[US] Dragon Ball Z Series

[WTK]

Level 1.1 trailer / Featurette | via ANN - Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Remaster Comparison Shots

• Restored frame by frame from original Japanese film
• Featured Dolby TrueHD audio surround sound
• SPECIAL FEATURES ON EVERY BLU-RAY RELEASE INCLUDES:
  • Capsule Corp. Archive
    • FUNimation delves deep into its archives to bring fans and collectors the rarest of Dragon Ball Z rarities. Many of these hidden gems have never been seen by the masses, so be on the lookout for more news on upcoming special features!
  • Dragon Ball Z: Journey to the West
    • FUNimation is offering fans an all-access look at Dragon Ball Z through the eyes of the voice actors. These brand new interviews with the original cast members are a required viewing for fans seeking the behind-the-scenes story of DBZ.
  • SPECIAL EDITION FOIL STAMP SIGNED CHARACTER PROFILE CARDS

Level 1.1 (Episodes 1 - 17)

• Available: 11/8/11
• SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE: Dragon Ball Z : Film to Blu-Ray Featurette

Level 1.2 (Episodes 18 - 34)

• Available: 12/13/11
• SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDES:
  • Capsule Corp. Archive
  • An Engineer and a Pen : Autograph Collection Part One
  • The Many Faces of Christopher R. Sabat

via Otakon | Otakon trailer

19:07:55 <bay|Ota|FUNi> Dragonball Z in HD on BD
19:07:57 <bay|Ota|FUNi> coming in 2012
19:08:02 <bay|Ota|FUNi> the first time ever
19:08:08 <bay|Ota|FUNi> new film transfer, this is not an old upscale
19:09:05 <bay|Ota|FUNi> (they want everyone to stand up, they need to get a spirit bomb to run the trailer)
19:09:36 <bay|Ota|FUNi> (They also have goku head things)
19:09:49 <bay|Ota|FUNi> trailer
19:10:13 <bay|Ota|FUNi> (LOL @ this trailer)
19:10:44 <bay|Ota|FUNi> (going over the process now)
19:11:09 <bay|Ota|FUNi> (first removing dust... then fix pass... removing anything in the film .. tape marks..)
19:12:01 <bay|Ota|FUNi> (run steady filter which gets rid of film wave, then another filter which removes the ... then grain and noise and then send it on to tohers)

via PR...

Dragon Ball Z Sees November Release on High-Definition Blu-ray Disc™ Format

Flower Mound, TX (July 21, 2011) – FUNimation® Entertainment is announcing that it is bringing the first installment of the anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z to Blu-ray disc for the first time this fall.

Among the most prized in the FUNimation catalog, the studio has used the newest technology available to remaster in high-definition and digitally restore the 291 episode series.

FUNimation worked with Dallas-based AND TRANSFER for the digital film transfer. FUNimation previously worked with the post-production house to remaster the series for the season set releases on DVD. The transfer was performed by nationally-recognized colorist Steve Franko and supervised by FUNimation, which then finished the rest of the restoration process.

Today’s state-of-the-art systems offer tools that allow restoration teams to make a wide range of repairs and focus on more difficult tasks which, in the end, deliver a clean product that faithfully presents the original version and measures up to the high-quality standards of HDTV and Blu-ray.

Once again, the Dragon Ball Z series was digitally transferred from the original Japanese 16mm film frame by frame at 1080p. Developments in restoration software gives mastering artists more to work with when they apply tools to even out film grain and remove fading, film cuts and other visual anomalies. As a result, the viewer will see brighter, clearer colors, less variance in quality between scenes, and a sharper image.

“Working with a very old and fragile source film presented a number of challenges for the restoration process,” said Gen Fukunaga, CEO and president at FUNimation Entertainment. “Our purpose was to restore the series as accurately as possible, to what it must have been like to see it when it was originally mastered, and preserve the charm of the animation. After all, it is of a particular time and place.”

After debuting in 1989, Dragon Ball Z has become an iconic anime series. The franchise has sold more than 25 million DVD and Blu-ray discs in its lifetime, becoming the best-selling anime series of all time.

Dragon Ball Z is the explosive sequel to Dragon Ball. The series follows the adventures of Goku and his son Gohan as they team up with their friends to battle evil forces throughout the universe to protect their beloved planet Earth. The first season covers the Vegeta Saga and chronicles the introduction of one of Dragon Ball Z’s main characters, Vegeta.

This restored edition also features the original U.S. voice actors as well as the original FUNimation soundtrack – all in lossless Dolby® TrueHD.

