The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[PissedOffPeoN]

What causes banding? Lack of bit rate? or putting too much episodes on a disc? Or the encoder? Watching re zero now and its the same as the UK just like you said.. oh well it is not in every scene but when it shows up =/.

[professorwho]

All of the above.

Sometimes its in the source (though I don't think it is with Re:Zero), but it could be any of those. I'm guessing it's the encoder/compressionist not being good enough.

You can make a good looking release with 9 episodes per disc, but it's harder and requires a more talented person to do so.

[PissedOffPeoN]

I got the Japanese release on my pc for comparison and there is not any banding but the file size is way bigger than funimation per episode probably. I emailed funimation about it and let us see if they reply...

[PissedOffPeoN]

Funimation replied to me last night and thought it was a streaming problem issue and im like what? So i let them know with screenshots from here that it is the blu ray disc.

[professorwho]

Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt December Sky

Disc size: 20.5GB

Main feature: 17.4GB

Video:
1080p MPEG-4 AVC
33 mbps AVG
40 mbps MAX
16GB

Audio:
Japanese LPCM 2.0 16-Bit 1536 kbps
English LPCM 2.0 16-Bit 1536 kbps

Stats aside, how does it look? Amazing.

Thunderbolt was animated at 1440x810, so it looks better than an average TV anime. The series/film resembles the 90s Universal Century OVAs in both aesthetics and tone, which is good. Also like the OVAs, it was also released on the best format of the time (Laserdisc in the 90s)- UHD BD. Yes, Thunderbolt was the first anime released on UHD, and while I don't have it, I'm sure it looks better, because in an interview, Kou Matsuo (the director) talked about how he had HDR in mind, so the colour grading is improved with HDR 10 on the UHD. The UHD has a bitrate of a whopping 81.85 mbps!

The 1080p disc is no slouch, though. It looks nice and sharp, and is a huge step above anything FUNimation has done lately. It's not 100% perfect, as there is some minor banding, though it's hard to notice. It's a real showcase, near perfect. Good stuff. It may be a 1:1 clone for all I know. It seems Nozomi's discs have a max bitrate capped around 33 mbps or so, so with a higher maximum, it could point to that.

Audio is crystal clear, though the Japanese track is louder and has more bass. We are missing an audio track on the JP BD, though. A DTS HD-MA 2.1 track. That's right, stereo and subwoofer (the bass box). It would'be been nice, but I don't think anyone will complain over the tracks here. (I did notice one typo in the subtitles, but other than that, subs are fine)

All in all, great disc. (Though the UHD is better if you can pick it up and have a 4K TV with HDR)

[professorwho]

At this point, I’m gonna pick up Gundam titles when they are on sale/find them cheap (like Thunderbolt, which was $15 on eBay), so expect more write ups on them (as Nozomi is fun to follow- some are clones, some not).

However, as you can see, in my Adolescence of Utena and Thunderbolt write ups, I didn’t include screenshots. That’s because I use VLC, and I know it isn’t the best for getting 100% accurate captures. It gives the general idea, but can make certain artifacts (like banding) more pronounced. I could get a new media player, but it would take some time to learn how to use it and how to take screenshots. I know it’s lazy of me, but I am a lazy person... So, from now on, if I do include screenshots, I will denote they are from VLC and may not be 100% accurate to the video when shown on a TV. If I don’t include them, there will be no such denotation.

[NLScavenger]

The Hurricane Polimar thread brought back memories of Sentai Filmwork's Casshan Blu-ray.

Look at all those splice marks: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/115404/

Happens about every 5 seconds and it bugged me so much that I had to use overscan.

Episode 9 bitrate:

Originally Posted by professorwho

At this point, I’m gonna pick up Gundam titles when they are on sale/find them cheap (like Thunderbolt, which was $15 on eBay), so expect more write ups on them (as Nozomi is fun to follow- some are clones, some not).

However, as you can see, in my Adolescence of Utena and Thunderbolt write ups, I didn’t include screenshots. That’s because I use VLC, and I know it isn’t the best for getting 100% accurate captures. It gives the general idea, but can make certain artifacts (like banding) more pronounced. I could get a new media player, but it would take some time to learn how to use it and how to take screenshots. I know it’s lazy of me, but I am a lazy person... So, from now on, if I do include screenshots, I will denote they are from VLC and may not be 100% accurate to the video when shown on a TV. If I don’t include them, there will be no such denotation.

