Horo Blu-ray vs DTV Comparison
- Categories: Anime, News
- Date: Feb 1, 2009 12:27 JST
- Tags: Blu-ray, Comparison, DVD Extras, Horo, Spice and Wolf, TV
Sage Horo is with us in a special limited edition Blu-ray box set, and to see just how much detail it is now possible to ogle her tail in, 2channers have provided this fine comparison image.
The top is the Blu-ray, below that is the terrestrial digital, below that the “up-convert”, and finally the abominable up-sized standard definition. Obviously you will need to scrutinise this completely expanded.
You can see the 6mb png here.
A little bit of caution is needed in looking at the three below the BD; the artefacts around the labels indicate they have come from a jpg source (though this comparison is saved as a lossless png, and the BD is clearly pristine).
However, you can easily make out the differences in any case. If not, get a bigger monitor: I can say it is night and day on a 27.
Refer back also to the Index BD comparison…
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Meh, I dunno. It's not like Blu-Ray quality makes that much difference in shows by IMAGIN. ;)
It doesn't work wonders and can only enhance the mediocre visuals by a certain amount.
Great show though, waiting in anticipation for the 2nd season by Brains Base.
there will be a 2nd season!? o_o
*grins*
Spice and Wold is seeeew shit gaiz, come on you can't polish a turd amirite
being a fag, am I doing it right?
Prefer the Blu-ray myself.
Anyone know if the blu-ray version has english subs, otherwise no way in hell, as I might consider it?
Jay Christ, ALMIGHTLY, that pic took a while to load...
Being allergic to both large filesizes and large pricetags, the only major fault I care about in the upconvert is that the colors are a little bright.
Which brings up the question: why does my free OEM WinDVD upconvert to my cheap Samsung LCD monitor better than my friggin' espensive Sony PS3 to my 50" Panasonic Plasma?
(Not that not having Spice and Wolf in HD bother me much, as I'll probably spend most my time with the series looking at still pictures of 'certain' fanarts and doujins.)
Any replies may or may not parallel my sarcasm.
Blu-Ray wins with ease.
Although saying that, it looks like another upscaled release. Either that or the JPEG compression kicking in. Hard to tell really unless you have PNG screens.
Not that hard to tell. It's obviously upscaled and because of that totally worthless.
Ah, I missed the PNG provided. Yeah, does look like another upscale job. The lack of detail for her eyes and the general rough, blurred nature of overall character image give it away.
Still, it looks better than all the other examples, but I think I'll stick to the less expensive R2J's.
There's a PNG link in the article.
The show was an 1280x720 production.
It's an "upscale" from 1280x720 to 1920x1080, if that's what you mean.
"However, you can easily make out the differences in any case. If not, get a bigger monitor: I can say it is night and day on a 27."
You're missing out on the condensed awesome that a 30" is by comparison.
The grass is always greener on blueray.
I prefer everything about HD though, except the grass.
Holy hell, they added more pasture in the background! I'm definitely buying this.
Blu-Ray wins hands-down, naturally. But Horo is awesome no matter what format she's in!
Don't see much of a difference. The background has more definition but that just seems to be due to the fact that the green has better contrast then the brown, as opposed to any real noticeable quality difference.
Also the blue ray is too dark (grass looks great but character looks a little dull/muted)
why blu ray a show with shitty animation?
specifically to piss _you_ off, obviously
The blu ray ones sure looks nice
YOU FGTS JUST CANT UNDERSTAND THE DEEPNESS OF LEARNING HOW TO BE A MERCHANT WITH A FUCKING WOLD GOD. SO UNCULTURED, I SWEAR.
srsly though, go back to Lucky Star.
But Blu-Ray really does become incredibly nice looking. On a show like Spice and Wolf, I could care less about amazing details, since that is not its focus. On the other hand something like, say, Kara no Kyoukai, I would pretty much be forced to watch that in Blu-Ray if given the opportunity.
lern 2 spul plz
WOLD
ZA WOLDOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
<3 blu ray.. but for 350 USD...i'd go with HD
Just that the story is not action-fulled like other anime.
Go read the novel!