Dragon Ball Z Level 1.1 includes the first 17 episodes on two discs with over 400 minutes of action and among the extras included on this release is a feature that looks at the restoration and remastering processes.

Dragon Ball Z Level 1.1 will be available at major retailers nationwide on November 8, 2011.

Visit the official Dragon Ball Z website at http://www.dragonballz.com/

[MelancholicMariya]

I.... What?

I was so positive that this would never happen. This seemed so impossible. Yet it's happened, and I'm genuinely surprised.

[neosupersonic]

Originally Posted by MelancholicMariya

I.... What?

I was so positive that this would never happen. This seemed so impossible. Yet it's happened, and I'm genuinely surprised.

I agree...I'm very surprised at this.... They aren't even done releasing Kai yet... I'm also shocked at how small the episode count is for the first volume. If I get this I will wait for larger sets.

[sickVisionz]

I'm sure this will look pretty terrible since scanning things at high resolutions means that you lose detail...

[kakugo]

Originally Posted by sickVisionz

I'm sure this will look pretty terrible since scanning things at high resolutions means that you lose detail...

...I honestly don't know what you're trying to say here. Scanning at higher resolution can show the flaws or lack of detail in the source, but 16mm film has much higher potential analog resolution than most digitally animated TV shows made today.


*Deep breath... exhale...* So let me get this straight: THIS TIME will be different, because the technology has evolved so much in the last 5 years? So hard that it's only now possible to - gasp! - transfer 16mm in 4:3?!

The fact that they used the same post-house and even the same colorist but then write it off as "advances in technology" is downright insulting. Yeah, technology gets better as time goes on, but that had nothing to do with why the Orange Box HD masters are so wretched they're not even going to release them on BD. Though I suppose that restoration set the bar so low this whack at the same material can only trip over it...

Developments in restoration software gives mastering artists more to work with when they apply tools to even out film grain...

Oh yeah. We are so done here.

FUNimation can go f**k themselves on this one. I'm afraid. I hate buying DVDs, but I'm not giving them a dime for a release based on second-hand prints that we know are damaged as all hell, have a funky photo-chemical color balance, and are missing recaps. It'd be like opting to buy a BD made from a theatrical print over a DVD from the original camera negative... kind of a no-win situation, and damn it, I've already got the DVD anyway.

I'll finish buying the Dragon Boxes and give a hearty sigh, knowing that 7 DVD sets is still slightly better than... what, 17 Blu-ray sets? Honestly, had it been announced at half as many SKUs I'd be waffling right now. But I have neither infinite shelf space nor disposable income, so I'm sticking with what I always wanted; Toei's unedited and properly restored DVDs. They're not perfect, but they're also not a c**kslap in the face arriving a single month after the last final DVD release either. Man, that's almost as brutal as MB soliciting the "Collection" versions right as the final single volume was starting to ship...

Unless these are so shockingly gorgeous they make a reference animation BD like Heavy Metal or The Wings of Honneamise look like an upscale, I can safely say that my life isn't incomplete without them.

EDIT: Huh... stange that they don't specify "New HD Telecine", "4:3 Aspect Ratio" or anything else of that nature. Could these just be the Orange Box masters with some additional scratch repair? Could FUNimation really be that eager to milk the Golden Dragon and lose all credibility in the process?

[Buster Darkwings]

I guess they gotta get another BD release in before Toei does theirs in Japan, so FUNi can release yet another series of BDs based on those since there's no way they wouldn't be an improvement...

[hissatsu]

Originally Posted by sickVisionz

I'm sure this will look pretty terrible since scanning things at high resolutions means that you lose detail...

Passive-aggressive posting now? That's nice.

[Buster Darkwings]

Originally Posted by hissatsu

Passive-aggressive posting now? That's nice.

Ah, so that's what that was supposed to mean. The whole "they can just vectorize anime to make it 1080p, they just don't want to" argument.

[sickVisionz]

Originally Posted by Buster Darkwings

Ah, so that's what that was supposed to mean. The whole "they can just vectorize anime to make it 1080p, they just don't want to" argument.

LOL, I never said that. Others said that if you scan an image at high resolution then it will lose detail. Must lose detail. This is exactly what the DBZ thing is isn't it?

[Buster Darkwings]

Originally Posted by sickVisionz

LOL, I never said that. Others said that if you scan an image at high resolution then it will lose detail.

I don't remember any statement like that, at least not from anyone who knows what they're talking about. Got a link?