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#221 |
Blu-ray Ninja
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If you at all have it, can you take a look at Motto To Love-Ru? S1's BD I know was crap (Though apparently an upgrade over the DVD's. How...?), but I wonder how S2 fared. Strangely, neither here nor Blu-ray Definition have ANY screencaps as it was never reviewed.
Also, how is the subtitle quality? Sentai has had a very spotty track record with the series. Here's how their simulcast subs were for Darkness, and I hear while the BD's made things a bit better, they were still terrible. |
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#222 | |
Blu-ray Guru
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I did check out the last remaining Sentai titles in my library (complete collections for Bodacious Space Pirates, Book of Bantorra, Highschool of the Dead, Qwaser of Stimata and Tears to Tiara), long story short, all looked like shit. Am working on getting screens and stats posted up asap. Once am done with that, I'll try putting together an exhaustive list of all the Sentai titles I have reviewed. I strongly believe that Sentai is currently the worst North American publisher of anime when it comes to video quality. All the titles from Sentai that I have owned and seen have been plagued with banding and blocking, not a single one looked good at all. To be fair, I have not seen every title in Sentai's catalog and there are bound to be a few gems in there but man, I've seen a lot from sentai and haven't come across any yet. I checked out some more Funi titles as well, I think we all know that SteinsGate and Black Lagoon look horrible and indeed they do. Steinsgate's banding is so bad that it's even visible during lighter daytime scenes. Black Lagoon's DNR and banding combine for one fugly picture. But....there's another phoenix rising - A Certain Magical Index (complete S1) looked very good. The banding and blocking here are very minimal, there is no doubt some light traces of banding (and even a few heavy ones) but compared to all the countless crap out there, Index looks like a godsend. I'll try putting a list together of all the Funi titles I've seen as well but coupled with the Sentai list, it will take some time to finish. |
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Thanks given by: | Naiera (09-08-2015) |
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#223 |
Blu-ray Ninja
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To be fair, Japan's BD's for Qwaswer S1 were terrible as well. The show was 720i, so when they upscaled it, yeah...
As for Steins;Gate, that's another case of Japan having problems as well. From what I've heard from those that imported the show, the JPBD's have plenty of banding as well. Black Lagoon on the other hand, while the banding is in the source, FUNi managed to make it worse. Still wonder what they did to do that, just like with SE Lain (Though didn't that have hardly any banding in the source?). Sentai still seems to be the worst, and one can only hope they at least get more people to author their BD's. One thing that caused all those more problematic BD's like Penguindrum from 2012 to 2013 was EVERYTHING being authored by a single person (David Williams, one of the founders of ADV), leading to no time for QC. BTW, with High School of the Dead, which release are you looking at, the older one, or the newer one (The CE)? Sentai isn't afraid to make new discs, so the two might not look the same. |
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#224 |
Blu-ray Guru
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For qwaser, I can somewhat deal with the upscale - I use VLC's 1:2 zoom to effectively downsample it to 540p which sharpens and smooths the image but the trade off is that am watching it in a window. It's the banding and compression blocking I can't deal with, am just really sensitive to both. But if banding is baked into the source then I guess we are all in for a no-win situation at that point. A page or so back, someone posted some screencaps of the JP BD of Psycho Pass which had some banding in it, I matched it with Funi's and it looked much worse, thanks mostly to incorrect gamma which made banding and any blocking artifacts stick out even more.
I was looking at the older HOTD release. I would be very glad to hear if the newer ce version is an improvement but you'll have to pardon me for having my doubts about that. I compared the older dual volume releases of Fate Stay Night and Xamd with their newer complete collection counterparts. Here were the results (not good): https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...3&postcount=74 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...2&postcount=79 I remember being told the complete collection for Bodacious Space Pirates was supposed to be an improvement over the older release, as well. I don't think it is, the banding in the complete set looks terrible. I don't have comparisons but will try to capture some for it. |
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#225 | ||
Blu-ray Samurai
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#226 | |
Blu-ray Ninja
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Back to the banding, it's not always due to brightness that it becomes more visible. FUNi's Serial Experiments Lain release when you correct the brightness is still plagued with banding. |
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#227 |
Special Member
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idk if this is an elaborate prank or not but I got the Region B Madoka Magica volume 1 (I already have the AoA editions thank goodness) and the disc is 14gb.
