The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[NLScavenger]

The UK release of JJK was authored by VDMS (Visual Data Media Services).

[bigblkhrt]

Originally Posted by lilwolf555

Lesson learned I guessed. Looks like once season 2 comes along I'll be importing UKs.

Season 2 should be coming from Crunchyroll in both countries.

[lilwolf555]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

The UK release of JJK was authored by VDMS (Visual Data Media Services).

Sweet, thanks.

Also.. is there a reason it got reviewed so well on here when even the stream is better especially terms of gamma being correct? I'm new to all of this as far as workings of this place.

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by lilwolf555

Sweet, thanks.

Also.. is there a reason it got reviewed so well on here when even the stream is better especially terms of gamma being correct? I'm new to all of this as far as workings of this place.

Yeah, about that... His reviews are useless. Don't think he actually watches most of the discs. He tends to artificially pad his reviews with irrelevant yapping about how home video is better than streaming. Wouldn't surprise me if ChatGPT somehow was involved.

[Mangaranga]

Yeah, anime reviews on the site are just DumbardGPT sucking off physical media and slagging off streaming despite a lot of anime discs ironically being worse than CR's Web streams. It's a serious issue that needs addressing, and he's only adding to the issue with the endless false information like the aforementioned JJK review. Gamma issue, serious video encoding/master decompression issues, worse subs etc.

[BigOnAnime]

I recommend looking at the following post for more.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...1#post22300151

Also, he's still doing it.

Released on Blu-ray by Discotek Media, Crying Freeman is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame. The release features an exceptional presentation of the anime series. The hand-drawn animation looks spectacular with a filmic and beautiful transfer that capably reproduces the aesthetic of the series. The presentation shines. Background animation and line art are well detailed and the aesthetic of the hand drawn art is something that makes a terrific impression.

Discotek provides an excellent encode. One of the best qualities of the Blu-ray disc format in the age of streaming is the superior encoding quality. Streaming video services usually provide lower quality with more compression. For home theater enthusiasts who are seeking the best possible presentation, Blu-ray offers a distinct advantage that is undeniable. Not only is the encoding itself superior but the video bit-rates are higher.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Cryin...342626/#Review

His The Boy and the Heron reviews thankfully didn't mention streaming to my surprise at least.

[BigOnAnime]

I think he just broke the record for most times he mentioned "STREAMING".

Dead Mount Death Play - Part 1 Blu-ray, Video Quality

Released on Blu-ray by Crunchyroll, Dead Mount Death Play Part 1 is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The series production has fantastic merits in regards to the animation reproduction. Colors are showcased nicely within the presentation. The presentation capably highlights both the background animation and the line artwork. With a darker and more gritty visual aesthetic compared to some of the more upbeat anime offerings out there, the presentation capably highlights these colors pallets and tones.

One of the highlights of the Blu-ray disc format is the superior video encoding compared to streaming platforms. Streaming video services usually provide the video with lower video bit-rates compared to Blu-ray disc. A comparison usually showcases higher data rates and better compression for the physical media option. Enthusiasts with an appreciation for eeking out the best picture-quality attainable will be pleased with these benefits of the format. Streaming video just doesn't compare especially when one has to factor in internet speeds and connectivity. Not only do some suffer from bandwidth issues in rural areas but large househounds may also encounter streaming issues (such as a family all attempting to be streaming something different at the same time – streaming video, streaming video-games, streaming music all at once.)

Dead Mount Death Play - Part 1 Blu-ray, Audio Quality

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 (with English subtitles). The release also includes optional French Dolby TrueHD 2.0 and German Dolby TrueHD 2.0 audio selections. The release capably highlights the series sound direction by Takayuki Yamaguchi (Classroom For Heroes, Matoi the Sacred Slayer). The sound is well- defined on the format. The English surround sound option provides a slightly more robust surround soundstage with more emphasis on the sound effects and details in the rear channels. The release also has a pleasant Japanese audio presentation. The English subtitles are effective and are free of egregious spelling or grammatical errors.

The Blu-ray format has a noteworthy advantage over streaming video services. Streaming video services provide only lossy (non-lossless) audio encoding. For home theater enthusiasts and audiophiles, the lossless audio encoding provides a distinct advantage with more detail and depth than what can be found on streaming platforms. For those with nice soundsystems it can make a notable difference in quality. (Look for home theater audio/video receivers and speakers with notations of being high-resolution certified). The difference is sometimes substantial and can mean the difference between MP3 quality audio and something more refined on physical media counterparts. Though the difference isn't always night-and- day it can be commendable and is something of value to audiophiles seeking the advantages of lossless.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Dead-...357019/#Review

If you didn't CTRL+F and type in "STREAMING" (still the very first thing I do when I click on a Neil Lumbard review, this should say something...), he mentioned "STREAMING" 11 times. More in why you can't put that much stock in his reviews.

