Discotek Blu-rays

[MOONPHASE]

Originally Posted by IdeaOfEvil

The OP should definitely tally people's wish list in the first post in case any peering Disco-eyes look in this thread, lol

Here's mine (stuff they have the license for already on dvd is bold/underlined):

UFO Robo Grendizer
Darkstalkers OVA on bluray
Blood+
Dangaioh OVA
Mazinger on sd/bd
Great Mazinger sd/bd
Highlander Search for Vengeance (uncut Japanese version would be nice)
Bastard!!
Monster

(and the "not-going-to-happen-but-sure-why-not-ask-pile):
Evangelion tv and movies bluray
Gunbuster OVA bluray
Anything Macross bluray
Vampire Hunter D original dub bluray
Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust Japanese dub bluray
Lensman bluray
Dragon Knight bluray
Daft Punk Inter5tella 555 bluray

I feel like Interstella 5555 isn’t that farfetched. I believe it does have a Blu-ray release but heard fix feelings about its picture quality.

Evangelion is just a matter of time and probably by Funimation.

[Naiera]

Evangelion is definitely not going to be released by Discotek, and honestly, you’d want someone who uses more discs to release it.

[Nostalgic Twilight]

I've always been curious about the special, so I'm glad someone asked about it.

Any word on the Shonen Jump Special for KOR? Totally understandable if not.


Not allowed to include it. The series is owned by Pierrot but I think that special is owned by Shueisha.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Gouki

I can't stand SD-BD, or their 4:3 cropped to 16:9 releases.

The cropped releases are because they couldn't do anything about it. There aren't HD versions of Beautiful Dreamer and Arcadia of my Youth in 4:3, and if they do exist, Toho or Toei might not have given them said materials.

I don't like the fact they're cropped, but I wouldn't blame Discotek for these issues.

[Lambadelta]

Something I'd like to see picked up would be

Tokimeki Tonight

[pikagreg]

Iczer would be cool though it seems like licenses are all over the place

[Jim Purcell]

Originally Posted by professorwho

The cropped releases are because they couldn't do anything about it. There aren't HD versions of Beautiful Dreamer and Arcadia of my Youth in 4:3, and if they do exist, Toho or Toei might not have given them said materials.

I don't like the fact they're cropped, but I wouldn't blame Discotek for these issues.

Arcadia's another case of a film animated in 4:3, but having its action centered for 16:9 as it would be shown that way in theaters. Its the eternal debate, its animated 4:3 (so there's a bit more picture) but its intended for 16:9.

Its a conundrum. I personally skew toward theatrical presentation myself.

[professorwho]

Beautiful Dreamer is similar, but the amount of picture lost in the widescreen version is massive. Tops of heads are cut off, and it doesn't looks perfect.

If it were possible, both a 4:3 and 16:9 versions should have been included, but given the fact that we won't get a 4:3 version due to it not being Oshii's "preferred version", we're SOL.

[Nostalgic Twilight]

A few things I would like to see:

Maison Ikkoku (obviously )
Please Save My Earth (I really wish we'd get a new TV series that adapts the entire manga)
Urusei Yatsura
Video Girl Ai
Hell Teacher Nube
City Hunter
Rumic World OVAs
Windaria
Beast Player Erin
Dr. Slump

[starsteam]

Is there any reason to think they would re-release their Mazinger titles to SD-BD? I was planning to pick those up next year, but I figured since they were released so recently (within the past five years) they couldn't really justify a new release just for slightly better discs.

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by starsteam

Is there any reason to think they would re-release their Mazinger titles to SD-BD? I was planning to pick those up next year, but I figured since they were released so recently (within the past five years) they couldn't really justify a new release just for slightly better discs.

The first Mazinger series was remastered in HD not very long ago, so I can't imagine that Discotek would give it the SD-BD treatment.

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[starsteam]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

The first Mazinger series was remastered in HD not very long ago, so I can't imagine that Discotek would give it the SD-BD treatment.

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So if anything, they'd give it a proper Blu-ray release instead.
Thanks for the info, guess I'll hold off on those for now.

