The only reason I couldn't give the video a perfect 5 is because of the minor pixelation that is barely noticable when fight scenes or fast animations arise. You will barely notice it, especially once your intent on watching the series. The colors and video are perfect on my TV... I love it!

I think the audio is great. The original DBZ was in Mono and MI decided to make a semi-stereo sound for this set. I hear no echoing or anything like that. Obviously it's not true stereo like Dolby 5.0 surround, but it isn't supposed to be. It sounds great!

I think the audio is great. The original DBZ was in Mono and MI decided to make a semi-stereo sound for this set. I hear no echoing or anything like that. Obviously it's not true stereo like Dolby 5.0 surround, but it isn't supposed to be. It sounds great!

You really can't ask for more besides the sometimes messed up names in the subtitles. The colors and video are just so perfect in these MI sets... Thank you Dragon Box! These sets blow the walls off the R1 Funi dvd's. If you want to see what dragon ball should look like then get these, you won't be disappointed.

For an HK set, where all the episodes on the three discs were from 1989 or 1990, this video looks awesome! This really should have been my first HK set, because I would have used the video on these discs as the standard by which I judged all other HK sets. This looks better than Trigun Perfect from FX, Yu Yu Hakusho from MI, and G Gundam Perfect from FX, which I own. I noticed some pixelation during the opening, but remember, these episodes were made in 1989!! The colors are very distinct, the animation looks very fresh and clean. There can be pixelation at times during heavy fighting sequences, but these scenes move so fast that the pixelation is on screen from half a second to two or three seconds max. The animation and video is just awesome during still or low action scenes. Sometimes even during heavy action scenes, I looked for pixelation but it seemed to disappear! These fast action scenes without pixelation usually came right after a fast action scene with heavy pixelation. The video is just so vibrant, so clear, so wonderful for an HK set that from now on I will judge all other HK sets that I have bought by these sets unless something better comes along. I understand that these are the R2 rips of the $2000 Dragon Box set and they absolutely blow the R1s out of the water. This isn't the edited video either, neither does it claim to be unedited but still is edited. There is beer, people getting kicked through walls, blood, arms being ripped off, people being shot, trucks being destroyed (and that's just the first four episodes!!).

Here's where the only problem I have with the set comes in. The soundtrack sounds fine, a little dated sounding, not because of the music, but because of when it was recorded. After all, I am used to Funimations poopy version where they've replaced the original music with amped up guitars for the sake of selling a few extra DVDs. The music isn't the problem, and I really enjoy the opening theme song, Cha-la-head-Cha la. The problem is with the dialogue. Maybe it is because I'm not used to it, but it sounds like the voices are being played too loud on really small speakers. This isn't just my problem either, I've read elsewhere this was a problem with these sets. I played it on my home theater system and then on my laptop and then just on my TV by itself. It sounded the same from all three sources.

Here's where the only problem I have with the set comes in. The soundtrack sounds fine, a little dated sounding, not because of the music, but because of when it was recorded. After all, I am used to Funimations poopy version where they've replaced the original music with amped up guitars for the sake of selling a few extra DVDs. The music isn't the problem, and I really enjoy the opening theme song, Cha-la-head-Cha la. The problem is with the dialogue. Maybe it is because I'm not used to it, but it sounds like the voices are being played too loud on really small speakers. This isn't just my problem either, I've read elsewhere this was a problem with these sets. I played it on my home theater system and then on my laptop and then just on my TV by itself. It sounded the same from all three sources.

Well to sum it all up, the saying "You haven't seen Dragon Ball Z until you've seen the Japanese version" is so true because of Funimation's "creative licenses". If you've only seen DBZ on Cartoon Network you really don't know what you're missing. This has blood, this has great fighting scenes, the translations from what I understand are far more accurate than Funimation's dub will ever be(which I've read actually changes the meaning and essence of the show in some places) and the video is left as is. Remember, this is a rip of the R2 DVDs that came from the DBZ box set that was released in Japan so you are getting DBZ as it should be, instead of the watered down American version. The video is awesome, the sound can be a tad sketchy, but it doesn't detract from the show by any means, and the subtitles are the best I've seen on as far as original subs go.