[micpp]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

His The Boy and the Heron reviews thankfully didn't mention streaming to my surprise at least.

It's also the only one I've seen where he actually describes the contents of the extras instead of just giving a list

[NLScavenger]

Streaming has a lot more variables sometimes and can even sometimes be impacted by the quality of an internet connection. People in rural areas or people with standard internet data plans can also see an improvement with physical media and the Blu-ray format. There's even the fact that some people might live in large families or households with more people connected to the wi-fi all at once (from internet gaming, to video streaming, to music playback, and more). These elements are variables that can also showcase and differentiate streaming from Blu-ray as a format providing a more consistent encode – often with higher video bit-rates. Even in the age of streaming, it remains incredibly important for physical media options to exist for consumers.

Oh ffs

[BigOnAnime]

He really needs to stop it with that. He is more likely to push people away from physical media than towards it with this very antagonizing attitude, and he continues to fail to see a reason streaming exists, as well as fails to realize that most anime air on TV first, then are released on home video, meaning the original intended way of watching them is not the home video release (which is aimed at collectors). Then again, there was this which really upset me.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...0#post22063680
https://bsky.app/profile/bigonanime..../3kqph66xjw42p

[Edit]I'll randomly leave this here for people's amusement for no real reason at all... These are things I remember seeing on his Twitter before.

Originally Posted by Neil Lumbard

Netflix shuttering it’s by mail service is no loss and it’s another example of the company’s lack of care about maintaining access to content. Not only do titles disappear from streaming with little notice, many great Blu-ray/4K releases were never even made available by Netflix.

3:16 PM · Apr 18, 2023

https://twitter.com/NeilLumbard/stat...20236910276609

Originally Posted by Neil Lumbard

I won’t ever understand why some folks prefer streaming movies. Streaming can sometimes be okay but it’s not remotely close to the experience of seeing a film on Blu-ray/4K or at a movie theater. It’s certainly no replacement. #PhysicalMediaAdvocate #TheatricalExperience

1:15 AM · Apr 12, 2024

https://twitter.com/NeilLumbard/stat...68319702241601

Originally Posted by Neil Lumbard

https://twitter.com/texas_sonof/stat...09081503523215

In regards to your question: I personally can’t even keep up with all the Blu-ray/4K releases I want to pick up (let alone when I’ll see them all), and funds aren’t unlimited, so it makes sense to prioritize 4K and Blu-ray. A DVD could be upgraded or even streamed possibly.

1:07 AM · Apr 21, 2024

https://twitter.com/NeilLumbard/stat...27709939016007

Originally Posted by Ben Stoddart

https://twitter.com/NeilLumbard/stat...33306195624229

I’m not accusing huge swathes of people of it, but the ‘if you truly love film you wouldn’t stream it shit’ is beyond tiresome.

https://twitter.com/ThisisWalter89/s...35368279101894

Originally Posted by Neil Lumbard

Life is short. Even if you manage to make it to 100. So if you’re a huge film fan, choose Blu-ray/4K over streaming. You deserve the best.

9:37 PM · Jul 9, 2024

https://twitter.com/NeilLumbard/stat...65808777564588

>Pushes physical media hard
>Says it's "no loss" for Netflix to shutdown the one way people could rent discs in the mail, getting that "superior physical media presentation"

Were Netflix Blu-ray by mail rentals inferior to streaming? Yes, Netflix had Blu-rays, not just DVDs, the very last disc sent out was True Grit on Blu-ray, NOT DVD. It's not a bad thing that's no longer an option?

>Doesn't get why people prefer streaming
>Points out they don't have the funds to buy everything they want to see on 4K Blu-ray

I wonder if there's low-cost ways to check some of this content out for a fraction of the cost... Maybe the content that is on someone's lower priority list?

>Claims that only people that prefer streaming attack those that prefer physical media
>Regularly antagonizes those that prefer streaming, to the point it's severely hurting the quality of their reviews for Blu-ray.com and pushing people away from physical media and annoys those that are diehard fans of physical media, including ones that spend countless hours making contributions to an entire website site dedicated to it
>Is once again having to be pointed out it's not an either or situation, doing both streaming and physical is the best because it's something one can actually keep up with (not everything is worth owning, time, space, and funds are limited)

>Says to never stream something available on 4K Blu-ray or 1080P Blu-ray when they previously said they can't keep up with all the content already being released

[T26S]

Is the quality and encode of UK Parasyte complete collection discs any good.

