The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[NLScavenger]

From the 4K UHD screenshot comparison thread:

Originally Posted by andreasy969

Mary And The Witch's Flower

UHD-BD (madVR/SDR/200 nits) left, BD (upscaled) right

Disclaimer as to why the UHD-BD images may appear to be too dim:

[Show spoiler]Please note that the UHD-BD shots have been converted from HDR to SDR using special techniques, which drastically compresses the dynamic range of the original image (the color bit depth has been compressed as well). The UHD-BD shots are therefore not an accurate representation of the original HDR image - dynamic range, colors (tone and intensity) and contrast should be taken with a big pinch of salt and the main focus should be on comparing details. Typically, the image will appear too dark, may lack a certain "pop" and may at times also appear "boosted" when compared to the BD shots. The SDR conversion should still give you a good idea of the actual image of the UHD-BD though and one should also be able to at least catch a glimpse of the increased dynamic range. The BD shots have been upscaled for comparison purposes, but other than that should be accurate. You might also want to check out this post of mine (incl. the further link there) where I tried to show/explain this:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...&postcount=589

[NLScavenger]

Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer

BDInfo:

DISC INFO:

Disc Title:     UY2 BEAUTIFUL DREAMER
Disc Size:      31.599.288.639 bytes
Protection:     AACS
BD-Java:        No
BDInfo:         0.5.8

PLAYLIST REPORT:

Name:                   00000.MPLS
Length:                 1:38:19.226 (h:m:s.ms)
Size:                   30.320.838.336 bytes
Total Bitrate:          41,12 Mbps

VIDEO:

Codec                   Bitrate             Description     
-----                   -------             -----------     
MPEG-4 AVC Video        29778 kbps          1080p / 23,976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1

AUDIO:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
LPCM Audio                      English         1536 kbps       2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
DTS-HD Master Audio             Japanese        2170 kbps       5.1 / 48 kHz / 2170 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
LPCM Audio                      Japanese        1536 kbps       2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
LPCM Audio                      Japanese        1536 kbps       2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
LPCM Audio                      Japanese        1536 kbps       2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit

SUBTITLES:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
Presentation Graphics           English         43,686 kbps                     
Presentation Graphics           English         2,364 kbps                      
Presentation Graphics           English         49,560 kbps

I only took a quick peek because I've never seen this movie and don't want to spoil the whole film. Old telecine with a little bit of ghosting here and there:

Example 1: Ataru's hair is ghosting (previous frame)

Example 2: Legs are ghosting (previous frame)

Doesn't look bad, but there is certainly room for improvement.

[Ccharmanderk]

It's also very obvious on those screenshots how poor the contrast is in the Blu-ray transfer. Ataru's hair practically blends in with the background in those first screencaps, for example.

This is evidently a problem that carries over from the Japanese Blu-ray, though, so I wouldn't expect much if any difference from importing a different country's disc.

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by Ccharmanderk

It's also very obvious on those screenshots how poor the contrast is in the Blu-ray transfer. Ataru's hair practically blends in with the background in those first screencaps, for example.

This is evidently a problem that carries over from the Japanese Blu-ray, though, so I wouldn't expect much if any difference from importing a different country's disc.

Yeah. I think there's also a little bit of sharpening baked in. There's ringing around the vertical mattes.

Blu-ray is from the same master as the 2002 R2J DVD. Colors and framing are identical:
http://catalina.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2015-01-21-1

[Kyle15]

Are there any Utena screenshot comparisons out there? It's been out awhile and I haven't found anything yet.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

Are there any Utena screenshot comparisons out there? It's been out awhile and I haven't found anything yet.

I think most of us pre-ordered the Collector's edition and are just waiting for it to ship. (I know I did)

I did find a comparison, but it 404'd on me, being from 2013 and Fandom Post (not sure if there's a way to recover the page- the Wayback machine isn't working on it).

[NLScavenger]

^The R1 DVD vs JP BD comparison that was re-posted on the Fandompost forums is still accessible on my end:

Originally Posted by hissatsu

The main question for Utena on BD is whether the rather severe aliasing in the DVD remaster is present. The answer is that yes, there is aliasing, but not nearly as severe as the DVD. On the plus side, little in the way of grain reduction to be seen. So, not as good as it could be, but still by far the best version that exists. A little disappointing, but pretty much what was expected.

