The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[husky1993a]

Originally Posted by professorwho

I agree on getting to it quick, but my main point was about the menu itself- most come off as cheap and lazy; but there's a minimalist charm to some.

It's the one thing I can give FUNi credit for, most of them are really fitting to the series with styling and all. Sentai has a simple picture backdrop with the opening credits tune. Kinda boring. :/

[PissedOffPeoN]

Got my code geass steelbook today and they labeled the Japanese truehd audio track with English instead lol.

[slerch666]

Received the SD on BD version of VOTOMS early and decided to quality check the video.

The good news is they used the Japanese remastered video that was used for the R2 DVD release. Colors are correct, dust and dirt is gone, etc. Framing is different than the US release and is not taken from a composite source like the US DVD release was (the tin can release).

The one thing I noticed when viewing it, then when I decided to do screenshot comparisons is that it has some nasty interlacing issues (correct me if this is the wrong term). It looks like they let the encoder decide how to deinterlace and exported the output. The opening is pretty terrible. Possible it was a 24 fps opening that they encoded to 30 fps? I don't know the technicals so making uneducated guesses.

I emailed Sentai about the frame issues. To their credit, they replied quickly. Not to their credit, they basically said "yeah, whatever. This is the way it was encoded. Suck eggs." It is possibly source related but their answer wasn't really very informative. I replied back to them and will see what they say.

For the record, the US DVD doesn't have the same issues but was definitely taken from a different source (composite vs component vs whatever else there might be).


Anyway, the comparison link is below. Sorry for not framing/timing them exactly but getting the time code to match was impossible given the DVD had a Youmex splash screen that took up some time the SD on BD does not have.

Comparison:
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/130869/


And images taken of the framing issues I have seen are linked below:

https://postimg.cc/gallery/sehqzqr4/

[chronoclast]

Originally Posted by slerch666

The one thing I noticed when viewing it, then when I decided to do screenshot comparisons is that it has some nasty interlacing issues (correct me if this is the wrong term). It looks like they let the encoder decide how to deinterlace and exported the output. The opening is pretty terrible. Possible it was a 24 fps opening that they encoded to 30 fps? I don't know the technicals so making uneducated guesses.

Is it just the opening that has the interlace artifacts? How do the actual episodes look?

[slerch666]

Originally Posted by chronoclast

Is it just the opening that has the interlace artifacts? How do the actual episodes look?

Oh, oh no. It's the entire show.

The opening is far, far worse than the show proper though. But the show still has issues.

Here is an example from within the meat section of the first episode:

https://postimg.cc/ygs4jYM9


The opening has errors constantly. Probably every frame or 4. The main show it's not as frequent as that but definitely happens.

That's part of why I think the opening (maybe the ending as well, didn't pay attention to it so not entirely sure) are originally 24 fps and the show is 30 fps and they just encoded the entire thing at 30, which is why the opening is worse. But that is just me making a guess.

[chronoclast]

Originally Posted by slerch666

Oh, oh no. It's the entire show.

The opening is far, far worse than the show proper though. But the show still has issues.

Here is an example from within the meat section of the first episode:

https://postimg.cc/ygs4jYM9


The opening has errors constantly. Probably every frame or 4. The main show it's not as frequent as that but definitely happens.

That's part of why I think the opening (maybe the ending as well, didn't pay attention to it so not entirely sure) are originally 24 fps and the show is 30 fps and they just encoded the entire thing at 30, which is why the opening is worse. But that is just me making a guess.

Something must have gotten messed up somewhere. Master or encode problem though, that I don't know.

Votoms being from the 80s, the whole thing should be 24 fps as it was all done on film, unless maybe there's something weird with the masters. 24 fps encoded at 30 should just have simple 3:2 pulldown.

[Computers4Ever1994]

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/High-...lu-ray/109326/

Say, is there any video quality differences between this release of High School of the Dead, and the previous release of the show from Sentai? Just wondering as this seems to be on 2 Blu-Rays and also has the OVA, while the previous Blu-Ray of just the show was also on 2 Blu-Rays with the OVA being seperate (And I heard the 1st release from 2011 had Banding issues)

[Gorgon]

^^ Oh, btw, "postimage" is cancer, recommend others. ANY others...

