News Pokémon Indigo League Episodes 1-52 on Blu-Ray in English

[Shift]

In the UK, Manga Entertainment will release the first 52 episodes on both a DVD and a Blu-Ray set on Oct. 30.

In the US, VIZ will release a similar Blu-Ray set on Nov. 14.

Both releases are presumably using the remastered episodes that are currently available on digital platforms.

 

[Dogasu]

"Remastered" in only the very loosest meaning of the word. The "HD" videos currently up on iTunes are merely the old SD masters upscaled to pseudo-HD ; it's not the same careful, frame-by-frame remasters we saw with the first episode in Japan earlier this year.

The new set will look better than the Viz DVDs currently on the market, sure. But let's call a spade a spade here.

 

[Shift]

"Remastered" in only the very loosest meaning of the word. The "HD" videos currently up on iTunes are merely the old SD masters upscaled to pseudo-HD ; it's not the same careful, frame-by-frame remasters we saw with the first episode in Japan earlier this year.

The new set will look better than the Viz DVDs currently on the market, sure. But let's call a spade a spade here.

Hey, I'm just listing the facts here. It's certainly not my opinion that these will beat that ep 1 remaster, but based on this trailer and the previous one for the digital release, it really does look better than the DVDs and it's the best quality we've currently got access to.

Of course, when we've got Blu-Rays of the Hulu pre-Porygon eps, then we'll have something to truly celebrate.

 

[kantoskies]

It's interesting that this set seems to go by broadcast season (or at least close to it, what was the official end of the first dub season?) and not opening like the DVDs.

 

[technickal]

It's pretty much a given that they aren't going to look as good as the JP remastered episodes, since they have to use the 4Kids footage. From screenshots I've seen the Manga UK DVDs have some serious frame bleed, ghosting and pixelation issues but the Viz ones look promising.

 

[Shift]

Today I got the set for myself, so I can post any screencaps or answer any lingering questions. Here's a few things I noticed:

*Each episode includes the opening and ending themes, the Who's That Pokemon segment, the various "We'll be back" commercial bumpers, and the weekly PokéRap segment. Basically, everything from the original broadcast is included, almost to a fault.
*Episode 1, as expected, does not use the remastered footage from the Japanese anniversary airing. I'm getting the Japanese Movie 20 Limited Ed. set next week that includes the real HD ep 1, so I can make comparisons to that as well if needed.
*The last three episodes go with Snap over Todd, just like the DVDs. Besides the original Kids' WB airings, the only other place I've heard it as Todd is on Netflix, and that's gone, but I recorded the audio from there just in case.
*As for the extras, the Who's That Pokemon galleries consist of random Gen 1 silhouettes and stock art on a nice HD recreation of the background. Each disc has some, with the last disc doing a Who's That Trainer segment instead. That disc also has the full PokéRap in two versions: one has the countdown at the start and one does not, and that seems to be it.
*The video isn't going to win any awards, but it looks fine in motion. The sound is fine as well; I couldn't tell you if it's actually any better than the DVDs, but at least it's not worse.