MOTU/POP Filmation Blu-Ray coming from PLAION Productions in 2023 (Germany)

[Jukka]

Looks like it's sold out already. Does anyone know if they will be printing more or was that it?

They stated (Dec 15th) on their official Facebook page that ”the edition will soon be available in the shop again. News to follow.”



- - - Updated - - -

Updated roughly an hour ago:



Preorder available again

Though because their payment system doesn't differentiate between preorders and items in stock, you need to pay for it when placing the order.

[zodak74]

As exciting as this set sounds, I think I'm just going to sit back and wait to see if it eventually gets an official US release. If it doesn't, that's fine as I still have all my dvd sets. These kinds of problems with large box sets in general just always irk me as a collector (dealing with replacement discs, finding the errors for the company, etc). It's almost like it's more worth it to wait a few months after a set gets released so they can work out the inevitable kinks and then get a hold of the fixed sets instead.

[Captain Wow]

Went ahead and ordered this. Hopefully I set up everything on mail forwarding service properly.

[depp76]

This is all a bunch of confusing stuff lol. If it gets released in the U.S. I'll buy it for sure. If not, oh well.

[bjh13]

Thanks for the info!

I placed an order, even having to wait a couple of months is worth it. I'm surprised at the level of indifference I've seen from people on Facebook and here to this release considering how bad the DVD sets are.

[Jukka]

Thanks for the info!

I placed an order, even having to wait a couple of months is worth it. I'm surprised at the level of indifference I've seen from people on Facebook and here to this release considering how bad the DVD sets are.

I guess it depends on what sets fans have gotten.

Many fans were lucky to get the gorgeously packaged BCI Volume sets for US market, that had Art Cards, Documentaries and all goodies with it.
At the time comparisons were made obviously to Contender UK sets, and quality issues (sped up voices in american version one big thing).

But those who have later discovered He-Man and She-Ra on DVD, and only those NBCUniversal sets, may simply not know any better. But yes I do hope folks who want the blu-ray set will get one. It is totally worth it.

[Firefly]

The BCI DVD sets were pretty awesome (once replacement discs were sent out for some of their issues). Even the Mill Creek sets were pretty good for a budget release. It does seem like there was a significant drop in quality with the Universal sets, but not enough to probably warrant importing a big set, particularly one with replacement issues. I also don't think many people know about this set unless they are very hard-core He-Man fans that go to all the social media sites specifically looking for MOTU stuff and once they see it is a foreign release, most of them stop reading immediately. Hopefully, it does well in Europe and executives in the US that can do something about a Blu-Ray release in the states take notice.

[Odessa-James]

Errors exist only in the German Language!

[Firefly]

Errors exist only in the German Language!

Even the issue Keep-MOTUC-alive talks about with Secret of the Sword on the previous page?

[ForTheHonour86]

Even the issue Keep-MOTUC-alive talks about with Secret of the Sword on the previous page?

Unfortunately, the SotS English dubs (mono and stereo) are slightly out of sync. I checked Plaion Pictures' Facebook and from what I saw translated was that this issue was on the original master and couldn't be corrected. Hopefully this gets fixed by Plaion Pictures but seems unlikely.

[bjh13]

As someone who owns the BCI and Mill Creek sets... I'm pretty excited at the chance for an upgrade. They are fine for what they are, but on any decent sized tv today they look pretty bad. What surprises me is not people being unaware, or people frustrated with the price and difficulty of getting the set and choosing not to, but the people thinking the current DVD sets are basically just as good. To each their own, if you're happy with the $35 Mill Creek set, or even just watching them from Youtube, there's nothing wrong with that, but I'm pretty excited to get actual HD copies playing back at a proper speed.

[ek79]

Finally !

https://i.imgur.com/Iz3ZcQT.jpeg

[Jukka]

Thanks to Grimbot, it's interesting to compare the first German official DVD release from 2003 to the recent Blu-Ray...

We've come a long way since then...

[Daavid]

Ordered mine and can't wait for it to arrive in February. It's a shame all the printed materials are in German but it was too good to pass up. Can someone tell me if the documentaries each have English tracks as well?

[ek79]

Ordered mine and can't wait for it to arrive in February. It's a shame all the printed materials are in German but it was too good to pass up. Can someone tell me if the documentaries each have English tracks as well?

There are a few extras in German only, But most of them are in English.
And we have a jewel easter egg for fans there. It is really a must have box set.
The restoration is unbelievable. My jaw dropped.

[Daavid]

Cracking! Can't wait.

[ForTheHonour86]

Has anyone who ordered from outside the EU tried to get the replacement discs due for February?

I made a request and thought that I would be OK for shipping to my billing address as it was an order and not a replacement.

Sadly, due to the licensing agreements, I was told that it cannot be done. Therefore Plaion would have to send the discs to the mail forwarding service and so had to cancel the replacement discs to avoid extra costs

[Odessa-James]

Has anyone who ordered from outside the EU tried to get the replacement discs due for February?

I made a request and thought that I would be OK for shipping to my billing address as it was an order and not a replacement.

Sadly, due to the licensing agreements, I was told that it cannot be done. Therefore Plaion would have to send the discs to the mail forwarding service and so had to cancel the replacement discs to avoid extra costs

Why replace? Are the errors not only in the German soundtrack? Or because of the printing errors?

[ForTheHonour86]

Why replace? Are the errors not only in the German soundtrack? Or because of the printing errors?

It was mainly due to printing errors and wanting a proper collection without any issues. The issues I suppose are relatively minor.

That being said the upscaling is amazing and those that get the corrected ones are in for a treat when they see the crisp details.