The only pixelation I noticed were the clouds when Goku was on Snake Road, or during fights, but during fights you hardly ever notice it! R2 Rips of the Dragon Box Z.

MI changed it from it's original Mono to stereo. It sounds great but if you turn it up real loud during the opening song, you hear some small amount of static.

MI changed it from it's original Mono to stereo. It sounds great but if you turn it up real loud during the opening song, you hear some small amount of static.

It's Dragonball Z, what else do you need?! I love episodes 6-21 which contains some of the best filler of all time!

The remastered video in these Dragonbox ripped set really puts the R1 disks to shame. The colours are far more natural looking, there is no horrible red tint, the picture is not cropped round the edges, even the artwork looks finer and more detailed. MI logo watermarks appear from time to time but they are a rarity. Dragon Ball Z has never looked so good.

MI seem to have created a kind of pseudo-stereo effect from the original mono sound. It isn't distracting and the sound is perfectly clear, but I would have preferred it in its original form.

MI seem to have created a kind of pseudo-stereo effect from the original mono sound. It isn't distracting and the sound is perfectly clear, but I would have preferred it in its original form.

Overall this is an excellent set for an excellent series. The episodes each have an opening sequence, a re-cap, and an ending sequence, all that's missing are the next-episode previews which I never watched anyways. The average subs are more than compensated for by the awesome video quality. For DBZ fans this is an essential purchase.

Great video conversion since this show is so old.....There is some pixelization when to much things happen at the same time like battles and kamehamehas =P.

i noticed some distortion during the first episodes...or maybe was only my TV. i dun know

i noticed some distortion during the first episodes...or maybe was only my TV. i dun know

Overall: Not as good as the 2nd box because of the subtitles and the audio of the first disc (i can't be sure if the audio distorion was cause by my TV), but still essential for dbz fans. the menus are awesome (same as the 2nd box). Unfortunatelly the package and covers for this show are really poor....i'd love if they used the same as the japanese R2 dragonbox...how well, nothings perfect.

The video is crisp, especially considering how old the episodes actually are. I can't remember a time there was pixilation in the whole set except when Raditz and Goku got killed, other than that it was great.

The audio tracks are old, but great. I can hear every punch, every breath, every grunt.

The audio tracks are old, but great. I can hear every punch, every breath, every grunt.

Video does indeed look pixelated, I would have preferred they cut away ending song... and put only 8 eps per dvd, oh well. the bitrate varies from 3-5 mbps. Dont know if its progressive or interlaced, looks like its progressive.

Sound cant be any better, because the original is mono, if they would have set the sound in mono and not used exagerated bitrate for it, maybe they would have set the video bitrate higher.

Sound cant be any better, because the original is mono, if they would have set the sound in mono and not used exagerated bitrate for it, maybe they would have set the video bitrate higher.

*You can find a review with more details, at http://sangofe2.netfirms.com/dbzpart1mi.html * Go there to find more screencapturs as well. Ok, i got the set today, and the english used in the translation has a lot of grammar error, and very often wrong translations, kinda like the one piece DVDs. Wish they had used fansubs, or the subs NGN created back in time. For the previews there is only 1 preview per disc (on the last episode on the disc), however, all the title screens, teasers and reviews are there, even the ending song, too bad they cut away most previews, i love to watch these. For the video, it does indeed look pixelated, I would have preferred they cut away ending song... and put only 8 eps per dvd, oh well. the bitrate varies from 3-5 mbps. Dont know if its progressive or interlaced, looks like its progressive. And the sound, it cant be any better, because the original is mono, if they would have set the sound in mono and not used exagerated bitrate for it, maybe they would have set the video bitrate higher.