[slerch666]

Originally Posted by Gorgon

^^ Oh, btw, "postimage" is cancer, recommend others. ANY others...

Who else can I use? Used to use PhotoBucket way back in the day but finding a free option for image hosting seems to have dried up.

[slerch666]

I posted this in the GE999 thread but wanted to include it here for anyone interested.

My original assessment, years ago, was they had retained the grain structure on the BD. That is NOT true. The grain is sort of mostly gone. The upside to this, however, is that they did NOT destroy fine detail so all the details present in the original, are present in the BD. Just not sure which I prefer in stills.

In actual motion, swapping inputs on the TV, you almost can't see a difference from the BD to DVD in a really tangible way. On a computer screen, side by side, well, yeah. It's definitely different.

Just not sure which I personally prefer. Glad they didn't nuke detail, which I knew they hadn't and the grain structure on the DVD is actually distracting during viewing at times.

Anyway, you can all decide for yourselves which you prefer.

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/130939

[professorwho]

Q-Tec strikes again!

[Mangaranga]

Originally Posted by Computers4Ever1994

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/High-...lu-ray/109326/

Say, is there any video quality differences between this release of High School of the Dead, and the previous release of the show from Sentai? Just wondering as this seems to be on 2 Blu-Rays and also has the OVA, while the previous Blu-Ray of just the show was also on 2 Blu-Rays with the OVA being seperate (And I heard the 1st release from 2011 had Banding issues)

The newer release utilities brand new encodes for everything and is easily the better release on every front.
Better video, better subtitles, better packaging. I think the original release is actually even from Sentai's VC1 encoding days.

[PissedOffPeoN]

I just got done with finishing lupin the third part 2 collection 3 and one of my discs locked up at the mona lisa episode on the last disc and i emailed discotek about it and they said to give me my address and they will send a disc out to me. So i wonder why a small company like discotek can fix such an easy problem and funimation cant O.o?

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by PissedOffPeoN

I just got done with finishing lupin the third part 2 collection 3 and one of my discs locked up at the mona lisa episode on the last disc and i emailed discotek about it and they said to give me my address and they will send a disc out to me. So i wonder why a small company like discotek can fix such an easy problem and funimation cant O.o?

FUNimation don't give a f**k about anything other than money. Simple as that.

[slerch666]

Originally Posted by slerch666

Received the SD on BD version of VOTOMS early and decided to quality check the video.

The one thing I noticed when viewing it, then when I decided to do screenshot comparisons is that it has some nasty interlacing issues (correct me if this is the wrong term). It looks like they let the encoder decide how to deinterlace and exported the output. The opening is pretty terrible. Possible it was a 24 fps opening that they encoded to 30 fps? I don't know the technicals so making uneducated guesses.

I just want to follow up on VOTOMS.

They encoded the video... at 30 fps. The original, as others here have stated given the age of the series, should be 100% 24 fps.

The errors are actually more widescpread than I had initially thought and on viewing, you can see stair stepping in some of the lines because of how badly they botched this. It's bad. Sad part is, in terms of color and clarity, this is the best it has ever looked. But I almost certainly want to go back to the composite master CPM release to avoid the 24 to 30 fps errors.

Funny thing is, you know the Sentai white credit/black background credit crawl? It suffers the exact same issue and looks completely terrible on the SD on BD VOTOMS release.

I will email them again. Not sure how they could botch this so badly.

[bsend]

I have the Votoms blu ray on pre-order. I wanted to upgrade my old Nutech DVDs.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by slerch666

They encoded the video... at 30 fps. The original, as others here have stated given the age of the series, should be 100% 24 fps.

It’s impossible to encode at a real 24 fps in 480i, so it has 3:2 pulldown to match the required 30fps at 480i. I don’t know much about encoding in SD, but I think it’s impossible to do 480p in theory as it isn’t in the BD spec. Maybe? Perhaps it’s like Kyousougiga- a show that was delivered to its US publisher (in that case, Discotek In interlaced format- 1080i), even though it’s a 24 fps show. There are many problems that come from going back to 24 fps, so maybe Maiden JP wanted to keep it as is to not create any new artifacts?

