Bandai To Release Blu-Ray Simultaneously Worldwide

by dtshyk
Apr 28, 2008 5:54 AM | 37 Comments

According to the Nikkei Economy Newspaper April 27th, Bandai Vidual announced a new sales policy: they will release anime Blu-ray Discs (BD) simultaneously in Japan, US, Europe and Asia from this fall. The contents of the BD are the identical in all the countries and have subtitles at least in English and French. The prices are also fixed the same everywhere. Accompanying with the BD sales, they will start a downloading service to sell anime titles online.

Source: AnimeAnime

20 of 37 Comments Recent Comments

While BD can hold up to 50 gigabytes that is only for the dual layer discs. If they only have three to two episodes on a disc then there is little chance they are using dual layered discs. Of course a single episode will use up more then a gigabyte:

Discs encoded in MPEG-2 video typically limit content producers to around two hours of high-definition content on a single-layer (25 GB) BD-ROM. The more advanced video codecs (VC-1 and H.264) typically achieve a video runtime twice that of MPEG-2, with comparable quality.

So since a single episode will run for about 24 minutes: 240/24 = 10 so 25/10 = 2.5 so each episode clocks in at 2.5 gigabytes. And yeah thats using H.264 or the similar VC-1 codec.

Apr 29, 2008 7:18 PM by Warll

Shiki said:
I still think that paying for 2-3 episodes per BD is stupid
BD is way larger than a DVD it should hold more episodes

I agree. BD having 50GB space is just like 10~12 DVD-5, yet there's still 2-3 only episodes of HD-anime. Where an HD-anime with a resolution of 1280x720p can be just as high quality in 1GB per episode. it would be just 2-3GB used only if they're using BD in distributing only 2-3episodes.

It would just be great if they encode it to H264 HD1280x720; and AC3 audio with the greatest quality ever. Really, 1GB for HD encoded/episode is just too enough for a best quality; then put them in a MKV container. Then burn it as files in a DVD-5. Would make 3-4episodes/DVD.

Hahah! And it will just lower their distribution cost. (But probably, won't be implemented)

Apr 29, 2008 1:57 PM by babykeiji

I still think that paying for 2-3 episodes per BD is stupid
BD is way larger than a DVD it should hold more episodes

Apr 29, 2008 1:52 PM by Hamel

dtshyk said:

llxwarbirdxll said:

TheWestExit said:

llxwarbirdxll said:

KrylonSigma said:
Bandai Visual continues on the road to failure. Good thing Gundam 00 isn't being released by them.

It is.

Gundam 00 is being released by Bandai Entertainment, not Bandai Visual. They're two completly separate branches of the same mother company that don't interact.

I always thought that all branches of Bandai work together. Oh well...

?? I checked Amazon.co.jp and it says Gundam 00 is released from バンダイビジュアル Bandai Vidual.
oh i see. Bandai Entertainment is a branch of Bandai Namco Holdings and governs the DVD sales in US. Bandai Entertainment sometimes work independently of Bandai Vidual. It's unknown which company is responsible for the Gundam 00 sales in US.
===edited
Bandai Entertainment press release said "Gundam 00 will be dubbed". So this title can be unrelated to the new Bandai Vidual policy. it's so complicated. Two "Bandai" companies are working independently.

Japanese Corporate culture differs from our western one in that while a corporation may be owned by a parent corp they will work very independently. This encourages managers to work as effectively as possible, but reduces synergy to mere capital.

Apr 29, 2008 11:03 AM by Warll

dtshyk said:

TheWestExit said:

We're not spoiled, we have a logical pricing scheme. The Japanese market realises on a very small, hardcore fanbase which the companies are not afraid and don't particularly care that they exploit.

Alright, I will put my entry about why DVD in Japan is so expensive.
Next generation DVD region code

If you want real numbers of anime market, visit this entry.
Shrinking Anime Market: To be or not to be?

I'm posting topics about anime market to resolve the misunderstanding among anime fans. Those knowledge are kind of common sense in Japanese Otaku community, but not necessarily is outside Japan.

Yeah, the anime production committee are the ones who's paying for all of it. It would be better if they can find a way for them not bankrupting. But, for us here *where anime is not distributed as a merchandise itself but just a hobby merchandise*, it's too heavy, cause we will need to get it online + shipping cost. Yet, there's the regional encoding; it's just some pain in the ass.

Apr 29, 2008 2:48 AM by babykeiji

llxwarbirdxll said:

TheWestExit said:

llxwarbirdxll said:

KrylonSigma said:
Bandai Visual continues on the road to failure. Good thing Gundam 00 isn't being released by them.

It is.

Gundam 00 is being released by Bandai Entertainment, not Bandai Visual. They're two completly separate branches of the same mother company that don't interact.

I always thought that all branches of Bandai work together. Oh well...

Apr 29, 2008 2:33 AM by dtshyk

TheWestExit said:

llxwarbirdxll said:

KrylonSigma said:
Bandai Visual continues on the road to failure. Good thing Gundam 00 isn't being released by them.

It is.

