The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Footlong Shoe

I might have to double-dip whenever Funi puts it out. I feel like the movie lost a lot of its impact on me just because I couldn't understand any of the lyrics.

There probably will be some fansub that includes translated songs that you can just add to a rip of the film via MKVToolNix.

[NLScavenger]

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing – Nozomi / Anime Limited BD

This Blu-ray set reused the HD remaster that was prepared for the Japanese remastered DVD release from 2007. Since the aged DVD format imposed many restrictions in terms of resolution, compression and what not, the HD remaster could not be viewed in its full splendor for many years. This is all the more apparent on the Beez remastered DVDs from 2008, which in addition to compression artifacts also suffered from frameblending.

On Blu-ray, the HD remaster benefits greatly from the increased resolution and the vastly superior compression that the format can offer. Nozomi made the right call by spreading the 25 episodes over 4 discs with 7/6/6/6 episodes, instead of the commonly used 3 disc spread with 8/8/9 episodes. This enabled Nozomi to push out higher bitrates and it helps with preserving the film grain texture.

Overall a very nice Blu-ray presentation of this polarizing Gundam production.

Screenshots Blu-ray [alternate link]


Screenshots Beez remastered DVD [alternate link] (upscaled to 1080p with madvr)


Screenshots Beez original DVD [alternate link] (upscaled to 1080p with madvr)


Audio
- Japanese PCM 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
- English PCM 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit

Subtitles
- English (optional)
- English lyrics & signs (optional)

Bitrate viewer episode #1:

AVG: 29937 kbps | MAX: 46779 kbps

[NLScavenger]

Film scanning process of Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) HD remaster (first released on DVD in 2007 and later reused for BD release)

tl;dr

- A new 35mm blow up interpositive was created from original 16mm negative.
- This new interpositive was scanned using an ARRISCAN, most likely scanned in 3K and downscaled to 2K (ARRISCAN can be outfited with 3K or 6K sensor)
- Film scan in 16:9 to retain more data. That means that during the scanning process, the 4:3 image was stretched slightly horizontally.
- The entire 43-episode series has 1,500,000 frames.
- Each frame was scanned 6 times (2 scans per RGB channel), so a total of 9,000,000 scans!
- The combined image information takes up about 8MB per frame

「プレミアムマスター」制作日誌　第１回

今回のDVD-BOX化にあたり、これまでにないハイクオリティな映像マスターとして新たに製作中の「HDプレミアムマス ター」。
プレミアムマスターって何よ？と思われる方のために、ここでは簡単でありますが作業過程を紹介していきたい と思います。



テレビで放送された機動戦士ガンダムは当時のスタンダードである16mmのフィルムで制作され ています。
オリジナルであるこのフィルムのポテンシャルを最大限に発揮する為、今回はこのまず原版から35mmのマス ターポジフィルムを作成しています。
マスターポジフィルムとはフィルムの複製などに用いられる、通常のプリントに比べ色の再現性に優れた特殊な フィルムです。
下は新たにプリントされたフィルムです。43話分のフィルムとなると相当な量になりますね。

原版フィルムの特製を引き出したこのマスターポジをもとに、「フィルムスキャン方式」によるデジタルデータ 化の作業を行っていきます。
その様子はまた次回。
どうぞお楽しみに。

上の写真がまさにフィルムスキャンの最中。
この機械で１コマ１コマ、スキャニングしていきます。
43話分のフィルムをスキャンするのは気が遠くなりそうな作業です。

今回はここまで。
次回もお楽しみに。

「プレミアムマスター」制作日誌　第２回

今回のマスタリングの最大の特徴である「フィルムスキャン」。
フィルムを1コマずつデジタルデータ化するという究極のマスタリング方式です。
これは元来劇場映画のフィルムの精密な複製を作るために生まれた技術で、膨大な手間とコストがかかるためD VD化のために行われることは通常ありません。



