Gundam SEED DVD Vol 1. For August?

[Silver_Scorcher]

http://previews.diamondcomics.com/pr..._msg_seed.html

According to this link, Gundam SEED Vol 1. Grim Reality is scheduled for distribution in August. It's 5 eps at $29.95 US and a Limited Edition for $59.95 US. I figured that it would start in September but hey if it really is August, it's all good. Seeing as it is 50 episodes, I'd imagine that Bandai would do 10 to 12 volumes.

[Griffith]

Wow, 5 episodes per disc? I was expecting 3 or 4 at the most. I'll definetly be buying the series now, probably the limited edition, at that.

[brightman]

Originally Posted by Griffith

Wow, 5 episodes per disc? I was expecting 3 or 4 at the most. I'll definetly be buying the series now, probably the limited edition, at that.

Gundam TV series generally have 5 per disc... After all there are 50 episodes...

[Griffith]

Yeah, that does make sense. I wasn't sure of the episode count though, since I've never bought any Gundam DVD's before and I thought Seed was around 52 episodes till I read this.

[srb]

The Japanese edition is ar 13 or 14 volumes, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if they released it like that in the US. Bandai, not make money and strangle the fans, since when!?

[Silver_Scorcher]

Originally Posted by srb

The Japanese edition is ar 13 or 14 volumes, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if they released it like that in the US. Bandai, not make money and strangle the fans, since when!?

I doubt it. Japanese anime DVD's tend to have no more than 3 to 4 eps per disc. It may seem like stretching it out in a way, but from what I've heard, they're generally cheaper money wise. American distro's (Who still charge alot of money for anime DVD's) for the most part seem to have gotten it into there heads that when it comes to DVD's, episode count is slightly more important than extras and the like. I was hoping that Bandai would do SEED like the way they did with G Gundam (3 or 4 mini boxed sets containing 3 DVD's each), to speed up the distribution.

As of now, Bandai releases a volume for a particular anime every 2 months. I hope they don't do that with SEED, cuz if they do, it'll take 2 years to finish getting them all. While I'm a bug Gundam fan, oddly enough this'll be the first Gundam series that I'll actually buy. I saw Wing on YTV and recorded it on tape (Canadian offshoot of Cartoon Network), and I have vol 1 and 2 of the original Gundam movies as well as Char's Counterattack, but they don't count to me. I'll also get the Zeta Boxed set and Gundam F-91 as well. Anyone have any idea when F-91 comes out?

[srb]

I think F-91 is still TBA 2004.

And don't underestimate the greediness of Bandai, bless their Gundam-owning hearts :P

Still, until Bandai releases Turn A and X I'm not going to change my attitude towards them, but when they do I'll just keep quiet and accept the things they give me... It's like a Slave/Master-relationship, and we're not the ones holding the leash my Gundam-liking friend.

[Silver_Scorcher]

Well, F-91 is supposed to be shown in some theatres this month. I guess if that's the case, the DVD should come out by the end of summer. As for Gundam X and Turn A... As much as I love Gundam X (My favourite Gundam to date) I doubt that Bandai will ever officially license it any time soon. I know they have to rights to it, but they may not license it for a while, mainly due to the fact that it's been proven to be quite unpopular in Japan. Gundam ZZ seems like the most obvious series to be licensed next, with Victory Gundam not too far away either. I can bet that Turn A Gundam will come out before Gundam X does. Anyways with the rest of the U.C Gundams to get out of the way, and a possible sequel to Gundam SEED (That will probably be licensed as soon as it came out), series like Turn A and X will be buried deep inside Bandai's treasure chest, and most likely won't come out any time soon.

[Kyuven]

Originally Posted by Silver_Scorcher

I doubt it. Japanese anime DVD's tend to have no more than 3 to 4 eps per disc. It may seem like stretching it out in a way, but from what I've heard, they're generally cheaper money wise

NO FREAKIN' WAY
R2's cost almost twice what we pay in the states per DVD and they get fewer episodes
which is why i stopped complaining about prices -_-

[srb]

Not really - Europe is R2 as well you know, and our domestic releases are about the same or even cheaper than the R1-releases.

Although all of my anime is R4 (Australia), since it's 30-50% cheaper than R1 releases when compared between two stores (179 Swedish kronor for one DVD volume of RahXephon AU Import at Webhallen, where I buy my anime, and 250 kronor for the same at a store in Gothenburg, US Imported.)

And no, I demand that Bandai releases Turn A and X!

