Video:

This set is a R1 rip, however, there are definitely some pixellation issues. They are not enough to detract from the series, but are noticeable. It is due to the original sets being 4 DVDs instead of 3 each.

Audio:

I primarily listened in the original language. I did not notice any audio issues, however, I have a simple stereo hookup with a pair of RCA wireless headphones.

Subtitle:

In a few spots the subtitles were about a second behind, but they quickly corrected themselves. It was not enough to detract the viewing experience though.

Comment:

Slayers is a classic series, and finding just one DVD set at a decent price is somewhat difficult now. These are an excellent option for those who would like to view the series for the first time or to even rewatch the series again.

Video:

The picture was very good some minor pixelation at times but nothing too bad unless you?re extremely picky about things like that. One thing to consider though is the age of the show considering Slayers was made in 95, Next in 96, and Try in 97 all are relatively old. So FX did a fine job of ripping them and making this set. The reason the picture gets a 5 is that the pixelation isn?t bad enough to knock it down even a half star.

Audio:

Many have mentioned sound problems but I didn?t notice it at all so I really can?t say what they are talking about. To me everything sounded perfect loud and clear. Slayers didn?t even have sound problems from what I could tell maybe it was the sound system I used wasn?t the best but the problems weren?t there.

Subtitle:

The subtitles were easy to read and I didn?t see any problems in this field either. I can?t say how well they sync up with the Japanese audio though because I watch the English dub with subtitles.

Comment:

I was very happy with this series it was a lot better than I expected funny, decent amount of action and always entertaining. The characters have their problems, which makes them great because it can sometimes lead to craziness between them. This is one of the few series I can highly recommend without a second thought one of the best series I?ve seen.

Video:

Clear picture. One thing i know is it is better than a VHS quality but i have seen one better than this one. Didnt have any problems.

Audio:

the Sound could be better but I do have to give Credit to FX Cuz no problems on my 5.1Dolby Digital Suround Sound.

Subtitle:

Didnt watch the subs

Comment:

It a Couragous Adventure that i couldnt stop watching. this was the First anime i got into. Lina startes out on her own and along the way picks up an interesting group of extremly talented people. Great set for newbies.

Video:

The video was nt bad because it improved after the first part, R1 rip. There was pixelation in all but the really noticeble was in the first set, 2&3 were OK it had pixelation but in a relly minor level (hardly noticeble). The dvd quality is very good considering how old the series is. Other than the pixalation there were no problems at all. GOOD!

Audio:

The audio in the whole box set was great, very clear, everything in sync. In the first part the jap audio is louder in the intro but thats fro the R1 so no biggy. In all there were 2 tracks, the english in 5.1 & the jap in 2.0. In all of the seire shtere were no problems with the audio. PERFECT!!

Subtitle:

The subs were very good, only one track (english). No missing lines in the whole 78 episodes, everything was translated, the only problem was that in the first 2 parts the timing was late about half a second or a full second but not always, this is fixed is the last part. No changes in the subs nor translation between parts. Standard yellow subs with black arround . Very Good!!!

Comment:

This series is a must see for every anime fan, one of the best magic/sorcerers anime out there, pack with lots of action. All of the discs had extras (previews of other series), Every episode is one chapter so no chapter breaks in them. The menus lokk great and are sifferent in every disc. This set is a great way to get this amazing series that will leave you wanting more plus the box is gorgeous. VERY HIGHLY RECOMENDED!!! Equipment used: APEX AD 1110W, Daewoo 20" TV

Video:

My understanding regarding the video is that the pixelation, interlacing, and muddiness I encountered throughout the series, most noticeably in the original Slayers TV 26-episode set, was due to the source material used for the R1. I have heard that the source material was believed to be analog, even perhaps SVHS, so this could be the fault of Central Park Media/Software Sculptors. The video problems seem less noticeable in the last of the three series, TRY. I would grade TRY a 4.5 in video, with the rest of the series a 4.0. My FX rip, while seemingly from the R1, looks as though FX took the R1 and made it worse. I believe this to be the case because of unplayable discs, skips, and problems mentioned in the audio section below. While unplayable discs and skips (checked on three players) could be attributed to a bad set, that wouldn't explain the audio issues. The video anomalies are known to be caused, in part or in full, by the source material. Having not seen the R1 version, I cannot say to what extent, if any, involves FX. I may attach some screenshots of the muddy video. Still, given the overall problems throughout the set mentioned throughout this review, I am inclined to believe FX's rip contributed to the problems.