(BD screenshots cropped to 1440x1080, DVD screenshots bicubic resized to 1440x1080)

01 R1DVD | BD
02 R1DVD | BD
03 R1DVD | BD
04 R1DVD | BD
05 R1DVD | BD
06 R1DVD | BD
07 R1DVD | BD
08 R1DVD | BD
09 R1DVD | BD
10 R1DVD | BD
11 R1DVD | BD
12 R1DVD | BD
13 R1DVD | BD
14 R1DVD | BD
15 R1DVD | BD
16 R1DVD | BD
17 R1DVD | BD
18 R1DVD | BD
19 R1DVD | BD
20 R1DVD | BD
21 R1DVD | BD
22 R1DVD | BD
23 R1DVD | BD
24 R1DVD | BD
25 R1DVD | BD
26 R1DVD | BD
27 R1DVD | BD
28 R1DVD | BD
29 R1DVD | BD
30 R1DVD | BD
31 R1DVD | BD
32 R1DVD | BD
33 R1DVD | BD
34 R1DVD | BD
35 R1DVD | BD

[professorwho]

Screenshot 5 is a good example. Look at Utena's sword on the DVD shot, there's obvious aliasing that stands out (not sure how well it would look in motion). Not only that, but the outline of her body has bad aliasing as well (her legs specifically).

Same thing with screenshot 7- look at her hand on the DVD shot. ugh. The BD is a clear improvement, but not perfect. The main upgrade is compression and bitrate.

[Kyle15]

It actually looks like animation cells and film, that's pretty gorgeous. I hope Nozomi's encode is the same. Based on disc count I'd say it is so hopefully my hunch is right.

[professorwho]

Batman Ninja arrived today, and being a Warner Bros. release, I was skeptical. Warner does low bitrates for their live action movies, and even lower for the DC Animated movies, around 15Mbps on average.

Batman Ninja is on a BD-25 with some bonus features that take up 7.945GB, on a disc that my computer reads is 22.5GB. The movie itself is (with ALL dubs and subtitles) 14GB.

The video is 8.89GB, and has a bitrate of a whopping 14.9Mbps. There is only 1 lossless audio track- the English dub, which is 1.69GB, at 2830kbps (24-Bit); the Japanese audio is a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 at a bitrate of 640kbps, only taking up 390mb.

I haven't seen the film yet, so I can't talk about if the encode is good, but I bet it isn't gonna be with bitrates THAT low.

[Ccharmanderk]

From what I understand, regardless of the image quality, the Batman Ninja Blu-ray has an even worse problem to contend with.

Notably, the dub isn't even translated from the Japanese version. The English dub writers just watched the film raw and devised their own plot for the film based on what they saw and what little they could glean from the six pages of poorly translated material they got from the Japanese crew.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/wh.../1100-6458513/

On top of that, the official subs are evidently based on this English script instead of translating it from Japanese, so even that's been made an issue.

https://twitter.com/JacobYBM/status/...889823238?s=19

[professorwho]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw2sex1mJNI

[NLScavenger]

[Naiera]

This is some new level of absurd.

[pikagreg]

I guess I shouldn't expect much from WB after Jojo but man.....

[Footlong Shoe]

Wow. Given it was Warner Bros. I expected dubtitles but this is way worse.

[SeaFox]

Originally Posted by Ccharmanderk

From what I understand, regardless of the image quality, the Batman Ninja Blu-ray has an even worse problem to contend with.

Notably, the dub isn't even translated from the Japanese version. The English dub writers just watched the film raw and devised their own plot for the film based on what they saw and what little they could glean from the six pages of poorly translated material they got from the Japanese crew.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/wh.../1100-6458513/

On top of that, the official subs are evidently based on this English script instead of translating it from Japanese, so even that's been made an issue.

https://twitter.com/JacobYBM/status/...889823238?s=19

lol.
Sounds like time to sail the seven seas to get the "real" subtitled release.

[professorwho]

Watched Batman Ninja last night, and the encode wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. There is some aliasing, but it seems to be a source issue from the animation.

Speaking of which, the amount of styles of animation makes it hard to determine picture quality- the majority of the film is CGI character models on Watercolour backgrounds, but some background characters are traditionally animated, and all of the effects- smoke, fire, sparks, smears, impact frames, wind- it's all traditionally animated. Plus, there's a few scenes that are traditionally animated for dramatic effect, with a flashback in particular with absolutely STUNNING animation by Shinya Ohira that looks straight out of Princess Kaguya. This movie is beautiful, but the encode isn't perfect.

There is some banding and aliasing (as mentioned earlier) that's most evident in night time scenes, but it's not too bad. The only issue is the bitrate- the feature is only 14GB with alll dubs and subs, which is frankly too small for an 85 minute film. If there were no extras, perhaps 22GB could have been dedicated to the film (as it's on a BD-25) and it would look better.

I did try out the English dub, as I wanted to see how the actors would fit in this cross-culture affair, and it's bad. The actors themselves aren't the issue- it's the script, as has been mentioned before, and the fact that the dialogue doesn't match the mouth movements. For a big budget release from Warner this is pathetic.

For the record, the subtitles aren't that bad, but they could be better. The font almost makes them unreadable at points, though.

[Gouki]

So... is/will there be a subtitled Japanese release?

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Gouki

So... is/will there be a subtitled Japanese release?

There will be eventually, but I'm not sure if it'll use the same encode and subtitles or make new ones.

If they improve the video, then I might pick up that release.