End of Evangelion DVD Advice

[Aoren]

Greetings everyone. Pretty new in the forum, this is my first post.

Well, I'm not that much into anime, and so, I'd never bought merchandising... but I love Evangelion and I want to have it in real life: The original EoE. I went to several comic stores and people tell me that is impossible to find it, so I went to Amazon but all the covers are different from each other. Which one of them is the true one?
Also, all of them says "studio: WEA"... what is that? I couldn't find anything about studio WEA.
I'm a little bit confused at this point. What should I buy?

And... what about the NGE? I found the VHS but I'm concerned about their lifetime, being them VHS... then I found the Platinum version. So, platinum or VHS?

[pwhodges]

Platinum is the only decent English version of the series; it comes in several different packagings, with six or seven DVDs. I'm told that R2 version has somewhat compromised video quality compared to the R1, but I can't say that's worried me (I have the R2).

EoE is long out of print. There were versions with just that film, or packaged with Death & Rebirth (which is only of interest historically, and for completists). The English-dubbed version of EoE (from Manga) has laughably poor video quality, sometimes called Vaseline-o-vision. The only (legal) way to improve on that is to buy a Japanese copy as well (or one of the recent French or Italian releases) and mux the dub stream from the English version with the video stream from one of the others. Or just get so carried away by the film that you stop noticing the quality...

[TheDrmcvey]

Greetings everyone. Pretty new in the forum, this is my first post.

Well, I'm not that much into anime, and so, I'd never bought merchandising... but I love Evangelion and I want to have it in real life: The original EoE. I went to several comic stores and people tell me that is impossible to find it, so I went to Amazon but all the covers are different from each other. Which one of them is the true one?
Also, all of them says "studio: WEA"... what is that? I couldn't find anything about studio WEA.
I'm a little bit confused at this point. What should I buy?

And... what about the NGE? I found the VHS but I'm concerned about their lifetime, being them VHS... then I found the Platinum version. So, platinum or VHS?

Here are two links I found to both of your questions on Amzaon:
http://www.amazon.com/Neon-Genesis-Evangelion-Platinum-Collection/dp/B000244FRS
http://www.amazon.com/Neon-Genesis-Evangelion-End/dp/B000068OJ1/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1402177140&sr=1-1&keywords=end+of+evangelion

Platinum is the direction you want to go. Those contain the highest quality versions of NGE to this day. As for End of Eva, the second link I gave you is the page for purchasing a copy for your own. Beware though, both versions are pricey.

[Aoren]

Wow. Thanks for the replies. I'll check that out.

Edit. How does the EoE that's currently out of prints looked like?

[pwhodges]

This is the R2 version (much cheaper than I've seen in a while), but the image is typical. The version packaged with Death & Rebirth has a completely different picture, but is sometimes cheaper for some reason.

NB, while it's easy to arrange to be able to play R1 disks on many/most R2 DVD players, the opposite way about is more often not true.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

If you’re going to get an R2 disc, you might as well get the Japanese disc release and add some fan subs yourself. As expensive as Japanese DVDs and Blu-rays are, I really doubt you’ll find an really good out-of-print copy of the R1 release for cheaper.

[TheDrmcvey]

Just bought a combo pack of D&R and EoE. Does anyone else have this in their collection and if so what did you think about the product?
http://www.amazon.com/Neon-Genesis-Evangelion-Death-Rebirth/dp/B0009S4J5K/ref=sr_1_3?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1410112242&sr=1-3&keywords=end+of+evangelion

[The Eva Monkey]

Does anyone else have this in their collection and if so what did you think about the product?

It's basically just the two original releases in a new slipcase with two very underwhelming postcards and a mousepad, which is more like a pencil board.

[TheDrmcvey]

It's basically just the two original releases in a new slipcase with two very underwhelming postcards and a mousepad, which is more like a pencil board.

You know some reviewers who reviewed EoE complained about Manga Entertainment turning up the gamma during Shinji's "you know what" scene. Is that also true for this version?

[pwhodges]

The Manga version has an incorrect black level throughout, is my understanding of the issue; that certainly fits for my R2 copy.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

ALL of Manga’s EoE release has terrible gamma levels. It’s just bad. I still don’t know why, since Manga’s D&R release at least had more accurate gamma settings (though the Japanese Renewal release is still the best available version thus far).

[svenge]

ALL of Manga’s EoE release has terrible gamma levels. It’s just bad.

Not only that, but it's been filtered / softened terribly. The sad thing is that Manga got the exact same master as the original Japanese DVD release (KIBA-105/6) but then botched it to hell and back.

[TheDrmcvey]

Not only that, but it's been filtered / softened terribly. The sad thing is that Manga got the exact same master as the original Japanese DVD release (KIBA-105/6) but then botched it to hell and back.

Well my copy just shipped so here's to hoping that the viewing experience doesn't turn out to be too bad. I'm planning on showing it to my friends for the first time, they'll be in for one hell of a ride!

[Dataprime]

Man I am totally ignorant on all this picture quality stuff.

[robersora]

^
Don't lose your innocence. If you notice it once, the damage cannot be undone.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

I am always envious of an opportunity to introduce someone else to EoE for the first time. It almost doesn’t matter what copy you have, the expressions of your friends faces will still be just as priceless.

But just for comparison’s sake, here’s some screen caps from both Manga's DVD and the Japanese Renewal DVD.

Comparison  SPOILER: Show

Manga


Kings Records


Manga


King Records


Manga


King Records

Also, if you have any “De-Interlace”/“Deinterlace” settings on your DVD player, be sure to activate them. As if to place the cherry on top, Manga Ent. also scanned a progressive source using interlaced technology, a pet peeve of mine throughout many low end DVD releases. Skipping the explanation of the technobabble, all that means is that if you don’t toggle on your de-interlace settings, your video will flicker on screen, showing up brief images like this:

Interlaced freeze frame  SPOILER: Show

Granted, it will appear as though you’ve lost even more resolution if you use your de-interlace settings. (Which is even worse than usual since Manga softened their image already using filters.) But the video playback at least won’t look as distracting as the above image.