Video quality

[kodaikun]

I just purchased the 1st "Special Edition" set and while I'm impressed with the quality of the goods - the box art is sweet, the DVDs aren't bad, and the book it top-notch..... The VIDEO quality however, is horrendous!

My video, on both discs, all episodes. is grainy, and looks like you're watching on an old rabbit-ear tv. This quality issue is seen on my PS3, DVD player, and my computer. I have this series in RAW form on my computer, and they are clear as day, NO grainy / snowy video, so it's Not "how it was produced originally.".

The black is fine in the NIS logo on the start of the disc, and even the black between episodes (next time scenes) except gets grainy again when there are actual images of the show.

Does anyone else see this? Who do I contact for replacement, because this is NOT acceptable.

[bloodyaftertaste]

NISA is aware of this and there is already a disc replacement program in place. Please do some research before going off.

http://nisamerica.com/anime/anime_replace.php

[kodaikun]

NISA is aware of this and there is already a disc replacement program in place. Please do some research before going off.

http://nisamerica.com/anime/anime_replace.php

Except your link is for Toradora and Persona, NOT Pandora Hearts, so please read before replying.

I DID do some research on this, and found that NISA claims:
The film grain effect in PandoraHearts was added by the creators and is intentional in order to give the graphics more texture and depth.

(quote taken from http://www.mania.com/nis-america-talks- ... 26233.html)

Which is fine, but the grain is too pronounced in this version, resulting in it being a distraction. It doesn't enhance anything but the viewers wish to NOT watch it, when my fan-sub or RAW versions (of the Japan DVD releases) are clear. I WANT to support the industry, which is why I purchased it, so I would like to be able to watch it.

[bloodyaftertaste]

Sorry, I didn't notice. There has been so many issues with the others and this is the first I've heard of an issue with Pandora hearts. Honestly I didn't notice any issue with it, not like with Persona. So I don't get what's so unacceptable.

Do you have a screenshot to show us what you are talking about?

[kodaikun]

I hear ya. I wanted to get the Toradora! set myself, but have reservations due to the earlier problems. While they may have addressed it, I still have to wonder how many of the "bad" versions are still floating around.

As for screenshots, the couple I took look far darker in the picture, than they do on the screen itself. Go figure. But I'll put one up anyway.

Pandora.JPG (47.47 KiB) Viewed 2148 times

The opening sequence - look how "snowy" it looks. That's not right.

Pandora2.JPG (51.92 KiB) Viewed 2148 times

The picture shows how "uneven" the grain effect is. I'm guessing it's "intent" is to lighten up the background a bit, to bring some things out better, but the way it looks, it looks like it's overdone.

Like I said, I have the fansubs and RAWs of the Japanese DVDs, and while the picture IS lighter than the broadcast version was, it's not like this. It is even lightening / grainy.

Also, I apologize if my comment back to you before seemed a-hole-ish. I'm not trying to be that way. Especially since I just started posting here.

[bloodyaftertaste]

It's ok. We both seemed a bit rude. But I think we have an understanding now

Anyways I do see what your talking about. Not to make you do more work tho do you have a screen of the fansubbed or your raw file so I can have something to compare it to?

[kodaikun]

Ok, these 2 pics are the same point in episode 3,the first is the fansub-DVD version, the second is the NISA version. You can see in the 1st that the picture is supposed to have the "cloudy" look to it, which is the intent, but it's SMOOTH, unlike the bottom one, which is more choppy looking.

Again though, the screen capture from my NISA DVD is darker than what you see on the video itself, it's seriously like snow. You would swear something wasn't connected properly.

DVD2.jpg (13.56 KiB) Viewed 2130 times

dvd2a.JPG (40.95 KiB) Viewed 2130 times

[Shizuka]

I'm sorry, but if that's indeed true, the DVD quality looks awful, be it intentional or not. I wouldn't buy a DVD if the quality looks worse than anywhere else.

[bloodyaftertaste]

Indeed that looks worse. I should check my discs at some point and see if they are as bad as yours.

[kodaikun]

Well, at least you see it now. If you've never seen the series before, you just might NOT notice, though honestly, I don't know how someone could miss it, it's pretty blatant. Like I said, you think the capture looks bad, it's a whole lot WORSE on the tv / computer monitor.

So now what to do? I don't WANT to return the set, it's truly a nice piece, from the box, to the included book, to the slipcases the DVDs are in, but c'mon, they're unwatchable IMO, and NISA doesn't seem to think there is a problem.

[SjSharks182]

O.o Toradora isn't like this right?...... Although since this was released after TDRA than odds are bad ugh.....

[bloodyaftertaste]

If you look at the pre-order for Vol 2 it has this:

Special Notice: The film grain effect in PandoraHearts was added by the creators and is intentional in order to give the graphics more texture and depth.

So they are saying that it's in there on purpose

[XerxesBreak]

Did this issue ever get fixed? I was pondering buying the DVDs, but if the quality of them is like that, I don't know if I would want to buy it anymore. Is hulu's quality of the DVD or raw?