The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[Ccharmanderk]

I like that there are a number of Japanese publishers willing to let Discotek handle their own restorations and/or do HD Blu-ray releases of movies and series first before the Japanese release.

Cyborg 009, Golgo 13: The Professional, Jungle Emperor Leo, Project A-ko, Fist of the North Star: The Movie, Cyber City OEDO 808, Violence Jack, Digimon Adventure, etc.

Oftentimes Discotek's releases end up better than the Japanese release, as evidenced with Lupin Part 1 and the upcoming Digimon Adventure.

[MD_Prometh]

IIRC, the Golgo 13 Blu-ray uses the same video source as a HDTV airing. The audio on that one is worse than the LD too.

[AreaFive]

How do the Japanese 4K of Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence and its US blu-ray counterpart compare?

[wesslan]

Me thinking the DTS:X from the UHD would be nice with the JP blu-ray absolute edition since the 4K detail is destroyed by dnr.

[Ccharmanderk]

Originally Posted by MD_Prometh

IIRC, the Golgo 13 Blu-ray uses the same video source as a HDTV airing. The audio on that one is worse than the LD too.

I believe Leo also uses an HDTV broadcast master. Though that one is a little less rough than Golgo's.

I also wasn't aware the Golgo Blu-ray had reduced audio quality compared to the LD. I would be interested in hearing a side-by-side on that.

[professorwho]

Older releases on previous formats (LD, DVD, and even VHS shockingly enough) having better audio quality for older films is sadly very, very common. Excessive filtering to remove issues can end up creating new ones and lower overall fidelity if taken too far. Modern digital transfers of analog audio masters are better than back in the LD era, so it all comes down to the mastering. Filtering audio itself is not bad, and work is needed to remove major issues, but it can go too far.

One example I found myself was rather strange: Akira. So an IRL friend of mine buys a ton of stuff cheap on Yahoo Auctions via a proxy service and flips it for good profits, and sometimes buys LDs are there if he can get a good lot cheap. He let me borrow the standard 1988 CLV LD of the film and after comparing it to the PCM 2.0 track on the older Bandai BD, I was shocked to hear that they sound nearly identical but with one major difference: for some reason there was strong bass reduction on the 2009 BD audio. They sounded nearly identical otherwise, but I found it strange that they intentionally filtered the LFE, and the LFE only.

It’s a rabbit hole to go down, and thankfully I haven’t gone down as far as others I know, as I’m not as big an audiophile as them (and I'm so glad I don’t notice some issues, as that would make things more frustrating).

[Mangaranga]

Wonder Egg Priority

Seems pretty good for Funimation. Both releases here utilise each company's standard practices. Funi's release is a raw encode of the source, whereas Aniplex's uses their standard deband & lowpass filtering. As a result the Funi BD has some occasional mild banding (although the Japanese BD isn't free from it either), but from what I've seen it's never overly noticeable or intrusive. Funimation's BD seems to retain an almost finer grainier look throughout, whereas the Aniplex BD looks very "clean and clinical", likely due to the filtering used, and this was more noticable when they were scaled up to 1440p on my display.

There were a few other things I noticed with the Funi BD here - first being that episode 1 retains the original Japanese credits, and they suffer from artifacting around the text in the exact same way that Sentai's BDs do (ironically enough, none of the screenshots show this). It also looks like the Chroma may have been shifted slightly like some of their other older releases, but I'm nowhere near knowledgeable enough in this area to confirm if this is indeed the case. I'm sure Prof or Scav will be able to chime in on this one. Lastly, I'm still not entirely sure if this does suffer from Funi's red tint. Normally I tend to find it relatively obvious, but I'm not seeing anything that screams it being present. There are some occasional very minor colour differences, but this could also just be due to the difference in filtering on the JP BD encode.

Direct Screenshot Comparison

https://slow.pics/c/xQnuDI31

Funimation BD
















Aniplex Japan BD

















Funi BD Episode 1




Aniplex Japan BD Episode 1

[NLScavenger]

Seems like Funi used a debanding solution (see erased details in Funi BD in e.g. #1, #8 and #19). Might explain the increased dither noise.

Chroma is bleeding into areas where it doesn't belong (see torn sleeve in comparison #19; blood on sleeve is leaking into black line)

[gwfb5]

Originally Posted by Mangaranga

Wonder Egg Priority

[Show spoiler]Seems pretty good for Funimation. Both releases here utilise each company's standard practices. Funi's release is a raw encode of the source, whereas Aniplex's uses their standard deband & lowpass filtering. As a result the Funi BD has some occasional mild banding (although the Japanese BD isn't free from it either), but from what I've seen it's never overly noticeable or intrusive. Funimation's BD seems to retain an almost finer grainier look throughout, whereas the Aniplex BD looks very "clean and clinical", likely due to the filtering used, and this was more noticable when they were scaled up to 1440p on my display.