Definitely a difference. Going up from 480i to 1080p, you see the colors become richer, and the animation is a lot crisper. Great improvement.
P.S.: series doesn't suck.
And there we have the reason why I SPIT on people whining on fansubbers to release worthless SD resolutions with aged XviD encoding in a crappy .avi container.
Buy new computers that can playback h264 encoded HD (even the three computers I had before this one could do that...and my laptops...) or stick to the anime of the past century where you and your computer belong.
I agree that people shouldn't whine to fansubbers to release SD stuff. Not because SD is obsolete, because it isn't (iPhone can't do HD yet can it?) But because there is plenty of software available to perform this conversion for you.
And here we have the reason why one should SHIT on elitist like Narcissist, who thinks the world only revolve around themselves.
Don't be an idiot all your life alright?
You see, I'm poor as shit and I can still afford a pc that can play H264 fine. 1080p is kinda pushing it, but unless I move around scenes, it plays fine.
So, I still don't understand why people whine about making people release XviD....
Or you could just be grateful that you're getting something for nothing?
Cause I totally want to watch all my anime in HD. I agree that HD does look better but that doesn't mean I want to watch everything in HD. Hell, a good portion of people (like you mentioned) can't even play HD. I'm sorry that they can't buy new computers, but that's the way it goes.
New Druaga is out? Awesome, time for some 1920x1020 glory. New Munto TV is out? I don't give a shit how it looks. I like having the option of HD but that doesn't mean SD is automatically obsolete (Although it will be after a certain period of time). If you don't like it, just ignore it.
Thanks for mentioning Druaga.
Seems to be a great anime. Will check it out.
~_^
Complain all you want, but he's right. If you can't afford to use h264, then it's your own fault. Just because you don't have an up to date computer is no reason for fansubbers to cater to you. You are the minority.
If they release something in xvid, good for you, but complaining about someone not releasing in xvid is idiotic. It is outdated and has no value outside of your ability to play it, which, believe it or not, isn't the top concern of most people. You are the one at fault, not the fansubber.
There's also always the option of re-encoding into SD yourself if you really can't get it work, it's not hard at all, but most people don't even consider this option.
But agreed, most people who complain are just too lazy or dumb to make the h264 releases work. A 1Ghz CPU with the right codecs installed suffices to play most 720p anime content. And what really pisses me off is people complaining about a superior container (mkv is evil, choppy playback!!!11) when it has absolutely nothing to do with their problem...
I think 1GHz CPU is barely enough to play h.264 720p content... Depending on the encoder setting, it could be playable on 1GHz CPU or it can be really choppy. The more you use the advanced feature, the more it would tax your CPU.
And not all processor created equally... a 1.3GHz P4 is slower than Athlon or P3 at 1GHz. And I believe some tech site already benchmark Atom N270 (typical netbook processor at 1.6GHz) and it can't play 720p content smoothly.
Although some think that upgrading is cheap, but it's different between people. Most people that can't play h.264 720p probably have old computer that kinda waste of money to upgrade it. They probably have the money for new processor, but those cheap new processor need new motherboard and memory.. not to mention new graphic card...
Since they have an old PC, re-encoding a show probably means multiple hours for a 25minutes anime...
And SD is all the rage this days with those phones and PSPs out there... It wouldn't hurt for the fansubbers to put SD release. But still, if a certain group won't release anime in avi or other format, then people should respect it.
You're right, it depends on the CPU architecture as well as on the encoding and the content itself. That's why I said most anime content (live action and certain kinds of CG will most likely be near-unplayable). Still, many 720p releases play back quite well on my 1GHz Athlon (not my main machine, lol) using CoreAVC with in-loop deblocking disabled.
I disagree on the part of the re-encoding to SD taking multiple hours. It's not like you need to do some fancy filtering, a simple Xvid 2-pass encode of 24mins won't take much longer than an hour or so, even on a Celeron.
Also, by encoding yourself you can make sure that the file meets all requirements to be playable on your mobile, rather than annoying the hell out of fansubbers by whining about their release being incompatible with whatever device you have.
*nods*
Hardware acceleration [http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/avivo-hd-purevideo,1711-13.html] is all that most people need, if that still isn't sufficient you might want to consider buying a new PC after not doing so for many years.. not like it's expensive either [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102812]
Wonder how many of the people complaining about choppy playback actually installed their videocard driver.
