Forum - View topicNEWS: Funimation Confirms Shikabane Hime: AKA Acquisition
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
ConanSan
Posts: 1818 |
|
|||
But IP Based Region Bock Clock is the cardenel sin of internet media provision. |
||||
|
||||
|
testorschoice
Posts: 468 |
|
|||
May you double-check the source of those old Knight Rider episodes? They're not officially available on YouTube for any country. |
||||
|
||||
the Rancorous
 Posts: 2248 Location: Hunting the Dragon in Gransys |
|
|||
Hey I feel ya, I can only assume (since I'm not involved in the industry) that its a sort of big legality issue along with companies/studios being hesitant to take risks on changing their methods which have been (at one time anyways  ) successful. Personally, if a company started selling Xvid subs ASAP after the initial airing, then that company would become my best friend. I personally can't stand watching anime on my computer screen, but Xvid .avi's can be played through my Xbox 360 on my 30 in HD TV, and I would definitely pay money for that! 
Also, unless something comes up like a streaming site that is paid for entirely by advertisements to where shows can be free to the viewers comes up, then I don't ever see fansubs becoming moot since the number one reason pirates pirate is that they don't want to pay for anything. And no, I am not talking about people who download and then buy the DVDs once they come out, so don't bore me with that... |
||||
|
||||
Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
|
|||
Last edited by Mohawk52 on Tue Oct 21, 2008 3:16 am; edited 1 time in total |
||||
|
||||
GeneralArrow
 Posts: 225 Location: United States |
|
|||
|
If funimation can pump out a dvd in the next month or so I won't mind the fast acquisition. Funi is expanding is domain which imo isn't a bad thing. Means I can get the DVD's faster. Though I will kinda miss the fansubs(which will never die thankfully) they've done so much for the industry, but so has Funi(yeah I know adv was the first major one).
|
||||
|
||||
|
houkoholic
Posts: 83 Location: Japan |
|
|||
Not true, both Funimation and Gonzo's free streams are IP-blocked for the Japan region at the very least. So I would expect Funi would block their channels to non-R1 regions. Though with Funi and Manga just recently signed a deal for distribution, maybe - MAYBE - UK residence might have a chance. |
||||
|
||||
|
mulrich
Posts: 139 Location: Denmark |
|
|||
Well, I agree. If the industry can make fansubs pointless, then I wouldn't mind. But, in this particular case, they still won't be pointless. Why? YouTube quality is not quality. It's crap. The fansubs are simply far better. And like so many other people, I do not want to pay for something I can only watch for a limited time. I base what I buy on fansubs. If the show I watch is really good, I buy it - given it's licensed, of course. If it's not licensed, I hope it gets licensed. When the industry can provide free, subbed-only, high-quality episodes of anime worldwide within days of the air date in Japan, it will be an option for me. Until then, I'll go with fansubs. |
||||
|
||||
Mr. sickVisionz
 Posts: 2173 |
|
|||
|
I think this is a good move. I don't think Shikabane is good enough to buy, but i'll stop downloading fansubs and support the show on Hulu if its gonna be up there.
Its a shame some people are willing to illegally stream it in bad quality for free rather than legally stream it in high quality for free. Do you really hate anime so much that you'd rather get poor quality illegally than possibly support it in any way, even if it doesn't cost you anything but watching a 15 second ad? "Also, unless something comes up like a streaming site that is paid for entirely by advertisements to where shows can be free to the viewers comes up, then I don't ever see fansubs becoming moot since the number one reason pirates pirate is that they don't want to pay for anything. " You must have missed the part about the show being on Hulu. I totally agree on the second part though. Some people watch fansubs because the shows aren't out here and others watch just because they aren't ever going to pay for something that they can get for free or they just hate the idea of supporting a company, even if its a company that makes products that they like and enjoy. |
||||
|
||||
walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
|
|||
|
I'm sure a lot of people watch fansubs (we'll just focus on new shows here) because there is no other way to see it, and I don't care what you saw about streaming, a fansub's quality will always be better in terms of picture and encoding. Forgetting the whole HD anime thing as well, h.264 alone provides an amazing picture for a tiny amount of space, compared to divx and especially compared to streaming. So if I'm aiming for the best picture, it's fansubs. Hell, unless you're using a PS3, most of my DVDs still show terrible signs of interlacing in normal DVD players.
