Anime DVD UK quality vs US quality

A little information about some USA anime releases by Funimation.

Shakugan no Shana Season 1 DVD/BR Combo pack
1) They said that the OVA will be included, but it is not, it will probably be included in season 2 in December
2) The Blu-Ray version is just the DVD upscaled to 1080p (not the best work)

In short: If anybody though about selling their MVM release Shakugan no Shana DVD and grab the US DVD/BR combo pack, I don't recommend it, only plus you would get is the DVD version of the anime on 3 Blu-Ray disks+the DVD's video bitrate is lower then the MVM release, due to the fact that the MVM release has 24 episodes on 6 DVDs, while the FUNimation release has to 24 episodes on 4 DVDs. In my opinion the MVM UK release is better.

+little notes about region coding of some Funimation releases:

Heaven's Lost Property DVD/BR Combo pack: DVD: Region 1 and 4 (USA/Canada+Mexico+South America, Australia, etc), Blu-Ray: Region A and B (It can be player on EU player without any tweaking)

Heaven's Lost Property Forte Limited Edition: DVD: Region 1 and 2 (It can be played on European DVD player without any tweaking)

My Bride is a Mermaid Complete Collection: DVD: Region 1 and 2 and 4(It can be played on European DVD player without any tweaking)

Kanon, Rosario+Vampire Limited Edition and Rosario+Vampire Season 2 DVDs are Region 1 only.
 
I have the FUNimation Geneon box set reissue of Shana season 1, which includes the OVA, so it is weird to see this rerelease not include it. According to The Fandom Post, it was included on the Japanese season 2 BD box set, so it might be there with the English relee.

I'm now considering cancelling my pre-order of the season 1 blu-ray, even though I would like to have seasons 1-3 lined up together on my BD shelf and my Geneon box set is pretty beat up (discs are fine but the box isn't).

Here's some more info on the bluray
 
Rosencrantz said:
Tind said:
Shakugan no Shana Season 1 DVD/BR Combo pack
1) They said that the OVA will be included, but it is not, it will probably be included in season 2 in December
2) The Blu-Ray version is just the DVD upscaled to 1080p (not the best work)
Click to expand...

Are the BR an improvement, regardless of how small, on the MvM DVD release? I'd assume for most the R1 DvD part of the release is of little significance.
Click to expand...

Yes, there are slight improvements, like:
-the picture is sharper
-the edges are smoother

But for me these are just minor improvements, since my mid-range LG FullHD LCD TV already makes the picture almost as sharp as the Blu-Ray and the edges look smooth with the DVD too if I watch the TV from "normal" view distance. This isn't Clannad where there are actual differences between the DVD and BR, so personally I pass, since for me there are no improvements that worth buying it for.


Joshawott:
I am actually happy because they did not include the OVA :) I own the MVM single Volumes from 1-6 and these don't have the OVA, so the only reason I ever considered selling this and grabbing the Funimation release was because the extra episode, but now that they did not include it to that either, there is no reason for me to get that. I due hope that it will be included to Season 2, since I will be grabbing that :)
 
Ive taken to buying pretty much all my Anime from the US, mostly because of the Box art and better selection :D
 
If a series is either almost out in the UK or is out in the UK by the time I want it or can afford it, I get the UK release. Otherwise, I get the US release.

Or if I previously got the UK version of one volume, I'll get the UK version of the other for consistency.
 
Had a look at the other pictures on the site as well - now that is a truly hideous upscale. It looks like the SD source material has actually been blurred in order to smooth out edges and blocks of colour. Look at the eyes in this picture... Hell, look at everything. I think most people's BD players could do a better job of upscaling a DVD.
 
ayase said:
Had a look at the other pictures on the site as well - now that is a truly hideous upscale. It looks like the SD source material has actually been blurred in order to smooth out edges and blocks of colour. Look at the eyes in this picture... Hell, look at everything. I think most people's BD players could do a better job of upscaling a DVD.
Click to expand...
Mine certainly does.
Definitely considering cancelling my order now...as much as I would love a matching collection on my shelf.

EDIT:
For comparison, here's a screencap I took of that scene from Geneon's DVD.
 
is manga's blu-ray audio as bad as there dvd audio?
because i want to get Angel Beats but i know that the dvd audio is going to be terrible, so just wondering if there blu-rays suffer from the same problem or else it's another series i'm going to get the american version of
 
sideways said:
is manga's blu-ray audio as bad as there dvd audio?
because i want to get Angel Beats but i know that the dvd audio is going to be terrible, so just wondering if there blu-rays suffer from the same problem or else it's another series i'm going to get the american version of
Click to expand...

Manga's Angel Beats Blu-ray is just the Sentai discs with a Manga logo at the front, and the Region changed to B. The Audio visual experience is otherwise identical to that which you get on the US disc.

Incidentally, what do you dislike about Manga's DVD audio, is the pitch alteration due to the PAL speed up?
 
all the dvds i've got from manga recently have had audio almost like dance in the vampire bund in the 1st post of this thread - Naruto, Bleach and Fairy Tail and a few others i got all seem to have the same problem
 
Given you'd be hard pressed to find a tv/monitor that won't handle NTSC native over here, why convert to PAL risking conversion losses?
While Blu_ray has advantages ultimately when it comes to quality, it's all in the mastering
 
Manga looked into using NTSC and "hit a brick wall".

It might be a licensor thing - Japan is also region 2 for DVD but are NTSC, so discs being PAL is something of a barrier (Japanese PS3s will not play PAL discs for example).
 
I wish it was a barrier they could work to overcome though too, especially as a foreign DVD with no extras is less of a tantalising proposition than the clash between the region A BD areas at the moment. I don't mind PAL conversions in principle for average shows but if it's something I really love it's immediately discouraging, not to mention the additional overheads and pressures it puts on the companies when picking titles. Discouraging the local DVD market to protect an increasingly irrelevant (given BD uptake) Japanese one is rather backwards.

R
 
I checked the Manga version of Dance in the Vampire Bund again and it seems that the video stream of episode 1 wasn't encoded properly either, it has streaks at movements around the moving part.
Luckily a fellow in the UK was selling a sealed Funimation Limited Edition on eBay, so I grabbed it, that has proper video+audio streams+better box, I hope it will arrive soon :)
 
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