Can't agree with the statement about the show sucking though, Horo is one my favs.. how can you not love that smile in the picture!
Ontopic:
YaY for blu-ray.. and aren't all images altered? The SD is too small and the blu-ray is too big if the source was 1080p (Googled a bit but can't confirm there is non-upscaled 1080p out).
Now you can watch the suck that is Spice & Wolf in the glory that is Blu-ray.
Ouch
As the Horo-fanboy I am I completely hate you right now.
But I guess not everyone will like an anime that centers around trading.
Horo FTW
He has somewhat at point (via my LOGIC), since I don't think I'd be paying the series much attention if it weren't for the immodesty that is Horo.
OPINIONS?!
I LOL'D.
Ohhhh, isn't he cuuuuuuute! He think's he's trolling! Well, sorry to say, but I'm afraid it just didn't work out this time. Soooooo sooooorry. You may want to try after you graduated from puberty.
I don't agree that Onsokumaru was trolling, just stating his opinion.
But he succeeded in formulating himself in a way that attracts lot of hate from Horo-fans. But maybe it was intentional.
What?
He was merely pointing out that Spice&Wolf is fucking bollocks?
Agreed,its a good animation also like anonymous said its a good split from the conventional fantasy animation, you fool YOU Onsokumaru sir/ma'am are a jerk!
it's a bit different from the normal anime line...but I think it's a nice split from what is conventional
:)
Yeah, LOL. "You may want to try after you graduated from puberty."? XD
hi. may you burn in hell.
OH SHIT thats funny
That has got to be one of the most funniest greetings I've ever heard.
BURNS!!!
n00b people ar n00b... lol
Somehow, when I saw the background, I thought of "grass is always greener at the other side".
"Other side", being the Blu-Ray version in this case.
The Blu-ray makes quite a difference. Too bad it's such a boring anime. The only good thing it had was Horo.
Boring?
I found InuYasha boring - it went on for 150 episodes, where 10 episodes could pass and the overall plot and character development didn't progress at all.
I found Dragonball Z boring - it was a whole lot of noise signifying nothing.
But I found Spice and Wolf refreshing. It solved problems in clever, almost realistic ways, instead of the fight scenes of predictable outcome found in most anime. Violence was a last resort, as it is in real life, and it was almost a shame that Horo had to transform and use violence in two episodes instead of Lawrence thinking his way out.
Let's not forget the valuable lessons in medieval economics!
I'm kinda shocked to see the up-converted image look so shoddy, my experience with my own up-converter is much better.
And while I love Spice and Wolf $350 for a LE package of a 13ep series is a bit much.
Simulations of upconverted DVD rarely reflect the quality we see, because there's more than one way to upconvert. A $2000 Denon AVR will blow away a $99 Samsung upconverting DVD player. Even the right codecs on a PC can make a significant difference.
Huh, I actually enjoyed the anime quite a bit. I guess I'm in the minority. The blue ray is noticeably better - the colors and especially the background details.
The Blue-ray looks like the contrast and brightness has been turned down when compared to the HDTV broadcast. If you weren't scrutinizing them side by side, it would be pretty hard to tell the difference.
Up contrast looks bad, partially because upscaling algorithms perform very poorly on things with high contrasts and absolute lines (aka anime). SD is just bad...
I don't see much of a difference.
:/
My Eyesight is getting worse and worse as time goes on!
T_T
I should probably mention that my eyesight is really bad.
On further review, I don't see much of a difference other than colors.
To be honest, I like the HD colors more than the Blu-Ray colors.
Same here, the Blu-ray one seems a bit darker. HD>Blu-ray for me in this case.
The Blu-Ray will always looks nice. Imagine the data that they've packed into that thing for HD goodness
Blu-ray looks to dark, but could just be my eyes/moniter, Id go with HD, its cheaper :P
i like the darker version and im not all for blue-ray so i guess its really just personal preference. but i guess i could just buy hd and dim it down. or bright your screen for blue-ray
I am thinking the same thing. I prefer the HD one more.