今回新たに作成された35mmのマスタープリントを、デジタルフィルムスキャナーにかけて1コマずつスキャ ンしていきます。
24コマで１秒、43話分では約1,500,000コマという膨大な量になります。
これを１コマごとに光の三原色であるRGB（RED、GREEN、BLUE）に分解し、さらにそれぞれハイ バンド、ローバンドの2回で1コマあたり合計6回のスキャンを行います。
つまりスキャン回数で言うと延べ9,000,000回（！）
この地道な作業によって取り出された膨大な画像情報を合成し、1コマあたり約8MBのデジタルデータとして 保存していきます。
これがフィルムスキャナー「ARRI SCAN」
膨大な数字に目がくらんだところでまた次回、お楽しみに。

「プレミアムマスター」制作日誌　第３回

お待たせしました。
第３回めです。
フィルムスキャンによって得られた静止画のデータは、最新のデジタル編集システムによってハイビジョンフォ ーマット=HDの映像に変換。
HDでは24p（24コマのプログレッシブ方式）により、フィルムと同じように映像を扱うことがで きます。
また、16：9のワイド画像のフォーマットを生かし、より多量のデータを保持することができま す。
画像情報を最大限に保持するため、この段階では本来の4：3スタンダードである画面が少し横長に引き伸ばさ れた状態になっています。
経年変化した原版フィルムの色味を、本来の色味に近づけ、演出意図による撮影効果などを再現するため「カラ ーコレクション」を行うのですが、この作業は富野由悠季総監督の監修のもと、本来の色味や明るさのバランス をシーンごとに調整しています。

今回はマスターポジとフィルムスキャンの効果で、従来にはない発色が得られているため、場面によってはあえ て色を抑え目に調整を行っています。
オリジナルフィルムにより忠実な色鮮やかな映像が得られたところでまた次回、お楽しみに。

[Naiera]

[Gorgon]

^^ Um, wait, I'm notably illiterate when it comes to this topic but;
- 8 mb per frame, and
- 1 million, 500 thousand frames?
lost me....

[Zhou]

Originally Posted by Gorgon

^^ Um, wait, I'm notably illiterate when it comes to this topic but;
- 8 mb per frame, and
- 1 million, 500 thousand frames?
lost me....

That was before they compressed the video, of course.

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by Gorgon

^^ Um, wait, I'm notably illiterate when it comes to this topic but;
- 8 mb per frame, and
- 1 million, 500 thousand frames?
lost me....

- All 43 episodes together have a total amount of 1,500,000 frames
- Each frame is scanned 6 times, so when all of them have been scanned, you end up with 9,000,000 scans (1,500,000 frames X 6).
- The data generated by those 6 scans per frame is merged together into a single file for each individual frame.
- Those files are 8MB each.

[professorwho]

I'll post stats and caps in a day or two, but for Intrigue in the Bakumatsu, I hope you like heavy film grain... and by heavy, I mean like 16mm levels of grain the majority of the time. As a result this means zero banding.

I love film grain, but this is a heads up for those who don't.

[Kyle15]

Originally Posted by professorwho

I'll post stats and caps in a day or two, but for Intrigue in the Bakumatsu, I hope you like heavy film grain... and by heavy, I mean like 16mm levels of grain the majority of the time. As a result this means zero banding.

I love film grain, but this is a heads up for those who don't.

Isn't this a digital production though? Or is it a simulated grain plate?

[Lambadelta]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

Isn't this a digital production though? Or is it a simulated grain plate?

I imagine its just a filter similar to how Jormungand BDs were like.

[professorwho]

I don’t know what they did, but it is easily the most realistic looking artificial grain I’ve ever seen in an anime that was done digitally. It’s on par with what Justin did with the Discotek BDs of the Galaxy Express movies.

[UseY0ur1llusi0n]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

[Show spoiler]On Blu-ray, the HD remaster benefits greatly from the increased resolution and the vastly superior compression that the format can offer. Nozomi made the right call by spreading the 25 episodes over 4 discs with 7/6/6/6 episodes, instead of the commonly used 3 disc spread with 8/8/9 episodes. This enabled Nozomi to push out higher bitrates and it helps with preserving the film grain texture.

