Forum - View topicFunico - What Does it Mean?
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TD912
 Posts: 274 |
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Woah there. Before we go all conspiracy theory here, have you ever stopped to think that Crunchyroll streams shows that are licensed by other companies? There's a slew of shows already licensed by Viz (Naruto, Bleach), NIS (Working!!) Sentai (TWGOK, Eyeshield), Bandai (Code Geass, Haruhi), Aniplex (Oreimo, Durarara!), Media Blasters (Squid Girl), and whatnot streaming on Crunchyroll. Do you think all those companies are going to magically allow Funimation to stream and license them? I don't think so. And in any case, all of the new streams on NicoNico are currently free, HD, and without ads. ANN reported on it before. "Niconico told ANN that its English-language streaming service will offer high-definition video for both free and paid users." I just watched Guilty Crown on there. I'm not sure how that makes them "fascist pigs." |
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tuxedocat
 Posts: 2183 |
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Yes. This is my experience exactly. The comments are only occasionally clever, most of them being some 11 year old typing "OOOOO!!!!!!! aiiiiiiiii". I also have to let the buffer do its thing or else the video will pause every 15 seconds. Terrible.
Huh? I have a subscription, and have never had to pay extra for the last episode. Is there something going on I don't know about? --I must say, though, the moderators on their forums are absolute jerks. They get really pissed off at you if you ask a technical question, and expect you to fix your own problems even if you are a paying subscriber.
I can't even get the site to take my money. I always get a "Coming Soon" page. weird.
This idea would be awesome. I also think it would be great if they could run older series that are languishing in obscurity and not really earning any revenue at all anywhere. If a new fan wants to watch Maison Ikkoku or Legend of the Galactic Heroes, they have to resort to fansubs. |
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One-Eye
 Posts: 2261 |
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This sounds like the potential for more streams and physical product being available which is great. But is it really going to bring in that much more profit for all the companies involved in this economy? I mean my budget for anime is going to be seriously curtailed next year and I imagine many other people are in the same boat. If people are tightening their belts it doesn't matter how much product is available as sales will probably not increase substantially.
Or are they planning a slow roll out of this deal? You know a few extra titles being available for the first few years until the economy gets better and all the technology issues (Nicos lousy player, etc.) are resolved? If that's the case we maybe getting excited over something that won't hit its stride for several years. I wonder what their time table is to get this rolling by. |
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TheAncientOne
 Posts: 1872 Location: USA (mid-south) |
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International availability will likely be determined by the Nico Nico side of the venture. In the Summer season, Blood-C and Uta no Prince Sama were available to the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, while the remaining four simulcasts (all from Kadokawa) were U.S. only. (Thankfully, when CR got the episodes a week later, they had international availability).
Not Kadokawa, as they are tighter with Nico Nico; they own part of Nico Nico Douga's parent company, and it owns part of them. In the Summer, all four new Kadokawa simulcasts Crunchyroll got were delayed on week to give NicoNico.com an exclusive. (Free members didn't notice this because CR posted the episodes at the same time for free and premium members). This season, thus far, the only Kadokawa title CR has announced is a sequel to a series they had in the Spring, before NicoNico.com existed, which also happens to be one NicoNico.com is not streaming. It remains to be seen if CR will get any of the other Kadokawa series this season, even with a one week delay. If we have not seen any announcement by Monday, I expect not. At this point, CR's strongest partner is TV Tokyo (which also has a minor investment in CR). They seem to be reaching out to establish some new relationships, such as the two series licensed from NTV this season. I also have to wonder if Sentai's decision to license 2 of the 3 current season series they acquired to CR (one of which isn't even available on TAN) was perhaps a response to whatever information both companies may have heard about Funico before it was made public.
If you look at the licenses Funimation has announced during the past year (especially since earlier this year), a large number have been series that have streamed on CR; mostly from Kadokawa. Of course, Kadokawa is large enough that Funimation wouldn't dare intimate that they might not license from them if they licensed to Crunchyroll.
At least two of those titles may be among the type CR will not be getting in the future. (See the section concerning Kadokawa in my first reply to tuxedocat above).
Regarding Netflix, I expect the impact will be virtually nil, since they stream Funimation dubs. I doubt Funimation will be placing those on NicoNico.com. If niconico.jp is anything to go by, they seem to be more about simulcasts, and less about library titles. I would expect Funimation's Elite Membership program would be more likely to have an impact on availability of titles on Netflix.
