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NEWS: Re:Zero's Western Blu-rays Show Color Banding Artifacts, Companies Respond


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Nick4x



Joined: 11 Apr 2007
Posts: 32
PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 6:17 pm Reply with quote
I'd have to see a comparison to know for sure how bad the image looks, but considering they're not even humoring the idea of replacing the discs, it's up to individual buyers to decide whether or not to purchase a borderline defective blu ray.

Honestly, there's little a consumer can do here. Either buy the discs in Japanese, buy them with slightly off visuals (without knowing how bad they are or how often they occur), or simply go without.
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Kougeru



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 5528
PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 6:24 pm Reply with quote
Color-banding artifacts have become more and more common anime during this year, I've noticed. I don't know if that's streaming companies compressing things differently (worse) or if it's an issue on Japan's end. Either way, it's bad. On streaming video, it's annoying but it's streaming so it's gonna be losing a lot of quality anyway. But on Blu-ray there's absolutely no excuse for this. The entire point of Blu-ray anime is to get the highest quality release possible. Anyone with a decently calibrated display will be annoyed by these issues.
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traitorAIZEN



Joined: 04 Dec 2010
Posts: 94
PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 6:42 pm Reply with quote
Why can't ANN show any image or screenshot of this?
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SilverTalon01



Joined: 02 Apr 2012
Posts: 2402
PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 6:46 pm Reply with quote
I don't have the discs so I haven't seen the problem, but based on the UK distributor's comments, it does exist. I seriously hope Funimation won't have the same disappointing response for their consumers that Anime Limited did.
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ragnawind



Joined: 29 Sep 2009
Posts: 68
Location: Florida, USA
PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 6:56 pm Reply with quote
For those who want to see what it looks like, someone posted all about it here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/8s595f/psa_rezero_bluray_us_and_uk_has_serious_video/

Based on the pictures in there, though, it definitely does not seem like it is bad enough of an issue to be marked as defective. There might be a lot of quality issues, but unless you are actually looking for them, you likely wouldn't even notice or if you are using a 60+ inch TV screen from an inadequate distance.
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professorwho



Joined: 11 Aug 2017
Posts: 74
PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 7:01 pm Reply with quote
Oh my god... it's on ANN. YES.

I've been trying to spread it all over so people are aware, and now it's here. YES.

FUNimation's lack of quality control has been exposed!
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Deacon Blues



Joined: 09 Mar 2005
Posts: 388
Location: Albuquerque, NM
PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 7:03 pm Reply with quote
Doesn't count as defective? If you're shelling out a pretty penny for series sets then I'd say that the consumer has every right to raise a stink and expect some decent quality/replacement. If the Japanese release can come out better than the US/UK one, there's no reason they can't send it off on a different medium. The "storage" excuse that Justin peddled is something that is getting a little old. I find it odd how they can have little to no issues on their side of the pond but this side tends to get the short end of the stick.
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rtil



Joined: 22 May 2005
Posts: 93
PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 7:04 pm Reply with quote
consumers should not buy it expecting a replacement because the more they sell the more content they will be with sub-par releases. if it doesn't hurt their bottom line, they're not going to care.
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kusanagi-sama



Joined: 22 Aug 2004
Posts: 1723
Location: Wichita Falls, TX
PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 7:06 pm Reply with quote
professorwho wrote:
Oh my god... it's on ANN. YES.

I've been trying to spread it all over so people are aware, and now it's here. YES.

FUNimation's lack of quality control has been exposed!


This is probably more an attempt by the licensor to prevent re-importation. (As mentioned on the reddit page). The "Why buy a cheaper foreign release with poor video quality, when the release at home has better video quality?" sort of thing.
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salo_mart



Joined: 24 Jun 2013
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 7:12 pm Reply with quote
ragnawind wrote:
For those who want to see what it looks like, someone posted all about it here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/8s595f/psa_rezero_bluray_us_and_uk_has_serious_video/

Based on the pictures in there, though, it definitely does not seem like it is bad enough of an issue to be marked as defective. There might be a lot of quality issues, but unless you are actually looking for them, you likely wouldn't even notice or if you are using a 60+ inch TV screen from an inadequate distance.


