FUNimation Enhances "Dragon Ball Z" Blu-ray With Phoenix

Image Systems has announced that FUNimation has purchased multiple Phoenix Finish licenses in use on a number of FUNimation projects, including the highly anticipated restoration of the “Dragon Ball Z” anime series.
 
Aug. 2, 2011 - PRLog -- Image Systems, formerly Digital Vision, has announced that Texas-based FUNimation has purchased multiple Phoenix Finish licenses in use on a number of FUNimation projects, including the highly anticipated restoration of the "Dragon Ball Z" anime series, slated for Blu-ray release November 8, 2011.  "Dragon Ball Z" is a popular Japanese manga series, consisting of 42 volumes and selling over 152 million copies in Japan and over 200 million copies worldwide. The art, characterization and humor of the story has immensely influenced the international anime and cartooning industries, and created a cultural phenomenon.

"This is a show that has a huge and loyal global audience," says Matthew O'Hara, lead DVD author for FUNimation. "When it came time to restore the series for Blu-ray, we simply had to make it the very best it could be. After looking through our options we believe that the Phoenix was a clear, best choice."

"Dragon Ball Z" originates on 16mm film, and over time had begun to show signs of aging - dust, scratches, some shaking and focus. "We are doing a frame-by-frame, shot-by-shot restoration in HD," explains O'Hara. "In this process, the Phoenix has greatly enhanced our ability to recover the quality of the original material in a realistic time frame without the artifacts some algorithms leave behind. The dust, scratch and grain reduction tools in the DVO Restore part of our Phoenix purchase, has allowed us to just repair and renovate the animated series ready for repurposing."

"We are all fans of the way that film looks, but know that grain can be challenging. The Clarity enables us to clean and restore, without removing what we consider the right amount of grain to give the images depth," he adds.

Martin Bennett, Managing Director of the Media Business Unit for Image Systems, notes, "'Dragon Ball Z' is one of the most recognized anime titles in the world, with a massive following. To see how the talented team at FUNimation has used our restoration tools and especially DVO Clarity, our foremost digital and film noise reducer, to create these new versions of the show is gratifying."  

O'Hara concludes, "We have a well-loved series with an audience of millions of people who follow its distribution avidly. The new Blu-ray set was eminently awaited. We had a high bar to reach, and working with the team at Image Systems has been a great support to our plans. The 'Dragon Ball Z' workflow is film based, but we are successfully working on other projects that are HDCAM 4:4:4 or file based and we are seeing the same successes. Phoenix supports the entire workflow at FUNimation, seamlessly and with great support."

About Image Systems
Image Systems Media Unit, formerly Digital Vision, is a division of Image Systems AB, which specializes in high-resolution image processing, film scanning and motion analysis solutions. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Image Systems has offices in Linköping, London and Los Angeles. The company has three business units: Media, Defense and Motion, managed via a global network of qualified distributors. Its Nucoda and Phoenix image grading and restoration software solutions and Golden Eye range of scanners provide innovative tools to create and master media in HD, 2K/4K and stereoscopic 3D. The TEMA software platform provides a range of user friendly, high-speed motion analysis solutions for the automotive industry and other industrial test and design applications. The TrackEye system provides image analysis solutions for the military reconnaissance and testing markets. For additional information, visit www.imagesystems.tv.

About FUNimation Entertainment
FUNimation(r) Entertainment is the leading company for home video sales of Japanese animation in the United States.  FUNimation has a proven formula for launching and advancing brands, and manages a full spectrum of rights for most of its brands including broadcasting, licensing, production, internet, and home video sales and distribution. For more information about FUNimation Entertainment and its brands, visit www.funimation.com.


For information Contact:
Image Systems USA Marketing Contact:   
Alexa Maza               
Email:   alexa.maza@imagesystems.se      
Tel:   +1 (818) 769-8111         

Image Systems USA PR Contact:      
Christine Purse               
Ignite                  
Email:   chris@ignite.bz            
Tel:   +1 818 303 8088         
Mobile: +1 323 806 9696         

Image Systems EMEA & Asia PR Contact:
Kate Ford
Jump PR
Tel:   +44 (0) 1932 240001
Mobile:   +44 (0)7740 948 065

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