31 May 2007

Heroic Age 09


Finally encoded, had some problems because the raw we regularly use was crappy so we decided to use a different raw.

TL;DR MP4 IS NOT AVI
HERE ARE SOME LINKS

Torrent: h264 | xvid
Very Direct DL (h264): Thanks Compiler!
Not So Direct DL: US-2 (Thanks r3c0v3r) | US-6 (Thanks again r3c0v3r)
XDCC: Check #ayako@irc.rizon.net!

:D

On HA9....

Erm...

Stuff happened, and stuff isn't happening.

Damned exams. My role in the team is pretty far now.

Yes, we are working on it. Yes, it is late.

Yes, we are trying to figure out what happened O_o

25 May 2007

Lucky Channel Paraody!

Torrent Link

Whee!

As for those who don't like our comments, I would advise you not to download this ^_^.

Boredom rules.

24 May 2007

Heroic Age 08


Torrents: xvid | h264
XDCC: Check triggers
DDL: fourzerofour.us

pew pew



NF: pew pew.

As for the speed decreasing at an exponential rate, blame me for it. I can only translate on Tuesday, even though raws appear on Sunday.

Fairly annoying, yes, but I got no choice.

Edit: Seems like we're being hated for "pew pew" (read comments).

Professionalism, maturity, time to QC more (I have a policy of not QCing. Removing a safety net is the best way one takes responsibility for one's actions. But yes, I check my work.)... etc etc.

Fine fine. We'll tone them down. Actually, we have already toned them down. CG20 anyone?

22 May 2007

Prince of Tennis 13 [script only]


Since no one else wanted to tlc it, I give to you my un-tlc'd script.

[404].pot.13.needs-tlc.txt
raw (torrent)

I'll be seeding the torrent for a bit I guess.
Do whatever you want with it.

17 May 2007

Heroic Age 07

It's out!

Torrents: [xvid] [h264]
DDL: fourzerofour.us
XDCC: Check #ayako@irc.rizon.net!
Other: [Preview1] [Preview2]

I hope you enjoy emoticons <:

12 May 2007

Prince of Tennis National Championships OVA Episode 11

I think I need to give 404 access to this blog.

XVID torrent
h264(?) torrent

10 May 2007

Heroic Age Episode 6

404's mom presents...

This time with the OP karaoke!

(I wonder if the rough sketch is used or the actual lyrics is used >:) )

XviD Torrent
H264 Torrent

08 May 2007

The lack of literature on Fansubbing is disturbing.

So, I was bored one day (4chan banning me didn't help one bit, although the ban is now removed. Probably my ISP switching my IP around or something), and I decided to type "fansub" in google scholar, and see what the actual, "educated" community thinks about fansubbing.

And while I didn't expect much, I was sorely disappointed.

There were only 14 articles, and most of them talk about how fansubs infringe copyright laws and stuff. Another batch talks about how people can use animes, with the help of fansubs, to know the Japanese culture better.

Maybe that's the reason why so many people are saying "senpai" and using Japanese wrongly.

Alright, I give that it can give the Japanese culture, to a very very limited extent, some attention.

But, if animes such as Lucky Star, Gundam, Code Geass (CC's ass!) and Nanoha are an indication of Japanese culture, I think those who think so will be sorely disappointed if they ever move to Japan.

I find it amusing that probably the people who wrote the articles have probably never been in a fansub group before. There is one which states how a fansub group works (Cintas J.D. & Sanchez P.M., 2006), but they only state what a fansub product is, something all of us can see by spending minutes/hours to download an episode.

Which brings this question:

Have any of them know what fansubbing truly is?

Fansubbing is something that most people said is "enjoyable" and that they are "doing it for fun". While it is true that that can be possible (I do), some people treat it like a world/inter-galactic war. DDoSing, flaming (via IRC and their websites) etc, they have done it all.

This is why I am surprised why no one has wrote anything about fansubbing being something equivalent to a company. Let's face it, in fansubbing, if you want your epenis to be long, you need to get the most fans. Of course, if your benefit (Psychic income) comes from producing your own work, not caring if there's only 13 peers on that torrent, then you won't fall in this category. However, most fansubs either produce at the highest quality, at the fastest speed, or both (DB, Eclipse... Us? Haha. Nah...). This is to get the fans to come into their IRC so everyone can feel good or something. This can be seen in the enthusiasm some of the team members I've worked in when we've "beaten" team X to a release.

So, what is that?

Marketing

What fansubs have effectively done is to select a market concept to use, as well as the segment of the audience they wish to target.