Based on those screenshots, it looks like the artifacts will definitely be noticeable in dark scenes. I hope they're generous enough to offer replacements because my set is on the way and I'd prefer to return and stream it instead if it's gonna look like that.
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LegitPancake



Joined: 26 Jun 2017
Posts: 1294
Location: Texas, USA
PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 7:13 pm Reply with quote
professorwho wrote:
FUNimation's lack of quality control has been exposed!

If you did not even spare the time to read the article, it clearly states that the files they used were exactly what the Japanese publishers provided. It's not Funimation's fault. Though maybe Funi should have negotiated with Kadokawa or whoever to get higher quality masters.

As someone who bought this set, although I have not tried it out as it was just delivered today, I am disappointed, and hope replacement discs can be procured. When I buy anime, I expect the exact same quality customers get in Japan. We should not have to settle for sub-par, especially if Crunchyroll's stream is higher quality than the bluray.
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Chrono1000





PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 7:26 pm Reply with quote
That is unfortunate and while I am happy to have bought the Blu-ray discs it would be nice if anime companies eventually moved away from 8-bit digital tape formats. I understand that anime companies don't have the budget for expensive equipment but there has to be something between the ridiculously expensive 16-bit uncompressed Hollywood equipment and the old 8-bit digital tape formats. Also if the Japanese Blu-ray discs are better than the western Blu-ray discs that means that somewhere in Japan there are better quality video files.
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professorwho



Joined: 11 Aug 2017
Posts: 74
PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 7:29 pm Reply with quote
LegitPancake wrote:
professorwho wrote:
FUNimation's lack of quality control has been exposed!

If you did not even spare the time to read the article, it clearly states that the files they used were exactly what the Japanese publishers provided. It's not Funimation's fault. Though maybe Funi should have negotiated with Kadokawa or whoever to get higher quality masters.

As someone who bought this set, although I have not tried it out as it was just delivered today, I am disappointed, and hope replacement discs can be procured. When I buy anime, I expect the exact same quality customers get in Japan. We should not have to settle for sub-par, especially if Crunchyroll's stream is higher quality than the bluray.


I did actually read the article. While it is true that they did use what they received, it is not 100% what is on the disc. Japanese Blu-rays are typically 2 or 3 Episodes on a 25GB Disc, not that 8 to 10 on a 50GB Disc here. It is more taxing on the compressionist, and having to aim for lower bitrates makes the chances of banding more prevalent. Japanese Blu-rays aim for 35+ mbps bitrate, whereas FUNimation goes for the most possible content per disc, which typically results in the mid teens to low twenties in terms of Bitrate.

But Bitrate isn’t everything. On several occasions where they have the footage from the Japanese distributor, it doesn’t mean it’s their fault. Sure, Kadokawa sent ADV composite masters in the DVD era, but I’m willing to bet it was due to FUNi’s laziness here. Many releases, which use the same masters as the JP BD look worse here than in other counties. Cowboy Bebop is a good example. The 30FPS CGI was slowed down to 24 which causes artifacts by forcing deinterlacting, they de-grained it (removing all the grain), and then re-applied grain to it, and it has a smeary look, like vasaline. It’s not a good BD. Those changes were done by the team at FUNimation, and the UK BD, done by Anime Limited, while not perfect, looks way better as a result of less meddling with the masters.

I do happen to know a video compressionist by the name of mp3dom. He works in Italy and does anime Blu-rays specifically, so he’d be best to defer onto, but unless we know the specifics of the encoder settings, we don’t know how much is the fault of bad masters, FUNimation being lazy, or both.
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Murph61907



Joined: 22 Jun 2018
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 7:38 pm Reply with quote
So disappointing. If Funimation does end up doing replacement discs, How is it done? I ordered my box set through rightstuf.
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SpacemanHardy



Joined: 03 Jan 2012
Posts: 2509
PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 7:41 pm Reply with quote
Murph61907 wrote:
So disappointing. If Funimation does end up doing replacement discs, How is it done? I ordered my box set through rightstuf.


RightStuf keeps track of every order placed with them, and nine times out of ten will send out replacement discs automatically.
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