The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[NLScavenger]

Region B locked

[Rosenkreutz]

I must have missed it before, but it looks like Sentai is releasing another BD collection for Fate/stay night later this year. I wonder if they'll fix the issues that the previous complete collection had as a result of it being 1080p and not 1080i like the two individual collections before it were.

Speaking of Sentai, does anyone by chance know how the Saiyuki Gaiden BD compares to the DVD? It's a somewhat recent release of theirs so I'm assuming that there's probably no major issues with it.

[SpaceDandy]

City Hunter Movie collection (France - DYBEX) - also valid for Discotek release
Upscale & Authoring: AVMedia BCN
Capture collections: .357 Magnum, Death of Ryo Saeba, Secret Services


Long story short, there are two masters for these specials:
- Yomiuri TV's, the same ones that have been broadcasted on japanese TV and sold internationally for years. Those are Nth gen analog copies and suffer from severe composite artifacts. So bad that there are even time base errors on some DVDs sourced from YTV masters.
- Sunrise's, much better (*) but only presented once in the (rare) 2005 City Hunter complete collection.
This upscale is based on Sunrise materials. I don't believe it uses any advanced neural upscaler as I don't see any unreasonable predictions on texts. It is more likely a fairly tuned filter chain that incldes IVTC, NNEDI3, edge enhancement, line darkener and color correction.

.357 Magnum bitrate (Avg 30 Mbps), Death of Ryo Saeba bitrate (Avg 27.5 Mbps)
.357 Magnum Media-Info:

[Show spoiler]

File size                                : 19.9 GiB
Duration                                 : 1 h 26 min
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 32.9 Mb/s

Video
ID                                       : 1
ID in the original source medium         : 4113 (0x1011)
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.1
Format settings                          : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 4 frames
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 1 h 26 min
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 29.9 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate                         : 36.0 Mb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.601
Stream size                              : 18.1 GiB (91%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Audio #1
ID                                       : 2
ID in the original source medium         : 4352 (0x1100)
Format                                   : DTS XLL
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Commercial name                          : DTS-HD Master Audio
Codec ID                                 : A_DTS
Duration                                 : 1 h 26 min
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 842 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 93.750 FPS (512 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossless
Stream size                              : 522 MiB (3%)
Title                                    : Stereo
Language                                 : French
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Audio #2
ID                                       : 3
ID in the original source medium         : 4352 (0x1100)
Format                                   : DTS
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID                                 : A_DTS
Duration                                 : 1 h 26 min
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 384 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 93.750 FPS (512 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 238 MiB (1%)
Title                                    : Stereo
Language                                 : French
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Audio #3
ID                                       : 4
ID in the original source medium         : 4353 (0x1101)
Format                                   : DTS XLL
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Commercial name                          : DTS-HD Master Audio
Codec ID                                 : A_DTS
Duration                                 : 1 h 26 min
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 1 359 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 93.750 FPS (512 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossless
Stream size                              : 843 MiB (4%)
Title                                    : Stereo
Language                                 : Japanese
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Audio #4
ID                                       : 5
ID in the original source medium         : 4353 (0x1101)
Format                                   : DTS
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID                                 : A_DTS
Duration                                 : 1 h 26 min
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 384 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 93.750 FPS (512 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 238 MiB (1%)
Title                                    : Stereo
Language                                 : Japanese
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Text #1
ID                                       : 6
ID in the original source medium         : 4608 (0x1200)
Format                                   : PGS
Codec ID                                 : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info                            : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration                                 : 1 h 26 min
Bit rate                                 : 34.6 kb/s
Count of elements                        : 1890
Stream size                              : 21.3 MiB (0%)
Language                                 : French
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Text #2
ID                                       : 8
ID in the original source medium         : 4609 (0x1201)
Format                                   : PGS
Codec ID                                 : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info                            : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration                                 : 1 h 26 min
Bit rate                                 : 288 b/s
Count of elements                        : 16
Stream size                              : 182 KiB (0%)
Language                                 : French
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Menu
00:00:00.000                             : en:Chapter 01
00:06:02.904                             : en:Chapter 02
00:11:26.102                             : en:Chapter 03
00:17:54.948                             : en:Chapter 04
00:27:08.335                             : en:Chapter 05
00:35:24.330                             : en:Chapter 06
00:42:52.987                             : en:Chapter 07
00:51:02.434                             : en:Chapter 08
00:55:58.563                             : en:Chapter 09
01:00:01.431                             : en:Chapter 10
01:06:29.110                             : en:Chapter 11
01:15:02.498                             : en:Chapter 12