Audio:

I found audio problems to be annoying, to the point where I returned the entire three-part set (TV, NEXT, TRY) for my money back, something I have never done with an FX set before. FX apparently ripped the original Slayers TV version with the audio problems, not the remastered set, and ripped it in such a way that it was as though someone was standing there with the volume knob, adjusting my television set's volume up and down. The audio anomalies were not only in the opening songs, but also in the episodes themselves. The problems did not go away after the original Slayers TV series but continued into NEXT, with the cleanest being TRY. Often audio in TV and NEXT sounded echoing or tinny, and Lina's voice was actually grating on my nerves, it had so much treble in it. The extreme treble was there even when I adjusted the audio to have almost zero treble and increased the bass. The only workaround I found was to switch my Sony DVD's audio settings from "off" to "TV Standard." That at least made Lina's voice bearable, and helped reduce the echo, but did nothing about the volume increasing and decreasing. Some random examples, and I checked these on three different DVD players, including a new Sony: Original Slayers, Disc Two: Chapters 5-10 have very muffled opening songs. Subpar, muffled sound throughout episodes; volume decreased. Original Slayers TV, Disc Three: (when I refer to CH 1, I mean Chapter 1 of the relevant disc) CH 1: Theme song echoes. Very muffled opening; continues throughout episode. Volume decreased. CH 2: Theme song sounds better but not great. Audio too quiet. CH 3: Audio still too quiet and volume turned down throughout episode. A muffled quality. CH 4: Quieter than CH 3 after the opening song, in the episode. A muffled quality. Audio lacking in brightness. CH 5: A comfortable level; a good mix, finally. CH 6-9: The rest of the chapters on this disc sound muffled, and audio is lacking in brightness and clarity. Has a skip in it at marker 3242. Slayers NEXT, Disc One: CH 1 & 2: Audio too quiet and muffled. No crisp bright sounds. CH 3: Audio very quiet. CH 4: Audio louder, but still muffled and not bright. CH 5: Same subpar audio. CH 6: Audio starts way too quiet again. Muffled and indistinct. Lina's voice during chapter is a bit more distinct from background noises, but still not a good mix. CH 7: Another bad audio of opening song. Episode itself was too quiet. Background music almost louder than voice actors. CH 8: Audio sounded a bit better, at least the opening started a bit louder. But then it proceeded to get too loud. When ep starts, audio gets too quiet, not bright, a muffled mix. CH 9: Same subpar audio. SLAYERS NEXT, Disc Two: CH 1: Audio sounds better, louder at least, but varies between loud and quieter. CH 2: Audio once again gets too quiet. CH 3: Audio gets louder again. CH 4: Audio even louder than last episode. CH 5: Audio even louder than last episode. Starting to hurt my ears. CH 6: The loudest audio of all, yet. etc. The very least FX could have done would have been to rip the remastered TV series, instead of the original TV series with audio problems. There was also a remaster with problems, so in order for FX to minimize the audio problems, FX would have had to have ripped this from the third R1 set, which would be the second remastering of the TV series.

Subtitle:

For the most part, I found the subtitling hard to read. In the middle of Slayers TV series, they briefly changed to a yellow bold font; however, later on, they went back to using a light-faced yellow font which was difficult to read, and continued with that font throughout most of NEXT and TRY. In addition, some of the subtitles suffered from the same muddy video seen in other video areas on this 9-disc set. However, the translations provided were excellent. I always watch everything in Japanese language with English subtitles. I spot-check the English dub. Thus, any review you see from me will always have been viewed in Japanese. I do not enjoy what are oftentimes (but not always) bad American dubs with their VAs over-acting. Let's take Xellos as an example. If you listen to the English dub, you will likely despise his character. If you listen to the Japanese language with English subs, you will get a much truer picture of how Xellos was meant to be portrayed.

