One of the last anime torrent sites shuts down

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mbanu
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One of the last anime torrent sites shuts down

Post by mbanu »

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerm ... 03/.115631

Sorta been coming for a while now -- a lot of streaming generation fans don't actually know what fansubs are (as distinct from bootlegs), and have never used a torrent site (although they may have used an illegal streamer who used torrents). The days of commercial anime companies using tracker numbers to figure out what to license next are long gone. (^_^)

Some folks have talked about how distribution will just go back to IRC; that may be true, but it will make the goal of fansubs (popularizing and building a fanbase for unknown shows in preparation for a legitimate release) a bit harder, I think. Maybe it will create a second wind for anime clubs? At the moment most of the surviving ones are basically social clubs that sometimes provide advice on navigating the legal streams to sift the good anime from the bad. Not really much promotion of unlicensed shows, other than maybe showing out-of-print DVDs.

It will be interesting to see how folks from the streaming generation will go about this today... One area that I think probably has some potential is providing English caption tracks to indie Japanese animators to put on their YouTube videos. They own the content, after all, so there won't be a copyright strike; what overseas fans are doing is just helping them widen the audience. Maybe Twitter and Facebook video memes?

What was it like in the VHS days when the distributors started packing up and going home in the face of BitTorrent? Anyone know who the last VHS (or VCD?) fansub distributors were?
mbanu: What's between Old School and New School?
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Re: One of the last anime torrent sites shuts down

Post by labsenpai »

A second wind for clubs? I'm not sure the digital collectors of today would be generous enough to host a video room with their terabytes of fansubs. I can tell you that I'd rather carry a 2 ounce flashdrive than a SVHS deck and a dozen tapes, though. Like many posters in your linked ANN conversation, my local service speed barely supports 720p streams (for a fair price). I'd rather buy discs than cough up every month for new and improved subscriptions I'd require. I also agree with those saying older or unpopular anime could become unobtainable without alternative access.
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Re: One of the last anime torrent sites shuts down

Post by SteveH »

Seems something is being forgotten. As far as old titles goes, distro is right back to where it used to be. In the hands of the person/group doing the work. Then you have to know about them.

People with resources (OK, money. Everything is money) will buy those expensive Japanese DVD or Blu-Ray sets, they will then either do their own ripping or hand off the discs to someone more comfortable with that, translators will be found, a hosting site will be found, a website or blog will appear with links and there it all is.

It's still illegal, just as it's always been, but it's really more friendly then the 'wild west' of the early fansub mania. People who wish to emulate professional releases are copying their style so we are seeing some reduction of all that nonsense regarding fonts and colors and karakoe 'singalong' moving titles and all the other ways fansubbers would measure the size of their metaphorical peens against each other and I consider THAT a pure positive.

Now if only people would let go of that .MKV crap and just settle for .mp4 (which plays anywhere) I could be more happy.

It's going to go underground again. It's going to be 'friend of a friend' knowledge.

Of course, way things are right now, who can predict what will be the next 'impossible' title picked up by Discotek? Good lord if you had told me they would pick up Endless Road SSX (I know, they're going with that 'Orbit' deal, I have logical reasons why 'Road' is better but blah blah) I would have flat out called you a liar and probably punches would be thrown. :)
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Re: One of the last anime torrent sites shuts down

Post by _D_ »

So SSX is finally getting a release? I'm still miffed that most new anime are NOT getting a 4K release. What's the point of getting a 4K TV if releases aren't available in 4K? That's my beef with Yamato 2202... no 4K release for a show originally shown theatrically? The weird thing is most Sony stuff in Japan isn't being released in 4K in Japan and its Sony's own format. Over here it's different since most new theatrical films are also getting a 4K release and with 4K TV purchases expected to climb in the next year or two, it's no wonder. But Sony also plans to release 2 HDR10 1080p TVs this year. That's a step backward IMO. Great for console gamers I guess but for film watchers?

I'm still trying to archive parts of my collection but it's slow going. Even with 2 SVHS decks and 2 Pioneer DVD recorders I only do a couple tapes at a time before I lose interest. But many of the shows have limited info available online or in some cases, none at all. Then there are the old fan subs which I've had to put on hold since they are on Beta tapes and I'm down to one Betamax that still works. I'm trying to restore at least one other unit before continuing to transfer any of those old tapes. Looks like it may be a long summer...
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Re: One of the last anime torrent sites shuts down

Post by SteveH »

4K hasn't gotten a toehold, I suspect the same 'chicken or egg' problem of any new technology. There's not enough content to drive hardware, and not enough hardware to inspire content.

