The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[SeaFox]

Originally Posted by vincentric

I also use mpc hc and vlc, mpc hc have better organized menus and is snappier to use but vlc is more stable (particularly with mkv) and able to play a wider range of files without having to install additional third party codecs. All in all, I still keep mpc installed for its ease of use but prefer vlc for its stability. As for screencaps, fraps and faststone to me are almost unbeatable for capturing and viewing.

VLC still has issues with handling some ASS subtitle effect formatting. A player that allows externally developed decoders and renderers is still better choice I think. But that's more effort than some people want to put into things. Their interface doesn't really do it for me either. It seems to want to open to a playlist view half the time when I open a file, instead of opening and starting playback on the player view immediately.

MPV is great on Android, as it actually handles karaoke on OP/ED subtitles and ordered chapter MKVs. It seems to have many of the same gestural controls other smartphone players have. I wish I'd known about it before I bought MX Player Pro.

[stevenweng09]

I use MPC-BE/MPC-HC + madVR + LAV + XySubFilter

[vincentric]

Originally Posted by SeaFox

VLC still has issues with handling some ASS subtitle effect formatting.

Did not know that, good to know. I forgot to mention that I also prefer MPC-HC's keyboard navigation in particular being able to frame step back making comparisons at the exact frame a lot easier. In VLC, there is only a frame step forward function but no stepping back.

I did a quick image quality test between mpc and vlc playback of an mkv rip of Your Name. Used fraps to capture an uncompressed bmp then used faststone to view and convert it to uncompressed png. Resulting file size and image quality are pretty much a tie; mpc on top, vlc bottom -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/116461...posted-public/


https://www.flickr.com/photos/116461...posted-public/

[SeaFox]

Which output render settings were you using? The default video output on Windows actually has incorrect levels.

[vincentric]

I've got my desktop connected hdmi to a Sony 930E (am basically using a big assed tv for a monitor). In the nvidia control panel I have it set to match the tv at ycbcr limited. For sdr material I have color format and depth at 444 8 bit, for hdr material I'll switch it to 422 10 bit. My desktop specs are getting old but still decent - win7, gtx 980 ti, i7 2600k.

[SeaFox]

Sorry, I wasn't clear there. I meant the output settings in VLC itself. The app's own video rendering is what's off, not Windows. But it sounds like you have the graphics card correcting it instead.

Generally changing to OpenGL is what I do. I notice a pronounced contrast boost on the default settings when I compare VLC to other players.

[vincentric]

Originally Posted by SeaFox

Sorry, I wasn't clear there. I meant the output settings in VLC itself. The app's own video rendering is what's off, not Windows. But it sounds like you have the graphics card correcting it instead.

Generally changing to OpenGL is what I do. I notice a pronounced contrast boost on the default settings when I compare VLC to other players.

No worries I can check for you real quick vlc's on automatic and when I change it to open gl, I see no difference. The same goes for mpc-hc where I have the renderer output set to 16-235 and see no difference when changing it full 0-255. It appears the gpu is indeed applying correct settings, as long as I have the nvidia control panel settings in sync with my tv it overrides any potential errors that the media player settings may cause.

[vincentric]

Checked tracking and to my surprise the package containing Ergo is set to be delivered later today. Just have a favor to ask, I haven't seen the show in nearly a decade and need help identifying the timestamps or from which episodes the JP screencaps are located. I recognize a few of the scenes but do not for most of them, here are the screencaps again any help is appreciated - https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...5#post12462325

[omarchafa]

Originally Posted by vincentric

Pretty much this.

I also use mpc hc and vlc, mpc hc have better organized menus and is snappier to use but vlc is more stable (particularly with mkv) and able to play a wider range of files without having to install additional third party codecs. All in all, I still keep mpc installed for its ease of use but prefer vlc for its stability. As for screencaps, fraps and faststone to me are almost unbeatable for capturing and viewing.

Lastly, PotPlayer is looking like another good media player option but haven't tried it yet.

This is why you get CCCP instead with some minor tweaks like adding MadVR into the video rendering list. It will be dumb to get MPC HC by itself these days.