Life just isn't the same without a DVD cover with White Doll and Kihel on the shelf :P

[Silver_Scorcher]

Originally Posted by Kyuven

NO FREAKIN' WAY
R2's cost almost twice what we pay in the states per DVD and they get fewer episodes
which is why i stopped complaining about prices -_-

Really? Keep in mind that, I never thought of that as a fact, I just heard it from someone. I was told that Japanese anime DVD's had no more than 3 to 4 eps per disc, and were of cheap quality. I figured that atleast Japanese R2 DVD's would be cheaper than our own R1. Well either way, I live in Canada, and for any anime made from Bandai, I have to put out $39.95 Canadian atleast. So in terms of SEED, when it's all said and done, I'll have dished out over 400 bucks! ADV is $32.95 and everyone else ranges from 35.95 to 45.95, for ONE friggin anime DVD! Bottom line is, anime DVD's are still far too expensive, and if North American distro's wanna atleast try to phase out the use of fansubs, the first thing they can do is lower their prices a bit. I can get a new domestic R1 DVD for as low as $25.95 Canadian, anime distro's could atleast bring prices down to atleast $30.

[Kyoji]

Originally Posted by Silver_Scorcher

.....I was told that Japanese anime DVD's had no more than 3 to 4 eps per disc....

i think my Bryger Vol 3 DVD has about 7 episodes on it with no special features, and my Vol 1 has 4 episodes with special features.....i think

[oDin01]

Originally Posted by Silver_Scorcher

Really? Keep in mind that, I never thought of that as a fact, I just heard it from someone. I was told that Japanese anime DVD's had no more than 3 to 4 eps per disc, and were of cheap quality. I figured that atleast Japanese R2 DVD's would be cheaper than our own R1.

Don't know where you heard that because all my R2 DVD's are far superior to the R1 counter parts. The bitrate 95% of the time is maxed out to the even sometimes going over 10 giving the audio and video side to really shine. You also have to take into consideration the packaging and extras that comes with it. 2 or 3 boxes, figurines, and an assortment of pack in extras that will never be found in R1 releases. The average anime DVD has 2 episodes per volume priced around $50. Lately there's been more collections with 5 or 6 episodes costing $100 Midori no Hibi and Baku-Tenshi.

[Melazoma]

Originally Posted by Silver_Scorcher

Really? Keep in mind that, I never thought of that as a fact, I just heard it from someone. I was told that Japanese anime DVD's had no more than 3 to 4 eps per disc, and were of cheap quality. I figured that atleast Japanese R2 DVD's would be cheaper than our own R1. Well either way, I live in Canada, and for any anime made from Bandai, I have to put out $39.95 Canadian atleast. So in terms of SEED, when it's all said and done, I'll have dished out over 400 bucks! ADV is $32.95 and everyone else ranges from 35.95 to 45.95, for ONE friggin anime DVD! Bottom line is, anime DVD's are still far too expensive, and if North American distro's wanna atleast try to phase out the use of fansubs, the first thing they can do is lower their prices a bit. I can get a new domestic R1 DVD for as low as $25.95 Canadian, anime distro's could atleast bring prices down to atleast $30.

R-2--that is, NTSC Japanese, not R-2 PAL)--DVDs are notoriously expensive, and each of these DVDs rarely contain more than two episodes, with each DVDs priced at 4000 Yen to 6000 Yen--and I'm not counting Special Editions. That is especiall true in the many 24-26 Series available. Longer shows like Saiyuki, Gundam Series', and FMA are the few exceptions where 4-episode DVDs are published, but still retain the hefty 4000 Yen-6000 Yen price tag.

Just to quote two MSRP figures of some of the most popular Anime DVD on sale in Japan, 100 Japanese Yen is roughly $1 USD

Shinkon Gattai Godannar the First Season (13 Episodes)
Regular Edition: Volume One through Five contain two Episodes each and cost 6090 Yen per DVD; The Volume Six contains three episodes and costs 7140 Yen.

Full Metal Panic! (24 Episodes)
Regular Edition: DVD Volume 1-12 each contain two episodes, and cost 6090 each.

As far as Full Metal Panic is concerned, I'd say the R-1 buyers(me included, I love my FMP! Boxset ) got the best deal at 3-4 Episodes per $20-$30 DVD.

The best way to check an NTSC R-2 price in English is at:
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/

And really, it is that expensive

Addendum:

Originally Posted by oDin01

Lately there's been more collections with 5 or 6 episodes costing $100 Midori no Hibi and Baku-Tenshi.