Few regrets:
- (*) Sunrise lost the magnetic audio of .357 Magnum. The japanese track peaks at ~10 kHz (also on Discotek disc). The audio on the antic YTV master of this movie is way better and they should have used that.
- The color correction on Goodbye My Sweetheart is not so good. It created black crush, maybe to hide some artifacts like ringing which was severe on YTV version.
- Some artificial film grain would have been nice and make the visuals more convincing.
- Secret Services master is still very shaky (also the case on YTV copy, so the base source scan is probably just faulty)

Not close to upscales by AstroRes but it deserves praise for the effort and the results.

[Bobo1313]

Originally Posted by Rosenkreutz

I must have missed it before, but it looks like Sentai is releasing another BD collection for Fate/stay night later this year. I wonder if they'll fix the issues that the previous complete collection had as a result of it being 1080p and not 1080i like the two individual collections before it were.

According to the back cover it will be 1080p.

[Jackson_H]

Originally Posted by Rosenkreutz

I must have missed it before, but it looks like Sentai is releasing another BD collection for Fate/stay night later this year. I wonder if they'll fix the issues that the previous complete collection had as a result of it being 1080p and not 1080i like the two individual collections before it were.

Speaking of Sentai, does anyone by chance know how the Saiyuki Gaiden BD compares to the DVD? It's a somewhat recent release of theirs so I'm assuming that there's probably no major issues with it.

There's still reason for some concern given their past failures with encoding 1080i video even when the title is native 1080i, but some recent releases converted to 1080p like Moribito didn't have any serious issues reported. Canaan is probably ok too.

Joel McCray was better than David Williams for 1080p content but seemed to still struggle with 1080i (David struggled with both) Ryan Anthony seems to have taken over as the main Blu-ray guy so maybe he's managed to succeed where Joel couldn't?

[BigOnAnime]

A bit of a reminder, Joel McCray may have left a couple months ago. I haven't seen him credited on anything recently. Last credit he had was the theatrical release of the Revue Starlight movie where he was credited as a production assisant, but is missing on the Blu-ray (it's common for Sentai theatrical credits to differ from streaming and home video).

Ryan Anthony has been authoring the Blu-rays solo since sometime late last year, previously it was him and Joel together.

[NLScavenger]

Mutafukaz - JP BD vs FR BD vs USA BD vs DE BD

Comparison

Took a gamble when I bought the JP BD off Yahoo Auctions, but I'm glad it paid off.

Region free and no locked subtitles, so the French version is watchable without issues if you happen to know French. My French is poor however lol.

JP BD



FR BD


US BD


DE BD


French ver. and Japanese ver. end credits are presented via branching. Japanese ver. credits replace De La Calle Mutafuka with a rap by the character Willy.

JP ver. | FR ver.


BDInfo JP BD (Japanese version playlist)

DISC INFO:

Disc Label:     BIXF_0315
Disc Size:      43,510,018,523 bytes
Protection:     AACS
BDInfo:         0.7.5.8

PLAYLIST REPORT:

Name:                   00000.MPLS
Length:                 1:34:00.301 (h:m:s.ms)
Size:                   31,113,553,920 bytes
Total Bitrate:          44.13 Mbps

(*) Indicates included stream hidden by this playlist.

