Belle
(GKids/Shout! Factory, North America)
2.39:1 Aspect Ratio
MPEG-4/AVC ??? mbps (You'll see why)
Japanese, English DTS-HD MA 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
BD-50
Code:
DISC INFO:
Disc Title: Belle
Disc Label: BELLE
Disc Size: 49,030,932,683 bytes
Protection: AACS
Extras: BD-Java
BDInfo: 0.7.5.6
PLAYLIST REPORT:
Name: 00200.MPLS
Length: 2:01:28.781 (h:m:s.ms)
Size: 31,455,301,632 bytes
Total Bitrate: 34.52 Mbps
Angle 1 Length: 0:11:39.865 (h:m:s.ms) / 2:01:28.781 (h:m:s.ms)
Angle 1 Size: 3,042,791,424 bytes / 31,455,313,920 bytes
Angle 1 Total Bitrate: 34.78 Mbps / 34.52 Mbps
All Angles Length: 2:13:08.647 (h:m:s.ms)
All Angles Size: 34,498,093,056 bytes
All Angles Bitrate: 34.55 Mbps
VIDEO:
Codec Bitrate Description
----- ------- -----------
MPEG-4 AVC Video 25000 kbps 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
MPEG-4 AVC Video (1) 2400 (25000) kbps 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
AUDIO:
Codec Language Bitrate Description
----- -------- ------- -----------
DTS-HD Master Audio English 3631 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3631 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio Japanese 3381 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3381 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio English 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps / DN -27dB
SUBTITLES:
Codec Language Bitrate Description
----- -------- ------- -----------
Presentation Graphics English 33.472 kbps
Presentation Graphics English 20.928 kbps
Presentation Graphics Spanish 21.093 kbps
Presentation Graphics English 0.367 kbps
FILES:
Name Time In Length Size Total Bitrate
---- ------- ------ ---- -------------
00009.M2TS 0:00:00.000 0:05:08.182 1,357,240,320 35,232
00010.M2TS (1) 0:00:00.000 0:05:08.182 1,357,264,896 35,233
00011.M2TS 0:05:08.182 1:49:48.915 28,412,522,496 34,497
00012.M2TS 1:54:57.098 0:06:31.682 1,685,538,816 34,427
00013.M2TS (1) 1:54:57.098 0:06:31.682 1,685,526,528 34,426
CHAPTERS:
Number Time In Length Avg Video Rate Max 1-Sec Rate Max 1-Sec Time Max 5-Sec Rate Max 5-Sec Time Max 10Sec Rate Max 10Sec Time Avg Frame Size Max Frame Size Max Frame Time
------ ------- ------ -------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- --------------
1 0:00:00.000 0:03:50.605 25,009 kbps 36,993 kbps 00:01:27.545 27,255 kbps 00:01:23.541 26,120 kbps 00:01:18.536 130,360 bytes 629,462 bytes 00:03:46.225
2 0:03:50.605 0:03:54.525 25,008 kbps 37,895 kbps 00:05:39.464 27,586 kbps 00:05:35.460 26,263 kbps 00:05:30.455 130,378 bytes 640,610 bytes 00:05:13.187
3 0:07:45.131 0:05:35.793 25,007 kbps 34,310 kbps 00:11:49.875 27,200 kbps 00:11:42.118 26,100 kbps 00:11:37.113 130,375 bytes 640,880 bytes 00:08:15.369
4 0:13:20.925 0:05:04.304 25,018 kbps 34,356 kbps 00:14:21.986 27,355 kbps 00:14:47.136 25,908 kbps 00:18:15.219 130,435 bytes 640,213 bytes 00:14:52.766
5 0:18:25.229 0:04:34.857 24,951 kbps 32,984 kbps 00:20:59.675 26,918 kbps 00:21:06.640 26,070 kbps 00:21:01.551 130,081 bytes 640,506 bytes 00:21:31.164
6 0:23:00.087 0:04:28.935 25,005 kbps 35,320 kbps 00:25:50.674 27,534 kbps 00:25:46.711 26,276 kbps 00:25:41.665 130,366 bytes 640,636 bytes 00:23:55.308
7 0:27:29.022 0:07:26.904 25,003 kbps 36,082 kbps 00:33:06.442 26,556 kbps 00:33:02.438 25,924 kbps 00:32:57.433 130,354 bytes 600,119 bytes 00:34:42.955
8 0:34:55.927 0:06:05.531 25,002 kbps 36,797 kbps 00:37:23.366 27,445 kbps 00:35:24.372 26,444 kbps 00:40:33.764 130,351 bytes 640,583 bytes 00:35:34.006
9 0:41:01.458 0:05:54.354 25,010 kbps 38,157 kbps 00:41:08.465 27,610 kbps 00:41:04.461 25,842 kbps 00:42:25.584 130,392 bytes 640,631 bytes 00:42:40.474
10 0:46:55.812 0:04:54.752 24,984 kbps 33,210 kbps 00:51:06.229 26,644 kbps 00:51:29.336 25,822 kbps 00:51:24.331 130,254 bytes 640,845 bytes 00:46:57.689
11 0:51:50.565 0:07:22.984 25,001 kbps 33,076 kbps 00:57:55.805 26,516 kbps 00:57:53.761 25,723 kbps 00:54:40.235 130,345 bytes 628,907 bytes 00:54:53.164
12 0:59:13.549 0:04:41.155 25,004 kbps 33,052 kbps 01:00:54.108 27,141 kbps 01:00:50.104 25,757 kbps 01:00:45.099 130,359 bytes 563,946 bytes 01:03:47.448
