The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[professorwho]

Looking on mobile is horrible, so I can’t tell a difference. How big is it actually- the difference?

[Lambadelta]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Looking on mobile is horrible, so I can’t tell a difference. How big is it actually- the difference?

Very noticble blocks on the back of soldiers, and in any areas with darker colours.

I haven't been able to give the whole thing a look over since I was only given a couple of shots from the US release, but seems like standard poor compression from FUNi.

[professorwho]

I’ll be able to tell on a PC monitor later tonight, but on mobile, it’s hard to tell a difference.

From that description, it looks like your standard FUNi release.

[Naiera]

All I can tell is that it's a little paler on FUNi I'm on just about the best monitor money can buy, as well...

[Robbl]

You gotta look closer then

[Yuripa]

I've seen on AUKN forum that Yuri on Ice by funimation seem's to use use the broadcast master instead of the Homevideo master.
Can anyone confirm?
If yes then... well shit, the difference between the 2 versions are... HUGE : see here : https://twitter.com/i/moments/847679834796851201

[pikagreg]

Originally Posted by Yuripa

I've seen on AUKN forum that Yuri on Ice by funimation seem's to use use the broadcast master instead of the Homevideo master.
Can anyone confirm?
If yes then... well shit, the difference between the 2 versions are... HUGE : see here : https://twitter.com/i/moments/847679834796851201

I remember CR was sent some weird pre-production copies in one/some episodes that were different from the tv broadcast even. There were a ton of changes throughout the series and I think there would have been a huge shitstorm if they used the broadcast copies.

[klasma]

"A little paler" is an understatement. These brightness/gamma shifts are the single most annoying problem I have with Funi releases.

[professorwho]

So Yuri on Ice was a troubled production to say the least. Animation was being finalized and improved until mere hours before broadcast in Japan. However, what happened in regards to the CR stream was unique- it was an earlier version of the episodes.

So, as translator Sarah K has pointed out, Crunchyroll gets the episode before the Japanese broadcast (obviously), and depending on how smoothly animation production goes, episodes can be delivered days in advance. For example, the Manga UK Blu-ray of Death Note is a different encode than the VIZ one, and uses the broadcast version of the series- plus, in the files of the episodes is a screen showing the day it was sent to the broadcaster- in that case, several days ahead.

Yuri on Ice was hectic due to the production schedule, so the initial version was sent to Crunchyroll a day or two before broadcast, while the staff at MAPA continued to refine the visuals for Japanese broadcast. Those changes for the JP broadcast were mostly background elements from what I remember.

The staff then after broadcast refined the visuals for the DVD/Blu-ray version, and that's the final version. I have no idea what version FUNimation has. I know for certain it is NOT the masters Crunchyroll were given for streaming- but I have no evidence to prove it is or isn't the JP BD version. Also, remember, the publisher decided to block exporting the title into international sellers, so that could also play a factor.

(I feel like Canipa mentioned this in one of his videos, I just can't remember what. I'll update it if I find any more evidence, or that video)

[professorwho]

Looking at the Youjo Senki BD comparison, I really can't see that big of a difference. From zooming in a ton, the JP disc has issues too, at least I think. To my eyes, the one with the mouse over looks better, simply due to the artifacts being in a shape that better resembles the people's clothing. Did you reverse the images, or is me eyesight getting worse?

To be fair, I do have some sight issues due to something similar to pink eye, but stronger being in my eye. Maybe that's tripping me up. I blame my poor eyes.

[SeaFox]

I think it's a little hard to see blocking on an image mostly consisting of a brick wall (pun intended). Any more screenshots we can look at?

[Lambadelta]

Originally Posted by SeaFox

I think it's a little hard to see blocking on an image mostly consisting of a brick wall (pun intended). Any more screenshots we can look at?

If people supply me with screenshots then sure. I was only really give this one.

[Ccharmanderk]

Originally Posted by Lambadelta

Got given a screenshot from Saga of Tanya the Evil US release, and compared that single shot to my JP copy.

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/122893

I don't know what I expected from FUNi.

Decidedly less severe image degradation compared to a lot of their other recent releases, at least.

[Footlong Shoe]

Originally Posted by Yuripa

I've seen on AUKN forum that Yuri on Ice by funimation seem's to use use the broadcast master instead of the Homevideo master.
Can anyone confirm?
If yes then... well shit, the difference between the 2 versions are... HUGE : see here : https://twitter.com/i/moments/847679834796851201

Bought a copy from kevers a couple days ago so when it gets here I can check. Is there any record of what was changed from Crunchyroll to broadcast and broadcast to Blu-ray? (if not I'll at least compare to that twitter link)

[husky1993a]

Originally Posted by Lambadelta

Got given a screenshot from Saga of Tanya the Evil US release, and compared that single shot to my JP copy.

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/122893

I don't know what I expected from FUNi.

Maybe it's my terrible eyes or a dark screen, but I can't really tell a difference on this screenshot. Is there something that is just worse about it?

[Ccharmanderk]

Originally Posted by husky1993a

Maybe it's my terrible eyes or a dark screen, but I can't really tell a difference on this screenshot. Is there something that is just worse about it?

Looking at the soldiers, there's some extra banding, but it's pretty minor to my eyes.

[chronoclast]

That Tanya screenshot comparison shows that the Funi BD either had it's brightness raised a good amount or it was incorrectly encoded at 0-255 PC levels instead of 16-235. There's visible noise and artifacts on the Funi BD but most of it is on the Japanese BD too, it's just obscured by the lower brightness level.

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by Ccharmanderk

Looking at the soldiers, there's some extra banding, but it's pretty minor to my eyes.

I had to turn the brightness on my screen all the way up to see that banding.

[chronoclast]

Originally Posted by chronoclast

That Tanya screenshot comparison shows that the Funi BD either had it's brightness raised a good amount or it was incorrectly encoded at 0-255 PC levels instead of 16-235. There's visible noise and artifacts on the Funi BD but most of it is on the Japanese BD too, it's just obscured by the lower brightness level.

So I was wrong about this. I pulled the images from the source and figured out that the screenshot comparison site isn't displaying the screenshots correctly when using Firefox and I think that's why I and few others were seeing brightness shifts while the rest of you guys weren't. Something in the Funi shot file specifically is causing it to display brighter but only in Firefox, I have no idea why.

On my PC or when using Edge, the screenshots display correctly with matching brightness levels. I haven't tested Chrome. I even reuploaded the two shots to Imgur and sure enough, displays incorrect in Firefox but correct in Edge. I would advise to not use that screenshot comparison site anymore because I think it's applying something weird to the files, plus they purge shots after while too.

Even with the brightness levels matching, the artifacts are still more visible on the Funi shot so that's just bad compression.

[professorwho]

The brightness levels match when using Chrome.