Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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Havoks
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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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Terasawa
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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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Man, Ultra Q looks awesome, but that's about all I've got. Not very inspiring reviews.
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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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Is there a particular reason that the older show of Ultra Q seems to look so great while Ultraman doesn't? One just being better preserved than the other....or one being properly restored/remastered than the other? Something in the production technique?
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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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Chrispy_G wrote:Is there a particular reason that the older show of Ultra Q seems to look so great while Ultraman doesn't? One just being better preserved than the other....or one being properly restored/remastered than the other? Something in the production technique?
Ultraman was primarily shot on 16mm (vs. 35mm for Q) but that wouldn't explain the awful image quality here. It looks to me like Mill Creek used an SD upscale for some reason; Q is undeniably an HD master though.
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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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What, did Tsuburaya just not provide them with their Blu-Ray transfers or something?

Disappointing, but not to the extent that it'll affect my purchase. It's not $164 or anything, $21.72 for what's technically an "upgrade" is fine.
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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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UltramanGoji wrote:What, did Tsuburaya just not provide them with their Blu-Ray transfers or something?
Or possibly this is what the show looks like on Blu-ray in Japan. Does anyone have those discs, or screenshots thereof?
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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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I thought Mill Creek announced they would be using all the original masters provided by tsuburaya? I have no idea if this was what the Japanese Blu-ray looked like so I have nothing to base this release off besides the DVD’s.
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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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I found some samples of the Japanese BRs online (can't post links to them due to the no-bootleg policy), they're not perfect as none of the shots in the review are from the same episodes as the samples but hopefully the give some idea of the differences:

https://i1.wp.com/www.doblu.com/wp-cont ... .png?ssl=1
Mill Creek release
https://i.gyazo.com/b3bf4f78aecd56b9ff5 ... 7953bb.png
Japanese release

Sorry if the screenshots are crappy, if anyone wants a more in-depth analysis I can PM them the links to the samples.
Last edited by UltramanGoji on Sat Oct 12, 2019 10:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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UltramanGoji wrote:I found some samples of the Japanese BRs online (can't post links to them due to the no-bootleg policy), they're not perfect as none of the shots in the review are from the same episodes as the samples but hopefully the give some idea of the differences:

https://i1.wp.com/www.doblu.com/wp-cont ... .png?ssl=1
Mill Creek release
https://i.gyazo.com/b3bf4f78aecd56b9ff5 ... 7953bb.png
Japanese release

Sorry if the screenshots are crappy, if anyone wants a more in-depth analysis I can PM them the links to the samples.
I wouldn’t mind taking a closer look at those once I get off work. Give it a good ol analysis and see any noticeable differences as the screenshots you posted seem very similar.
Last edited by Havoks on Sat Oct 12, 2019 10:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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Hard telling with the Japanese screenshot in the form of a sub-DVD resolution image.
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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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Yeah, had a feeling my screenshot wouldn't make up for it. I can PM you guys the samples (they're Google Drive links so hopefully it works).
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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

Post by omgitsgodzilla »

[Reign of Hirohito Audiovisual Media] offers preview files of their discs, which are sourced from the Japanese sets. They do look pretty much like what DoBlu describes.

I guess this answers the question of what Mill Creek/Tsuburaya will do when they get to series that haven't received HD transfers yet.

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Last edited by omgitsgodzilla on Sun Oct 13, 2019 2:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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I compared my Japanese blu rips to the screenshots and the old Mill Creek DVDs last night. Definitely the same base masters for all three but also definitely not an upscale. The HEAVY compression and interlacing of the DVDs makes them a far less enjoyable experience. The HD versions may not be mind-blowing but they're still one of the best representations of television from this genre.

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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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Xenofauna wrote:I compared my Japanese blu rips to the screenshots and the old Mill Creek DVDs last night. Definitely the same base masters for all three but also definitely not an upscale. The HEAVY compression and interlacing of the DVDs makes them a far less enjoyable experience. The HD versions may not be mind-blowing but they're still one of the best representations of television from this genre.
Would you say it’s well worth the price point? I didn’t really take issue when I saw Ultramans 10 minute preview, actually thought it looked pretty good.
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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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Absolutely. It's less than $25 and even if the transfer isn't relavatory, assuming it really is the same as the rips I have, it's still one of THE best presentations of this era of this genre of television. The original Mill Creek DVDs are much more heavily compressed, have awful interlacing, and the subtitles are crazy out of sync on some if the episodes.

Plus it's Ultraman. Any self-respecting kaiju fan who hasn't seen it absolutely needs to.
Last edited by Xenofauna on Mon Oct 14, 2019 2:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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If the 10 minute preview of Ultraman’s first episode is anything to go by, then I’ll say the HD remaster is indeed softer than expected but I’ll second Xenofauna in saying that it blows the pants off the previous release.

That said, it still kinda sucks that we’re getting another barebones release, considering that this is a fan-assisted push to get the franchise going here.
Last edited by Millenial88 on Mon Oct 14, 2019 3:04 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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I'd imagine the Japanese-produced bonus features are being held back by Tsuburaya to incentivize further purchases of their $600 domestic releases though.

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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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Yeah, Japan has a serious importing problem and home media is generally not as successful over there as it is here. That's also probably why most R1 Toho films are barebones as well.
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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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Sad truth really. As long as the US and Japan share Blu-Ray regions, and as long as Japanese Blus are more expensive, barebones releases for us will be the status quo. We might as well be back in the VHS/first run of Classic Media releases era, really.

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Re: Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

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At least for Toho, all special features must be cleared before being licensed for international use; apparently this is to establish royalties for anyone who appears in them. (This includes commentaries, documentaries, trailers, and even photographs.)
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