Comment:

Disc Two of Slayers NEXT was completely unplayable on my Sony DVD player. Another two discs had skips in them. Disc Two of Slayers NEXT did play on my iBook, but the audio was muffled in parts, as though someone had their hand over the microphone. (Note: I do not use the iBook to grade audio, as iBooks have small speakers not meant for decent sound. However, I did notice muffled audio, which was confirmed on the Sony player and one other player, both connected to quality sound systems.) Disc One of the original Slayers TV series has a menu item called "Special Features." If you like listening to the Japanese version, there is no subtitling for this part of the disc. Your only options are to either listen to the English dub or listen to the Japanese audio with no subs. Overall, despite the audio/video problems, this is an excellent three-part set regarding content, if you like comedy, sorcery, magic and monsters, with some dark moments. I highly recommend the content; I am hoping, however, that I can find another manufacturer who ripped the remastered version. Either that, or I just got a bad set of FX discs. The characters and plot in Slayers will keep you watching. There are a few filler eps in TRY, but just at the point I was getting annoyed, they skipped right back on track with the plot. Excellent, highly recommended collection.

Video:

This was fine from what I checked, there were some nonsical moments with lots of movement where there may have been some distortion/pixelling but this is so brief unless I was looking for it I won't see it.

Audio:

Both english and japanese voices were great, the english voice dubbing was surprisingly okay as it usually is quite poor.

Subtitle:

One of the few sets to have the option for english subtitles for the english track - a help for those who are hard of hearing or those new to the english language.

Comment:

An extremely funny set, this always has me laughing, despite the fantasy setting this has implied jokes from our more modern world. Whilst the set maybe a little TOO long for some, it is well worth the money if you can find it - I paid 63 dollars (around £40) for 9 dvds which is cheap when I get charged 30 dollars over here in the UK (If I can find it that is-the market here is rather poor in comparison or very slow) and thats PER DVD. Only improvement on this I have is maybe they could have included the movies/oavs but I am not really complaining.

Video:

It's Ripped from the R1s...looks good but there are ocasions (specially in the first 2 seasons) when there's some visible pixealation ...doesn't lasts long , it's some small flashes , but it's visible (i read that the R1s aren't that great also)

Audio:

I noticed the same small problem with the audio that the previous reviewer mentioned, but it's the R1s fault, probabaly cause they didn't ripped the remastered set (the original set had this problem) Contais Japanese and English audio

Subtitle:

r1 ripped, nothing is missed and no timing issues

Comment:

Contais some extras : Lots of Trailers and some interviews with the Dubbing Actors , and that's all

Video:

Fairly good video, ripped from the R1 release, BUT there seems to be macroblocking during combat scene's where magic is used (aka, the kind of flashy magic that covers your monitor/tv). This set has been viewed on a 17 TFT pc monitor, so the set will look better on a TV set (thanks to the automatic lower quality of the tv screen), and this may hide the macroblocks more. So it loses a whole point for those macro blocks during the magic flash combat scene's ( repeat those last 4 words 10 time's in a row :) ).

Audio:

The Jap audio is excellend but in the middle of disk 2, ( around 1.32min) the sounds volumn change's (is lower). This is also followed by a change in the sub font (see below) and a change from the intro. Becouse of that volumn change, it loses a half point (sinds the volumn level isent maintaint over all the disk's, this may be a fault from the R1 dvd's, but i havent seen a report from that). Update: the audio change is only releated to the changed intro (who has a differende audio level (mono like)), the serie itself seems to maintain the same audio level. I've been trying to pinpoint the problem, and it only effects a small part of eps. Looks like they ripped the original Slayers set & not the fixed set. It seems that the Jap eps 14 to 19 intro's are affected. The Eng audio intro's seem to be perfect (and play in japanese *rofl*). It looks like this may be the audio problem that's on the original "The Slayers" set. Who later got fixed. The Next & Try parts ( dvd 4 -> 9 ) wont have this problem. So in short, only eps 14 to 19 intro's have a mono (and over-bass) problem. The main audio & the end are unaffected. A pity, but lucky that it's not as bad as i first feared :) Untested: English Audio

Subtitle:

English subs from the R1 release. They start in small yellow with a small black border, and around 1.32 min ( dvd2) like with the audio audio change, the font change from small yellow to a bold yellow. The intro also changed in that eps, so it looks more like a season change ... The subs stay the same from there on ( a bold yellow ). The subs are perfect ripped, and no missing subs to be noticed.

Comment:

This is a preview based on viewing the first 2 dvd's, and quick checking the other dvd's. If i found any other problems, i'll update this. So no update's after this = the set stays consistand :)