Highschool of the Dead Blu-ray Complete Collection
I never really post about DVDs/BDs, but this set has me a little frustrated.
HOTD was recently released by Sentai Filmworks in DVD and BD form. When news first broke out that Sentai Filmworks was releasing the BD set, I was ecstatic. I pre-ordered immediately and patiently waited for its arrival.
Having just finished watching the BD set, I can say Sentai Filmworks did a terrible job. There are a few glaring issues which make this release poor.
The first issue is the menu. The image they used for the menu does not do justice to BD players. I can't verify the resolution of the image, but it's highly pixelated and thus it's very noticeable. The episode quality turned out to be good, but when you first look at the menu you have a moment of horror not knowing what to expect.
The second issue is another mess in the menu. The language selection does not work at all. When you go into the language setup you can see both options, English and Japanese with subtitles, but that's it. The up, down, and right keys do not do anything. If you press the left key you are taken back to the main menu. If you press the OK key it chooses English as this is the default language. If you do want Japanese with subtitles you have to start playing an episode and change it via your BD player settings.
Sentai Filmworks really screwed up the menu. Something that should be the easiest turned out to be Sentail Filmworks worst job. Doing quality control on the menu is probably the simplest thing. You don't have to watch all episodes, just navigate the menu which doesn't have many options.
The third issue is with the playback of episodes. There is no play all feature on the main menu, but choosing an episode will start a loop through of all episodes. That sounds great, except Sentai Filmworks executed this poorly. After each episode the credits roll. I don't know who thought this was a good idea, but just seeing it once can make your head spin. So in essence there is no continuous playback because 9 out of 10 times you are going to jump back to the main menu. This adds another nuisance because it doesn't save your position in that you have to navigate to the next episode starting from the first episode on the disc.
Really, besides the actual episodes, Sentai Filmworks did a horrid job.
Saying all that, I would still buy the BD set again. Reason being, I'm a huge HOTD fan. If you aren't a huge HOTD fan, I wouldn't recommend the BD set because you really have to love HOTD to put up with the issues.
I do have follow-up questions for those who've read this. If you own the BD or DVD set do you experience the same issue? I've heard others with the same issue on their BD so I'm mainly interested in seeing if this issue is widespread among the entire release or just BD specific.
I may eventually buy the DVD since I'm an HOTD fanatic, but the issues with the BD set has put me off a bit.
I am truly in love with this anime. I hope more comes soon.
The ending did hint at a second season, and with how well the first season did I wouldn't doubt they would do another. Only issue is the manga is constantly on hiatus and not enough content.
BD = High Resolution, and using a LowRes image for your background is poor taste. It's like bringing a customer a delicious pie, then squirting mustard all over it before they get the chance to start eating.
It would probably help if you posted your BD player, because it could very well just be an issue with the player, and not the disc at all that's the problem with the menu navigation.
Continuous playback is a staple of disc based media going back to VCDs, and the fact that this was not an option for this title is a poor choice of action on the part of the publisher. In fact, I prefer the Japanese way of producing discs and starting off with the content right off the bat, then going to the menu after the fact. If a consumer wants to start at the menu, they can do so by using the Top Menu button on their BD remote. Subs and Audio options can be adjusted during playback using their respective BD remote buttons.
If I do decide to pick up the series, I will probably wait until a reputable publisher picks it up. You never mentioned how many episodes came on the disc? Or is this the full series?
While I do have this set, I haven't watched it yet. It does include the entire 12 episode TV series (no OVAs, but I think that was a manga pack in).
I have, however, just finished watching Sentai's Angel Beats! BD, and I think I understand about the credits. Basically, the English credits run after each episode, and are a flickering mess! I found it very hard to watch them. So there is continuous playback. I didn't try skipping the credits, I just looked to the side for the 30 seconds or so. I imagine it's possible to just hit the skip button though, rather then go back to the main menu. I'm watching on a PS3, by the way.
I just started the DVD of Hidamari Skectch X Hoshimittsu, also by Sentai, and the English credits there roll by at a nice clear pace. Everything is legible.
Wow, so Angel Beats is like this as well? I have that being shipped so that's bad news. I always thought Sentai was a good company, but right now I'm really leaning otherwise.
I left them an email about the navigation issue, but I think I'll have to email again about the credits. I thought they screwed up HOTD only, not all their releases.
I forgot to mention in the original post, but I tried this on two BD players. A Sony PS3 and a Samsung BD player. I'm not sure of the Samsung model because it's my sisters. I initially thought it was an issue with the BD player because it was my first time using it since my sister borrowed my PS3. So I tried my PS3 with the same results.
The set comes with 2 discs. The first disc has 8 episodes and no extras. The second disc has 4 episodes and the extras are a clean OP and clean ED.
i really enjoyed this serie! sucks about the BD version's release quality.
I really love this anime ^_^ it would be awesome if they make more episodes ^o^
I quite like HotD and was looking forward to an affordable BD release but am not so sure after reading this...
When you're such a big HOTD fan it's quite disappointing to receive something of this quality. It is nice to have in the collection, but you'll always know it's a faulty product.
Sentai Filmworks is well know for poor quality releases.
One option, though limited, is to re-author the discs. I tend to do that with annoying ones.
That's sad to hear. Sentai Filmworks have been licensing quite a few good anime lately. With all the anime they were licensing they were quickly becoming the second best anime company in my mind, after FUNimation. My view on this is slowly changing as it seems they are ruining all the good anime. I'm now afraid to watch my Clannad DVD's.
That is a good point on re-authoring the DVDs. With the software out there it shouldn't be too difficult, so that's an option worth exploring. BDs is another story with how expensive they are. You would need a BD burner and BD discs. The BD burners are dropping in price finally, but discs are still an arm and a leg.
My hope is that Sentai Filmworks will take the high road like NIS America. NIS America twice screwed up with the first volume of Toradora. The first release had issues with the discs, possibly the audio, but they sent everyone replacements. These replacements were cheaply sent and everyone received discs with scratches so they had to do another send out. Sentai Filmworks should take note of that. The credits while annoying isn't a real issue, but the menu is an issue that they can correct.
On side note, BD-R's aren't that bad. I have an LG burner ($80), and I get BD-Rs from Optical Quantum. I have never had a coaster, and they sell for a little less than $1 each (just bought a 25 disc spindle for $22). Not bad in my opinion.
What brand were the BD's?
I just checked BestBuy and the biggest spindle they have is 15. The cheapest being $80, which works out to $5 per BD. Maybe next time I head over to the States I'll have to check out the BD prices there.
I did see one online Canadian retailer selling a 25 spindle for $50, which works out to be $2 per BD, but the brand was rubbish.
The brand is Optical Quantum, some people report problems with certain burners, but they seem to have great compatibility with LG burners. The set I just grabbed is here:
http://www.amazon.com/Optical-Quantum-Blu-ray-Single-Layer-Recordable/dp/B002LU80QS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311467850&sr=8-1
Not sure if US amazon will ship to Canada. Local retailers are definitely the worst place to find blank media, always really high priced.
I didn't notice any of this issues on my copy. Still worth the price though especially on Blu-ray.
Good to hear. It's good to see that at least some people received a good copy.