13 1:03:54.705 0:06:44.320 24,996 kbps 33,716 kbps 01:04:16.269 26,925 kbps 01:09:46.599 25,963 kbps 01:09:41.594 130,316 bytes 640,057 bytes 01:10:38.984
14 1:10:39.026 0:06:19.170 24,994 kbps 35,161 kbps 01:16:15.946 27,666 kbps 01:16:31.586 26,202 kbps 01:16:26.707 130,306 bytes 640,860 bytes 01:15:36.406
15 1:16:58.196 0:05:06.180 25,023 kbps 35,573 kbps 01:21:50.071 27,085 kbps 01:21:46.067 25,987 kbps 01:21:41.062 130,458 bytes 637,949 bytes 01:21:15.745
16 1:22:04.377 0:07:35.830 24,990 kbps 41,470 kbps 01:26:49.287 28,257 kbps 01:26:45.283 26,638 kbps 01:26:40.278 130,286 bytes 640,139 bytes 01:23:02.852
17 1:29:40.208 0:06:51.494 25,007 kbps 39,270 kbps 01:33:56.797 27,827 kbps 01:33:52.793 26,450 kbps 01:33:00.616 130,375 bytes 637,768 bytes 01:31:17.430
18 1:36:31.702 0:06:07.200 24,989 kbps 38,836 kbps 01:38:17.975 28,644 kbps 01:39:09.985 26,367 kbps 01:39:04.980 130,282 bytes 636,592 bytes 01:39:20.829
19 1:42:38.902 0:05:10.810 25,013 kbps 35,691 kbps 01:43:08.265 27,435 kbps 01:42:53.542 26,378 kbps 01:42:59.256 130,405 bytes 635,995 bytes 01:44:36.144
20 1:47:49.713 0:04:57.505 24,989 kbps 35,715 kbps 01:52:35.081 27,076 kbps 01:52:31.077 26,052 kbps 01:52:26.072 130,281 bytes 632,965 bytes 01:47:52.340
21 1:52:47.218 0:02:09.879 24,995 kbps 32,293 kbps 01:53:02.025 26,517 kbps 01:52:57.979 25,725 kbps 01:53:10.033 130,311 bytes 639,903 bytes 01:53:23.671
22 1:54:57.098 0:06:31.682 25,000 kbps 29,144 kbps 01:58:26.682 26,127 kbps 01:59:32.540 25,614 kbps 01:59:32.540 130,352 bytes 640,708 bytes 01:59:44.385
Screencaps are towards the bottom, as the story to get to them is rewarding, IMO, but if you just wanna see them and not read my overly long nonsense, just scroll down.
I initially was gonna make this just a first impressions and leave most of my thoughts for when I get the Anime Limited 4K Deluxe Edition to compare the 1080p discs themselves and to the 4K UHD, but the more I uncovered here, the more I want to talk about this. I've still taken waaaaaaayyyyy less screenshots than I usually do (and will be doing for my
Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei write-up I'm working on), but I guess this can be considered a "full" write-up, meaning I'm back after over a year absence.
So, GKids was quite nice to include about half of the extras produced for the film in their standard release, while Anime Limited included none in their standard. I can kind of see why now. It's an interesting prospect, as GKids has provided a more satisfying package for their standard edition, but, by including
173 minutes of extras on a single BD-50 with a film, there comes a cost in digital real estate.
Thankfully, said nearly three hours of extras have been encoded at just 10 mbps which is perfectly reasonable for digital HD extras, and shouldn't eat up too much space on a disc... normally, but due to there being three hours worth, it does a bit here, leaving the film to have a bitrate of 25 mbps.
25 mbps itself isn't an issue. The film is digitally made, in 2.39:1 scope ratio, and has many static scenes with little movement to balance out the intense and visually demanding sequences, so with a good variable bitrate encode at 25 mbps, there shouldn't be many problems... except, that isn't what we got at all.
Duplitech, Shout's frequent authoring house loves CBR encodes. CBR being
Constant
Bit
rate, which means you have the bitrate value assigned as the bitrate for the entire duration of the video. Technically, there can be some bitrate spikes above said target, but usually that is not the case to any significant degree. Most unfortunately, Shout has used a CBR encode, rather than a variable bitrate encode, which is the wrong choice here. That means you have 25 mbps in every second of the film, meaning every scene is treated equally; scenes which don't need that kind of bitrate and can dip into the single digits (there's quite a few static scenes like that) are bloated to 25, while scenes that are visually complex and need a higher bitrate to not become a mess are starved of it. You can see why a CBR of 25 mbps is a major issue here.
