The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[BigOnAnime]

Originally Posted by kk1

Wasn't going to get In/Spectre anyway but knowing that makes it even easier. Just hope Viz doesn't get anymore Crunchy titles, well except the other crappy ones like God of High School, etc.

Given that Crunchyroll is now owned by FUNimation, probably not. We'll see a huge increase in the number of titles FUNimation will be releasing, and they'll need to increase their amount of staff to handle it all or they'll be biting way more than they can chew given the anime industry is still suffering from overproduction.

[The Collector FX]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

Given that Crunchyroll is now owned by FUNimation, probably not. We'll see a huge increase in the number of titles FUNimation will be releasing, and they'll need to increase their amount of staff to handle it all or they'll be biting way more than they can chew given the anime industry is still suffering from overproduction.

Which is crazy to think about because it was the exact opposite 20 years ago. I remember growing up as a kid and having a good handle on most, if not all of the anime that was releasing back in the DVD singles days. It was much easier to catalogue and vet what anime was good versus what was bad.

Now...shit just comes out of the woodwork at break-neck speed... Makes you wonder if creators and animators get frustrated by the saturated market and their shows/movies getting lost in the shuffle.

I know I would be.

[BigOnAnime]

They're already saying "Stop!", the fans are also saying "Stop!", the only people not saying "Stop!" are the companies and ignorant people like this.

Originally Posted by CanipaShow

Oh god...

https://twitter.com/CanipaShow/statu...44045663686662

Source on the creators saying "STOP!":
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...0#post18867300

This is not going to be very sustainable, the industry has learned nothing from 2015. Like Bamco got burned on The iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls where production was a mess that led to it becoming a split-cour show with re-runs of the original iDOLM@STER in its place so they had to purchase more timeslots and then there was God Eater. ufotable fell behind on Fate stay/night: Unlimited Blade Works 2 and had to do God Eater immediately afterward, the number of people on the credits showed a very problematic production.

Houkaim@ster Cinderella Corpse - YouTube

Originally Posted by Yuyucow

11 animation directors, 72 key animators (55 2nd KA @ 8 companies?!) 3 episodes in, God Eater wants to kill ufotable.

https://twitter.com/Yuyucow/status/625327305288773632

Originally Posted by Yuyucow

This is especially painful to see because ufo was a studio known for polished craft and in-house work, they must be struggling a lot atm

https://twitter.com/Yuyucow/status/625327383579635712

[kk1]

Originally Posted by Naiera

Gargantia was pretty terrible? I don't think there's widespread agreement on that subject. The UK release I have is fine, and it's probably the same video as Viz.

Sentai can be downright terrible, yes. Their one-disc releases aren't as terrible as could be expected, but the morons will still put 12 eps on one disc and leave 10 gigs unused.

That was the release where I learned what Banding was

[Naiera]

Nice necro-response

[Memade]

Besides Playstation and cameras, Sony has never shown itself as a competent corporation in any consumer field for the past 10+ years.

So I fully expect Funimation, Crunchyroll and maybe even Aniplex to go downhill and hopefully another company can create something better.

[Ccharmanderk]

The only US companies that are putting out consistently decent releases are Aniplex, Rightstuf/Nozomi and Discotek.

Sentai/Maiden Japan's SD-BDs are scuffed to hell and back, but their proper HD releases are typically solid as of the last few years.

Viz and Funimation are trading blows for being the most consistently mediocre, and Media Blasters is a mess.

[BigOnAnime]

It's been 2 years since Sentai and Maiden Japan last did SDBD, the last release was the Votoms complete set which is an HDBD/SDBD combo pack, they're done with the format.

Last Sentai SDBD: Di Gi Charat - Ultimate Collection (September 17, 2019)
Last Maiden Japan SDBD: Yumeiro Pâtissière - Complete Collection (October 29, 2019)

They're now opting to go the upscale route, as seen with Kaiji S1, Gargoyle of Yoshinaga House (streaming-only), Earl and Fairy (streaming-only; Discotek has the home video rights, it's SD on CR via Discotek but HD on HIDIVE via Sentai), and Nana (streaming-only atm, release not yet announced). Keep your expectations low for the older SD stuff, Gargoyle of Yoshinaga House suffers from plenty of ringing, it's an "okay" upscale for a Spring 2006 show.

