FUNimation Channel Goes High-Definition

[Adv1sor]

FUNimation Channel Goes High-Definition

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... ition-feed

[MOD 258: Removed the self pimping blog spam for a more reliable source, since this thread can potentially spur a worthy discussion.]

[mirkosp]

Saw the news on ANN earlier on and had to laugh and link in #AMV.
My reaction was:

>>FUNIMATION
>>HIGH DEFINITION

Considering the vast majority of Funi BDs are upscale, I wonder just what is going to be HD on this channel...

[post-it]

.. Considering the vast majority of Funi BDs are upscale, I wonder just what is going to be HD on this channel...

that all depends on who dub's them!
MangaCorp leaves the Plazma encodes "As-Is" ..
Vandread I & II
Kiddy Grade
Magic Users Club
Zeirum
does this look 4:3 to you? and its .. how old?
too bad Funi and DiC write their own rules. I mean, who wants to see the Originals in 4:3 anyways
No One

[mirkosp]

I'm not talking about aspect ratio, but detail. A lot of shows are 16:9 but SD regardless. I'm talking about upscales, here... and even Blu-rays can be released at 4:3, so some things are HD but 4:3 anyway.

[post-it]

. I'm wondering if the problem is "the DVD encoders" themselves!

. I've seem extremely crisp and clean shows with very-fine detailing made over the past few years
which never needed to be up-scaled because the detailing was encoded correctly - right from the start.
. you could tell that it was a slow-encoding method, everything looked great ^_^ .
. but lately, well -- for an example, when I played Disney's Tinkerbell Blue-Rays for the kids;
the picture actually looked "washed-out" and "fuzzy." The guys didn't notice anything and I think
its just because they don't see what we see .. let alone, they were not looking for details.

. It could be possible that "we, at this org" have been dealing in "details sooo much" that we have
become too critical in our judgements on everything. True, up-scaling does not clear-up a poor
encode nor will it sharpen the original image already encoded. of course, if they had encoded
the original correctly in the first place, there would be no reason to up-scale it! . just like the TV
Stations are wasting our time and money trying to get DTV to come-in without drop's-in-the-signal
using currently-purchased-antennas-with-boosters for ASTC-TV reception. but that's off topic.

. If THAT is the argument, up-scaling for added detailing then; your right -- they're wasting our time and money by doing such.

[mirkosp]

Funination is re-releasing in BD shows that they had already done on DVD, and most of these shows are just upscaled from the DVD... and these same shows will be aired on this supposedly "HD" channel. This is why I'm saying that "high definition" is mostly a joke description for such a channel. Notice how I say mostly, because, well, some shows are HD (for example, darker than black is 540p in the Japanese BDs, so I'd assume Funi got those masters, which are at least better than a 480p).

[BasharOfTheAges]

Better them up-scaling and possibly doing some minor filtering than relying on your TV to do the upscale for you - or, more likely, having the channel fade into obscurity as more and more of the market stops caring about stations that aren't HD.

[mirkosp]

Better them up-scaling

Like this? http://a.imageshack.us/img13/8917/claymore01.jpg (Same-old picture of Funi's Claymore BD, can't just get enough)

and possibly doing some minor filtering

Oh, you mean stuff like this: http://a.imageshack.us/img203/8254/up41259.png (FLCL BD upscale as done by Gainax using "top of the market" Q-TEC technology, same upscale technology that Funi uses, AFAIK)

than relying on your TV to do the upscale for you

I might just take the TV upscale at this point...

- or, more likely, having the channel fade into obscurity as more and more of the market stops caring about stations that aren't HD.

By that point in the future I'd hope they'd have acquired enough actual HD series to show those, at least.
And anime is enough of a niche market that only people interested in it would really follow the channel, and it's not like there are many alternative choices, I'd believe.

[BasharOfTheAges]

Future? None of my friends (at least) watch anything that isn't in the HD channel range already... Been that way for a couple of years now. My brother and cousin had no idea they even got the anime network until someone pointed it out to them a few months back - it wasn't in the HD range, so it wasn't there in their minds.

[mirkosp]

Heh, I keep forgetting that Italy is behind America as far as HD broadcast is concerned. Over here HD broadcast is only available on some Sky (satellite Pay per View TV) channels and on occasion there is a RAI HD channel for certain things... and that's about it, AFAIK. >_>