VIDEO:

Codec                   Bitrate             Description     
-----                   -------             -----------     
MPEG-4 AVC Video        34015 kbps          1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1

AUDIO:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
DTS-HD Master Audio             Japanese        3790 kbps       5.1 / 48 kHz /  3790 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz /  1509 kbps / 24-bit)
* DTS-HD Master Audio           French          3825 kbps       5.1 / 48 kHz /  3825 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz /  1509 kbps / 24-bit)

SUBTITLES:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
* Presentation Graphics         Japanese        127.513 kbps

[Kev D]

Used forum search for this but can't really find a conclusive answer...

I'm trying to complete my Violet Evergarden collection so my next purchases will be the movies but I was wondering if there's any major differences in quality between the US & UK releases?

I know for the series the UK release is preferred over the US Funimation release because of the home video versions and better (more accurate) subtitles.

For the recent movie there's no US release yet so can't really compare that to the UK release for now.

However what about "Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll"? Is any release (US/UK) preferred over the other when it comes to audio/video/subtitle quality?

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Kev D

However what about "Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll"? Is any release (US/UK) preferred over the other when it comes to quality (audio, video, subs, ...)?

Exact same disc.

[MrSniper1401]

Anyone checkout Jujutsu Kaisen from Viz yet?

[kk1]

Just a general question. With some gorgeous new transfers of old OVAs (Project A-ko) after watching an old DVD of Iczer Reborn I just have to wonder why these transfers were so dark and faded, it was only @10 years old at the time the DVD was released. Were they made from the laser disc or something? Didn't they realize at the time how crappy it looked. The extras gallery with pics from the cels show how vibrant it was supposed to be. And before you say it was probably the people working on it, a familiar name is on this one Discotek's own Justin Sevakis.

[dubudavid]

Originally Posted by kk1

Just a general question. With some gorgeous new transfers of old OVAs (Project A-ko) after watching an old DVD of Iczer Reborn I just have to wonder why these transfers were so dark and faded, it was only @10 years old at the time the DVD was released. Were they made from the laser disc or something? Didn't they realize at the time how crappy it looked. The extras gallery with pics from the cels show how vibrant it was supposed to be. And before you say it was probably the people working on it, a familiar name is on this one Discotek's own Justin Sevakis.

Back in the 90s when things were starting to be finished on video and later completely edited on video rather than on film like everything had been at that point, a lot of Japanese TV anime and OVAs used a certain kind of telecine that would result in them becoming a lot less vibrant and saturated, and also introduced a lot of ghosting and frame blending. I call it Japanese Telecine Syndrome. It was just the standard way of doing it back then, and it's rare that something from the 90s didn't receive this treatment, so a lot of stuff, even though most of it, even TV anime, was shot on 35mm in that decade, still looks very poor and the only way to get it into proper HD is to rescan the film elements, of which many shows' are likely lost to time or nearly impossible to fully recover unless you were like Sunrise who kept anything and everything.

According to a contact I have in Japan who is very familiar with video work on a professional level, back in those days when watching back on their video monitors, the Japanese video engineers genuinely believed that this method of telecine was beneficial for the material (especially when trying to accommodate it to the CRTs consumers would watch on) and in some cases even made the material look better. Nowadays that is objectively false and a big reason why it's so difficult, if not impossible, to restore these old OVAs and TV series with the SD materials we currently have access to.

These issues started from the very top, after the film negatives were transferred to video tape, and remained there from masters to release. So no, a lot of DVDs and now SD Blu-rays of things like this were not made from Laserdiscs, that's just how the finished masters have always been from the very start. When going overseas, you could even get worse masters than Japan did also, you'd never get the first-generation master tapes, but copies of them, and sometimes even copies on lower quality tape such as 1-Inch Type C. But, the highest generation master tape will still have issues like these, unless, again, the original film is tracked down, scanned, and reedited, which is neither cheap nor a simple task. It's the unfortunate reality of the 90s. Video was far easier and cheaper to edit and finish on, at the cost of them (most likely unknowingly) completely brickwalling a potential futureproof for higher quality media later on.