Hollywood (the driving force) is wary of 4k because 3D went belly up. (not enough content to sell the TVs, which were too expensive for the existing content plus there's still the tech barrier of needing some kind of goggles to watch).

Myself, I honestly think BD is overkill. DVD when it isn't compressed all to hell is just fine for most everybody. BD is mostly about having that room for less compressed video. Heck, even when DVD is compressed just a touch too much it's still much, much better than VHS was.

Look, anime just isn't MADE to be watched in 4k. Even DVD is too good for most anime. There's no point to that. If anything the additional clarity of a 4K TV is just going to make you think EVERYTHING you watch is crap, and that's not a good viewing experience. Seriously, go ahead and throw one of your VHS fansub rips up on that 4k and cringe. Yet the tape dupe is something you want.

Realistic expectations are best. My hope is that Discotek's SSX set isn't over-processed.
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Re: One of the last anime torrent sites shuts down

Post by _D_ »

Gundam Thunderbolt was streamed in 4K as well as it has a 4K disc release, so why Yamato is a resounding no to 4K, I dunno. Anyway, most new sets being sold are 4K (estimates are looking like 60% for this year and projections to 80% next year). I've had 4K since last year and love it. My bandwidth is now above 150 Mbps, so I have no problems with streaming 4K content. As well, I have an Xbox One S with 4K player as well as a Xiaomi Mi Box which is also 4K compatible. You are right though, content isn't there right now but things like sports are eye popping and the movies look really good in 4K. Now if i could just afford that Atmos sound bar I've been eyeing...
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Re: One of the last anime torrent sites shuts down

Post by SteveH »

_D_ wrote:Gundam Thunderbolt was streamed in 4K as well as it has a 4K disc release, so why Yamato is a resounding no to 4K, I dunno. Anyway, most new sets being sold are 4K (estimates are looking like 60% for this year and projections to 80% next year). I've had 4K since last year and love it. My bandwidth is now above 150 Mbps, so I have no problems with streaming 4K content. As well, I have an Xbox One S with 4K player as well as a Xiaomi Mi Box which is also 4K compatible. You are right though, content isn't there right now but things like sports are eye popping and the movies look really good in 4K. Now if i could just afford that Atmos sound bar I've been eyeing...
But how many people feel the need to replace their existing TV?

I imagine many people have been upgrading to larger size sets as prices have dropped, and many are likely upgrading to the ones with faster refresh rates (which improves the picture in most anything), and there's just no real 'push' to go back to spending thousands of Dollars again when you can get a pretty nice 55" set for around $500.

I mean, I can't remember what I paid for my flatscreen back in 2011, I think like $399 or so. I could buy twice the TV (size and quality) for that now. I suspect many think like me.

It's like audio for the TV. I have a soundbar I originally bought for mom when her hearing went bad, she HATED it so I kept it for myself (we made do watching the living room TV with the sound cranked to at least 80%. *sigh*) so I have the potential for some faux surround but I never use it, I just don't care. I'm not trying to create any kind of crazy THX/Dolby surround sound mega experience. Again, there's a LOT of people doing what I do, or even *gasp* just run audio from the (usually not so good) TV speakers. Man, it used to be a big deal to have built-in speakers on your TV that were high quality. Used to be a selling point.

Anyway, regardless of what the home theater people believe, they aren't the majority of the way people watch TV. :)

4K TV has to be relevant for the product to move. Content has to be generated regardless of how many sets are in homes if they want to generate sales. And don't forget that 8K is right around the corner.
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Re: One of the last anime torrent sites shuts down

Post by DKop »

Lets just go to holographic already, when is that gonna happen, hopefully in my lifetime!

Nyaa serves as an example of the two edged sword when it comes to online information, the fact that they givith and they can taketh away. There was so many series, audio and books on Nyaa that existed as a good database on finding who and what was being fansubbed. With that extensive catalog gone from existence, were now back to square one in finding stuff, and Google more or less isn't your best friend in this case depending on what your looking for.

