After finishing a marathon of Dragon Ball Super (topping it off with the excellent Dragon Ball Super: Broly), I'm in a mood to go and re-watch the entirety of Dragon Ball (skipping most of the Buu Saga and only watching select episodes of GT). I was impressed with Funimation's Yu Yu Hakusho & Cowboy Bebop Blu-Ray releases, so I was hoping I could buy and collect the complete series of Dragon Ball to watch at my own pleasure.
....Unfortunately, I've been hit with a roadblock of a multitude of DVD and Blu-Ray releases, most of which either have awkward aspect ratio cropping, heavy use of DMR, edge enhancement, the resolution is locked at 480p for most of the sets, lack of broadcast audio, and the original Japanese Dub has audio cracking issues when set at a specific volume setting (when experimenting with a copy of the first DBZ Orange Box box set, my theatre system produces an ear wrenching pitch when the volume goes above medium-high settings and this ONLY happens when I select the Japanese Audio track). Even something like the super expensive Dragon Box series isn't perfect (they don't have the original Japanese broadcast audio), & not only are they out of print, only the DBZ Dragon Boxes were released in NA. Streaming isn't a better option, as Funimation's streaming service only has these disjointed transfers and look horrible.
So, I'm stumped. I want to give Funimation my cold hard cash, but I don't want to when every subsequent release of this material has been handled with the amount of care & respect as a drunk driver aimlessly piloting a wrecking ball crane through a hospital zone. What are my options?
