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Answerman - Are "Upscaled" Blu-Rays Worth The Upgrade?


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Just Passing Through



Joined: 04 Apr 2011
Posts: 276
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 11:07 am Reply with quote
You can also get lossless audio and scratchproof discs into tthe bargain...

It's easier to go for the double-dip in PAL-land, as you're also getting rid of NTSC-PAL conversion artefacts, or PAL speed-up.
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rizuchan
Collector Extraordinaire



Joined: 11 Mar 2007
Posts: 974
Location: Kansas
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 11:32 am Reply with quote
I tend to check blu-ray.com reviews when deciding whether or not to buy an upscale. While they don't do side-by-side comparisons or anything, they go into a lot of detail both on the technical side (ie video/audio encoding formats, resolution) but also overall presentation. ("The colors are vibrant, but there is visible aliasing and mouth movements often look jagged")
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Raikuro



Joined: 22 Feb 2009
Posts: 347
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 11:43 am Reply with quote
Just Passing Through wrote:
You can also get lossless audio and scratchproof discs into tthe bargain...


Yup, these are usually my only reasons to upgrade, not because of the visuals being "worth" it, but more to future-proof my collection. Already have had to deal with too many out of print series become worthless because of microscopic scratches making the dvds skip during the best parts.
Also sometimes to save shelf space since a single Blu-ray case can be preferable to being clogged up with 8 dvds for one single series.
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Codeanime93



Joined: 28 Jul 2017
Posts: 599
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 11:45 am Reply with quote
Well I have read Amazon reviews where they said watching ZZ Gundam on Blu-Ray was pretty much worthless. The high-definition didn't work on that show apparently.
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marek1712



Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Posts: 128
Location: Poland
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 11:54 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Japan's Q-TEC post-production studio has an upscale process that somehow keeps the image in 29.97 interlaced

What blasphemy is this!?
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varmintx



Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 1197
Location: Covington, KY
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 12:10 pm Reply with quote
I see the first comment of the thread already addressed what I wanted to say. Seriously, A/B the audio for Gunslinger Girl. Even if there isn't much of a video upgrade, the audio upgrade is quite significant.
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DmonHiro





PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 12:42 pm Reply with quote
{Edit}: Whether you were being facetious or not wishing death on people who simply created a company you don't like is rude and ignorant. I suggest you not do it again. ~ Psycho 101
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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3426
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 1:06 pm Reply with quote
A follow-up question, wouldn't one of the greatest benefits of BD releases of old shows be for the audio if they still have the original tracks still available. Audio would always be compressed on DVDs.
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5407
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 1:44 pm Reply with quote
If most R1 releases were not inexpensive upgrading to upscale BD's would be a careful decision. I recently bought Gungrave on BD, and while I know that the video quality would probably not be that different compared to the DVD's, the $35 or so I spent are easily justifiable for all the shelf space I can save.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:03 pm Reply with quote
Viz's "upscaling" of Ranma 1/2 looks pretty good on Blu, but that's because they were using Japanese remastered film sources.
Their Sailor Moon, however, I've heard enough horror stories from reviews about lab-tweaking of TV sources, that I wisely decided to stick with the DVD, and someone else will have to comment.

Not sure how Card Captor Sakura upgraded from film or TV, so I'll also have to defer comment about whether it was worth paying for the $150 complete set.
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gravediggernalk
Space Cowboy



Joined: 13 Oct 2013
Posts: 246
Location: Alabama
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:28 pm Reply with quote
Codeanime93 wrote:
Well I have read Amazon reviews where they said watching ZZ Gundam on Blu-Ray was pretty much worthless. The high-definition didn't work on that show apparently.
ZZ Gundam was a remaster, not a digital upscale. On top of that, the BDs look MUCH better than the DVDs.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4566
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:35 pm Reply with quote
I've pretty much committed myself to upgrading whatever I can, even if there's not a huge visual difference. I think I'm more of an audiophile anyway, so that lossless audio is a huge plus. At the same time I've held onto all of my old DVDs too, for nostalgia's sake.
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 3:44 pm Reply with quote
How come the issue of translating from a 4:3 aspect ratio to 16:9 wasn't addressed? Does this article only concern higher-resolution versions that don't change the aspect ratio? How common are those compared to ones that have been "panned-and-scanned" to create a 16:9 version of a show shot originally in 4:3? That's what I think of when I hear about upscaling to Blu-ray. I'd like to hear more about how the image is reshaped.
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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3426
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 4:13 pm Reply with quote
yuna49 wrote:
How come the issue of translating from a 4:3 aspect ratio to 16:9 wasn't addressed? Does this article only concern higher-resolution versions that don't change the aspect ratio? How common are those compared to ones that have been "panned-and-scanned" to create a 16:9 version of a show shot originally in 4:3? That's what I think of when I hear about upscaling to Blu-ray. I'd like to hear more about how the image is reshaped.

Those who buy these sets are collectors. For most the cropping of the source would probably amount to blasphemy...


Last edited by Blanchimont on Mon Apr 23, 2018 5:48 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4410
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 4:14 pm Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:
If most R1 releases were not inexpensive upgrading to upscale BD's would be a careful decision. I recently bought Gungrave on BD, and while I know that the video quality would probably not be that different compared to the DVD's, the $35 or so I spent are easily justifiable for all the shelf space I can save.


You do have a good point there. I have the original Geneon release, and I can't say that I miss the days of seven discs for a 26 episode series.
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