![][1] [1]: https://i.imgur.com/GUWXnre.png #### Big thanks to: * **ghsushsu123** * **NLScavenger** #### [Discord](https://discord.gg/PMrccmpYTu) #### See also the [JP BD version](https://nyaa.si/view/1470155) of this v2! ___ ### Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Knockin' on Heaven's Door v2 (IT BD version) #### What's new in this v2: * Better Japanese audio with center channel bass frequencies intact, slightly less clipping, and 4 erroneously timed dialogue lines fixed * Fully retimed and restyled subtitles ### Video The video in this version of the v2 is a remux of the 2020 Dynit IT BD. There’s no good-looking edition of this movie in existence, but of what is available, perhaps the least offensive option is the Dynit IT BD version produced by mp3dom from the same nearly-2-decade-old master that all overseas home video releases have used without exception following Sony’s 2003 DVD. There *is* too the 2008 Bandai JP BD as one you'd think would be decent enough. However, despite not being based on the same master as all the non-Japanese DVD/BD releases, it arguably doesn't fare much better due to the [sporadically blurrier image](https://slow.pics/c/PbpwrI8y) ([although the IT BD partly suffers from seemingly bad focus as well](https://slow.pics/c/0quCvZRw)) and the occasional black crush on it that leads to [severe loss of detail](https://slow.pics/c/ZTosWOCJ) in certain scenes. Couple that with the fact that it, like many early Blu-rays, is windowboxed, and you've got overall unideal picture quality. The picture on the IT BD is also all-around better stabilized when compared to the JP BD. A good example of this is the shot of Spike's Swordfish II at 1h32min53s (1h32min41s on JP BD), which on the former is decently steady and uncontrollably shaky on the latter. Fortunately, the majority of the movie on the JP BD isn't nearly as bad. That Swordfish shot is a singular case by the look of things, and the increase in shakiness throughout is ultimately relatively slight compared to the IT BD. It would've likely bothered me had there been more noticeably shaky shots, but I didn't come across any that I'd consider being significant detriments to the experience. Save for the Swordfish one, of course. I'm not sure how many care for this stuff, but I thought I’d still mention it for the sake of anyone who might be more perceptive about things like shakiness and whose viewing experience might be more negatively impacted by such things. While it might sound like it comes on top, it's important to note that the Sony master used on the IT BD unquestionably has its own share of issues in the form of [DVNR artifacts](https://twitter.com/NLScavenger/status/1459981386127921155) in many of the visually busier shots and the said in parts fuzzy focus. After learning about how frequently they pop up, the DVNR artifacts were one thing I tended to notice a lot on my recent rewatches. And with how much detail they often erase, they're definitely something to keep in mind when deciding which version to go with. Another thing I can’t confidently say is really better on either release is the color. You’ll have to decide for yourself which look you prefer more there. As the JP BD is windowboxed, I took the comparison screenshots of it using a zoom of 0.110 in mpv ([with spline36 enabled for scaling](https://slow.pics/c/Gpi6oDxl)) so that comparing it to the others would be easier. The 2011 Image Entertainment US BD isn't included since I don't have it at hand, but you can see from the comparisons up on [caps-a-holic](https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=2&x=539&y=76&d1=15759&d2=4235&s1=166809&s2=39428&l=1&i=0&go=1) that it's inferior to the Funimation US BD in terms of detail. ### Audio Of the 2018 Funimation US BD, 2020 Dynit IT BD, and 2008 Bandai JP BD, the JP BD had the best version of the Japanese 5.1 audio track. All releases except for the original Japanese one had [greatly attenuated low bass](https://slow.pics/c/rpDulAaf) in the center channel (Ch. 3), and there's some slight clipping present at parts in the left (Ch. 1), right (Ch. 2), and center channels on them as well. To be clear, the center channel on the JP BD track does also seem maximized somewhat and might very well be limited, just not to the point of clipping as early as the overseas version on the US/IT BDs does. To view the clipping for yourself, see the waveform screenshots linked below. See the spectrograms and mastering graphs if you're curious about the bass reduction issue and what frequencies exactly are affected by it. I haven't compared the audio on any other BDs, but as per above, my understanding is that all overseas releases were provided with the same masters to work with by Sony, so it’s most likely safe to assume that they’re all identical and hence have the same flaws in their audio as the US/IT releases. That said, I'm still very much interested to know about every release and will be glad to take a look at any I haven't yet compared. If you happen to own such a one and want to share, let me know. The JP BD track is the best around, yet it isn’t perfect. There were four plainly obvious out-of-sync dialogue lines on it that had gotten corrected on the overseas version, and so to correct them for this upload, I implemented the same fixes to the JP BD track. I didn’t see a point in leaving off the fixes since they were clear improvements (one of Spike’s lines while in jail with Electra was initially over 900 ms off from mouth flaps), didn’t require removing/adding anything but silence, and were thus relatively easy to accomplish. Also, maybe a bit off-topic, but now that the version that best represents its strengths is known, I must also praise the killer mix on the surround track in question. If you are keen on good audio, even just in general, watching this movie with the Japanese 5.1 audio is never two hours poorly spent. Seeing as the spectrograms, waveforms, and mastering graphs all show the English audio to be of equal quality between the US/IT BDs, and other releases [apparently have mixing errors](https://twitter.com/NLScavenger/status/1460186255510151172), I went with the safest option and took the dub track from the IT BD to use here. I'll note too that the dub appears to be based on the master with the attenuated bass in the center channel. ### Subtitles I used THORA's subtitles as a base and fully retimed all lines and restyled the dialogue, as none of the existing subtitles I looked at were to my liking on closer inspection. (THORA had bleeds, some flickering lines, and tended to use a bit too much lead-in.) A couple of lines were also split/joined when appropriate. All in all, the viewing experience should hopefully be a bit more pleasant now. Included as a legacy option are THORA's subtitles unchanged by me. Let me know if you find any errors! ### Comparisons (Spectrogram and waveform comparisons now better split by channels.) |Japanese 5.1|English 5.1 | -| -| |[Spectrograms](https://slow.pics/c/px1GCV41)|[Spectrograms](https://slow.pics/c/c8HtCzvy)| |[Waveforms](https://slow.pics/c/Uu58RsNX)|[Waveforms](https://slow.pics/c/MoIfZEQG)| |[Masterings](https://slow.pics/c/Tsx5jBEd)|[Masterings](https://slow.pics/c/GnBxCS5E)| |Video| | -| |[BD comparisons](https://slow.pics/c/zRdX8xHq)| |[IT BD vs encodes](https://slow.pics/c/xgCvC4AJ)| ### Specifics Video: 1. 2020 Dynit IT BD Remux (1920x1080, 23.976fps) Audio: 1. Japanese 5.1 FLAC (2008 Bandai JP BD) (default) 3. English 5.1 FLAC (2020 Dynit IT BD) Subtitles: 1. English [hydes] (default) 2. English [THORA] [MediaInfo](https://pastebin.com/raw/Kp5yt4F8) ![][4] [4]: https://i.imgur.com/VFUwdVY.png