Lu Perry - Bandai's warning? - Comments

I think the NTSC standard

Shuhei — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 20:45:21 -0500

I think the NTSC standard for video is 640*480(don't quote me on that) with a frame rate 29.97(quote me on that one) so it pretty much evens out to the same thing

let's do some calculation

SunBlade — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 19:42:50 -0500

here in germany anime doesn't really sell either. so the DVDs have higher prices regardless which company they belong to. and since my budget is limited i rely on fansubs in order to decide on which anime i spend my money.
i don't know if the warning from bandai extends to germany, but i'll be looking out for fansubs.
even if i own every DVD of GitS that has come out yet, and i don't intent to change that .

[off_topic]
hmm... for the ones who want to know how many episodes fit on a DVD i will do a little calculation example.

the PAL-standard defines:
video: MPEG-2, 720x576 pixel, 25 frames per second
audio: Dolby AC3, 48000Hz
(NTSC i do not know)

the first thing to do is to calculate/guess the bitrates:
video: even the crappiest mp2-codec i know should give a decent output at 9000Kbps
audio: i think 64Kbps per channel per language is enough
that makes 64Kbps * 6(Dolby Surround/Digital) * 3(Japanese, English, German) = 1152Kbps
other: lets add 16Kbps for subtitles, navigation and menu (normaly you can neglect such things, but lets asume there are tons of subtitle languages)
overall bitrate: 9000Kbps + 1152Kbps + 16Kbps = 10,168Kbps

to ease our pain lets asume every episode lasts full 30 minutes
that would make:
10,168Kbps / 8bits = 1271KBps (conversion from bits to bytes)
1271KBps * 60seconds * 30minutes = 2,287,800KB per episode (bitrate per episode)
this means each episode occupies at maximum 2.1GB diskspace.
industrial pressed DVDs have a capacity of 8.5GB, therefore we can put 4 episodes onto it.

since i've used the worst-case-scenario for bitrate guessing, there can be more episodes on a DVD. (i think 3hours of fun is the size of a DVD)
[/off_topic]

I think Bandai has really

Solis — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 09:20:23 -0500

I think Bandai has really been quite fair in releasing episodes on DVD. .hack//SIGN had 6 DVDs with 5 on the first two (and last one) and 4 on the rest. Legend of the Twilight was only 3 discs. If they'd wanted to put only three episodes per disc, they could have easily charged for a 4th disc, but they didn't. Putting more than 5 episodes on a disc would lower the quality. Numerous other anime that Bandai has released are in the 2 DVDs with 5 and 4 DVDs with 4 category (like Cowboy Bebop, Witch Hunter Robin, etc.)

Heck, even Wolf's Rain has 5 episodes on the first two discs and 4 on the rest. Sure, they probably could have fit all 30 episodes on 6 discs instead of 7... But really, one disc was comprised of 4 "remembering" episodes (which was done in Japan because of lack of budget or something) so I never even purchased that one. For the 7 discs there, the Japanese production company is more to blame than anyone.

Recently Bandai has been doing 4 episodes on the first 4 discs and then 3 on the rest. Most notable of the anime that they're doing this with is GitS: SAC. However, you have to remember that GitS: SAC comes from a HD master and Bandai probably wanted to retain as much of that quality as they could.

Bandai IS out to make money. They're a company; it's what they do. The anime DVDs SEEM overpriced because relative to normal DVD sales, anime probably doesn't sell as well. I think that all their reasons for putting less episodes on each disc is more justified than other companies like Viz's 3 ep/disc thing with InuYasha and likewise Funimation's DragonBall thing. Both of those series are EXTREMELY long and really don't have any good reason to have only 3 or 4 eps per DVD. (I mean, they're fairly old and certainly aren't HD.) They should put 5 episodes per disc and be done with it.

I have a stronger distaste for Funimation than any other anime company. I HATE how they force you to watch the commercials on their DVDs... You can't push the menu button to escape. It's why I stopped buying Samurai 7 at volume 3. Bandai is actually my favorite anime company out of all of them. They've released all the ones that I love.

Most companies do prefer

Train — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 07:36:34 -0500

Most companies do prefer larger profits thats why they release 3-4 episodes per dvd but its not really that much considered hentai is 1 episode per dvd costing roughly the same .But it really doesnt matter ,and about bandai going after fansubbers is because of people who get greedy and burn the subbed anime on dvd and sell online to others wich makes bandai(and others) loose profit.this my imo if im wrong correct it.

Dvds can be weird

survient — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 01:38:33 -0500

well it's all mpeg-2 anyway, and by the time roots gets to the us on dvd, it might be on bluray/hddvd, at which point they might be able to do 2 or 3 instead of 10. I personally can't stand bandai and hate the company as a company. I love .hack and a few other bandai things, I just can't stand bandai. They're copyright tyrants, and they are cheap in the fact that they do overprice their stuff. I think a lot of the anime/manga vendors are taking advantage of the anime/manga fan scene, and treating the stuff as specialty items, when in fact, anime's spreading like wildfire throughout the US. Heck a lot of japanese things are, just look at DDR.

come on... how long was the

CruelAngel — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 01:22:27 -0500

come on... how long was the Lord of the Rings? 3 h? That could be bought on one DVD, with a hell lot of languages.... and as far as i can remember FLCL episodes were 30min long, so... 6×30min=3h... that's exactly LotR size... and i don't think LotR was encoded in low quallity...

