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Answerman - Why Is Sentai Filmworks Phasing Out DVDs?


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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5406
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:15 pm Reply with quote
GSAttack wrote:
I hope that Nozomi and Sentai will at least make these Blu-ray titles a bit more affordable with all the money they should be saving from not manufacturing a DVD version.

You want these companies to offer their disc releases at even lower prices? With the exception of imports and AoA and PCUSA releases, BD anime releases are very affordable. $60-70 MSRP for 12 episodes (especially if they include a brand new dub) is fair. Companies still need to turn in profits, and it costs money to bring these releases to the market.
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mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:30 pm Reply with quote
Kadmos1 wrote:
DVD sales may be dropping, but when it comes to getting a DVD or BD, I prefer the former because they are cheaper. Also, I am not really into being the best quality as long as it is decent quality.


IMO you should ask then for artificial segmentation of the market. First they would releases the regular blu-ray, then one or two years later (to not confuse people) they could release a ED-BD at a lower price (since no doubt it would be all in one disc). 848x480 is considered ED (enhanced definition), not SD (standard definition).
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endallchaos



Joined: 08 Sep 2014
Posts: 213
Location: Sin City
PostPosted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:36 pm Reply with quote
Blu-Ray is easily the way to go, if you still want physical media. Also, Blu-Ray's quality is higher than that of streams.
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Kalessin



Joined: 15 Aug 2007
Posts: 931
PostPosted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:54 pm Reply with quote
endallchaos wrote:
Blu-Ray is easily the way to go, if you still want physical media. Also, Blu-Ray's quality is higher than that of streams.


The streams are usually the broadcast version of the show, so even if they have the same video quality, you don't get the final version of the show (or the uncensored version in some cases) if you don't buy the home video release (be it DVD or Blu-ray). So, really, the Blu-ray version is almost always the definitive version of the show. By going with DVDs, you get the full content, but you lose out on quality. By going with the streams, you get much better quality (though not necessarily as good as the Blu-ray), but you probably don't get the full content. You only get it all with the Blu-rays. I suspect that that's something that a lot of folks forget - especially if no one has ever pointed out to them before that changes are frequently made for the home video release of an anime.
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Razor/Edge



Joined: 05 Jun 2015
Posts: 607
PostPosted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:56 pm Reply with quote
Kougeru wrote:

DVDs are not cheaper than blu-ray either. Checked amazon just now and it's $25 dollars for 100 blank DVDs that are 4.7 GBs each. For the same price of $25, you can get 50 single-layer blu-ray discs, that's 25 GBs each. Simple math shows that at a per-Gigabyte value, Blu-rays are FACTUALLY cheaper. 4.7 GB x 100=470 GBs for the DVDs....or 25 GBx50= 1,250 GB (1.25 Terabtyes) for the blu-rays. So again, which is cheaper...?

That argument doesn't work when you consider things from a business prospective. Companies don't care about cost per byte, they care about cost-per-disc-manufactured. In which case, DVD is without a doubt FACTUALLY cheaper. In your example, it's $0.50 per Blu Ray disc and $0.25 per DVD. From most releases i've seen from Sentai, Funimation, and others it's 2 discs per 12 episodes for both Blu Ray and DVD. So in that case, it's $1.00 for Blu Ray and $0.50 for DVD. (I know this isn't how much companies actually pay for each disc, i'm just using your example as a model.) THIS is how companies made decisions on what they consider cheap to produce.
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Finny-chan



Joined: 18 Dec 2008
Posts: 447
Location: West Virginia, U.S.A
PostPosted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 10:00 pm Reply with quote
The only way anime should be watched honestly is in Bluray quality or higher. Only exception is if its an old classic with no Bluray release is when I will buy DVDs.

Japan will probably follow suit eventually and instead of BD/DVD it will be 4K/BD weekly charts. xD
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Raikuro



Joined: 22 Feb 2009
Posts: 347
PostPosted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 10:08 pm Reply with quote
I also am in the camp that much prefers SD content just be put on Blu-ray discs. Why even bother with DVDs when Blu-ray discs themselves are superior in all the most important ways and should just completely replace them regardless of the content on it. Old shows shouldn't have to "deserve" Blu-ray treatment.
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PurpleWarrior13