[Mangaranga]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

They're now opting to go the upscale route, as seen with Kaiji S1, Gargoyle of Yoshinaga House (streaming-only), Earl and Fairy (streaming-only; Discotek has the home video rights, it's SD on CR via Discotek but HD on HIDIVE via Sentai), and Nana (streaming-only atm, release not yet announced). Keep your expectations low for the older SD stuff, Gargoyle of Yoshinaga House suffers from plenty of ringing, it's an "okay" upscale for a Spring 2006 show.

I doubt they upscaled Kaiji themselves given it's from 2007/8. I assume it was upscaled in Japan for broadcast, and that's what they used for both seasons as is. I fail to believe that they'd be stupid enough to manually upscale it whilst failing to IVT it to 1080p24 at the same time (discs are 1080i30 for both seasons for... seemingly no reason - seeing as the only 30fps content seems to be the end credit roll). Sadly that means constant judder throughout, ultimately making Kaiji unwatchable for me on anything but a PC with MadVR to IVT it in real time - something which should've been done before encoding.

[BigOnAnime]

Kaiji S1 was SD, it wasn't aired in HD in Japan. The Crunchyroll streams for example are in SD only. S2 is the HD native season.

[Mangaranga]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

Kaiji S1 was SD, it wasn't aired in HD in Japan. The Crunchyroll streams for example are in SD only. S2 is the HD native season.

Doesn't necessarily mean a "HD" version didn't already exist. Paradise Kiss predates Kaiji by two years and never aired in HD, yet a HD version surfaced on Amazon JP at the start of 2019.

[cicada88]

Originally Posted by Ccharmanderk

The only US companies that are putting out consistently decent releases are Aniplex, Rightstuf/Nozomi and Discotek.

Animeigo

[Ccharmanderk]

Originally Posted by cicada88

Animeigo

That's a complicated one, though.

AnimEigo is a MUCH smaller company than these others, even Media Blasters, and their output is driven almost entirely by Kickstarter initiatives nowadays. And while I actually do quite like my MegaZone 23 Blu-ray set that I got from them in many regards, the video quality is a bit less solid than I would prefer, with a good deal of compression artifacts and some macroblocking.

Looking at MZ23 Part 2 on their Blu-ray is telling, as scenes that bathe the screen in red (most noticeable when BD is watching the Dezalg attack footage) almost completely fall apart in the encode.

[BigOnAnime]

AnimEigo also was never that active once DVD happened. I present you the following from the release admin panel from ANN (only visible to encyclopedia editors like myself). Urusei Yatsura alone accounts for most of this.

[keitaro]

Originally Posted by Ccharmanderk

Sentai/Maiden Japan's SD-BDs are scuffed to hell and back, but their proper HD releases are typically solid as of the last few years.

I have Maiden's Patlabor Ultimate BD release. Love it!

[EvaUnit02]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

Mobile Suit Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans - Funimation BD vs Bandai Flagship Edition BD

So uhm.. Sunrise supplied the English dub video master to Funimation (same as the GundamInfo Youtube stream), which like the Japanese broadcast master has shots that were corrected in the JP BD master.

Changes between broadcast and BD seem to be minor, but I've only quickly checked episode #2. Don't know if there are any major changes in this or other episodes.

Does the "older masters" problem only affect season 1?

I've ordered the UK Anime Ltd. set of season 1, which came out in 2020. I have the AU Madman season 2 set, which came out in 2018. Aside from the Gundam's evolving equipment in the OP, the off centre frames of the broadcast masters looks like stuff that most wouldn't notice unless it's specifically pointed out to them. I wouldn't be too bothered if the UK set I ordered uses the older masters.

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by EvaUnit02

Does "older masters" problem only affect season 1?

I've ordered UK Anime Ltd. set of season 1, which came out in 2020. I have the AU Madman season 2 set, which came out in 2018. Aside from the Gundam's evolving equipment in the OP, the off centre frames of the broadcast masters looks stuff that most wouldn't notice unless it's specifically pointed out to them. I wouldn't be too bothered if the UK set I ordered uses the older masters.

Season 2 is also based on broadcast version (checked episode 49 which has a continuity error that was fixed in JP BD).

[Ikari]

Hm, was there ever a comparison between the JP BD and the old UK BD of Perfect Blue?

[cicada88]

Genocyber:

Discotek Media Blu-Ray versus Central Park Media DVD?

Help!

[TThomas]

To leave it here: Avoid any recent releases from Kazé France

Not only they proved a very questionable Quality with their "Upscale" of Nana, they used censored / dimmed TV-masters for some of their releases.
e.g.
Vinland Saga https://twitter.com/ViCklatereur/sta...74217885925376
Dr. Stone https://twitter.com/ViCklatereur/sta...061105675?s=20