Kotler et al. (2003), stated that there are 5 concepts which companies may conduct their marketing activities: Production, product, selling, marketing and societal marketing concept. Speedsubs obviously goes for the "Production concept", where the company focuses on improving production and distribution efficiency. "Quality subs" will go for the "Product concept", where the product has the most quality, performance and innovative features (Kotler et al., 2003). Some teams use the marketing concept, where they decide what the target wants first. In this case, it is "Can you please sub anime X", the team has a look at it, and decides to sub it if there is sufficient interest in anime X.

Another feature fansub groups have done is to segment their target audience. Who do they want to download their subs? Speedsubs will go for those who are "I just want to watch the damned thing". Quality subs will be all for the people who want "Perfection, with a karaoke and 0 grammar mistakes (because I want to burn it into my DVD to show my grandchildren etc)". Fansub groups must also decide if they want to go for quality at the sacrifice for time, and vice versa. They have to think where they are in the position of their consumer, the fans, relative to others.



As you can see, Your-Mom is perceived to be of low quality (XD), but I have done many attempts to move it upwards (But I guess I'll never succeed... Ayako has done pretty well under SpiegelEiXXL though). So, as you can see, fansubs do have to decide who their target audience is, and after evaluating the competition, if they do want to actually sub that anime, or leave it for someone else.

Fansubbing is also, a rather perfectly competitive market. It is a market which is rather impossible, if not impossible, to find in the real world. Yet, Fansubbing comes pretty close to it. Frank and Bernanke (2007),stated that four conditions are required for markets to be perfectly competitive:

-All firms sell the same standarized product.
That's not too hard. A fansub is a fansub is a fansub.

-The market has many buyers and sellers, each of which buys or sells only a small fraction of the total quantity exchanged.
Again, not too hard. For now, fansubs are still free. In this case, we shall assume everyone downloads every single anime.

-Productive resources are mobile.
Again, easy. You want to fansub? Get a translator, a timer, editor, typesetter, encoder. Or even better, learn to do it yourself!

-Buyers and sellers are well informed.
Everyone sees the same preview. Everyone watches the same episode 1 raw, unless you happen to be in Japan, then you watch it a little earlier than the cappers who will need to encode it and chuck it on Share/Winny.

Hence, fansubbing is a perfectly competitive market! In fact, it is right down to the paper, to the point that fansubbing has ZERO barriers to entry and exit, something which is very very impossible to happen in this world today.

Staying with economics, when there is cash on the table (Demand > supply), there will be people entering the market. This is the basis of vulture subs, (ie us, but I assure you that we don't do it for economic benefits, except for cz). A perfect monopoly can never occur in the fansubbing world because, simply, someone, sooner or later, will come in and become a substitute product, hence taking one's leechers away.

In conclusion, fansubbing itself is like a whole organisation by itself. I think it actually gives the 13 year olds (or around that age) a good chance to manage a group full of people who wants to increase their epenis and emos and whatever. Of course, you can't compare it to the real world, because in the real world, you can't hide behind your fake IRC nick, however, it cannot be denied that fansubbing is like a corporation itself. It is extremely disturbing that there is a lack of literature on this, given that this is much harder than trying to lead a guild in WoW or whatever other game there is. It would be nice for more research to be done in this area, and eventually, for more literature to be published. Yes, it is digital infringement, but, at the same time, it is an experience which is taking over the world.

(No, this is not my homework/PhD thesis)

References:

Cintas, DJ & Sanchez PM, 2006, 'Fansubs: Audiovisual Translation
in an Amateur Environment', The Journal of Specialised Translation, July 2006, no2.

Frank RH & Bernanke BS, 2007, Principles of Microeconomics, 3rd edn, McGraw-Hill Irwin, New York.

Kotler P, Adam S, Brown L & Armstrong G, 2003, Principles of Marketing, 2nd edn, Pearson Education Australia, Australia.

05 May 2007

I got banned from 4chan?

No reason given.

Contact mods at #4chan. etc etc.

Mmm.

#4chan isn't exactly too helpful. I've had my fair share of experience there.

Even then....

XD



That was the picture I posted on /a/.

Now to wait for 5 days to appeal.

Hoo hum.

No /h/ for me for 5 days.

How would I survive, I wonder.

And no reason is rather annoying too. It's like those damned "Moderator's discretion" thingy I (usually?) receive in another message board I frequent. >_>

Ah well.

/wrist?

02 May 2007

Heroic Age 5

XviD Torrent
H264 Version 2 torrent

404 does it again! mpr to time again!

Dunno what's up with version 2. I'll check with the team after I stop laughing.

Yes, I did just watch the Man U - Milan match.

Football.

Serious business.

"Step over step over step over, run into defender, fall over, look at ref with anime eyes."