Dragon Ball Z "Seasons" On Blu-ray: News & Discussion

[theoriginalbilis]

Yep, we're all saying the same thing.

Just put out an inexpensive bare-bones release of 4:3 DBZ on Blu-Ray with minimal "remastering" done to it; it's a win-win for FUNimation.

It really would take minimal effort: we all know the dub, subtitles, audio, and video are sitting in their facilities. Fans of both the 16:9 and 4:3 ratios will be satisfied at that point, and FUNi will be able to make some profit from those who held out from buying the 16:9 "Seasons."

[dbboxkaifan]

Yep, we're all saying the same thing.

Just put out an inexpensive bare-bones release of 4:3 DBZ on Blu-Ray with minimal "remastering" done to it; it's a win-win for FUNimation.

It really would take minimal effort: we all know the dub, subtitles, audio, and video are sitting in their facilities. Fans of both the 16:9 and 4:3 ratios will be satisfied at that point, and FUNi will be able to make some profit from those who held out from buying the 16:9 "Seasons."

Wouldn't work.

FUNimation DBZ fans will continue to buy all of their re-releases and so if they did like you'd want then it'd he hammered with 1 star ratings (not 0 'cause it's not possible).

[ParkerAL]

Why would people hammer it with one star ratings? Generally speaking, the people who enjoy a DVD/Blu Ray release are more likely to post reviews for it, as the DBZ Season and Sailor Moon Blu Ray sets prove. Hardcore fans would praise it as the best purist release they could ever hope to see from Funimation on Blu Ray and casual fans would ignore it.

[dbboxkaifan]

Why would people hammer it with one star ratings? Generally speaking, the people who enjoy a DVD/Blu Ray release are more likely to post reviews for it, as the DBZ Season and Sailor Moon Blu Ray sets prove. Hardcore fans would praise it as the best purist release they could ever hope to see from Funimation on Blu Ray and casual fans would ignore it.

They would say that it looks 'old', 'boxy', 'dirty' and that FUNi buyers tend on rebuying DBZ to support FUNimation (for whatever it is they believe) so while they'll give it a low score they'll still purchase.

Plus does FUNimation believe people would be happy with an unremastered raw release? Probably not because it wouldn't look very good for the consumers and themselves.

[eledoremassis02]

I wish FUNimation did an archive collection with hard to get or out of print titles and do a raw scan of Z. If they're made to order I dont see how it could do wrong?

[Baggie_Saiyan]

I wish FUNimation did an archive collection with hard to get or out of print titles and do a raw scan of Z. If they're made to order I dont see how it could do wrong?

Like what Warner Bro's are doing? But then are they allowed to do something like that? I mean technically they don't own the product.

[Kojiro Sasaki]

Like what Warner Bro's are doing? But then are they allowed to do something like that? I mean technically they don't own the product.

They have 16 mm film masters. They can use them as they used them for Orange Bricks, Level sets and Blu-ray season sets (I guess).

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Like what Warner Bro's are doing? But then are they allowed to do something like that? I mean technically they don't own the product.

They have 16 mm film masters. They can use them as they used them for Orange Bricks, Level sets and Blu-ray season sets (I guess).

My bad I should have made I clearer I was moreso talking about the dragon boxes.

[eledoremassis02]

Like what Warner Bro's are doing? But then are they allowed to do something like that? I mean technically they don't own the product.

They have 16 mm film masters. They can use them as they used them for Orange Bricks, Level sets and Blu-ray season sets (I guess).

My bad I should have made I clearer I was moreso talking about the dragon boxes.

Good qestion. Dragon Boxes were more exclusive and had everything. If Funi were to make, say bluray versions of their singles, maybe they'd have an easier time getting TOEI's ok since they would not have to supply anything extra

[dbboxkaifan]

What does the raw quality of Dragon Ball Z look like without anything done to it? If it's close to the Level Blu-rays then maybe it'd be pretty good but otherwise I wouldn't buy it.

Toei Animation is already forcing people to tweak the colour themselves for Kai 2.0 because that green tint just doesn't look right.

[Kojiro Sasaki]

What does the raw quality of Dragon Ball Z look like without anything done to it?

This video contains samples of Steve Franko's color-corrected transfers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moAy02J2fd8

[dbboxkaifan]

This video contains samples of Steve Franko's color-corrected transfers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moAy02J2fd8

Ah yes, there's that.

A raw unfiltered release wouldn't be too bad but then the customers themselves would have to slightly crop it and change the colours too if they don't look natural to their state. If FUNimation took care of these two aspects and then release it without touching anything else (unless it's badly damaged) then it'd certainly be worth buying 'em all.

FUNimation could revive the Level Blu-rays with the raw footage and this wouldn't really cost them much right? The Season Blu-rays were made to make the DBZ series look modern, clean, fresh and almost entirely from what we had before but with the almost-raw they wouldn't have to do any of this besides cropping + changing the colours to their natural shape.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

What does the raw quality of Dragon Ball Z look like without anything done to it?

This video contains samples of Steve Franko's color-corrected transfers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moAy02J2fd8

Haha!! That intro made me laugh, "no Vegeta its 1080p"

[SupremeSSJ]

Every time I watch that i get mad.

[LordCrumb]

Every time I watch that i get mad.

Everytime i watch that, I crawl into the fetal position and cry.

[Ajay]

That video literally triggered me so much that I required psychiatric help and a Tumblr blog to get me through it.

[Kendamu]

There would have to be some minimal work done to it. The raw scan isn't 4:3, so it'd have to be cut down to a reasonable 4:3 that doesn't lose anything important, but doesn't show half-finished art or tape & glue we were never meant to see. Then, the colors would need some correction for consistency, but nothing nearly as extensive as the Levels or Seasons. Lastly, a bare-bones release like this would have a lot of dirt, scratches, and frame shaking. So, what we would get wouldn't look wonderful. Instead, it would look like an old TV show cheaply slapped onto a disc.

Personally, I'm okay with that. It would be nowhere near DBox or Level quality, but it would be a native 1080p release with subs. The only thing I would ask for is, because it already exists, that they use their cleaned up JP audio from the Season BDs. Question is, would that still sell to other hardcore 4:3 fans who are sad about the super high quality DBox being limited and the Levels being canceled?

Also, how much would it actually cost FUNimation to do a made-to-order run with a limited pre-order window? I'm sure these wouldn't sell well enough for wide distribution so what kind of cash FUNi would have to lay down is also worth considering on a release like this.

[Ajay]

Thing is, the moment they throw those 'untouched' masters into the wild, you're now giving everyone freedom to do whatever the hell they want with them. Someone could colour correct it perfectly, stabilise it and then share it on the internet as a 'definitive release' and you'd have no need to buy anything from them any longer. I really don't see them doing that.

[Kendamu]

People already do this with already heavily-altered releases. That's why there are neon-tinted "4K" uploads of Orange Brick footage of YouTube. So, it really wouldn't matter one way or the other. Besides, the people who do things like that and widely distribute them would probably stretch the footage to 16:9, shoot the contrast through the roof, and call it "true SuperHD" after the fact. If that's what FUNi has to compete with, they'll be getting our money long before we resort to downloading that garbage.

[Gokuden]

I see we're still in the DBZ seasons stage of releases. How unfortunate. The price for these sets is too steep, we went from $12-15 a pop to a whopping 44.99 pls tx. How did this happen? I guess my dreams of replacing the audio with this 'filtered' track has faltered.