14. They didn't even utilise a BD25 well let alone a BD50 ![]() One episode is 2.9gb which I think includes the two audio tracks. I might do some comparison shots at a later point for my own curiosity, it didn't look terrible from the few bits I looked at but the Opening animation was somewhere around 7-10mbps (the credits animation stayed around a solid 30 though). Just thought I'd put that out there for people who have the Region B copy. I'm almost convinced I got some weird prank copy. Last edited by Sylontack; 09-14-2015 at 06:18 AM. |
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#228 | |
Blu-ray Samurai
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#229 | |
Special Member
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I've really wanted to see comparisons with the Italian release but even when it was new information all the comparison shots were dead links :T I wish more people tried to consult with whoever Dynit has encoding their releases, I think someone said they had managed some sort of way to mirror 10-bit encoding onto a BD which was unheard of or something. |
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#230 | |
Blu-ray Samurai
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Thanks given by: | Sylontack (09-14-2015) |
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#231 |
Blu-ray Guru
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Haven't had a chance to work on those nerdy in-depth video quality details at all lately, got hit with a lot of work but managed to get some up for Bodacious Space Pirates Complete Collection -
4.4gb per ep | 4gb for the video and 400mb for the audio. Lots and lots of banding and blocking, some ghosting and aliasing. The ghosting in this particular scene might've been an aesthetic choice done on purpose but am not sure. It's an overall charliefoxtrot of fuglies from start to finish: https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5827/...5db6e090_o.png https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5748/...35e438b4_o.png https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5703/...146ef8d1_o.png https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5648/...fa603297_o.png https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5638/...2c6d2e67_o.png https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5754/...58c59e1c_o.png https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5712/...1a11387d_o.png https://farm1.staticflickr.com/780/2...ef0df3b1_o.png |
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Thanks given by: | SeaFox (09-14-2015) |
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#232 | |
Active Member
![]() Jun 2010
Italy
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http://111.imagebam.com/download/XA5...2162208/c1.png http://111.imagebam.com/download/MXg...2162667/c2.png http://112.imagebam.com/download/hjV...2162964/c3.png http://112.imagebam.com/download/FMI...2163245/c4.png |
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#233 |
Blu-ray Guru
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Alright, managed to get some more Sentai titles out of the way.
FYI, I don't have info on audio data usage for these ones, only the video. Qwaser of Stigmata Complete Collection - 37 episodes totaling 122gb for the video | 3.3 gb average per ep. On top of compression blocking and banding artifacts found in both seasons, S1 contains upscaling (aliasing, smearing) and interlacing (combing) anomalies. I used VLC's inverse telecine to de-interlace the image but some combing remains: https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5656/...e889e297_o.png*NSFW* https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5742/...630184ba_o.png*NSFW* https://farm1.staticflickr.com/695/2...5a3276a1_o.png I used VLC's 1:2 zoom function to downsample Qwaser's season 1 image to 540p, it reduces the aliasing and smearing but the trade-off is an obvious window while watching: 1080 upscale | 540 downscale 1080 upscale | 540 downsacle 1080 upscale | 540 downscale Journey to Agartha/Children Who Chase Lost Voices - 116 minute movie | 15.6gb used for the video. A lot of banding and blocking artifacts. The artifacts look even worse while in motion as they crawl and flicker like a sore thumb: https://farm1.staticflickr.com/709/2...5194ef33_o.png https://farm1.staticflickr.com/564/2...75bdd3dd_o.png https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5617/...cfd38315_o.png https://farm1.staticflickr.com/643/2...8b62eeb4_o.png https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5710/...986f1bc7_o.png https://farm1.staticflickr.com/671/2...96bdf0c7_o.png https://farm1.staticflickr.com/595/2...b6aa930a_o.png Tears to Tiara Complete Collection - 26 episodes totaling 72gb for the video | 2.8gb (pathetic) average per ep. Severe banding and compression blocking. Pick any random scene from any ep and 9 times out of 10, some artifacts can be seen. Absolutely piss poor: https://farm1.staticflickr.com/667/2...a565f979_o.png https://farm1.staticflickr.com/782/2...90994273_o.png https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5706/...104efcd3_o.png https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5830/...9a309295_o.png https://farm1.staticflickr.com/727/2...8a526300_o.png https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5639/...56ff7eea_o.png https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5771/...c785b8fe_o.png |
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#235 | |
Blu-ray Ninja
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Found this old post again, and for anyone wanting to know if the JPBD for Shakugan no Shana III (Final) was significantly better.....it wasn't.