Gundam 00 is being released by Bandai Entertainment, not Bandai Visual. They're two completly separate branches of the same mother company that don't interact.

I always thought that all branches of Bandai work together. Oh well...

Apr 28, 2008 9:36 PM by llxwarbirdxll

llxwarbirdxll said:

KrylonSigma said:
Bandai Visual continues on the road to failure. Good thing Gundam 00 isn't being released by them.

It is.

Gundam 00 is being released by Bandai Entertainment, not Bandai Visual. They're two completly separate branches of the same mother company that don't interact.

dtshyk said:
I'm posting topics about anime market to resolve the misunderstanding among anime fans. Those knowledge are kind of common sense in Japanese Otaku community, but not necessarily is outside Japan.

Too sum that up in shorter terms; Japanese companies are afraid of reverse importation where American disks are shipped back to Japan and re-sold for profit by individuals while undercutting the Japanese Domestic Market price.

There's two ways in which they can solve that, one easy and not effective and one hard but effective. hey went with the easy and crappy route this time, raise the process everywhere else so there's no incentive to re-import. The hard way is to change the whole system to eliminate the mad dash to regain all your capitol you spent making the anime in a few weeks in disk sales. But this last option is going to take a long while to implement if it ever does because of the way the Japanese respect and job system goes. Where the highest ranking person isn't necessarily the most qualified, but rather the longest serving person.

Apr 28, 2008 8:59 PM by TheWestExit

Pretty cool news.

Apr 28, 2008 8:46 PM by Darkreaper70

KrylonSigma said:
Bandai Visual continues on the road to failure. Good thing Gundam 00 isn't being released by them.

It is.

Apr 28, 2008 8:09 PM by llxwarbirdxll

Bandai Visual continues on the road to failure. Good thing Gundam 00 isn't being released by them.

Apr 28, 2008 7:35 PM by KrylonBlue

Apr 28, 2008 7:33 PM by dtshyk

wakka9ca said:
There is no turning back because ONCE you've seen real HD anime, you will no longer be able to bear with classical low resolution anime....

Yes, yes there is.

I've seen true HD anime.

It's nothing special. Certainly not worth the extra bandwidth/HD space.

Now, if I was playing it on a large screen, that might make a difference, but on my tiny little 17" laptop, it makes no difference worth speaking of.

Give me good ol' fashioned h264 SD for my fansubs.

Apr 28, 2008 6:09 PM by bakajin

Neverender said:

feder said:
Anime is animated. In other words, cartoons. Why would I need it to be high def?

LOL! Just the right way in introducing HD-Anime. I would love it, if it would portray to 1080p HD! It would just be so!? DAMN! COOL!

Apr 28, 2008 6:07 PM by babykeiji

feder said:
Anime is animated. In other words, cartoons. Why would I need it to be high def?

Apr 28, 2008 5:59 PM by Neverender

TheWestExit said:

babykeiji said:
Yeah, it would be easy for the American market, but for us? Hahah! Really, it's too high. LOL! XD

Yeah...no it wouldn't. Average price per episode of any TV show on DVD is around $1.00, not the possible $25 per episode.

I'm living in Asia that's why I can say that.

Apr 28, 2008 5:26 PM by babykeiji

babykeiji said:
Yeah, it would be easy for the American market, but for us? Hahah! Really, it's too high. LOL! XD

Yeah...no it wouldn't. Average price per episode of any TV show on DVD is around $1.00, not the possible $25 per episode.

Asako said:
HD-DVD lost the battle a while back, they bowed out gracefully. That's why BD is finally able to surge ahead. And $40-90 for 2-3 eps is standard Japanese pricing, but I don't see it working in the spoiled American market.

We're not spoiled, we have a logical pricing scheme. The Japanese market realises on a very small, hardcore fanbase which the companies are not afraid and don't particularly care that they exploit.

Apr 28, 2008 5:23 PM by TheWestExit

Yeah, it would be easy for the American market, but for us? Hahah! Really, it's too high. LOL! XD

Apr 28, 2008 5:05 PM by babykeiji

HD-DVD lost the battle a while back, they bowed out gracefully. That's why BD is finally able to surge ahead. And $40-90 for 2-3 eps is standard Japanese pricing, but I don't see it working in the spoiled American market.

Apr 28, 2008 4:55 PM by Asako

feder said:
Anime is animated. In other words, cartoons. Why would I need it to be high def?

Have you not seen ANY anime in High Definition? Don't tell me you've been streaming all the anime you've seen....With HD, it is NO LONGER just "cartoons" as you put it. You will visually enjoy the awesomeness of animation....

Good example to see in HD:
-5 centimeter per second...each picture is like a canvas painting in terms of DETAILS that can only be seen in HD...
-Gundam 00 in HD is way better than regular resolution
-Appleseed Ex Machina....
-Macross Zero or Macross F....
Or even Code Geass R2 in HD look way better.

In fact, beginning from Fall 2007, anime will start to become HD, which is now the main trend for anime. There is no turning back because ONCE you've seen real HD anime, you will no longer be able to bear with classical low resolution anime....

Apr 28, 2008 4:54 PM by wakka9ca

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