[Gouki]

I guess I'll just never be on board with SD-BD. To me it's like back when video stores were offering to transfer VHS to DVD, since DVD was space age and such a better media, and now it's been leap frogged to DVD's being transferred to BD, since BDs are invincible and the subtitles are better. I only own Beautiful Dreamer because I got it for free. (I broke down mentally and decided to buy it at Fry's, but the cashier only charged me for the gum I was also purchasing, and the bag checker at the door just highlighted my receipt without even glancing over it. "So neglect becomes our ally.")

I also want to think that if they intended the film to be 16:9 they would have filmed the cels in rectangle rather than square(ish). Do You Remember Love was 16:9, and the cels are filmed for it, as well as Char's Counterattack. I get the feeling that the matted 16:9 was a compromise, while home video was the main target. I could be wrong though.

I'm also kind of iffy on the "Oshii wants heads/limbs/characters cut off of screen" justification for the cropped 16:9, since that only works for the first two movies, while all of them were advertised as 4:3 included, when instead they were all released in cropped 16:9. (In Japan.)

It's just a shame to me that these are being released in this state, and the general consensus is "We're missing picture, but this is fine."

( I totally get that Murican publishers are at the mercy of what the Japanese companies give/sell/allow, but the end product is the end product.)

[Jim Purcell]

Originally Posted by Gouki

and now it's been leap frogged to DVD's being transferred to BD,

That is NOT what is happening. SD masters are typicly of better quality then what DVD is capable of displaying. The grey black levels, red crush, that DVD video artifacting stuff isn't necessarily inherent to the master source, that's DVD's MPEG-2 compression at work.

They are not transferring DVD quality video to Bly-ray, they are transferring standard definition master quality (the best that digital video can ever actually look) to a format that doesn't downgrade it. Its 1 to 1 (or at least it should be).

[Kyle15]

Originally Posted by Gouki

I guess I'll just never be on board with SD-BD. To me it's like back when video stores were offering to transfer VHS to DVD, since DVD was space age and such a better media, and now it's been leap frogged to DVD's being transferred to BD, since BDs are invincible and the subtitles are better.

That's not comparable to what's happening tho. SD content on DVD is still compressed. When you don't have that compression there, the content shines even better at its original resolution. It's not literal DVD stuck on Bluray.

VHS to DVD it is not.

[KillaCam]

Dr Slump please.

[Gouki]

Originally Posted by Jim Purcell

That is NOT what is happening. SD masters are typicly of better quality then what DVD is capable of displaying. The grey black levels, red crush, that DVD video artifacting stuff isn't necessarily inherent to the master source, that's DVD's MPEG-2 compression at work.

They are not transferring DVD quality video to Bly-ray, they are transferring standard definition master quality (the best that digital video can ever actually look) to a format that doesn't downgrade it. Its 1 to 1 (or at least it should be).

Originally Posted by Kyle15

That's not comparable to what's happening tho. SD content on DVD is still compressed. When you don't have that compression there, the content shines even better at its original resolution. It's not literal DVD stuck on Bluray.

VHS to DVD it is not.

Ok, ok, I'll change it to Superbit DVD to BD. Anyway, I wasn't trying to incite that they are actually transferring DVD to BD, just that it's weird to me that we're taking last generation's quality (SD) and putting it on current generation tech (BD). I just don't get the appeal of it, but if you guys love it, I'll leave it alone.

[professorwho]

The appeal is that we can get high quality versions of these older series in their native resolution (480p) without MPEG-2 compression (DVD) and bad upscaling by, say, Q-Tec.

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by Naiera

While I really like what Discotek is doing, it has to be said that the video quality on many of their releases is horribly lacking. Compare the two seasons of Haruka Nogizaka, for example; the first is horrible, while the second is pretty decent.

They use just one disc for 12-13 episodes, but that's not the problem, as Sentai has done MUCH better work with an entire cour on a single disc. It's not a given that it's all Discotek's fault either, or their fault at all, but it's important to note that some of their releases are just really poor.

It looks like your post rubbed Justin the wrong way



https://twitter.com/worldofcrap/stat...23854874058752

I think your assessment of Discotek picture quality is a bit harsh considering that they often deal with video/audio assets that are in less than optimal condition. They sometimes put hundreds of mind-numbing hours into fixing video/audio issues just to make it presentable. That takes dedication.

[professorwho]

Justin can’t turn crap to gold, neither can mp3dom, so I’d be a bit more forgiving of upscaled content they put out. You can’t be sure of the source, but he does the best he can with the source.