[bigblkhrt]

They’re just the Sentai discs.

https://normanicgrav.co.uk/2024/01/1...-ray-unboxing/

The collector’s edition release for Parasyte -the maxim- contains all 24 episodes across three Blu-ray discs, with the encode & authoring done by Sentai Filmworks via their complete series collection version from 2019. The audio options include Japanese with English subtitles and the Sentai Studios English dub, with English subtitles for the Hearing Impaired also available.

The yellow subtitles are locked during playback, and the regions are accessible to Blu-ray players set to A & B.

[Amishpriest]

Those streaming references in those reviews are absurd. “AI” could probably do a better job.

[T26S]

Originally Posted by bigblkhrt

They’re just the Sentai discs.

https://normanicgrav.co.uk/2024/01/1...-ray-unboxing/

Thanks

[MasterAS]

His review on The Last Unicorn's 4K at least doesn't go on a tangent on physical media being better than streaming video services.

[BigOnAnime]

Originally Posted by MasterAS

His review on The Last Unicorn's 4K at least doesn't go on a tangent on physical media being better than streaming video services.

From what I've been noticing, his Shout! Factory template doesn't have it, so that's why it's missing. He also did some FUNimation reviews earlier this year, and they didn't mention it either, probably because his FUNimation template also lacked it. His Lupin III templates also lack this, so that's why unlike other Discotek Media reviews, it doesn't mention "STREAMING" on the most recent reviews.

His reviews read like they're copy/pasted from templates he has saved on MS Word / Google Docs, and you get "STREAMING" depending on which distributor template he added that to and kept it. His reviews used to not mention "STREAMING" at all, and while those still had problems, they read much better than the ones where he goes "Blu-ray, GOOD! STREAMING, BAD!"

Wouldn't surprise me if he eventually starts talking about how we need to ban all streaming services, all TV networks, and movie theaters (there goes my job), and make Blu-ray the only legal way to watch anything even though home video very rarely came first for how to watch these things (stuff is shown in theaters first, or broadcast on TV first).

[Academyratio]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

From what I've been noticing, his Shout! Factory template doesn't have it, so that's why it's missing.

[NLScavenger]

Riding Bean - Bandai BD vs AnimEigo 2017 BD vs AnimEigo 2024 BD

Bandai BD bitrate
39088 kbps


BDInfo 2017 BD

Disc Title:     Riding Bean
Disc Label:     Riding Bean
Disc Size:      19,123,504,041 bytes
Protection:     AACS
Playlist:       00003.MPLS
Size:           12,656,074,752 bytes
Length:         0:45:22.886
Total Bitrate:  37.18 Mbps
Video:          MPEG-4 AVC Video / 30,000 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio:          Japanese / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1536 kbps / 16-bit
Audio:          English / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1536 kbps / 16-bit
Audio:          Japanese / Dolby Digital Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /   192 kbps / DN -31dB
Audio:          Japanese / Dolby Digital Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /   192 kbps / DN -31dB
Audio:          English / Dolby Digital Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /   192 kbps / DN -31dB
Subtitle:       English / 70.18 kbps
Subtitle:       English / 69.65 kbps
Subtitle:       English / 83.86 kbps
Subtitle:       English / 310.55 kbps
Subtitle:       English / 405.77 kbps
Subtitle:       English / 386.21 kbps

BDInfo 2024 BD *Subtitle track 3 = German*

Disc Title:     Riding Bean
Disc Label:     RIDING_BEAN
Disc Size:      15,857,696,427 bytes
Protection:     AACS
Playlist:       Main feature M2TS
Size:           11,630,337,792 bytes
Length:         0:45:10.165
Total Bitrate:  34.33 Mbps
Video:          MPEG-4 AVC Video / 25,049 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio:          English / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1536 kbps / 16-bit
Audio:          Japanese / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /  2304 kbps / 24-bit
Audio:          German / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1536 kbps / 16-bit
Audio:          Catalan / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1536 kbps / 16-bit
Subtitle:       English / 42.23 kbps
Subtitle:       English / 47.39 kbps
Subtitle:       English / 39.67 kbps
Subtitle:       English / 0.00 kbps

Writing library                          : x264 core 164 r3108 31e19f9
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=30 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / slices=4 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=1 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=1 / weightp=1 / keyint=24 / keyint_min=1 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=24 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=25000 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=31000 / vbv_bufsize=30000 / nal_hrd=vbr / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00

[SpaceDandy]

The 2017 BD grain retention depends of the textures tone, but on static scenes the JP BD grain matches more closely the one of the 2024 BD. I do see some blocking on the 2024 US BD, always playing with fire when it comes to bit starvation. But probably the best release nonetheless.

[peppapigstan]

Originally Posted by BigOnAnime

Disney's old release of Cinderella, is that you? Oh my gawd.

It's more closer to Dirty Pair's BD, at least Cinderella's old BD retains background texture