For example: I have been trying to find the person across the pond who took the Italian DVDs of F (Motori in Pista) and translated them to english. Although not a perfect translation, they do the job in me trying to understand that series. I cannot for the life of me find the right site and who I got them from, and the files I did download from Nyaa doesn't have any credits on who did the subbing, so im out of luck there. So I feel like im isolated now in holding onto a digital copy of those english subs without knowing who else may have them. Sure there isn't any strong communication to who has also downloaded that series along with myself, but without seeing those numbers then I feel like im isolated with this media, and if something happens to it, im screwed because I can't get them again. This is a series that isn't on Crunchyroll and who knows if they will ever get it.

It also doesn't help that bakabt is now a private server, which im not even sure if my username/pass can still work in logging in. It's completely private as of now and I don't really blame them. They might not have the library like Nyaa had since Nyaa was so open with uploading whatever you had that was related to anime everything, but it is still a start in finding what you want.

The thing is, given enough time, 6 months to maybe a year, some group on /a/ will dedicate the time to build from scratch another site like Nyaa, for the purpose of having all that information archived. Sure, it works for those who refused to watch stuff streaming, but it also helps others out that want to find a series that one guy put in the time to translate that has like 20 downloads because its just that obscure in people wanting to hunt anything down about it. It's the censorship of the little guys out there that fansub things that only 20 people would really wanna see (because I would make up one of the 20), and not having that information in a collective huts seeing that ova or series. Thats really my thoughts on all this.
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Re: One of the last anime torrent sites shuts down

Post by _D_ »

SteveH wrote:
_D_ wrote:Gundam Thunderbolt was streamed in 4K as well as it has a 4K disc release, so why Yamato is a resounding no to 4K, I dunno. Anyway, most new sets being sold are 4K (estimates are looking like 60% for this year and projections to 80% next year). I've had 4K since last year and love it. My bandwidth is now above 150 Mbps, so I have no problems with streaming 4K content. As well, I have an Xbox One S with 4K player as well as a Xiaomi Mi Box which is also 4K compatible. You are right though, content isn't there right now but things like sports are eye popping and the movies look really good in 4K. Now if i could just afford that Atmos sound bar I've been eyeing...
But how many people feel the need to replace their existing TV?

I imagine many people have been upgrading to larger size sets as prices have dropped, and many are likely upgrading to the ones with faster refresh rates (which improves the picture in most anything), and there's just no real 'push' to go back to spending thousands of Dollars again when you can get a pretty nice 55" set for around $500.

I mean, I can't remember what I paid for my flatscreen back in 2011, I think like $399 or so. I could buy twice the TV (size and quality) for that now. I suspect many think like me.

It's like audio for the TV. I have a soundbar I originally bought for mom when her hearing went bad, she HATED it so I kept it for myself (we made do watching the living room TV with the sound cranked to at least 80%. *sigh*) so I have the potential for some faux surround but I never use it, I just don't care. I'm not trying to create any kind of crazy THX/Dolby surround sound mega experience. Again, there's a LOT of people doing what I do, or even *gasp* just run audio from the (usually not so good) TV speakers. Man, it used to be a big deal to have built-in speakers on your TV that were high quality. Used to be a selling point.

Anyway, regardless of what the home theater people believe, they aren't the majority of the way people watch TV. :)

4K TV has to be relevant for the product to move. Content has to be generated regardless of how many sets are in homes if they want to generate sales. And don't forget that 8K is right around the corner.
People up here in Canada have been buying the Hisense and RCA 55" 4K sets when they go on sale for under $500CAD for the past couple years. They buy them when they are on for "no tax" days. They make good monitors apparently for console gaming systems and are good for regular TV viewing as well. The stores sell out every time they do this. A quality set can be had for $1,000 CAD which isn't a lot in these days of million dollar houses in places like Toronto or Vancouver. Most people I know are looking to get a bigger set or replace an aging set that is now almost a decade old. I'd love an Atmos sound bar but I can do without that for a bit unless I win one. And yes, I did win my 4K Samsung TV to go along with the Xbox One S with 4K player. The picture on that set is superb owing to the HDR Pro specs on the panel. It's great for console gaming as well. 8K I've only seen in expensive computer monitors so it may take some time for them to become established. Lots of mileage to come from 4K yet...
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