Overall a very nice Blu-ray presentation of this polarizing Gundam production.

Screenshots Blu-ray [alternate link]


Screenshots Beez remastered DVD [alternate link] (upscaled to 1080p with madvr)


Screenshots Beez original DVD [alternate link] (upscaled to 1080p with madvr)


Audio
- Japanese PCM 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
- English PCM 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit

Subtitles
- English (optional)
- English lyrics & signs (optional)

Bitrate viewer episode #1:

AVG: 29937 kbps | MAX: 46779 kbps

Very interesting. Are all of Nozomi's BDs encoded like this?

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by UseY0ur1llusi0n

Very interesting. Are all of Nozomi's BDs encoded like this?

No. I think they started encoding like that around the time they started releasing Gundam Wing and Utena in 2017, but there are some occasional exceptions, such as the Aria upscaled BDs (12.41 Mbps).

[UseY0ur1llusi0n]

That's disheartening to hear, but reaffirms my suspicions. I was holding off on a lot of them; their 08th MS Team Blu-ray looked like it was encoded from a KissAnime rip...

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by UseY0ur1llusi0n

That's disheartening to hear, but reaffirms my suspicions. I was holding off on a lot of them; their 08th MS Team Blu-ray looked like it was encoded from a KissAnime rip...

Those screenshots on the Blu-ray.com review don't look too hot in terms of compression. It also doesn't help that the remaster itself is poor, just like 0083. Both have poor black levels, crushed shadows and other issues. These were among Bandai's earlier remastering attempts.

I have pre-ordered 0083 JP re-issue with English subs (and original JP audio, US BD has JP redub), but I might also pre-order 08th MS Team.

Which Gundam titles were you holding off on?

[Naiera]

The poor transfer for 0083 is responsible for me never getting around to finishing it.

[UseY0ur1llusi0n]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

Those screenshots on the Blu-ray.com review don't look too hot in terms of compression. It also doesn't help that the remaster itself is poor, just like 0083. Both have poor black levels, crushed shadows and other issues. These were among Bandai's earlier remastering attempts.

I have pre-ordered 0083 JP re-issue with English subs (and original JP audio, US BD has JP redub), but I might also pre-order 08th MS Team.

Which Gundam titles were you holding off on?

08th MS Team looks like it could be decent in some shots if encoded correctly.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/scree...897&position=4

And I know what you mean about the black levels... very akin to Cowboy Bebop's master (which admittedly is pretty old now as well... maybe we'll get an upgrade on the 4K front soon?)

G Gundam is the one I'm most interested in as far as remasters go - but comparisons never came out to match the JP set in terms of quality. I'm assuming those new 'U.C. Gundam Blu-ray Libraries' are just rehashes of the same DVD-era masters only now with English subtitle support?

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by UseY0ur1llusi0n

08th MS Team looks like it could be decent in some shots if encoded correctly.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/scree...897&position=4

And I know what you mean about the black levels... very akin to Cowboy Bebop's master (which admittedly is pretty old now as well... maybe we'll get an upgrade on the 4K front soon?)

G Gundam is the one I'm most interested in as far as remasters go - but comparisons never came out to match the JP set in terms of quality. I'm assuming those new 'U.C. Gundam Blu-ray Libraries' are just rehashes of the same DVD-era masters only now with English subtitle support?

Yeah, it appears that they're using pre-existing materials. F91 and CCA have been confirmed to use the older master, probably without the windowboxing.

[kevers7290]

Does anyone a comparison between the English friendly releases of "The Wind Rises?" I'm considering replacing my Disney copy. I want PCM Japanese audio/BD-50, so my choices seem to be the Japanese silhouette release, the StudioCanal UK version and the HK version. Thanks!

[Naiera]

The HK releases are, except for Nausicaa, which has a slight contrast boost, clones of the Japanese releases. The same goes for the TW releases, but they’re not quite as easy to obtain.