[SeaFox]

Originally Posted by omarchafa

This is why you get CCCP instead with some minor tweaks like adding MadVR into the video rendering list. It will be dumb to get MPC HC by itself these days.

I kinda feel like CCCP is largely abandoned now. It hasn't been that relevant since people stopped using the original FFDShow video and audio filters, and started using LAV instead (and yes, I know CCCP uses LAV now, but MPC-HC has also incorporated LAV into itself for decoding as well).

There are still a couple neat tricks the FFDShow subtitle filter can pull though, like overriding SSA styling. I have a rip of Code Geass from the original JDM release and the subs that were added to it are styled too small to read comfortably on my normal monitor, but in FFDShow I can have the subs scaled up by 20% in both X and Y axis and the position remains mostly unchanged. The styling is exactly the same -- they're just bigger, without me having to demux and edit the styles in Aegisub on an episode-by-episode basis.

The main reason I have VLC around is because it can play files of raw streams that are not in proper container formats.

[vincentric]

You dudes are way more hardcore at this than I am but that's all good, I mainly enjoy using my pc (edit: lol should also be more clear in that I use it to play steam games) to take screencaps and talk about the PQ for dorky fun in this thread and to that end, both mpc and vlc work well enough for me at playing back the mkv rips, with fraps and faststone working equally well at capturing and viewing the uncompressed caps. Otherwise most of my regular anime viewing is on bluray and dvd (mostly blu-ray these days) played back on a couple of dedicated home theater systems which I also use for 4k uhd and 3d blu-ray.

In any case, I have the Ergo FUNi BD in hand and will try to get started on comparisons asap (just have to finish project for work first).

[SeaFox]

Originally Posted by vincentric

I mainly enjoy using my pc (edit: lol should also be more clear in that I use it to play steam games) to take screencaps and talk about the PQ for dorky fun in this thread and to that end, both mpc and vlc work well enough for me at playing back the mkv rips, with fraps and faststone working equally well at capturing and viewing the uncompressed caps.

I don't have much in the way of qualms with MPC-HC. I think it's decoding and controls are fine. The only changes I make on it are using MadVR for rendering, and XySubFilter for subtitles. The subtitle issue being (besides some occasional minor styling compatibility issues), last time I checked, MPC renders subs the same resolution as your screen, but does not scale up the effects on them in equal ratios.

[vincentric]

Compared most of the Ergo Proxy JP screencaps from ep1 where I was able to match it frame for frame except for a few of them (in comparison 5, 8 and 9 in particular) where the static nature of the animation in those scenes made it pretty much impossible, without a copy of the JP BD for myself, to pinpoint the exact frame -

01 - JP BD | FUNi BD

02 - JP BD | FUNi BD

03 - JP BD | FUNi BD

04 - JP BD | FUNi BD

05 - JP BD | FUNi BD

06 - JP BD | FUNi BD

07 - JP BD | FUNi BD

08 - JP BD | FUNi BD

09 - JP BD | FUNi BD

10 - JP BD | FUNi BD

The JP BD looks to have some slightly better compression most apparent in faster moving scenes, such as in comparison 3, where the line art in the JP BD appears a little more intact. Just to eliminate any possible quality differences with the mkv rip I checked it against the actual BD, and the BD and mkv rip were an exact 1:1 match. From the looks of it the FUNi version looks to hold up quite nicely overall to the JP one.

As for the amount of data in the FUNi BD, the eps are spread 9/9/5 across three discs.

Disc 1 & 2 contain a similar amount of data with each ep getting 4.5 - 4.9 GB -



Interestingly, disc 3 increases the amount of data per ep to 6.3 - 7.2 GB -

[Sylontack]

Originally Posted by vincentric

Compared most of the Ergo Proxy JP screencaps from ep1 where I was able to match it frame for frame except for a few of them (in comparison 5, 8 and 9 in particular) where the static nature of the animation in those scenes made it pretty much impossible, without a copy of the JP BD for myself, to pinpoint the exact frame -

Thanks for taking the time to check that one out when nobody else would/could.

