bestbuy bluray anime sale!! if you care about such tripe...

[iluvmonsterz]

i know its off topic but i know you guys will see it here.i picked up witchblade complete(22.00) the fullmetal alchemist movie(8.99 of super awesomeness) and the 12th and 13th(8.99 and my fave dbz movie)dbz movie all on blue ray for 40.00 total. i guess they are blowin out a bunch of anime on bluray.

[CMoon]

It may in part be because blu ray (and HD itself) doesn't necessarily do a lot for TV programs made in SD. This is different than movies which have always been shot in definitions big enough to fill up a movie screen. I've debated over a few animes on blu ray and ultimately backed off because it seems in transferring to HD, there are both pros and cons.

[neorichieb1971]

Not true. In the realm of animation there is no such thing as SD and HD when it comes to the source material.

Snow white on Blu ray (1937) looks absolutely fantastic on blu ray.

The fact is if you do a SD scan of a feature that has huge blobs of one-four colors then it will upscale brilliantly on your TV. This is because adding lines between the detail lines (which are mostly the same color) just means putting more lines of that color on the unused detail lines. The Simpsons movie is one such case.

But if the feature is like a Ghibli movie where there are lots of details, it definitely benefits from the HD scan.

Tekkon Tekreet (or something like that) is the best HD transfer of an anime. I watched the trailer for it and it seemed like it was moving in 3D. I couldn't believe it.

The HD experience will benefit from you having a big TV. If your TV is less than 40" then DVD will do.

Resolution is relative to screen size. No point putting lots and lots of detail if your watching on a screen where that detail goes microscopic.


You will also notice that HD animation from recent times has a special gloss. This gets lost when upscaling DVD's.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Take Bandai Entertainment's "Battle Fairy Yukikaze" OVA (Original Video Animation) series, it originally was released on 4:3 format on 480p DVD medium as a seperately released three-disc set (then re-released as a bundled three disc DVD set). For the U.S. release, the waiting gap between the release of BFY disc #2 and BFY disc #3 was quite substantial but DVD publisher BE finally delivered as promised. Then it was eventually re-released on Blu-Ray format despite it having been made for 4:3 formatted TV monitors.

Watching the Blu-Ray version of "Freedom" OVA series was such a rush with all the eye-candy going on. Unfortunately, it came with a whopping MSRP of $99.99 USD upon intial debut in the USA courtesy of Bandai Visual.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[CMoon]

It may in part be because blu ray (and HD itself) doesn't necessarily do a lot for TV programs made in SD. This is different than movies which have always been shot in definitions big enough to fill up a movie screen.

Not true. In the realm of animation there is no such thing as SD and HD when it comes to the source material.

Snow white on Blu ray (1937) looks absolutely fantastic on blu ray.

I was just discussing 'made-for-tv' anime, but you may be right on the latter too. I gather there are a lot of variables here. Consider the so-so Samurai Champloo blu ray box for instance:

http://www.amazon.com/Samurai-Champloo- ... 274&sr=8-2

[neorichieb1971]

Anime or any animation is cell driven. If the cell is scanned in at 1080 lines it will give a significant improvement over a 480 scan. Your thinking that because the anime is for TV that its a different process. The only thing thats different is that for TV it was scanned at 480 SD resolutions. It would be false advertising to put it on blu ray as 480 as it would not benefit from the disc capacity, probably using less than 10% of it. It would be rescanned at 1080 and put on the disc.

The other benefit for US anime hard nuts is that subtitles obviously benefit from being in HD.

This review of Ponyo shows you the very clear differences.

The 1st pic is Blu ray, the 2nd is DVD. Even on my PC screen with a size of 6" I can definitely tell the difference. Notice the gloss vs the dull, the pin sharp lines vs murky lines. If you blew up that DVD image to 60" it would look ok and watchable, but the 1080 blu ray counterpart would still look very very sharp and glossy.

Ultimately its always a benefit, but is it worth the cost?

BTW, ponyo is very good on blu ray, one of the best animated transfers. Not all are as good as that. With animation it depends on the process that was used to draw the animations. If computers are used to aid the design it will be better than something made in the 1960's. I have dumbo, snow white and pinocchio all made before WW2 and although crisper and brighter, but they do not show the same resilience as something like Beauty and the Beast. It should be noted that they are still much better though.


lol - Here is the link - http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDRevie ... lu-ray.htm

[CMoon]

I have ponyo on blu ray and it is brilliant.

Would be nice if the other Ghibli films make it to blu ray soon, but that's up to Ghibli.

[Lordstar]

uugh! bastards! We in the UK (cant speak for the rest of the eu) dont get a whole lot on BR in the way of anime. Its one of the reasons why ive not made the jump to the new format from DVD.

[Jon]

I have ponyo on blu ray and it is brilliant.

QFT. This was the first blu ray I bought and it looks absolutely gorgeous. Spirited Away and Kiki next please!

[neorichieb1971]

There is a contractual agreement amongst certain studios that no country will have a HD edition of any movie unless it released in its home territory first. Unfortunately Japan is quite slow in releasing movies in their home territory due to the unbelievable prices demanded there. The average blu ray is about $50USD in Tokyo, far outpricing the equivalent that would be the US/EU version that would later be released on our streets.

The Ghibli series of movies adhere to such a contract, so until we get the Japanese release we won't be getting a Western release either. The next Ghibli movie announced is a really old one apparently. I can't remember the name of it. I'll post it if I find the info again.


edit - here is some news http://www.theblurayblog.com/2010/02/mi ... y-release/

[Daigohji]

Anime or any animation is cell driven. If the cell is scanned in at 1080 lines it will give a significant improvement over a 480 scan. Your thinking that because the anime is for TV that its a different process. The only thing thats different is that for TV it was scanned at 480 SD resolutions. It would be false advertising to put it on blu ray as 480 as it would not benefit from the disc capacity, probably using less than 10% of it. It would be rescanned at 1080 and put on the disc.

