Afro Samurai (Japan - Pony Canyon) impressions

[kannisto]

I wouldn't be using the hard drive at all but rather using it as a burner only (hooked up to my HD DVR). Have you tried to burn any DVD discs in HD?

I have no video camera so I can't try any video camera connections with it. I've always been more into still photography so I never bought a videocam.

I bought 10 DVD-RW discs for video with CPRM function earlier. I can only try burning discs from content I've recorded from HDTV channels, right now I'm burning the first one as a trial.

These are my observations so far with HDTV recordings and moving to DVD:

The best quality can be achieved by recording in "TS mode", but anything recorded in that mode can only be moved to HDVR format discs. It seems only HD DVD-R discs (for video) can be in HDVR format. Copying is disallowed by some kind of copy protection flag for every TV recording I have made so far, only moving is available. If I want to burn to DVD, I need to move the content so that it no longer remains in the hard disk afterwards and I have to use VR format, which I think is still HD but not as good quality as original. By the best quality options available for VR format I can burn up to 1.5 hours to DVD and the bitrate is apparently something like 9.2 Mbit/s on the average. The quality is clearly not as good as with the original recording that was in "TS format".

First I had to initialise the DVD-RW into VR format by some kind of formatting through menu in the recorder. The burning seems to take place in real-time and it's playing the program while it's burning it to DVD. I'll try afterwards if this DVD-RW can also be played in other environments than the same hw.

EDIT: I realized now that VR format is not HD, it's basically 720x480 MPEG-2. I can play the recorded content on my PC setup with WinDVD9 without problems though at least with this type of content. My DVD-RW discs are too slow for HDVR format, apparently HDVR format can be supported with DVD-RW discs as long as they are 4-speed and mine are only 1-2 speed discs. It can also be suppored with DVD-R8 and DVD-RDL2.4 and DVD-RAM2. Seems that there may be some bitrate limits with the slower discs so I might need to get some DVD-R8's for video as well. I record many shorter children's programs for my son and he doesn't want to let me delete those later so I'll probably burn some of them to DVDs.

I need to buy some faster DVD-RWs and DVD-R's next. I also ordered some HD DVD-R DL and SL discs from Amazon Japan as they seem to be getting some new cheaper ones in 5 packs but release date is 31st of March.

EDIT: I bought 2 x 5-packs of DVD-RWs (1680 yen for one pack) that are HD-Rec compatible according to the packaging and 1 x 5-pack (2280 yen) of DVD-R DL's that are also compatible.

[bruceames]

Well if it won't let me burn off my HD DVR because of a copy protection flag, then it's not much use to me. All DVD and VCR recorders here let you burn anything off the tube and it's too bad they won't let you burn HD onto disc there. Anyway, it'll still work as a player and if my brother finds it cheap (under $500) in Hong Kong (he claims he can find ANYTHING there), then I'll buy it anyway, what the heck, if nothing else then to be (one of) the only Vardia owners in the US.

[kannisto]

I did my first real HD-REC creation last night. I burned (moved) Trainspotting HDTV recording to DVD-R DL disc (initialized to HDVR mode) at the best quality possible for the target disc size. "TSE mode" re-encodes the original MPEG-2 recording to AVC while burning the disc and I had to choose target bitrate as 10 Mbit/s for the video to make it fit. I think that's average rather than constant.

The result looks pretty good, better than I expected. Scenes with lots of fast action are the only ones that show some minor signs of lacking enough bitrate. Otherwise it looks just as good as the original.

However, I can only play the disc in RD-A301, it won't play on my HD-XF2 or PC environment. PC players don't recognize the format and HD-XF2 says it's not in DVD format so can't be played. Initially the disc was not finalized so PC didn't recognize it properly but I finalized it on the recorder afterwards but that didn't help with playback in other environments.

[bruceames]

I did my first real HD-REC creation last night. I burned (moved) Trainspotting HDTV recording to DVD-R DL disc (initialized to HDVR mode) at the best quality possible for the target disc size. "TSE mode" re-encodes the original MPEG-2 recording to AVC while burning the disc and I had to choose target bitrate as 10 Mbit/s for the video to make it fit. I think that's average rather than constant.

The result looks pretty good, better than I expected. Scenes with lots of fast action are the only ones that show some minor signs of lacking enough bitrate. Otherwise it looks just as good as the original.

However, I can only play the disc in RD-A301, it won't play on my HD-XF2 or PC environment. PC players don't recognize the format and HD-XF2 says it's not in DVD format so can't be played. Initially the disc was not finalized so PC didn't recognize it properly but I finalized it on the recorder afterwards but that didn't help with playback in other environments.

That sounds good. I hope you get some good use out of it. I had heard that Toshiba was going to provide a FW update to play burned DVD-R HD discs, but I don't know if it happened (if not, it probably won't now). Too bad that recorder won't make it to the US, but hopefully Toshiba will release a burner that will do the same thing except with DVD-R discs only.

As for blank HD DVDs, I read Toshiba has a bunch stockpiled, to be sold online only, so maybe they will become reasonably priced soon.

[kannisto]

That sounds good. I hope you get some good use out of it. I had heard that Toshiba was going to provide a FW update to play burned DVD-R HD discs, but I don't know if it happened (if not, it probably won't now). Too bad that recorder won't make it to the US, but hopefully Toshiba will release a burner that will do the same thing except with DVD-R discs only.