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Looking at these shots now, and the series definitely never looked good on Blu-ray. Though this is still better than the JPBD's for S1 and S2 which are worse than the DVD's because Q-TEC upscaling. |
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Thanks given by: | vincentric (09-30-2015) |
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#236 | |
Blu-ray Guru
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The interlacing is actually a positive here as there seems to be no dropped frames during the show, I could not detect any combing artifacts and camera pans looked very smooth. There were problems only during the show's opening where combing (and some ghosting) artifacts were visible. So If I had to guess, the show's opening was shot progressive and the rest of it interlaced. Other positives include a general lack of banding and aliasing issues, there are still some instances of it but overall line work and gradations look intact. The problem here is a bit twofold, it looks like they applied too much DNR coupled with some noticeable compression artifacts (particularly during darker shots of which there are many in the show), the show can often look a bit blurred and smeared. Don't have access to the DVDs, so can't comment on how much of an improvement or not there is regarding line detail and overall clarity. Overall, it's an improvement over some of their poorer upscale efforts, for example Basilisk. Some screenshots (1-7 are from the first episode, 8-14 are from the last) showing aforementioned positives and negatives: 01 https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5833/2...e6444b29_o.png 02 https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/639/21...9c1a1b09_o.png 03 https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/642/21...b031189c_o.png 04 https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5696/2...7250734c_o.png 05 https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/677/21...af7f43f3_o.png 06 https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5670/2...2e98eb07_o.png 07 https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/734/21...a38c017a_o.png 08 https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5721/2...e85aa4be_o.png 09 https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5789/2...2fa7c5f9_o.png 10 https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5633/2...a38aa414_o.png 11 https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/716/21...f0e0b77f_o.png 12 https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5739/2...80dd9723_o.png 13 https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/772/21...df816096_o.png 14 https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/770/21...7c28a0d3_o.png Edit: Some stats before I forget. The show's 26 eps are split 9-9-8 across three discs. Each ep is given around 4.9GB of data | around 4 GB for video and 900 MB for audio. |
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Thanks given by: | BigOnAnime (09-30-2015), Naiera (09-30-2015) |
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#237 |
Blu-ray Guru
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Have been checking out Funi's DBZ cropped BDs to see for myself how badly things have been fubared. Yeahp, it's pretty bad. The cropping, complete degrain, nuclear boosted colors, black crush, etc.. all add up for one very fugly looking picture to my eyes.
In the season 5 BD, there's an extras interview with Android 18 va Meredith Mauldin. It contains some 4:3 animated clips from the Androids Saga episodes. Am not sure where they sourced the clips from but they looked great - they contained film grain, accurate colors, correct framing - it basically had none of the anomalies that litter Funi's cropped version. I compared some images of the 4:3 clips (which were progressive scanned at a 16-22mbps bitrate) found in the Mauldin interview with the cropped 16:9 disaster. Episode 133 Nightmare Comes True. 01 Mauldin 4:3 | Funi 16:9 02 Mauldin 4:3 | Funi 16:9 03 Mauldin 4:3 | Funi 16:9 04 Mauldin 4:3 | Funi 16:9 05 Mauldin 4:3 | Funi 16:9 06 Mauldin 4:3 | Funi 16:9 Am not sure if the above has already been mentioned before, searched around and couldn't find anything on it. Kindly disregard if it has already been mentioned. |
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#238 | |
Blu-ray Samurai
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Thanks given by: | vincentric (09-30-2015) |
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#239 |
Blu-ray Ninja
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Still a shame that the Levels never continued. Oh and fun fact, FUNimation could have released their awful new BD's in 4:3 at least, but they didn't. Remember that survey about if people wanted the new BD's 4:3 or 16:9? Most actually voted 4:3, but FUNimation ignored the survey. Some like Lance fought for 4:3, but lost.
And the Dragon Boxes still remain the best the series will get. Though those have wrong colors due to color correction not being done on the aged film, and they don't have the JP broadcast audio. There's little hope of improving the Japanese audio thanks to the morons at Toei throwing the master audio tapes out. |
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#240 | ||
Blu-ray Guru
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I recently (finally) got around to streaming the show at Netflix, enjoyed it but not enough to pay Aniplex prices for it. The video snob in me however would be willing to pay top dollar for the AoA discs if the UK ones aren't up to par. I tried searching for some answers but came up nil. For anyone who owns the UK Madoka complete series, can you possibly try opening each disc with MakeMKV to see how much data they are using, would be much appreciated. |
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