This hasn't been true for the last decade. Japan was slower than the US in switching to digital animation production, but by the early noughties the majority of anime were produced partially or entirely digitally. There's no acetate being filmed on a rostrum, so the maximum detail available on a digitally drawn show depends on what each studio set their frame resolution at for mastering. It's only just started to become (infrequent) practice in the last couple of years for non-theatrical anime (primarily the handful of OAVs still hitting the market) to be mastered in HD, with TV series lagging further behind.

Older (pre-2000) shows painted on acetate and shot with film could be remastered in HD to varying benefit, but the effectiveness of digitally animated shows upscaled to HD is likely to vary wildly from one case to the next.

[neorichieb1971]

If a technique exists to remaster the cell into HD then its possible the studio will get extraordinary results.

I don't know exactly what "anime" is so if i'm out of the ballpark talking of Afro samurai and Dantes inferno i'm sure you'll correct me. On the matter of those 2 I find that quality on blu ray is somewhat lacking. Its by no means disappointing because I believe the quality is better than DVD could muster up. However, after looking at other works I can determine that more work needed to be done to get extra bling effect. I am sure that most of you would be content with DVD+ results. Really though, its a case of your screen size. Blu ray die hards swear by the format because of them have much bigger screens than your average joe. There are really no reasons why you can't enjoy DVD's on anything up to about 37". I have had good results on my 40". I am upgrading my HT components soon. Converting the garage to a 100" auditorium. It will be me then that scrutinizes DVD then, because DVD will bring out the worst quality in my system. Personally, being a videophile snob, I wish the blu rays would come down to DVD prices and make that format extinct.

Blu ray will be the last mass produced tangible format. So ultimately its the last hoorah for the fans of such tangible things. If its not supported the download era will be accellerated this side of 2015 for most urban areas of the world. At the moment, DVD quality is sustainable in a download right now. Its not good to have competing formats at this time, especially with some Western countries being hit by a massive recession.

[CMoon]

I have ponyo on blu ray and it is brilliant.

QFT. This was the first blu ray I bought and it looks absolutely gorgeous. Spirited Away and Kiki next please!

No! Fuck you! Mononoke next!!!!!

The next Ghibli movie announced is a really old one apparently. I can't remember the name of it. I'll post it if I find the info again.


edit - here is some news http://www.theblurayblog.com/2010/02/mi ... y-release/

Cool. Nausicaa will be awesome on blu ray. It might actually be the first animation from this period to receive HD treatment.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I thought that the HD transfer of Akira anime that hails from 1988 was done quite nicely on Blu-ray format. It's definitely better in HD than on DVD format.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Lordstar]

http://www.jlist.com/PRODUCT/VWBS1110 oh its out already.

I cant decide if i love or hate that artwork though

[CMoon]

http://www.jlist.com/PRODUCT/VWBS1110 oh its out already.

I cant decide if i love or hate that artwork though

Cool!

I really like the artwork, but we won't get that.

[steveovig]

I noticed this sale the other day too and picked up the DBZ pack and Samurai 7 for only $20 (not together). Haven't watched them yet but I will. I just wish all the other DBZ movie packs were $8.99. I think Trinity Blood and a Full Metal Alchemist movie were on sale too.

[Lordstar]

http://www.jlist.com/PRODUCT/VWBS1110 oh its out already.

I cant decide if i love or hate that artwork though

Cool!

I really like the artwork, but we won't get that.

if they all looked like this blue box with silhouette then yeah that would be pretty cool.

[neorichieb1971]

It only looks cool because its different. If all packaging was like that i'd find that really dull and boring.

[CMoon]

Mostly reviving this thread to point out that the Nausicaa Blu Ray is currently available in Japan, the UK and Australia, but there aren't even rumors about a US release. When the first Ghibli DVDs came out, I was forced to buy a region free player. I do not want to have to do this again with Blu Ray. C'mon Disney, pump that baby out!

[neorichieb1971]

I have Nausicaa and Ponyo on region B now because of this. I don't want to wait for Disney. I can't bloody play them though because my region B PS3 (60GB) just bit the dust. Well, the BD drive did, which makes watching movies on it a bit hard. I suppose I can go downstairs and watch them on my moms Panasonic Blu ray player.

[neorichieb1971]

http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0041RQQCY/

Laputa is next 22 Dec. UK release to follow

[PC Engine Fan X!]

It seems like that the U.S. Blu-Ray releases of Nausicaa and Laputa: Castle of the Air will be in 2011-2012 -- just will have to wait for the official announcement from Disney, of course.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[drauch]

I do not own a blu-ray, but hellz yes for Castle in the Sky!

[CMoon]

Get Mononoke out there. That said, nausicaa and laputa are FUCKING AWESOME!

[CMoon]

Nausicaa on blu-ray is FINALLY announced in the US. March 8th along with Tales from Earthsea (which I've heard mostly lukewarm things about). Don't even know if the latter is coming out on blu-ray. No word about Laputa yet.

[maxlords]

Get Mononoke out there!

I saw that movie once.....it was called "Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest"....

[CMoon]

Get Mononoke out there!

I saw that movie once.....it was called "Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest"....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3CkV1zPBbY

[maxlords]

LMAO! Sorry man...couldn't resist I always have felt that Mononoke was a great movie but WAY too preachy...

[drauch]

hahhahahahah!!!! That was grand.