better than the DVD. Does anybody have any input FUNi's BD?

[Naiera]

I find that very hard to believe.

[BigOnAnime]

Originally Posted by prophetic

I personally have no experience with it, but I've read that the Panty & Stocking BD is barely better than the DVD. Does anybody have any input FUNi's BD?

From what I've heard from those that imported the Japanese BD's, Panty & Stocking's BD's were a disappointment and hardly better than the DVD and broadcast. The show aired in 2010 after all, back when not everything was getting BD's and you were still getting some SD or barely above SD shows (Hey there FMA:B animated at like 540P then upscaled to 1080P).

Originally Posted by Naiera

I don't know of any Blu-ray release of anime where the DVD is just as good.

Just so we're clear, you're not talking about any upscales/remasters too right? So many bad BD upscales/remasters from incompetent companies like Q-TEC and Toei Animation.

[Naiera]

Even though the upscale is bad, are you seriously suggesting that there are tons of upscales out there that look worse than the DVD?

The worst I've seen is Toradora, but even in that case it's better than putting the DVD in my Oppo.

[BigOnAnime]

Here's some examples of what I'm talking about...

-Blue Seed
-Shakugan no Shana
-Shakugan no Shana Second For S1 and S2 FUNi is the not the only one at fault (They should have used the JP DVD box footage or done their own upscale as they CAN do competent upscales). The Japanese releases were pretty terrible too with plenty of DVNR. The BD's for S2 were so bad fansubbers refused to do them.
-Digimon
-Magical Angel Creamy Mami
-Case Closed
-Master Keaton
-Blue Submarine No.6 The Q-TEC crap is better than Bandai's crap though.
-Kaleido Star
-Gankutsuou The loss of detail is especially noticeable here, look at her hair. DVD BD

Also worth noting, unfortunately these days cel-animated anime are more likely to get bad BD's than a few years ago. This list unfortunately keeps growing.

[Trig]

Originally Posted by Mangaranga

FYI, AoA release = JP BD with Dub/Sub included & JP Commentaries/Subs removed. The video/audio is exactly the same.

BDs are always a massive improvement over DVD, no question. Other than Aniplex, all US BD releases are worse quality than the Japanese release to some extent since you've got a complete series compressed to fit 1 BD50 and 1 BD25 (~4-5gb each), whereas in Japan there's usually 6 - 9 volumes with a BD25 each (episodes 6-7gb+ each). Some western companies do a good job, but you get incompetent ones like Subatomic Digital (Who do most of Viz's discs) and for the most part Sentai, who's encodes tend to look pretty bad in comparison (especially the former).

Are JP commentaries the extras and JP subs are just japanese subs? I didnt know they did that if thats true.

[Naiera]

Big, I guess it's still easier to keep track of the bad ones rather than the good ones.

[kk1]

Originally Posted by Naiera

I don't know of any Blu-ray release of anime where the DVD is just as good.

Well for older shows with just upscaling (or DNR or whatever) is it worth to pay more for a blu-ray? For example I bought just the dvd of the recent Sailor Moon release because of all the reviews of how bad the blu-rays were. I don't want to pay for blu-ray quality and get less than blu-ray quality.