[kk1]

Thanks for the thorough and detailed answer.

[SpaceDandy]

One Piece Red (France - Pathé) MediaInfo:

[Show spoiler]

Général
ID                                       : 0 (0x0)
Format                                   : BDAV
Format/Info                              : Blu-ray Video
Taille du fichier                        : 35,0 Gio
Durée                                    : 1 h 55 min
Type de débit global                     : Variable
Débit global moyen                       : 43,4 Mb/s
Débit global maximum                     : 48,0 Mb/s

Vidéo
ID                                       : 4113 (0x1011)
ID de menu                               : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Profil du format                         : High@L4.1
Paramètres du format                     : CABAC / 3 Ref Frames
Paramètres du format, CABAC              : Oui
Paramètres du format, RefFrames          : 3 images
Identifiant du codec                     : 27
Durée                                    : 1 h 55 min
Type de débit                            : Variable
Débit nominal                            : 30,0 Mb/s
Débit maximum                            : 32,0 Mb/s
Largeur                                  : 1 920 pixels
Hauteur                                  : 1 080 pixels
Format à l'écran                         : 16/9
Images par seconde                       : 23,976 (24000/1001) Im/s
Espace de couleurs                       : YUV
Sous-échantillonnage de la chrominance   : 4:2:0
Profondeur des couleurs                  : 8 bits
Type de balayage                         : Progressif
Bits/(Pixel*Image)                       : 0.603
Bibliothèque utilisée                    : x264 core 146 r2538 121396c
Paramètres d'encodage                    : 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=48 / lookahead_threads=4 / 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=30000 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=32000 / vbv_bufsize=30000 / nal_hrd=vbr / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Gamme de couleurs                        : Limited
Coordonnées de chromaticité              : BT.709
Caractéristiques du transfert            : BT.709
Coefficients de la matrice               : BT.709

Audio #1
ID                                       : 4352 (0x1100)
ID de menu                               : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : DTS XLL
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Nom commercial                           : DTS-HD Master Audio
Type de muxing                           : Stream extension
Identifiant du codec                     : 134
Durée                                    : 1 h 55 min
Type de débit                            : Variable
Canaux                                   : 2 canaux
Echantillonnage                          : 48,0 kHz
Images par seconde                       : 93,750 Im/s (512 SPF)
Profondeur des couleurs                  : 16 bits
Mode de compression                      : Sans perte

Audio #2
ID                                       : 4353 (0x1101)
ID de menu                               : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : DTS XLL
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Nom commercial                           : DTS-HD Master Audio
Type de muxing                           : Stream extension
Identifiant du codec                     : 134
Durée                                    : 1 h 55 min
Type de débit                            : Variable
Canaux                                   : 6 canaux
ChannelLayout                            : C L R Ls Rs LFE
Echantillonnage                          : 48,0 kHz
Images par seconde                       : 93,750 Im/s (512 SPF)
Profondeur des couleurs                  : 24 bits
Mode de compression                      : Sans perte

Audio #3
ID                                       : 4354 (0x1102)
ID de menu                               : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : DTS XLL
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Nom commercial                           : DTS-HD Master Audio
Type de muxing                           : Stream extension
Identifiant du codec                     : 134
Durée                                    : 1 h 55 min
Type de débit                            : Variable
Canaux                                   : 2 canaux
Echantillonnage                          : 48,0 kHz
Images par seconde                       : 93,750 Im/s (512 SPF)
Profondeur des couleurs                  : 16 bits
Mode de compression                      : Sans perte