Joined: 05 Sep 2009
Posts: 2024
PostPosted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 10:59 pm Reply with quote
I upgraded 4 years ago, so this doesn't affect me at all. I buy everything on Blu-ray unless there is no Blu-ray edition and I don't expect it to be released in the format anytime soon. My one exception is probably Sailor Moon. The difference between Viz's DVDs and Blu-rays is simply not worth the enormous price difference (not including the R movie. That does look gorgeous on Blu-ray). You can get the DVDs for around $20-$30 a volume on Amazon, but the Blu-rays are closer to $50-$70. I have plenty of Blu-rays with bad HD masters, but at least they were cheap.
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H. Guderian



Joined: 29 Jan 2014
Posts: 1255
PostPosted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 11:22 pm Reply with quote
As a frequent buyer, I feel BD cases are better because they're smaller and feel more sturdy. Picking up a DVD case that jsut has only the disc inside feels sickly. Yeck.

I've never yet had that feeling with my BD collection.
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Heishi



Joined: 06 Mar 2016
Posts: 1314
PostPosted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 12:24 am Reply with quote
My only gripe about BD is the idea of some my favorite shows which happen to be more than a decade old might not get BD releases.

Would be nice to see Sentai, Funimation, and maybe Manga Entertainment to churn out some older stuff on Blu Ray, but I don't see that happening any time soon.
Of course, it might not look perfect the way it is(though it would make me even happier if it did), but I would do it to support the stuff I love.
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief


Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 1684
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 12:28 am Reply with quote
mangamuscle wrote:
IMO you should ask then for artificial segmentation of the market. First they would releases the regular blu-ray, then one or two years later (to not confuse people) they could release a ED-BD at a lower price (since no doubt it would be all in one disc). 848x480 is considered ED (enhanced definition), not SD (standard definition).

That’s not a supported video resolution on Blu-ray. 1080p/i or 480i (which can be encoded in a progressive way). Those are your options. (Technically 720p is supported but we avoid it because a lot of TVs won’t display it.)
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NJ_



Joined: 31 Oct 2009
Posts: 2996
Location: Wallington, NJ
PostPosted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 12:34 am Reply with quote
Heishi wrote:
Would be nice to see Sentai, Funimation, and maybe Manga Entertainment to churn out some older stuff on Blu Ray, but I don't see that happening any time soon.


After what happened with Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and the newest Yu-Gi-Oh movie, I wouldn't want Mangle/Anchor Bay releasing any more anime.
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tsog



Joined: 16 Sep 2017
Posts: 221
PostPosted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 12:43 am Reply with quote
While I generally prefer BD over DVD due to quality, trying to play back BD discs on my PC had been one giant PITA, and easily the worst consumer experience I ever had with any technology. When I bought my BD drive, I specifically picked up that came bundled with playback software. Turns out, because of the ever-evolving DRM on BD, the playback software first had to go through several updates before being able to play newer discs (decryption keys are always changing). Eventually, the software vendor stopped updating the version I got, and the software couldn't play any new discs released pass a certain date. To upgrade to a newer software means another $50 or so, and it'd probably end up with the same lack of update issue down the road as well.

I also ran into issues with displays. Because of HDCP, BD content will only legally play on HDCP-compatible displays, over HDCP-compliant protocols (goodbye, VGA). Can't mirror my display either; the video will just play on one display and remain a black screen on the other. And forget about screenshots; HDCP compliant GPUs will prevent you from doing that because of the damn DRM.

Nowadays I rip to DRM-less MKV container and play it back via VLC. I know it's a gray area but boy, DRM sure is a joy killer.
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dragonrider_cody



Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 2541
PostPosted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 1:10 am Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:
GSAttack wrote:
I hope that Nozomi and Sentai will at least make these Blu-ray titles a bit more affordable with all the money they should be saving from not manufacturing a DVD version.

You want these companies to offer their disc releases at even lower prices? With the exception of imports and AoA and PCUSA releases, BD anime releases are very affordable. $60-70 MSRP for 12 episodes (especially if they include a brand new dub) is fair. Companies still need to turn in profits, and it costs money to bring these releases to the market.


And that's MSRP. Many, if not most Sentai Bluray sets can be found for under $40 on Amazon, and occasionally under $30. I got the Trinity Seven Bluray for $26 on Amazon, though it was a Prime Member only special.
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 2:47 am Reply with quote
Sakagami Tomoyo wrote:
Personally, I've found it to be pretty reliable in at least the middle term. A proper dedicated player that you can absolutely rely on would be better, sure, but honestly you can't absolutely rely on any player.

Most interesting. Do regional restrictions still apply when using it, or does the decryption process bypass them entirely?
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