Japanese R2s

[Kionon]

Just due to wait times alone, we usually advocate using Japanese R2s for unreleased materials. However, since moving to Japan, I can only purchase R2s, and have repurchased a few series I really like on R2. And so far, what I am seeing is this:

Higher Price
Lack of Extras

but also

Significantly higher quality

Especially when it comes to older series, I am amazed by the quality difference. Even from American companies that are known for really trying to get it right. So far the best example is the new Kimagure Orange Road R2 remasters, which is what prompted this post. AnimEigo was generally regarded as the best pre-remaster release, and I know from following the production at AE, that they spent a great deal of time and effort on cleaning it up. But really, it is no comparison. The quality of the Japanese R2s are... well... they don't even appear to need filtering at all. I have found my other Japanese R2s (now probably a third of my collection) to be of similar high quality.

Has anyone gotten ahold of bad or terrible Japanese R2 releases, or has everyone else had similar experiences?

[Castor Troy]

Sounds like my experience with R2's.

Great quality, lack of decent extras, and shitty menus.

[LantisEscudo]

I occasionally check out the bitrates of what my DVDs are encoded at, and I've found that almost all of my R2s are encoded with a far higher bitrate than my R1s. My R2s are usually averaging over 7mbit, while my R1s are usually hovering in the 4-5 mbit range, so that might play a role in the higher quality we see on R2s.

That said, I have got a couple R2s that have some issues. The original release of Gunbuster, for example, which had a LOT of telecine jitter (even worse than the original R1 Evangelion), but there was a remastered version that came out about a year and a half later that fixed all of that and looked impeccable. The original release of Macross: Do You Remember Love had its own interesting issue in the interlacing pattern, which looked fine on an analog TV, but on an LCD monitor or projector, showed all kinds of lines. Again, a remastered version is available. And the DVDs of Idol Defense Force Hummingbird have some frame blending, especially in the first two episodes, but that was a pretty early DVD release, so inexperience probably played into that one, but it's not a popular enough series to have had the demand for a remaster.

All of my issues have been with older releases of older series, so you'd be pretty unlikely to run into the same ones on releases of any recent series.

[LittleAtari]

I've never bought an R2 before, but I've recently been looking into some pretty old anime that I wonder how their R2 version would look like. Also finding some really bad problems in some of my R1 DVDs is starting to get to me (like being able to actually see interlace when watching FMP on TV). Obviously, I dont live in Japan and I dont know Japanese either. Are there any English Websites/Places that sell R2s. I also guess I should be also asking if R2s usually have English subtitles because if they dont, then there isnt much of a point in getting them.

[JudgeHolden]

And all this is the reason there are only 2 eps per disk and they cost 50 dollars. U.S. companies are currently heading the other direction by trying to shove as many eps on a disk as they can, to both lower the price and in turn fight against Chinese bootleggers. I mean look at the new trend in the United States. The series are now either being released as a "complete collection" from the get go, or in a part 1 and then a part 2. Some of the new packaging looks like it was designed by the same bootleggers they are trying to fight.

[Bauzi]

@Kionon:

Could you show us some screenshots from your Kimagure Orange Road dvd?

[JaddziaDax]

The series are now either being released as a "complete collection" from the get go, or in a part 1 and then a part 2. Some of the new packaging looks like it was designed by the same bootleggers they are trying to fight.

Fecking Funimation! Dammit I woulda bought Host Club in individual DVDs even with its completely shitty dub job >:[

[outlawed]

MOTHER FSCKING exchange rate. Please stay above 100 to da doller I am begging you.

That is all.

[Kionon]

@Kionon:

Could you show us some screenshots from your Kimagure Orange Road dvd?

Sure, first I am going to show you the difference between the Choose Me opening, since it has so much noise and stuff. You can really see the difference in stark terms, then I'll post pictures from within an episode. Note that these are unfiltered. What you see is what DGindex shows.

[Qyot27]

Not to mention one other thing: with R2s, PCM audio tracks are common, particularly with those 2-episodes-per-disk scenarios. I wouldn't really take that as an example of superb mastering, though, because PCM audio tracks on DVDs are restricted to stereo (for good reason, being that the bitrate for multichannel PCM isn't even feasible for DVD-Audio bandwidth*, but nonetheless). And really, for the space savings in using AC3 over PCM, they could have included extras.

But yeah, the video is often far superior to what American domestic releases possess.



*Well, I'm so sure about 16bit/48kHz/5.1, as lossless multichannel on DVD-Audio seems to tend toward 24bit instead, although I would expect that 16 is also too much.