I suspect because Nico Nico isn't Crunchyroll. I can't help but feel Funimation still has a strong negative sentiment against CR from the days when it was a fansub site. They certainly seemed to be the company that was most active in getting videos of series they licensed removed from CR in those days. |
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karenai_hana
Posts: 41 |
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Posting the same thing I posted in the other thread: You can be a premium beta member for 25¢ here: http://help.niconico.com/2011/07/what-is-a-25-member.html You can watch in fullscreen mode as a premium beta member. (Go to "Settings" in the player and choose "Enlarge to fullscreen view.") 25¢ membership lasts until the end of the beta period which they say will end in winter. Last edited by karenai_hana on Fri Oct 14, 2011 10:14 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18210 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I mostly agree strongly with this. I have actually usually had a smoother play-through with NicoNico than with Crunchyroll episodes that have just been released (the lower video quality may have something to do with that, though), but the lack of anything bigger than a small-screen mode seriously bugs me, particularly for a series like Fate/Zero which has heavily-detailed visuals, and having to manually turn off the streaming comments each time is a major nuisance. Doubtlessly this will eventually end up being a good deal for fans, but I'd also like to see Funimation concentrate on getting out titles they license a bit faster. (Sitting on titles for 15+ months without even announcing an eventual release date for them is getting to be ridiculous.) |
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TheAncientOne
Posts: 1872 Location: USA (mid-south) |
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The best a free user can obtain while streaming is by clicking the "full screen" button (the box with the arrow pointing outward from the upper right corner, located at the lower right of the player) and then pressing F11 to toggle your browser into full screen mode. I do wish they had an option in the user account settings to have the comments off by default. |
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androvsky
Posts: 20 |
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And Funimation was going to launch their premium streaming service this month, which should've solved the whole "making money on streaming" thing. Throw in apps for devices that require a subscription Hulu+ style, and Funimation might have actually started doing well for themselves. But NicoNico swooped in at the last minute and saved Funimation from having a solid revenue stream from streaming? And it's not like streaming is going to get less important in the future, so it's probably something Funimation should be able to do themselves.
At least Niconico is more likely to be able to deal with the load if they launch phone or console apps. Not that they apparently handle their current load well, but Funimation's new forums ran horribly for months; I was worried how well they were going to survive the premium switch from mostly Hulu hosting. |
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bglassbrook
 Posts: 1243 Location: Gaithersburg, MD |
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Or it could just be they don't expect it to do as well as they would like. Opportunity costs are just as real as any other, and with all the folks griping about the backlog, do you really want them messing with something that will make less money? Aka:
To whichever thread on this was complaining that CR had an app and N2 didn't... who cares? If your site is designed for easy navigation and compatibility with devices (the main force behind most apps) then an separate app is just excess fluff. Great to see they are going HD w/ ad-free, as like many before said, I prefer physical media. If FUNi only wants to use streams to test (and promote) interest and I only want them to check-out a purchase, this type of venture will work-out just fine for both of us. However, if they insert ads later, I hope they give the option of a single long-ad rather than breaking it up. I [usually] sit through them dutifly, and the longer time allows for something more significant in the development than a boring wiz-bang spot along the same quality you can catch by watching broadcast tv in the early morning between paid promos. Plus it gives the viewer time to cache the real program in he background, since ads are usually a lower quality anyway. Finally, what FUNi video viewer is everyone else making these comments on? I have really not been impressed (and not just with the aethetics) since they moved away from 100% outside hosting. As to buffering, I usually like to give anything about 5 minutes anyway, gives me time to get ready, though Hulu has come a long way since their early days (can usually get away with 1-2 minutes.) Full-screen? Glad I have the computer runing through the video processor... zooms so much cleaner than whatever the graphics card wants to pull-off (when not GIGO.) |
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R315r4z0r
 Posts: 717 |
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I'm not a big fan of watching streaming anime.
I think I've seen about 5 or 6 anime as a stream. Not that I don't enjoy streaming, I just prefer owning titles instead. So what Niconico does with their handling of anime streaming licenses really isn't much of my concern. I also don't really care much about HD streams either. It doesn't make a difference to me if I stream in standard or HD. There is no way that I would ever pay to stream anime. I did once with Toradora here on ANN merely to support ANN... but, generally speaking, I don't like to spend money on a product that I'm not being given to own. If I buy something, I want it as mine... and not have it disappear after a month or two. That's the reason why I'm happy with this deal. Even though it has mostly to do with streaming anime, the one thing that I'm happy about is now FUNi can spend more time focusing on DVD releases now more than ever and get more product to me faster. |
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DangerMouse
Posts: 3983 |
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Agreed, it's actually funny timing as I was starting to think I'd at least temporarily be subscribing to Funi's service with LE and Guilty Crown and their upcoming HD streams and apparent commitment to posting even more of the dubs (which may now be completely out of the picture with NicoNico doing the streaming?), now I'll have to watch how Funico shapes up first and much they improve their player and video quality judging from everything I've read for game stuff that's been posted there and things like what's been listed in this topic. Still I'm not big on streaming so I'm especially curious watching how this effects where I spend most of my money, the BD/DVD releases. Last edited by DangerMouse on Sat Oct 15, 2011 12:03 am; edited 2 times in total |
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tuxedocat
Posts: 2183 |
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Thank you. You are awesome! |
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wandering-dreamer
 Posts: 1733 |
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I'm slightly confused, where are people getting these prices for NicoNico from? As far as I know, their subscription is only 25 cents to watch their entire back catalog yet I see people throwing out numbers like $60 a year, did I miss something?
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TheAncientOne
Posts: 1872 Location: USA (mid-south) |
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Probably from what niconico.jp charges for their premium membership. Those prices are stated in yen, of course, and the conversion to dollars varies with the exchange rate. Keep in mind the token 25 cent charge for NicoNico.com is valid only during the beta period. |
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CG-LOVER
 Posts: 355 Location: East Lansing, MI |
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Seeing how I mainly care about buying physical media, I don't see myself caring very much about this change. I mean I know that this partnership will have repercussions for FUNi's DVD and Blu-ray releases...but until I know what these are I'm going going to push this in the back of my mind and not think much about it.
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. Well, there are still fansubs... 
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