MPC-HC + madVR isn't very hard to set up and use. Once set up properly, these are all the hotkeys you need to remember:
F5 = Screenshot
Space = Pause
Ctrl+Left arrow = Previous frame
Ctrl+Right arrow = Next frame

A quick walkthrough:

Download latest version of MPC-HC: HERE
Download latest version of madVR: HERE

Install MPC-HC. Then create a folder called "madVR" in C:\Program Files, and unzip all madVR files there. Run "install.bat" as administrator. Then boot up MPC-HC. Go to View, then select Options. Go to Playback, Output and select madVR as the DirectShow Video Renderer.



Then go to Internal Filter and click on Video Decoder underneath Internal LAV Filters settings



A window should pop up. Go to Hardware Decoder to use and select DXVA2 (copy-back)



Then open up a video file. A madVR tray-icon should appear. If not, right click on MPC-HC, go to Filters and select madVR.



Go to Screenshots and tick the following options*:
*untick don't draw subtitles if you want subtitles in screenshot



Before using the F5 hotkey for screenshots, you need to select a folder and image format. Start a video, click File, click Save Image, select preferred folder, select .PNG as image format, save. The next time you press F5, MPC-HC should automatically save a .PNG screenshot in last used folder.

As for which version of madVR to use: I would recommend using the latest version (v0.92.14), even though it appears to apply some kind of undefeatable dithering even when paused. I use madVR v0.92.02, which is the last version without the undefeatable dithering, but it's a bit tricky to use because it usually takes screenshot of the next frame. Easy to adapt to, but annoying nonetheless.

The dithering is nearly imperceptible and you'd be hard-pressed to find any difference:
madVR v0.92.02: SCREENSHOT
madVR v0.92.14: SCREENSHOT 1 | SCREENSHOT 2

[Iridium54]

has anyone here had experience with madman entertainment, Im curious about how good their disc quality is

[professorwho]

What Madman releases do you have in mind? Most are the exact same discs as those used by FUNimation, Sentai Filmworks, Manga Entertainment, Viz, and so on...

[kk1]

Besides re:Zero how have Funimation's other recent releases been? Same problems?

[pikagreg]

I don't think anything has been as bad as Re:Zero since Psycho Pass s1. Sure most US releases are never perfect but they are more than serviceable for the most part.

[Robbl]

I'd consider Assassination Classroom abysmal.

[professorwho]

Yeah... FUNi hasn’t been on a good track record lately...

Escaflowne and Outlaw Star look great, but they seem to be the exception, rather than the rule.

I’m curious Yamato 2199 will turn out. The Japanese BDs have professionally translated subtitles, and the OOP Voyager releases were encoded by Justin Sevakis, so those are of quality. With how bad Re:Zero turned out, I’m skeptical on this, despite being on 2 BD-50s (unlike the standard 1 50GB, 1 25GB disc in a 9-4 configuration).

[pikagreg]

Was Assassination Classroom as bad as Re:Zero? I never picked it up but was tempted by the new rereleases.

I think I remember Haruhi being pretty good too.

[professorwho]

Haruhi was amazing. Despite having 10 Episodes per disc, it looked almost identical to the JP BD in screenshots.

Assassination Classroom wasn’t as bad as Re:Zero or Steins;Gate or even Psycho Pass (which is the worst of the 3), but it wasn’t really that good. The Dark scenes lost detail compared to the JP BD.

[PissedOffPeoN]

I am just waiting on Funimation reply on the horrible banding problem on re zero any day now...

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by PissedOffPeoN

I am just waiting on Funimation reply on the horrible banding problem on re zero any day now...

I asked them 3+ weeks ago. I wouldn’t get your hopes up.

[StefaanD]

Yeah wouldn’t count on it. FUNimation didn’t bother doing anything about that other monstrosity Psycho Pass so i guess Re:Zero is in the same boat. Although regarding Psycho Pass the JP release of that one isn’t without faults either.

[Girls With Guns]

With Funi under Sony now, I bet they'll go even further downhill, quality-wise.

[PissedOffPeoN]

Well they did respond to me yesterday saying when they were working on it and will reply when they have something to say..