[bjh13]

I finally got the set, cost me $218 between Plaion and the forwarding service, and it's worth every penny. For those of you that have only seen screenshots, it's really hard to explain just how much better all the footage looks. The difference is overwhelming. I know a lot of people are fine with the DVDs, but if you are watching on a 40"+ tv this is just so much better.

[anytimepally]

Anyone else have an audio issue in the English track of The Mystery of Man-E-Faces, where one of Man-At-Arms' lines near the beginning is missing? It's just after Man-E-Faces leaves the room to prepare for the show after being introduced to MAA.

[DisneyBoy]

Is there any footage up on YouTube or elsewhere? I'd love to see the She-Ra intro at least to get an idea of how the pitch and visuals and speed ultimately worked out.

The few reviews I've seen focus only on the packaging and menus.

[Vanquest]

First, they went back to the digital masters that were made in the 90's, which were of higher quality than ever ended up on DVD (higher resolution to begin with, not to mention the horrid DVD compression).

Second, they fixed the PAL speedup, so the episodes actually run at proper speed/length and no longer have unnatural, high pitched audio.

Third, because of the animation style, they were able to AI upscale using new technology that made it go from "better than what we had" to breathtaking.

I mean, you just need to look at those screenshot comparisons to see what it looks like now. It's amazing. I'm pretty well-schooled for a civilian in regards transfers and such, and if they had told me these were from an OCN, I would have believed them. TBH, just fixing the audio and having better compression would have sold me - but what they have done here is beyond anything I ever imagined. Easily the most impressed I have pretty much been, ever for what they have done on a TV release.

- - - Updated - - -

As someone who owns the BCI and Mill Creek sets... I'm pretty excited at the chance for an upgrade. They are fine for what they are, but on any decent sized tv today they look pretty bad. What surprises me is not people being unaware, or people frustrated with the price and difficulty of getting the set and choosing not to, but the people thinking the current DVD sets are basically just as good. To each their own, if you're happy with the $35 Mill Creek set, or even just watching them from Youtube, there's nothing wrong with that, but I'm pretty excited to get actual HD copies playing back at a proper speed.

Also:

The Universal sets that are currently available are definitely a step-down from the BCI releases, mainly because the compression is just so horrid. I think if you look back further in this thread, there is a comparison between all four types of releases.

The Blu-rays are still definitely a leap forward from the BCI discs, even - just not the epic quantum leap from the currently available Universal sets, LOL.

For me, the biggest issue is that they corrected the PAL speedup that even the BCI releases had. It's only 4%, but I am very sensitive to audio pitch, and as they used so much electronic manipulation to begin with in the voices in the series (especially as they went on, particularly in She-Ra). I used to find myself wincing with some of the old audio tracks and I couldn't watch for long periods of time or I'd get a headache.

Fixing that alone would have gotten a thumbs up on an upgrade from me, but the visual quality is so far and above anything I ever thought we would see.

- - - Updated - - -

Is there any footage up on YouTube or elsewhere? I'd love to see the She-Ra intro at least to get an idea of how the pitch and visuals and speed ultimately worked out.

The few reviews I've seen focus only on the packaging and menus.

- - - Updated - - -

By the way, we don't need the NTSC masters, if they ever exist.

The PAL masters are better than the NTSC masters, and once you get rid of the PAL speed-up, then you get the best from that video format.


"PAL usually has 576 visible lines compared with 480 lines with NTSC, meaning that PAL has a 20% higher resolution, in fact it even has a higher resolution than Enhanced Definition standard (852x480). Most TV output for PAL and NTSC use interlaced frames meaning that even lines update on one field and odd lines update on the next field. Interlacing frames gives a smoother motion with half the frame rate. NTSC is used with a frame rate of 60i or 30p whereas PAL generally uses 50i or 25p; both use a high enough frame rate to give the illusion of fluid motion. This is due to the fact that NTSC is generally used in countries with a utility frequency of 60 Hz and PAL in countries with 50 Hz, although there are many exceptions.

Both PAL and NTSC have a higher frame rate than film which uses 24 frames per second. PAL has a closer frame rate to that of film, so most films are sped up 4% to play on PAL systems, shortening the runtime of the film and, without adjustment, slightly raising the pitch of the audio track. Film conversions for NTSC instead use 3:2 pull down to spread the 24 frames of film across 60 interlaced fields. This maintains the runtime of the film and preserves the original audio, but may cause worse interlacing artefacts during fast motion.

NTSC receivers have a tint control to perform colour correction manually. If this is not adjusted correctly, the colours may be faulty. The PAL standard automatically cancels hue errors by phase reversal, so a tint control is unnecessary yet Saturation control can be more useful. Chrominance phase errors in the PAL system are cancelled out using a 1H delay line resulting in lower saturation, which is much less noticeable to the eye than NTSC hue errors."

[zodak74]

I've been iffy about ordering this set only because I'd hate to go through all the extra steps and costs only to see this get a US release 4 months later, you know?
Do we have any indication that this thing will make it's way to other regions or was this only ever meant to be a German release? Seems like a ton of effort went into producing this set for it to be so... limited.

[Voodoo Magic]

I've been iffy about ordering this set only because I'd hate to go through all the extra steps and costs only to see this get a US release 4 months later, you know?
Do we have any indication that this thing will make it's way to other regions or was this only ever meant to be a German release? Seems like a ton of effort went into producing this set for it to be so... limited.

We'll see if there is one, but I'm holding out for a US (non-Plaion) 40th Release myself! 🤞 I was tempted, but I like to cherry pick my viewing by episode titles, and the non-English menus / episode titles convinced me to hold off.