I should mention here that there are branching credits options, both localised in English, but one with the JP actors credited, one with the EN actors. As a result, the film is broken up into multiple m2ts files, with one main one for the majority of the film, and then 4 tiny ones for EN and JP versions of the opening 5 minutes and the ending credits. This doesn't eat up a ton of space, and since this is GKids' MO, isn't a bad thing, but I mention it now as it does have an interesting side-effect.
As one can see by the "main" m2ts bitrate graph with the majority of the film, it is a 25 mbps CBR encode;
But, then I remembered some things I noticed with many of Shout/Duplitech's CBR, or CBR looking encodes... and oh boy, what a rabbit hole. It gets worse...
So, remember when Mangaranga looked at
In/Spectre from Viz and discussed padded bits? Well, Shout Factory and Duplitech have been doing this for years. I don't fully get how padded bits work with a CBR setup, but if I had to guess, (someone more knowledgeable, please correct me if I'm wrong!) it's possibly a VBR encode with a 25 mbps max rate, and the padded bits are to pad it to a constant 25 mbps, rather than actually being a legit 25 mbps CBR.
This is what the main m2ts looks like when remuxed to MKV with MKVToolNix GUI;
I additionally decided to re-rip the film, also through MakeMKV, but rather than back up the disc, do a straight up MKV rip of the playlist of the film with the first 5 minutes and the credits added back. I chose the JP angle, and this is what you get;
Compared to BDinfo's own graph feature with the padded bits and somehow detecting the spikes;
So, we have a true bitrate of around 20 mbps with a 25 mbps max rate. Yikes.
Before I even saw the padded bits, I was very, very concerned going into watching the disc, thinking it was a 25 mbps CBR (and not knowing we'd be getting something even worse), and hoping it would turn out alright. (This was also my first time seeing the film in general)
The good news is that it's better than I feared. It is not a complete disaster like I imagined. The bad news is that it still looks really rough most of the time, but not as bad as it could've been with this low a "true" bitrate. I took shots from roughly the first twenty five or so minutes as to not spoil the film, and because it takes less time. (Justified laziness!
)
All screenshots were taken in MPC-HC with MadVR:
Visually, there are some cool effects at play, such as emulating LCD monitor glow, and in the third act, emulating the look of a crappy webcam with distortion, blocking and digital noise. The film has a clean, well defined look throughout most of the "real world" segments, while more dramatic scenes are stylized a bit. The scenes in U are much more complex, with lots of things on screen (it's so dense; every single frame has so many things going on), and the CG is well rendered... I think. It's possible that the poor encoding is helping to cover up rendering issues, but until I see the UK BD and UHD (which should be using different encodes than GKids), I have no clue.
The compression is really poor, as expected of such a low bitrate. It's not a
Re:Zero-esque disaster as I expected, but in some scenes it gets really close. I took these shots from a sequence later in the film, which is debatably the worst in the film's duration. Despite being shown in marketing and being key art, I'm not directly including it in the main shots,
so look here if you want to see the encode at its worst. If anything the scenes in U are quite "fuzzy," for a lack of a better word. Not a blocky mess as I was fearing, but a fuzzy image. It's possible a low pass filter was used for some of the background blurriness, or it may be inherent to the image, I have no clue. But, despite all that, it is (mostly) watchable, I guess, albeit very poor and still unacceptable for a major release of a big film. About on-par visually with a low bitrate Netflix stream, to give an analogy.
The film's original audio mixes are presented in lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 (24-bit) and sound fantastic. Dynamic range is superb, fidelity is top notch, and there are no egregious issues to report. One cannot be disappointed with the audio presentation here. The JP Atmos track is presumably a remix, as are the 7.1 tracks on the UK BD. Most unfortunately Anime Limited will not be including these original 5.1 tracks on their releases, so there was a missed opportunity to make a definitive release. (If the JP Atmos track was included here instead of the 5.1, the video bitrate would be even lower, and I don't want to imagine how much worse it would be, especially if
both 5.1 and Atmos were on the same disc as 3 hours of extras)
The English translation is very good. The subtitle font is the Shout! Factory standard, which means that they are less than optimal. In fact, it's not even the font itself which is the major issue, but the size of the black outline, which is too small. At a further distance from recommended viewing distances, and in brighter scenes like the one above, it can become very hard to read, and said small black outline is essentially nonexistent.
The extras package is fantastic for a standard release, and is easily worth the price of admission for fans of the film, though I'd personally wait for the deluxe editions from GKids and Anime Limited to have everything in one package.
So, yeah. The Blu-ray isn't a total disaster, with the audio and extras package being outstanding, but the video encode is very problematic should never have left QC and be placed on a disc. But for a major film to get such a mediocre and poor encode is shocking. Hopefully Duplitech, or whoever Shout uses for their Blu-ray compression and authoring, stops using CBR encodes, especially ones with padded bits on top. Had this been a VBR encode at even the same bitrate, this could've been something great. I personally am even more curious to see the UK BD and UHD now.
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