[UseY0ur1llusi0n]

Originally Posted by vincentric

[Show spoiler]Compared most of the Ergo Proxy JP screencaps from ep1 where I was able to match it frame for frame except for a few of them (in comparison 5, 8 and 9 in particular) where the static nature of the animation in those scenes made it pretty much impossible, without a copy of the JP BD for myself, to pinpoint the exact frame -

01 - JP BD | FUNi BD

02 - JP BD | FUNi BD

03 - JP BD | FUNi BD

04 - JP BD | FUNi BD

05 - JP BD | FUNi BD

06 - JP BD | FUNi BD

07 - JP BD | FUNi BD

08 - JP BD | FUNi BD

09 - JP BD | FUNi BD

10 - JP BD | FUNi BD

From the looks of it the FUNi version looks to hold up quite nicely overall to the JP one.

Ah, so these caps here are junk, then. Nice. Guess I should've known with it being Library-Chan and all that.

[kevers7290]

I'm looking for some JP to US BD comparisons if anyone can point me in the right direction. Need some direct comparisons between the US and JP releases of the Steins Gate movie (I searched this thread but the links don't seem to work anymore). I'm also desperately looking for a comparison between the Japanese BD release of the Big O and the Sentai release as I can't find even a discussion on the subject. From what I understand, the original release was 1080i and the Sentai release was 1080p(?).

[Raye]

I use MPC and can’t get the subtitles on DVDs I play on my computer to look decent at all. After reading through your guys’ posts, it looks like I have some tweaking around to do. Had no clue there was even a third party sub filter out there.

[SeaFox]

Originally Posted by Raye

I use MPC and can’t get the subtitles on DVDs I play on my computer to look decent at all. After reading through your guys’ posts, it looks like I have some tweaking around to do. Had no clue there was even a third party sub filter out there.

An external filter is where it all began. I'm not sure what you mean by "decent", subtitles on DVDs are subpicture (image) based, you can't do much to make a super-low bitdepth image look good.

MPC-HC (disabled stuff, it's just using EVR-CP and the internal subtitle filter here):



Zoom Player (with my normal setup, LAV/MadVR/XySubFilter):




I actually think they look better in MPC-HC because of the aspect ratio difference (I think this is a case of that classy period where subtitle programs treated everything as 4:3 when there was widescreen content, too). But I'm not playing DVDs on my computer normally. I use a different subtitle filter for soft (text)-subbed stuff.

Maybe you're using SRT subs perhaps? DVD subs get ripped to that format often since OCRing DVD subs will just leave you with plain text. I really hate that those get typeset in Ariel by default in players. I took one of my favorite fansubber dialog fonts and added it to my system and set the default font to that. Only downside being support for dialectical/special characters isn't quite as complete.

[vincentric]

Originally Posted by UseY0ur1llusi0n

Ah, so these caps here are junk, then. Nice. Guess I should've known with it being Library-Chan and all that.

I did see some rough spots in the FUNi BD here and there but could not find any JP caps to compare them to. Am thinking the JP BD might contain the same rough spots as well if only I had the JP BD in hand I could make an even more proper comparison between the two versions.

Edit: Have a quick question, how does the PQ look for FUNi's 2017 release of GitS 2 Innocence? Same, worse, or any better than previous versions?

[vincentric]

Originally Posted by kevers7290

I'm looking for some JP to US BD comparisons if anyone can point me in the right direction. Need some direct comparisons between the US and JP releases of the Steins Gate movie (I searched this thread but the links don't seem to work anymore). I'm also desperately looking for a comparison between the Japanese BD release of the Big O and the Sentai release as I can't find even a discussion on the subject. From what I understand, the original release was 1080i and the Sentai release was 1080p(?).

I have the JP release of the Steins movie and the Sentai release of Big O (ordered recently from Sentai sale) that I can provide screencaps for, then possibly perhaps someone who owns the other version can try to match my images with some of their own (as I did with the Ergo Proxy comparison)?