AoD Blu-ray Review: Dragon Ball Z Broly Double Feature

[Chris Beveridge]

[float:left] [image]http://www.animeondvd.com/images/bdboxart/brolydoublefeature.jpg[/image] [/float] Review

Dragon Ball Z: Broly Double Feature (of 1)
Released By: FUNimation Entertainment, Ltd.
MSRP: 34.98
Running time: 140 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Resolution: 1080p
Encoded With: H.264/AVC
Release Date: 11/13/2007
Review Date: 11/09/2007
Date Announced: N/A
Region: A - N. America, S. America, East Asia
Reviewed By: Chris Beveridge

In Summary:
As a launch title into the realm of high definition media, these two Broly movies certainly provide fans with some great eye-candy. Combined with decent audio and a good price point considering it's two features, the release has plenty to offer while the company undergoes the learning curve of how to produce a proper Blu-ray release. There are some key elements missing here that keep it from feeling like a proper next generation release and some of what they've done with the video will keep a segment of fans away. A large chunk of the fandom that has migrated to Blu-ray however will be thrilled with what they get here and enjoy it for what it is. This is definitely a mixed bag but one that does show some of the potential that can be had.

[Kaikou]

I really would have thought the DVNR process would have bothered you a bit more, but I guess having nothing to compare it to, one can't really know what has been lost/altered through the process.

I'm also not thrilled to hear the comments regarding lack of a pop-up menu, lack of uncompressed audio, and the subtitle quality.

I do hope that their future titles outside of DBZ will be DVNR free and be more in tune with other BD releases as far as the extras offered.

[Chris Beveridge]

Yeah, it's hard to really make a true assessment not having seen the originals. But that's sort of where I'm at with most releases. And even with the DVD releases that FUNimation has put out, it's not like it's a shining example to compare it to either. From the point of view of someone who has not seen the Japanese releases, this looks very good.

[kakugo]

I do hope we can get some R2/Blu-Ray comparison images going. I don't doubt that the new Blu-Ray transfer beats the snot out of the nearly 15 year old composite tape masters we've seen from FUNimation, but if the Toei SD discs really do have more detail than FUNimations HD release...

I'm also going to call a "whut?" on the 2.0 nature of the Japanese tracks. I still own the first FUNi release of movie 8, which is mono all the way, and I'm 99% certain that all 17 DB/Z movies are mono as well, though with the R2 boxes not saying either way I guess the last flick or two might have been released in stereo. While Toei Video was more than happy to point out their New Component Prints for the movie box, no mention of audio remix was ever mentioned, so unless FUNimation remixed it themselves (which is unlikely, but I guess it's possible) the features are actually mono.

Funny that they would even mention "thousands of instances" of film damage were fixed. What about the hairs, vertical lines, torn frames and countless other issues on the Season One box set that weren't fixed despite using the same process? DVNR smooths over anything in its' path beyond a certain threshold of difference compared to the frame before it or behind it, but it has no way of telling if that spec is dirt on the film or a natural part of the animation. Certainly being a second generation film print there's bound to be more grain than whatever fresh IPs Toei used on the R2, but smoothing all of that over just means you're left with a sterile HD master that's really got nothing over an SD master, at which point upscaling the R2 component masters would have literally yielded better results.

All right, I'll stop being bitter for a while... glad you enjoyed the release, Chris.

[Chris Beveridge]

I expected you to rip on me better for this one. :D

[HyugaKojiro]

out of curiosity did the credits list Funi as being responsible for the authoring/encoding or did they use someone else?

[MajinVejita]

Chris,

Are you able to do actual HD screen captures? I'm willing to go buy/borrow equipment, but if you're able and willing I figured you and I could conspire on a rollover comparison between the FUNi BD and Toei DVD releases.

-Corey

[Chris Beveridge]

Originally Posted by HyugaKojiro

out of curiosity did the credits list Funi as being responsible for the authoring/encoding or did they use someone else?

Nothing is listed about it in terms of disc production. if I recall from the interview we did with them about it, it was being outsourced almost completely.

[Chris Beveridge]

Originally Posted by SausageofPower

Chris,

Are you able to do actual HD screen captures? I'm willing to go buy/borrow equipment, but if you're able and willing I figured you and I could conspire on a rollover comparison between the FUNi BD and Toei DVD releases.

-Corey

No, I don't have any capability for that with the BD releases.

[HyugaKojiro]

Originally Posted by Chris Beveridge

Nothing is listed about it in terms of disc production. if I recall from the interview we did with them about it, it was being outsourced almost completely.

Thanks for that bit of info, now I can look forward to them bringing some of their more popular franchises to BR; here's hoping they ask for HD masters from the respective studios instead of pulling another "no wait we could actually do this ourselves" attempt like they did with DBZ.