|
||||
|
||||
|
edzieba
Posts: 704 |
|
|||
- illegally stream in terrible quality from official sources (with nearly a month delay, and lots of hassle with proxies and VPN tunnels just getting the stream to work) - illegally download in excellent quality from unofficial sources (and with RSS, essentially no work required beyond the first episode) I think it's pretty obvious what the superior choice is here. |
||||
|
||||
uLTraCarL
 Posts: 40 Location: Garden Grove, CA |
|
|||
|
I haven't tried those other 2 stream sites but when I "full screen" with youtube, widescreen videos do not take up the entire screen on my 32" LCD TV. Since the flash player frame is a 4:3 box, that is what it maximizes to and the video is stuck playing in that box.
Shikabane Hime is widescreen, wasted screen real estate by restriction of website/flash/stream/stream player is not cool. If I end up enjoying this series when it does finish, it will warrant a purchase when it is released out on DVD. |
||||
|
||||
|
ximpalullaorg
Posts: 396 |
|
|||
Of course, Japanese licensors want to keep on with their protectionism to the point of absurdity. And I don't see any reason to be excited. GAINAX show, and from what I've seen it's pretty bad too, much like most of their shows (yes, even Gurren Lagann). |
||||
|
||||
|
houkoholic
Posts: 83 Location: Japan |
|
|||
Common misconception about "fansubs being better" when in fact the limit is not in the technology but rather the companies not willing to provide a better experience for whatever reasons. Flash player (ie the defacto platform for streaming right now) had support for the same h.264 encoding that you praised fansubs for since ver 9 which was released since sometime late last year. In fact sites like Hulu, BBC's iplayer supports and uses this and does provide shows in high quality h.264 encoded HD streams. It's just the anime companies haven't caught on, the inherit technology of streaming itself is not flawed or inferior.
That just means that your equipment has a poor de-interlacer or that you haven't setup your AV equipment properly. Interlacing is not a picture flaw as the way you are wording it as, and should be reversable to give a good picture, as afterall interlacing is a sort of video compression standard that we've been using for many years. Most decent upscaling DVD players that can be had for little over $100 can do it. So don't throw it around like a dirty word if you don't know what it really means. |
||||
|
||||
Richard J.
 Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
|
|||
Frankly, I find the whole issue of fansubs vs. legal streams to be incredibly pointless and silly. Both are free to the viewer but only one actually gets any money into the hands of the people who make anime possible. The quality differences are, at least to me, quite minor. (I do completely agree with the issue of region locking however. The Internet should be free-access and the issue of region locking seems like a bad hold over from the past anyway, an anachronism in need of erasing.) Regardless, I don't see anime as some sort of divine right the way so many do. If you don't want to pay for it and you only want to watch it once anyway, why care about how it's shown at all? Why not just skip the show entirely? If it comes out on DVD, borrow someone else's and check it own on better quality. Or wait for a better digital download to own product. Or forget the show even exists. I read these comments from people who basically say "I'll only watch it once and maybe not even finish it" yet they are demanding so much in terms of specifics. They want a product tailor-made to their specifications, for free, that they might not even watch more than once. The way I see it, that's unreasonable to say the least. |
||||
|
||||
|
Mevious
Posts: 78 |
|
|||
|
Wow, I thought this was a great move, but now people are complaining about getting it in HD (people outside the US may have a genuine complaint, but I don't know if FUNi's DRM works outside the US.) Even if the series was released in HD (via Blu-ray), many people still wouldn't buy, quoting the high price as the reason... Oh well. Can't please everyone - for some, whatever you do is never enough. It's a legitimate concern as a consumer, but honestly, even if they met your demand, would you still shell out the money to buy it if you could just download the fansub (this isn't directed to the guy who already said he would)?
Now, I can't be too critical. I love HD as well and nowadays I'll only download series if they're in some form of HD. However, I've seen some of those old fansub VHS tapes, and I used to watch Love Hina episodes that were a whole 30-50MB (56k). Even low-grade SD today looks great. Personally, I don't like buying via digital distribution, especially when DRM is involved, but I'll at least purchase the first two episodes, to support this action. I'm really interested in seeing FUNi and maybe more companies making a move like this. A 20 oz. soda nowadays is close to $1.50; I'm sure most people can spare the $2 for one episode. For the HD lovers who also want to support FUNi, download the HD versions you like and buy an episode. I'd be delightfully shocked if they managed to dub it that quickly, too. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group