[Patient-X]

Originally Posted by slerch666

I just want to follow up on VOTOMS.

They encoded the video... at 30 fps. The original, as others here have stated given the age of the series, should be 100% 24 fps.

The errors are actually more widescpread than I had initially thought and on viewing, you can see stair stepping in some of the lines because of how badly they botched this. It's bad. Sad part is, in terms of color and clarity, this is the best it has ever looked. But I almost certainly want to go back to the composite master CPM release to avoid the 24 to 30 fps errors.

Funny thing is, you know the Sentai white credit/black background credit crawl? It suffers the exact same issue and looks completely terrible on the SD on BD VOTOMS release.

I will email them again. Not sure how they could botch this so badly.

Such a shame. I've cancelled my pre-order. I may pick it up at a later date.

[slerch666]

Originally Posted by professorwho

It’s impossible to encode at a real 24 fps in 480i, so it has 3:2 pulldown to match the required 30fps at 480i. I don’t know much about encoding in SD, but I think it’s impossible to do 480p in theory as it isn’t in the BD spec. Maybe? Perhaps it’s like Kyousougiga- a show that was delivered to its US publisher (in that case, Discotek In interlaced format- 1080i), even though it’s a 24 fps show. There are many problems that come from going back to 24 fps, so maybe Maiden JP wanted to keep it as is to not create any new artifacts?

I definitely don't know enough to say whether 480p content can be done on BD (guessing not based on what you said and the digging I did). It is possible 480i was delivered to Maiden but shouldn't they be able to deal with it and get a good picture from it? I mean, they were ADV and ADV managed it OK by the end of their DVD era. But maybe it is the master fault.

To see what is up, I busted out 2 other SD on BD releases I had to compare.

Great Mazinger (don't judge me lol ) by the venerable Discotek (and likely Justin-ified), looks amazing. I know the show was remastered for DVD back in the day in Japan like VOTOMS. It is NOT encoded at 24 fps but 30 fps. If Discotek didn't drop it in 24 fps, I guess you could be right. But it looks AMAZING. No frame errors at all.

I then dropped in Xabungle. This looks like pockmarked and cratered...butt... on many levels, mainly starting with it having never been properly remastered for any release in Japan, so what Maiden got is dirty as heck, blurry as heck, and has what I will say is Edge Enhancement to add insult to injury. But the cleanliness of the master is not the issue here. What is at issue is that it also suffers similar issues to what VOTOMS does. Lots of frame issues in this. I think it being really blurry and dirty helps mask some of it, but a frame by frame assessment tells me it suffers like VOTOMS.

The only reason in VOTOMS case I think they borked the encode is for two reasons. The Japanese DVD, which used the same master I believe, doesn't suffer these issues and is 30 fps encoded. The other reason is I have 2 other releases that I question what Sentai has done with it. Xabungle is one. But I am also one of the suckers that bought LotGH which I know was 1080i in Japan. It's 1080p here in the US and it suffers similar frame issues at times but not to this extent.

My conclusion, based on the small selection, is that Maiden Japan/Sentai simply don't know how to deal with interlaced content on BD. They do amazing work on HD content though. Amazing.

I wish Justin could teach classes to Sentai/Maiden/FUNimation.

[slerch666]

Originally Posted by bsend

I have the Votoms blu ray on pre-order. I wanted to upgrade my old Nutech DVDs.

I had that release. Sold it when I got the "lunch box" set to save space (the digital remaster looks much better than the Nutech version as well on the lunchbox set). I almost sold my lunch box set to make some money since the SD BD was coming. I am honestly happy I chose not to.

When there are not frame errors, I am not kidding, VOTOMS looks fantastic. Amazing color quality and to me, what looks like a proper amount of grain. In motion though, the noise caused by the frame errors is distracting.

I wish I hadn't taken the time to scrutinize it and instead just enjoy it. I might have been able to ignore there being issues. But I ruined it for myself. And I probably would have noticed and wondered what was up. So sad.