Audio #4
ID                                       : 4355 (0x1103)
ID de menu                               : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : DTS XLL
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Nom commercial                           : DTS-HD Master Audio
Type de muxing                           : Stream extension
Identifiant du codec                     : 134
Durée                                    : 1 h 55 min
Type de débit                            : Variable
Canaux                                   : 6 canaux
ChannelLayout                            : C L R Ls Rs LFE
Echantillonnage                          : 48,0 kHz
Images par seconde                       : 93,750 Im/s (512 SPF)
Profondeur des couleurs                  : 24 bits
Mode de compression                      : Sans perte

Audio #5
ID                                       : 4356 (0x1104)
ID de menu                               : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : DTS
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Identifiant du codec                     : 130
Durée                                    : 1 h 55 min
Type de débit                            : Constant
Débit                                    : 768 kb/s
Canaux                                   : 2 canaux
ChannelLayout                            : Lt Rt
Echantillonnage                          : 48,0 kHz
Images par seconde                       : 93,750 Im/s (512 SPF)
Profondeur des couleurs                  : 16 bits
Mode de compression                      : Avec perte
Taille du flux                           : 634 Mio (2%)

Texte #1
ID                                       : 4608 (0x1200)
ID de menu                               : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : PGS
Identifiant du codec                     : 144

Texte #2
ID                                       : 4609 (0x1201)
ID de menu                               : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : PGS
Identifiant du codec                     : 144

Texte #3
ID                                       : 4610 (0x1202)
ID de menu                               : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : PGS
Identifiant du codec                     : 144
Durée                                    : 1 h 55 min
Délai par rapport Vidéo                  : 12s 387 ms

Courtesy of Deathrow.

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

[Show spoiler]

Avex BD (JP)



Better than the FR BD, but I wouldn't call it a slam dunk because of the compression and the black levels.

The JP doesn't have the idiotic branching for OP/ED in the FR BD, but that's not to say that the JP BD doesn't use branching. For some reason episodes are split in 4 parts (prologue+OP, first half, second half+ED, preview), but at least the branching is seamless unlike the FR BD.

Bitrate episode #1

AVG: 19863 kbps | MAX: 44447 kbps

Audio is 16-bit PCM 2.0

Treasure Island - Discotek Media BD

Comparison with Avex Media and Anime Limited FR BD

Re-encoded from JP BD for some reason.

Discotek Media BD


Avex Media BD (JP)


Anime Limited France BD



BDInfo US BD Disc 1

Disc Title: Treasure Island - Disc 1
Disc Label: TREASURE ISLAND DISC 1
Disc Size: 46,832,661,816 bytes
Protection: AACS
Playlist: 00003.MPLS
Size: 46,496,176,704 bytes
Length: 5:14:41.612
Total Bitrate: 19.70 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 17007 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: Japanese / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1536 kbps / 16-bit
Subtitle: English / 33.325 kbps

BDInfo US BD Disc 1 - 00006.M2TS (Ep1-Ep4, same contents as JP BD Disc 1)

Playlist: 00006.M2TS
Size: 14,304,343,296 bytes
Length: 1:36:43.047
Total Bitrate: 19.72 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 17029 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: Japanese / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1536 kbps / 16-bit
Subtitle: English / 31.024 kbps

BDInfo JP BD Disc 1 (modified playlist with 2 M2TS with TMS copyright and Sunrex/Avex credits at end removed - do note that those are also present on US BD 00006.M2TS hence the 1:36:55.935 duration in the graph)

Size: 16,419,323,904 bytes
Length: 1:36:43.047
Total Bitrate: 22.64 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 19856 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: Japanese / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1536 kbps / 16-bit

[NLScavenger]

Discotek's GaoGaiGar BD is a huge upgrade over the Media Blasters DVD:





I'll probably post more screenshots late next week when I have the time.

[Naiera]

Yikes

[CrashOveride95]

Do you have a screenshot of the OP? If mediablasters didn't edit it I'm interested as to if they look like tape edited text, as the HD versions seem to be trying to emulate optical text

[NLScavenger]

I can get my hands on R2J DVD footage.

[CrashOveride95]

If it's not too much trouble; thank you!