[US] Dragon Ball Kai

[WTK]

via Walmart.com, listed as Dragon Ball Z - Kai with a release date of 5/18/2010

• Season 1, Part 1 (DVD)
  • Retail Price: $49.98
• Season 1, Part 1 (Blu-ray)
  • Retail Price: $54.98

EDIT: Amazon.com Listings

• Season 1, Part 1 (Blu-ray)
• Season 1, Part 1 (DVD)

[Buster Darkwings]

I wonder if the Blu-rays will be 16:9 like the JP DVDs and broadcasts. Since the JP Blu-rays were 4:3 with black bars on the sides, if FUNi wanted to cater to black-bar haters and make their Blu-rays 16:9 they'd have to make their own HD masters. Which might very well mean that they'd be lazy and just upscale the 16:9 DVD masters.

[godofchaos]

Originally Posted by Buster Darkwings

I wonder if the Blu-rays will be 16:9 like the JP DVDs and broadcasts. Since the JP Blu-rays were 4:3 with black bars on the sides, if FUNi wanted to cater to black-bar haters and make their Blu-rays 16:9 they'd have to make their own HD masters. Which might very well mean that they'd be lazy and just upscale the 16:9 DVD masters.

The most they could do is use the TV masters, which are likely 810 upscaled to 1080. There isn't really any way to make native 1080p Kai copies as all the production work was done at 1080p 4:3.

[ilmaestro]

Originally Posted by Buster Darkwings

I wonder if the Blu-rays will be 16:9 like the JP DVDs and broadcasts.

Please don't upset me. Even the thought of it makes me rage just on principle.

[nickclkknt]

Yay for Walmart kinda confirming a Blu-ray release. Very nice indeed.

[RyGuySays]

Wow, well I sure am glad I held off on the Dragonboxes.

Originally Posted by Buster Darkwings

I wonder if the Blu-rays will be 16:9 like the JP DVDs and broadcasts. Since the JP Blu-rays were 4:3 with black bars on the sides, if FUNi wanted to cater to black-bar haters and make their Blu-rays 16:9 they'd have to make their own HD masters. Which might very well mean that they'd be lazy and just upscale the 16:9 DVD masters.

Or crop those 1080P 4:3 masters, and start this whole mess over again :b

[FUNiOP]

Yeah, I'll be getting these. As I said in another thread, I'm anticipating a 4:3 release, since that's how the Japanese Blu-rays were released, and the 16:9 that they released on DVD and TV was just a cropped version of the 4:3 on the Blu-rays. I can't imagine FUNimation releasing the Blu-ray in the US in the cropped 16:9.

[Buster Darkwings]

FUNi already released the cropped "remastered" DVD sets and Bardock Blu-ray. I certainly wouldn't put it past them to crop Kai as well. It's not like they've shown much concern for purists before, whether it be for the original aspect ratio, original language in lossless, or video quality.

[FUNiOP]

Originally Posted by Buster Darkwings

FUNi already released the cropped "remastered" DVD sets and Bardock Blu-ray. I certainly wouldn't put it past them to crop Kai as well. It's not like they've shown much concern for purists before, whether it be for the original aspect ratio, original language in lossless, or video quality.

I'd say that they're starting to show concern for purists since the Dragon Boxes, except that they changed the name of Kai.

[hikaru004]

Originally Posted by FUNiOP

I'd say that they're starting to show concern for purists since the Dragon Boxes, except that they changed the name of Kai.

But Dragon Ball Z fans have a history of double dipping. It makes sense to upscale the TV series first and then zing 'em later with the "real" BD version.