As for blank HD DVDs, I read Toshiba has a bunch stockpiled, to be sold online only, so maybe they will become reasonably priced soon.

Single layer HD DVD-R blanks are not too expensive, at around 700 yen for one at least online. That size seems to be enough for 2 hours of AVC transcoded HDTV material at highest supported bitrate (17 Mbps). If the movie is longer than that just have to lower the bitrate a bit. I'm now in a local train on my way to Akihabara to find some I have still close to 15 movies on the hard disk to play with.

I also thought that the firmware 2.8 was supposed to introduce some support for this kind of content to my HD-XF2 and that's the firmware I have on it now...

Edit: Found surprisingly cheap HD DVD-R blanks for video at 498 yen each in my favorite blank media store at Akihabara. Bought 10 for starters.

[Jester217300]

Since the Amazon.jp cover is incorrect I took some hi-res scans of the actual cover. They have been submitted to DVDAF, Amazon.jp, and now I'm posting them here. If anyone wants to use them feel free Took me awhile to get that little slip on the bottom to line up right, but I think the end result looks pretty good.

[drgonzo369]

Just received my copy of this from a purchase of 5 HDs I made off of CheapAssGamer from a guy. Definitely surprised at the PQ on this so far. I'm glad that it is english friendly and that the original english audio is its primary language. I honestly liked the series (I'm an anime fan) so the price I paid was a steal for it.

Does anyone have an english cover for this?

[Tidus3000]

Where's the best place to get hold of this HD. Iv tried xploitedcinema and play-asia.com. Iv also tried ebay which comes up with nothing.

Any idea's?

[bruceames]

Where's the best place to get hold of this HD. Iv tried xploitedcinema and play-asia.com. Iv also tried ebay which comes up with nothing.

Any idea's?

Amazon.jp has it in stock and CD Japan shows 3-5 days but is a little cheaper. I don't see it at HMV Japan and normally they are the cheapest.

[Tidus3000]

wow that one goes for a pritty penny! lol. thanx for your help

[tormond]

wow that one goes for a pritty penny! lol. thanx for your help

Welcome to the wonderful world of japanese anything

[kannisto]

Amazon.jp has it in stock and CD Japan shows 3-5 days but is a little cheaper. I don't see it at HMV Japan and normally they are the cheapest.

I think the disc prices in Amazon and CD Japan are actually identical (MRSP in both), Amazon just shows the price with 5% consumption tax included (and they remove it for international orders) while CD Japan shows the tax free price.

[bruceames]

I think the disc prices in Amazon and CD Japan are actually identical (MRSP in both), Amazon just shows the price with 5% consumption tax included (and they remove it for international orders) while CD Japan shows the tax free price.

Yes, I see they are. I went through the checkout motions at both places and they are the same. However Amazon does charge 2000 Yen for EMS shipping on that single item while CD Japan 1500. Also CD Japan offers economy shipping for 500 Yen (I've used it a couple of times and it took about 2 weeks to ship to California). HMV also shows the taxed priced like Amazon, but from some reason I can't find it, or they removed the listing. Usually when they discontinue an HD DVD title they leave the listing up and just put "sold out item" or "deleted item". I think it's probably hidden somewhere in the anime department, could you confirm there it's there (or not there)? I ordered 5 Centimeters Per Second and A Place Promised in Our Early Days from Amazon, not knowing that it was listing all the time for a cheaper price at HMV.

[kannisto]

Yes, I see they are. I went through the checkout motions at both places and they are the same. However Amazon does charge 2000 Yen for EMS shipping on that single item while CD Japan 1500. Also CD Japan offers economy shipping for 500 Yen (I've used it a couple of times and it took about 2 weeks to ship to California). HMV also shows the taxed priced like Amazon, but from some reason I can't find it, or they removed the listing. Usually when they discontinue an HD DVD title they leave the listing up and just put "sold out item" or "deleted item". I think it's probably hidden somewhere in the anime department, could you confirm there it's there (or not there)? I ordered 5 Centimeters Per Second and A Place Promised in Our Early Days from Amazon, not knowing that it was listing all the time for a cheaper price at HMV.

I tried to find Afro Samurai from HMV JP yesterday too but I couldn't find a HD DVD version there at all. Usually two searches with the title written in Japanese and in English should bring up all the versions, but I couldn't get any HD DVD version to show up. Sometimes the English title doesn't exist there at all but then the Japanese title should at least work then.

I notice that I did originally include a link to HMV for this movie in the HD DVD import title listings, so there must have been an entry for it earlier. The link seems to be this but it doesn't work now:

http://www.hmv.co.jp/product/detail/2661714

I got the link to work though first it didn't load for some reason.

The disc is now classified as a deleted item in HMV JP and can't be ordered from there any more.

[drgonzo369]

I noticed with this that the editing was downpat. I didn't notice most of the transitions between episodes, and it was the "uncut" dialogue, which was nice. I wonder if Japan will edit the new Afro Samurai series into a theatrical movie again. If so, I'll have to order the region2 dvd for that to go with my hd dvd.

btw, Kannisto, every time I look at that list of hd dvd-rs, my mouth waters. Too bad my buddy in Shizuoka refuses to pay for cable anymore, or else I'd send him the money to buy a hd dvd recorder and blanks and have him make me movies. lol.