Yeah the Midori DVD release is freaky-looking

For roughly 12000 Yen and you get a 3-DVD Boxset jam-packed with extras. As far as the included DVDs go, you get one 1-episdoe DVD and two 2-episode DVDs in the boxset, which they are calling "Midori no Hibi DVD Vol.1"

Baku-Ten is another thing... they are doing a weird release schedule where some of the Regular-Editions(2-Episodes + 6000 Yen each, no goodies) will be released a month later than the Special-Editions, which contains 3 DVDs per Boxset and plenty of goodies. The Speicial Edition Boxsets cost 20000 Yen each--count the zeros-- and each of the Boxes will feature illustrations of one of the girls and (tentatively) contain a matching figuring. The first Box is called the "Jo" Box--guess what you get? --and is slated for a July release. The Meg, Amy, and Sei Boxes will be release over the rest of this year in that order.

[Silver_Scorcher]

Holy S**t! I knew that it's pretty expensive to live in Japan but paying up to 7000 yen for an anime DVD? Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that around $65 to $70 US? That sounds friggin ludicrous! If that's the case then I feel kinda guilty that I'm busy bitchin about how expensive anime is in Canada.

[hentai_wolf]

Originally Posted by oDin01

Don't know where you heard that because all my R2 DVD's are far superior to the R1 counter parts. The bitrate 95% of the time is maxed out to the even sometimes going over 10 giving the audio and video side to really shine. You also have to take into consideration the packaging and extras that comes with it. 2 or 3 boxes, figurines, and an assortment of pack in extras that will never be found in R1 releases. The average anime DVD has 2 episodes per volume priced around $50. Lately there's been more collections with 5 or 6 episodes costing $100 Midori no Hibi and Baku-Tenshi.

I would hope they never go over 10 since that would break the DVD spec. They do tend to be better than the R1s though. You're absolutely right about that. For example (all these are based on the first episodes of the first DVDs of the set):

Chobits:

R2 Average bitrate: 7.3 Mbps (+ 384 kbps for audio)
R1 Average bitrate: 5.8 Mbps (+ 384 kbps for audio)

What's interesting about this is that while the R2 has only 3 episodes to the R1's 4 episodes, the R1 actually has a great deal more space and could have had an even higher bitrate than the R2 because it's on a dual-layered DVD while the R2
is only on a single layer DVD. The R1 barely has over 5 gigs of data.

And of course, while the space used for the audio is the same, it should be noted that the R1 has two tracks while the R2 only has 1. Once again, there was ample room and bitrate space to have higher quality tracks in the R1.

Azumanga Daioh:

R2 Average bitrate: 7.2 Mbps (+ 448 kbps for audio)
R1 Average bitrate: 5.2 Mbps (+ 672 kbps for audio)

Obviously the R1 needs a little extra space here for the extra audio track, but it's still significantly lower than the R2. I do have to give ADV credit for not encrypting the DVD though. You can actually make a fair use copy of the DVD without having to violate the DMCA.

Now, of course, you need to take these numbers with a grain of salt. Just because something has a higher bitrate doesn't automatically mean it looks better. And the quality of the masters is probably much more important than the bitrate used. Still, I don't understand why all the R1 companies seem to hover between 5-6 Mbps while the R2s are mostly between 7-8 Mbps. The extra space needed for the audio nor the subtitles don't fill the gap.

And one more example. UFO Princess Valkyre has an average 7750 kbps + 1536 kbps for the audio (PCM) means it's averaging around 9286 kbps. Of course, with only 2 episodes on a DVD even a single layered DVD has plenty of room.

[ShinDragon]

What I want to know is... what's in the Limited Edition?
It doesn't say anything on the website.

R2 is always expensive...... so I really don't understand why ppl complain about how much R1 cost when there are other ppl who bought R2 and don't usually complain about it.

[GATX207_Blitz]

it looks great. I like bandai boxsets. like wolf's rain boxset it will have an OST and a mechanics guide or something. hmm I think this thread is going to die now or something.

[AvatarADV]

It's not just a function of average bit rate, but also of maximum bit rate.

When something's being fluidly animated, it can't be compressed all that far or you're going to get a significant degradation of video. Animation doesn't compress quite as well as live action in that respect. But when you're NOT talking fluid animation, those scenes take considerably less to animate. (If the screen has Chiyo-chan on it, not moving, occasionally blinking, and the only actual motion is her mouth, it doesn't matter HOW many bits you throw at it... you only need so many!)

A -good- variable bit rate encode will correctly identify those areas which are essentially static and compress them to a lower bitrate, saving up room for those sequences which need as much bitrate as you can give 'em.

Some shows just compress better than others. ;p

[hentai_wolf]

The problem, Avatar, is that I'm comparing the same video. We're not talking about two different shows here, or even two different episodes. It's the same show. The same episode. And those are only a few examples. Every R2 that I own uses higher bitrates than its R1 counterpart (assuming there is one).

If all you're saying is that the video can compress well down to those levels, then all I have to say is that obviously the Japanese companies disagree with you.