Low quality visuals of older anime on DVD...

Aion

Aion

Time-Traveller
I've just downloaded the Thora 720P version of the 1987 film 'The Wings of Honneamise'. After having a look at the quality, I'm amazed about how clean and clear the picture looks in comparison to how dirty the video quality of older anime on DVD tends to be. I'm usually more than happy with the DVD quality of more recent anime, but I've come to accept poor quality visuals from dated anime even on DVD.

Although the jump in quality isn't quite so visible with newer anime, the difference is light and day when it comes to the picture quality of anime from the 80's in HD. Why is that? What allows the visuals of old stuff to be improved so much on Blu-ray over DVDs?
 
Back in the olden days of DVD I'm sure they must have used the same masters they did for VHS. It certainly looks that way, and explains the hardsubs or lack of Japanese audio on some of my older releases.

I downloaded Gundam F91 in HD because Bandai's DVD (which I bought) had such a horrible interlaced non-anamophic picture. Whatever you think of Blu-ray, at least the jump to high definition might mean some older series get the re-mastering they deserve.
 
Modern anime is made digitally, for a certain resolution and stored on hard drives and what not.

Older anime was made on film, cel acetate, brush and paint, and of course technically inferior to modern methods.

But even hi-def digital productions have a lower resolution than film. Any digital show made for SD TV will be a nightmare to scale up to modern Hi-def TV, and the same is true going from 720 to 1080.

But anything made on film is effectively scaled down when it is shown on TV, even the best Bluray transfer will lose most of the detail on a film frame. Films like Honneamise and Akira, where disc producers go to the film source, will always look as good as possible given the limitations of the disc format.
 
Just Passing Through said:
Older anime was made on film, cel acetate, brush and paint, and of course technically inferior to modern methods.
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I think older remastered cel animation looks better in HD than modern digital animation precisely because there is more detail there to pick out when it's remastered. From my experience a hand painted cel in HD looks fantastic, whereas a computer drawn and coloured cel looks... very similar to how it did in SD.
 
ayase said:
Just Passing Through said:
Older anime was made on film, cel acetate, brush and paint, and of course technically inferior to modern methods.
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I think older remastered cel animation looks better in HD than modern digital animation precisely because there is more detail there to pick out when it's remastered. From my experience a hand painted cel in HD looks fantastic, whereas a computer drawn and coloured cel looks... very similar to how it did in SD.
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Exactly, my point is technically inferior old fashioned techniques give a better end product in terms of detail and resolution than modern techniques which are limited by their medium.

It's like the Magna Carta, the original one was written on paper and parchment, a medium if looked after would last a thousand years, and you can read copies of it today.

Then back in the 1980s, someone has the bright idea of doing a modern version, hi tech and instantly accessible. It was written on a BBC-B if I recall, and recorded using bespoke software onto laserdisc.

No one can read it today. It's obsolete.
 
Please don't watch Honneamise. I make a point of respecting other people's opinions, but if you even think about calling that film "boring", or anything similar, I'm going to go nuts :p
 
It isn't over-rated on MAL (under 8/10), it's unknown compared to trash like Akira, it's supposed to be an adult film and, ancient art aside, it looks lovely in 720P on my monitor. You never know, I might actually fall in love with an anime film.

If it does bore me death, I have the 4th Naruto film waiting on standby. At least that'll provide mindless filler entertainment.
 
It is, admittedly, rather slow paced. I wasn't impressed with the film after my first viewing, but in my defence I was 14 and stupid. It wasn't until a few years later that I came to really appreciate it. Incidentally, I want this 720p version of which you speak.
 
I got Honneamise on DVD from Australia. At least they didn't bind it to a a Hi-Def release as the Americans did.

Bandai gave it a clean and brush up for its HD debut, and then struck a master off that for the DVD, miles better than the original Manga release in the US, which was barely better than the VHS.

The trouble with the Australian version was that instead of doing a Film to PAL transfer, they got the US disc and NTSC-PAL'ed it instead. Also the final chapter of the disc has the sound out of sync. No dialogue there though, so its only a slight annoyance.

If there was a proper release in the UK, I'd triple dip in an instant (Got it on VHS too)
 
The NTSC>PAL conversion is why I didn't bother with the Australian version. Honneamise deserves better. And I can't quite bring myself to pay for the Bandai Visual release when I don't own, nor currently have any plans to own, a HD player.
 
In its defence, it's probably one of the better standards conversions out there. There was only one jerky pan that I recall, and in terms of clarity and sharpness, it may as well be PAL.
 
Roy might have something to say (I see only want I wish to) about this, but since it hasn't been released at all in the UK...

[Rui URL snip]

And, since you HAVE to watch Macross Zero if you call yourself an anime fan and it also hasn't been released in the UK(or outside the US for that matter):

[Rui URL snip]

Like KAA are the Gods of anime DVD-rips, Thora rule the 720P-1080P anime download scene. Their encode sizes are insane, though - 5GB just for 1 film! - but you'll understand why once you see the visual quality.

After watching Zero in SD last night, I'm looking forward to seeing Zero in HD tonight. :D the CG aerial battles will look amazing.
 
Please don't encourage people to download legally available product like that. It's mentioned in the forum rules as being Bad :)

Talking about it vaguely is ok.

My WoH is the JP blu-ray disc and it comes with English subtitles/dub (and unlike the US HD releases, it isn't shackled to the DVD version too for no reason). I don't usually buy blu-rays as JP imports because of the excessive price but WoH is worth it.

Just watch the region codes. I can't actually see a region code on mine but don't a UK drive to confirm.

R
 
Rui said:
Talking about it vaguely is ok.
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Ok.

Thor strike many blows against the might of animation by sending storage breaking items to many destinations. Only by going on a journey to Tokyo online can you find these mighty attacks with ease. Watching Thor harm animation has at times made my storage unit unable to hold item fully.
 
Just Passing Through said:
Exactly, my point is technically inferior old fashioned techniques give a better end product in terms of detail and resolution than modern techniques which are limited by their medium.
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I agree on this one, i do like the use and style of modern anime, it has opened up a gateway of opportunities that would seem near impossible to accomplish by hand. Though i admit i have yet to see a HD film, the cell paintings of such classic anime gives a more mellow tone and aesthetic visual then say to modern anime
I'm sure a lot of you that like watching classic anime, like ayase, understand what i mean
 
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