There were a few other things I noticed with the Funi BD here - first being that episode 1 retains the original Japanese credits, and they suffer from artifacting around the text in the exact same way that Sentai's BDs do (ironically enough, none of the screenshots show this). It also looks like the Chroma may have been shifted slightly like some of their other older releases, but I'm nowhere near knowledgeable enough in this area to confirm if this is indeed the case. I'm sure Prof or Scav will be able to chime in on this one. Lastly, I'm still not entirely sure if this does suffer from Funi's red tint. Normally I tend to find it relatively obvious, but I'm not seeing anything that screams it being present. There are some occasional very minor colour differences, but this could also just be due to the difference in filtering on the JP BD encode.

Direct Screenshot Comparison

https://slow.pics/c/xQnuDI31

Funimation BD
















Aniplex Japan BD

















Funi BD Episode 1




Aniplex Japan BD Episode 1

Knowing nothing about this series, I gotta ask, what's going on in this shot?

[The Collector FX]

Originally Posted by gwfb5

Knowing nothing about this series, I gotta ask, what's going on in this shot?]

You should watch the show. It's good. People dislike the ending but you should form your own opinion. It's worth your time in the very least.

[gwfb5]

Originally Posted by The Collector FX

You should watch the show. It's good. People dislike the ending but you should form your own opinion. It's worth your time in the very least.

That doesn't really answer my question.
I'm just asking about this one scene of what looks like a girl sleeping in some sort of off-white substance on a bathroom floor.

I like the art-style, so if it's added to a streaming service we're already subscribed to, I'll check it out.

[The Collector FX]

Originally Posted by gwfb5

That doesn't really answer my question.
I'm just asking about this one scene of what looks like a girl sleeping in some sort of off-white substance on a bathroom floor.

I like the art-style, so if it's added to a streaming service we're already subscribed to, I'll check it out.

What you're asking me is a spoiler-ish though, that's why I'm not answering directly hahaha.

[gwfb5]

Originally Posted by The Collector FX

What you're asking me is a spoiler-ish though, that's why I'm not answering directly hahaha.

Fine then, a quick glance through the wiki page it is.

Now let's see... Oh... Oh my god!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by Mangaranga

There were a few other things I noticed with the Funi BD here - first being that episode 1 retains the original Japanese credits, and they suffer from artifacting around the text in the exact same way that Sentai's BDs do (ironically enough, none of the screenshots show this).

Forgot to mention this, but I did notice the ringing around credits in the screenshots.

By the way, Josee, the Tiger and the Fish Funi BD has the same deband filter problem: https://slow.pics/c/0tDpFSQi (big spoiler)

Also has problems with chroma position as expected. I'll hopefully be able to check the UK BD with different encode next week.

[akabuddy]

Originally Posted by gwfb5

That doesn't really answer my question.
I'm just asking about this one scene of what looks like a girl sleeping in some sort of off-white substance on a bathroom floor.

I like the art-style, so if it's added to a streaming service we're already subscribed to, I'll check it out.

I too would like to know the answer to your question. It is unfortunate that others are trying to "save" us from ourselves.

[The Collector FX]

Originally Posted by akabuddy

I too would like to know the answer to your question. It is unfortunate that others are trying to "save" us from ourselves.

To spoil, or not to spoil hmmm

[akabuddy]

It is basically yoke.

[kk1]

Originally Posted by akabuddy

I too would like to know the answer to your question. It is unfortunate that others are trying to "save" us from ourselves.

Go watch ep 1.

[akabuddy]

Originally Posted by kk1

Go watch ep 1.

I got my answer already, so I'm good.

[BuccoBruce]

Originally Posted by professorwho

One example I found myself was rather strange: Akira. So an IRL friend of mine buys a ton of stuff cheap on Yahoo Auctions via a proxy service and flips it for good profits, and sometimes buys LDs are there if he can get a good lot cheap. He let me borrow the standard 1988 CLV LD of the film and after comparing it to the PCM 2.0 track on the older Bandai BD, I was shocked to hear that they sound nearly identical but with one major difference: for some reason there was strong bass reduction on the 2009 BD audio. They sounded nearly identical otherwise, but I found it strange that they intentionally filtered the LFE, and the LFE only.

It’s a rabbit hole to go down, and thankfully I haven’t gone down as far as others I know, as I’m not as big an audiophile as them (and I'm so glad I don’t notice some issues, as that would make things more frustrating).

Akira is a whole can of worms unto itself. Did you like the "Hypersonic" mix? Hope you've got a 2009 Bandai Blu-Ray (sounds like you do) because every other release butchers it! Funimation? Lower bitrate for some reason, dithered to 16 bit? The 4KBD? Remixed entirely (again...) and then also resampled by Funimation. Poorly. And then the Chinese decided it needed a 7.1 Atmos mix. Hunting down a working Laserdisc player + CAV Criterion LD might have been easier than the mux job I ended up doing...

At least this Dynit BD had the 2001 DVD mix on it ready to go.