Do Boukenger and Gekiranger exist in 1080p transfers?

[monkeyjb1988]

With Power Rangers now in HD and the older Sentai films on Blu-ray, I was wondering about Boukenger and Gekiranger. On their Wikipedia pages, both are listed as "Broadcast in 720p". I know that can mean anything, since you can broadcast anything from Wizard of Oz to Full House (obviously, not the best choice) in 720p. Does anyone know where I can find absolute proof, or just some thoughts, of whether Boukenger and Gekiranger were finished in 1080p or 720p. I'm pretty sure Go-onger was done in 1080p and certain that Shinkenger and up was 1080p. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Seeker]

My guess, seeing the recent yearly introduction of older rider and sentai series to blu ray box set, it's only a matter of time before certain shows get their blu rays. A show as old as Kamen Rider 555 got an anniversary blu ray. So did Kamen Rider W, and Shinkenger. I personally wait for the day Kabuto gets announced! And it seems like starting from Boukenger those older Sentai probably will too.

 

[Dr Kain]

Not yet.

I hope Blade is the next to get a BD release.

 

[Shoichi]

First, it depends on whether the series was shot on 1080p in the first place (or at bare minimum, 1080i). Then it depends on whether it was mastered in 1080. If not, some remastering and upscaling needs to be done.

Way easier for the older stuff as they were mostly shot on film.

 

[Seeker]

Not yet.

I hope Blade is the next to get a BD release.

It is now!

 

[FortMax]

I have no idea if Boukenger's masters are 1080p or not. They're either 1080p or 720p. Probably wouldn't matter which which it is, since Wizard was Toei's first TV toku that you could really tell the difference. Stuff prior may very well have been 1080p at every stage, but the picture just didn't have the detail for the difference to be noticeable.

Here's the rundown:

All of Showa Rider (except for the two BLACK specials), all of Metal Heroes through at least B-Fighter Kabuto, and all of Sentai from Goranger to episode 5 of Carranger were completely shot and edited on film. This is 16mm film, so it's closer to 720p quality than 1080p.

Carranger 6 through Timeranger, the GoGoV V-Cinema, and all Vs movies through GoGoV vs Gingaman were shot on film, and mostly edited on film, but some final assembly was done on analog tape. Because of this, the finished episodes are a blended SD mess, but as long as Toei still has the film it can look as good as the Masked Rider Black BDs.

Kuuga is an odd duck. It was shot in 1080i, but edited letterboxed in SD. Shooting in HD was done to allow for a proper HD master at some point. (Toei seriously needs to get off their asses and do this)

Gaoranger-Magiranger, and the vs movies from Timeranger vs GoGoV through Boukenger vs Super Sentai were mostly shot on film, with the occasional digital video shot, and were digitally edited in SD.

Agito-Blade (and PGSM) were all shot digitally in 480i, and edited in the same resolution. The finished masters are 720x480i, even that 4:3 episode of Agito. The BDs are upscaled. Ideally, the BDs for these shows would have kept the episodes in SD. This not only would have been closer to the original masters than any upscale, but also would have been a vast improvement over the DVDs thanks to the additional space and better compression you get from AVC.

Hibiki was shot and edited in 1080i.

Boukenger through Go-Onger were shot on film, and edited digitally in HD.

Kabuto-Fourze and Shinkenger- (probably) Go-Busters were all shot using RED cameras.

With Wizard and (probably) Kyoryu, Toei upgraded their cameras again. This stuff is absolutely worth the 1080p. Visually, at least.


(Side note: Power Rangers was shot on film and digitally edited in 480i through RPM. HD production began with Samurai, and the use the same model of RED cameras Toei used with Shinkenger)


As for back-catalog stuff on BD:

W, Shinkenger, Faiz (upscaled) and Ryuki (upscaled) have all three boxes released.

BLACK boxes 1 and 2 and Kabuto box 1 have been released.

BLACK RX and Blade (upscaled) have been announced.

 

[PowerPhantom245]

^

Judging by those upcoming releases, only remaining Heisei Rider series would be Kuuga, Agito, Hibiki, Den-O, Kiva, and Decade and .
Kuuga REALLY need a release, since those were completely shot in 1080i, which would benefit a lot for Blu-ray release.
Agito might come out after Kuuga, depending on when Kuuga comes out (hopefully by next year).
I don't think they would contain any Blu-ray exclusive (especially for Kuuga, since Joe Odagiri (Godai) didn't like the show), instead it might be similar to Ryuki release, of just putting all DVD extras.
Den-O might get released in 2017, since it marks 10th anniversary of the show; it would be interesting to see interviews with the casts (and voice actors of Imagin). I would love to see Kohana actress, 10 year later!
Kive might come out after (2017~2018) and Decade would probably be the last to get Blu-ray release, where it might be out by 10th anniversary (2019).
Realistically, Hibiki would probably be next in line for Blu-ray release IMO.

Personally, I want Movie Riders (Shin, ZO, and J) get Blu-ray release.
I would really love to watch them in beautiful HD awesomeness!

 

[145zzz]

Not yet.

I hope Blade is the next to get a BD release.

You're in luck:
http://www.orendsrange.com/2015/02/kamen-rider-blade-tv-series-blu-ray-box.html#more

BTW FortMax, where did you get all that info from?
It's really interesting, though I assume that's all the info we get in terms of the technical stuff behind these shows.

 

[FortMax]

Some of it is from Toei sites. For example, this article on the making of Agito, which explains the differences between how Kuuga and Agiro were shot and edited, and also says that shooting Kuuga in HD will allow them to make true HD masters in the future. Similar articles have mentioned the switch to HD for Boukenger, using RED cameras and recording on-set audio for Shinkenger, Wizard's camera upgrade, and so on.

Other info is from looking at the DVDs and BDs. On Carranger's DVDs, the first five episodes are digital masters of the original film, but the rest are from old tape masters. The episodes from tape masters still have film glue on the first and last frames of almost every shot, which means most editing was done on film. But there are places where the video does things that can only happen if there was an edit at the tape stage. Gaoranger-Magi are full of 30fps effects and digital composites, but there's still film grain on most stuff. Bouken-Go-On still have film grain as well.

Oh, and as for new extras we know of:
BLACK, like Faiz, has a new roundtable split into three parts, with one on each box.
Kabuto's BD box listings don't show anything new.
Blade also has a new roundtable, but it's split into two parts included in boxes 2 and 3, according to current listings.
BLACK RX's listings say new interviews are planned.

W, Shinkenger, and Ryuki didn't have anything new with their BDs.

While these aren't new, the Hyper Battle Videos for Ryuki and Faiz were previously only available on VHS. (Agito's HBV is the last one stuck on VHS as of now, since Kuuga's is in a DVD volume)
BLACK box three has Toei TV Hero Encyclopedia 1, which was released on VHS and Laserdisc in '93, but never had a DVD release. (You may be familiar with Toei TV Hero Encyclopedia vol 2, which was included in the last Jetman DVD volume)

 

[Shoichi]

I'm waiting for the first made in Japan Tokusatsu film to be shot on the Arri Alexa. I don't really like the look of RED.