Eva Renewal NewType review + Pictures

ErMaC · Post by **ErMaC** » Fri Feb 21, 2003 3:34 am

OK, I just posted this in the slashdot thread so I figure I'd post it here too...
Well, for those in the know, the March issue of Newtype Magazine is out in Japan, I managed to snag a copy of it. Why? Because the sampler DVD includes a special section devoted entirely to the Eva Renewal project.

Here's what it has:
1) Remastered Opening
2) First Half of Episode One with Left Half of the screen Remastered, right side from original telecine with a white line running down the center.
3) Second Half of Episode One Remasters (with a little watermark in the top corner).
4) Remastered Ending of Episode One

So I've seen first hand the Eva remaster... spent the last hour rewatching it. It is AWESOME.

First off - the box set being released by GAiNAX is RAW JAPANESE in REGION 2. There are NO English Subs! Second, the price is extremely good for a boxset of this size (11 discs) in Japanese prices (actual boxset price is 39,800yen). Considering the poor shmucks who bought the Second Impact Box sets a year ago paid more than 50% more than that to get everything that's in this box - and not remastered - I'd say this is a bloody good deal.

The remastering process was two fold - first off, the entire show was re-telecined from film source and then digitally cleaned up. This means no frame jitters, no bad telecining, no bad coloring. It looks gorgeous. The colors are vibrant and clean enough it looks like digital cel work at times. And if you've seen my homepage - you know I've worked a lot with Eva's video... and the difference is like night and day.

The second part of the remastering process is all the audio is being redone in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. I can't comment on this myself as I haven't watched it on a full 5.1 speaker setup, but it already sounds clearer, and my home theater nut friend who also got the disc tells me it sounds fantastic. I'll take his word on it as he's one of those anime fans where if there's ANYTHING wrong he makes a stink about it.

Now if you want to see this for yourself, buy the March issue of Newtype Magazine (NOT the US version!! It's not in that POS) or wait for the Evangelion Test Type 01 disc to come out. It's a sampler disc of the whole remastered first episode with a couple extras for less than $20. If it's not good enough to spend your money on, you don't have to get it.
I own all the Region 1 Eva TV DVDs from ADV, I own the Region 2 imports of the Movies and Vol 6 (the re-edited episodes 21-24). I'm still buying this thing - it's that good.
I've taken the time to capture some samples off the disc (digitally of course).
You can check them out here, but PLEASE go easy on my server. If someone could mirror the pics please do so.
http://www.ermacstudios.org/EvaRenewal/

Madzack · Post by **Madzack** » Fri Feb 21, 2003 10:27 am

Any good reasons for Gainax to "renew" EVA, other than cashing in?

MAS PRODUCTIONS · Post by **MAS PRODUCTIONS** » Fri Feb 21, 2003 10:39 am

They did a pretty good job remastering the series. Really my only grip with eva was its bad quality video that was released domestically but the remastered version looks so much better.

wwb23 · Post by **wwb23** » Fri Feb 21, 2003 1:03 pm

it might be better, but i still don't speak japanese. so, i guess i keep with the old one, huh?

FATTY_VM · Post by **FATTY_VM** » Fri Feb 21, 2003 1:14 pm

Damn .. why couldnt our version have it too?! NooOOOoooooooo i blame bush.

Jiima · Post by **Jiima** » Fri Feb 21, 2003 2:00 pm

So... This means... *whimper* No remastered version in the U.S.? *tears flow like Niagara* Why!?!? OH GOD, WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He Thor01 · Post by **He Thor01** » Fri Feb 21, 2003 2:16 pm

I remember dropping almost $200.00 to buy EVA on VHS almost two years ago, then just last month I spent $175.00 for the supposedly "updated" DVD version. Now there is a far superior version in existence.

NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is no god, other than the one in EVA, so there is no god otherwise.

RadicalEd0 · Post by **RadicalEd0** » Fri Feb 21, 2003 2:55 pm

;_;

awesome...

I WANT ONE
damnit >_< that really rocks, I'll have to save up and buy it. If for nothing other than the damn telecine fix. Anyway, what are you guys worried about with the dub? Get the redone eps, grab the dub audio track off the dvd, and remux the dub audio with the redone video. :\

ErMaC · Post by **ErMaC** » Fri Feb 21, 2003 3:37 pm

Also for those interested -

Decomb IVTC's the Opening sequence perfectly.

Good times.

Chaos Angel · Post by **Chaos Angel** » Fri Feb 21, 2003 3:48 pm

RadicalEd0 wrote: Anyway, what are you guys worried about with the dub? Get the redone eps, grab the dub audio track off the dvd, and remux the dub audio with the redone video. :\

But there's still no English subtitles... ::sadness::