Thats not true they're not

Shuhei — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 19:33:23 -0500

Thats not true they're not being greedy(Though 2 episodes on one dvd is a little much) the reason they can only fit 3 episodes on a DVD is because of how high the quality of those three episodes are.
Sure they could fit 6 episodes on a DVD but they would look like total shit considering they'd only be about 640x280 resolution tops I'm sure they'd look half decent on small crt TV's but thats about it.
Most likely they encode the videos somewhere around 1280x1024
Most they could possibly fit on it would be 4 eps

Though I do agree that the price is a little exorbant I really can't find my self buying 3-4 eps for 25 bucks maybe if they brought to somewhere where between 10-15 I could do it

why is it...?

malphas — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 17:32:35 -0500

why is it that jappanease dvds tend to offer more episodes on a dvd than here???
I mean dvds can fit alot of stuff..DEFINATELY MORE THE THREE F*CKIN EPISODES FOR 23 FREAKIN DOLLARS!!! those greedy bastards! its all about money to them (like releasing three TWO episode dvds of FLCL when you could easily fit all six onto it and sell it for a higher price...people would still buy it and it be a hell of a lot more convieniant) thats why they are worried...about people trying to be more efficient in watching anime than spending $$$ on it. thats why there even is a market with boot leg. from what ive seen they make efficient good looking products regardless of legal issues. If industries would be smart rather than greedy they could do some good.....but then again im just ranting.

goodluck

heavenshell — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 16:46:10 -0500

i hope these subs keep on coming..because they r da best.

I intend to buy the series

Exotahu — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 20:10:17 -0500

I intend to buy the series when they release it all at once.

Thanks Lu :) wish you the

Skeith The Terror Of Death — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 23:56:07 -0500

Thanks Lu :) wish you the best of luck :) i also plan on buying it f they release the dvds.. but they haven't even released 1 yet! i would love to watch ras.. butmy japanese os horrible :D I envy you for being able to understand japanese and sub :D anyway :) I'm 100% behind you Lu-kun

I'm the same... I fully plan

Solis — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 13:53:39 -0500

I'm the same... I fully plan on purchasing .hack//Roots and Solid State Society once Bandai releases them onto DVD. Whether or not I watch fansubs of them will not change my mind. Apparently Bandai feels that fansubs could turn away some potential buyers, though. Funny how they're not going after people providing raws, only the ones fansubbing them. I guess they're leaving that up to Bandai in Japan.

The official Bandai press release can be found at http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/pressrelease.php?id=1953

useful snippet:
"Several fansub sites have publicly announced plans to create and distribute illegal fansubs of Solid State Society following its release in Japan. However, Bandai Entertainment Inc. and Manga Entertainment have secured the exclusive right to distribute this title in the US. The creation of translated versions of Solid State Society is considered an unauthorized derivative and constitutes infringement of the intellectual property rights in the work as well as unfair competition."

The press release is primarily focused at Solid State Society. So I guess that's what they're focusing on for now.

Lu: I'm very glad to hear that you'll contine subbing Roots! I'll gladly await your next release. And the full batch of 1-26 sounds just as good to me as two 13 episode batches. Either way, I'll end up getting them all again to have the re-encoded versions. Good job on everything so far!

-Chris

Maybe the topic started can

Mousie — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 06:42:37 -0500

Maybe the topic started can provide the news by bandai?

Personally I dont know it will effect their profits. Die-hard fans download the anime but do end up BUYING the official release once its out =/. At least from what I've seen. But they usually offer specials or boxsets with extra stuff in it other than the dvds. The fans want those 'bonuses' so they buy it anyway lol.

I would like to know more

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 02:07:35 -0500

I would like to know more about this and why they're planning to go after fansubbers. I've always bought every episode of a fansub i've watched if they dub it later for english. BUT if Bandai is getting this greedy and is going to make it where we can't watch the japanese version as well... then im going to have to stop buying Bandai products. Which I really do not want to do because looking around my room I have quite a bit of stuff made by them and really enjoy alot of their anime and games.

Ill be on the track of this

Devastator — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 01:59:26 -0500

Ill be on the track of this situation

Bandai's warning?

Solis — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 23:27:33 -0500

Bandai Entertainment USA has apparently released a press report warning fansubbers (specifically anyone that subs Solid State Society) that they may be prosecuted.

I love this fansub and am overjoyed to find a new episode here every Saturday or so... But will Lu Perry continue to fansub .hack//Roots even after Bandai delivered this warning? Also, is Lu still planning on releasing episodes 1-13 (re-encoded to be slightly smaller) in one big package?

Thanks for any info you can give!
-Chris