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Anime Moves To DVD 109

Posted by emmett from the rally-vincent dept.
Robotech_Master writes: "In the wake of other Japanese animation vendors moving select titles to DVD-only, AnimEigo recently announced it would be releasing all future titles (including the remastered subtitled Macross series due out by the end of the year) on DVD only, due to the fading VHS animé market no longer being able to support itself. This article explains why in economic terms, and the implications for the larger video market overall." This is a fantastic article. I still can't believe I'll have Macross before BTTF.
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Anime Moves To DVD More

Anime Moves To DVD

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  • As they can fit both dubbed and subtitles on a single DVD, it will save the anime companies money from not having to make two VHS versions. The lowered prices (and the additional copyright protections on DVD's) should lessen piracy, which means more money for the companies and hopefully to more titles.

    Some of my favorite anime series are Lodoss War and Slayers. I haven't bought any of the tapes, only rented them or watched my friends copies (many of which are pirated), because I juat can't afford to spend $20 on a two episode tape, when the series might have 12 or more episodes.

    I've seen some of the benifits already- instead of spending over $100 on the Lodoss War VHS series, I could get it on DVD for about $40. The first four tapes of the Evangelion series have been combined into a single DVD, saving the fan a good chunk of change (and a lot of annoying tape switching). And of course with DVD they can keep both the subbed and dubbed fans happy.
  • Care to name some "well-encoded" DVDs? I've seen (and have) quite a few anime DVDs as they are still better than VHS and I have yet to find one that is better than LD in terms of animation quality.
  • Lots of people are posting the usual "Anime sucks" replies to something regarding Anime, but Macross is different. I mean, I'm no Anime fan either, but watching Robotech as a kid was a very important part of my childhood! Ok that's probably an overstatement, but regardless: Robotech rocked. I think I'll pick up the DVDs just for old times sake :)
  • Does "Ghost in the Shell" qualify? I've watched it multiple times, and I think the encode job was done quite well.

  • All I can say to this trend is right on! I just picked up Gundam Wind DVD Operation 1 last night at Hastings, and it greatly exceeded my expectations. I've also been impressed with the quality of a friend's Tenchi Muyo and Lain DVDs. This trend is IMHO a definite Good Thing. My favorite feature is the ability to hear English or Japanese depending on mood...

  • Anime on dvd will gradually for anime fans to adopt DVD as their medium of choice. but will anyone get rid of their vcrs? nope. 2 main reasons why:

    1) existing collections.

    2) Fansubs.

    as an explanation of fansubs, it is when some anime is out in japan but not in the us, and a us distributor has not bought the rights. clubs and individuals all over the country put subtitiles on the copies of the originals using something called a genlock. then fans who want to see the anime, send a black tape to the fansubbers and get anime in exchange. this zero profit system is used to justify the "piracy." the unwritten law is that once a distributor buys the rights, all fansubbing of that title must stop immediately.
    also the fans should get rid of their fansubs and buy the real mcCoy. one distributor had a trade in policy which was very cool.

    some people like the idea of fansubs, others dont.

    until dvd-rams get cheap enough, vhs is still a fansubbers best friend.
  • Dubs sell more. Far more. Most of the US based anime companies revenue comes from dubbed vhs tapes that people buy on a whim.

    This is why not all companies are completely abandoning VHS for dubs but are abandoning subtitles VHS. Bandai would be a good example. The Gundam Wing series is coming out on VHS only as dubs, but the subtitles are available on the DVDs (unlike Pokemon and Disney's half-baked, "we-wish-DiVX-had-won" attempts at making DVDs).
  • Thank God for typos. :)

  • I got a message from AnimEigo a couple of days ago announcing this. I'd voted for AnimEigo to release Yuu Yuu Hakusho on VHS but not on DVD. Since they are shifting to all-DVD production, they sent emailsout to people like me who had voted just for videotape, to see if we wanted our votes shifted. I selected[1] [slashdot.org] "no", and sent an email to explain:

    On Wed, 5 Jul 2000 tabulator@animeigo.com wrote:

    > On our YUYU survey, you indicated that DVD was not
    > one of your preferences. As such, we are not sure if you
    > still want the title, and need some input from you.
    >
    > If you would like to change your vote to be one for buying
    > the title on DVD, please click on this coded url:
    >
    > If you DO NOT want the title on DVD and wish to change your
    > vote, please click on this coded url:

    I am currently boycotting all DVDs because I believe
    the DVD-CCA and MPAA's suit over the DeCSS program is
    wrong and harmful. While I would like to see Yuu Yuu
    Hakusho released subtitled in the USA, I would not be
    able to buy a DVD in good conscience as long as this
    suit remains in effect.

    If YYH is released only on DVD, I will simply rely on fan-subtitled videotapes of it.

    [1]Submitting my opinion was a pain. The email assumed I could "click on the coded URL", assuming everybody uses mail clients with autolinking. Grr! Copy and paste, copy and paste...


    ---
    Zardoz has spoken!
  • Not always. I still say "Serial Experiments Lain" is one of the finest DVD encodings, period. It all depends on how much effort a company is willing to put into it, and LD is more fool-proof in not having compression as an option, but I don't think it's worth the price in terms of the decay of the media. "Laser rot" is significantly less of a problem in the smaller, less flexible DVDs. The larger size of LDs just makes storage of them impractical for many people compared to DVDs.

    I'll take the first LD of Evangelion over the first DVD of it any day, though. Gah. Whatta crappy, hacked-up transfer. DVD can be done right. It's just a matter of whether a company will do it or not.
  • Case in point. [photoloft.com] The one one the right is James, a male character. More info here. [expage.com] And here. [virtualave.net]

    This was from episode #18 of the original Japanese series. Oddly enough, this episode never appears in the English dub broadcast in the USA...
  • >I vote for establishing an anime category in Slashdot, so that users like me can opt out. Very good idea.

    Extremely good idea. I think it's about time Taco does that

    So let me get this straight. You saw the Anime article, opened it up, read the comments, posted, and announced that you don't want to waste your time with Anime articles?
  • I loved Robotech when I was in jr. high. It was animation of a sort that I had never seen before. Years later, I got my first exposure to Macross; and earlier this year, I purchased the Macross movie "Do You Remember [Love]?" By comparison, Robotech sucked! I can't believe the dubbing, the voice acting, the changes in the dialogue are so bad! I still remember Robotech nostalgicly, as I remember "Battle of the Planets" and "Justice League of America" and "Spider-friends" (or whatever it was called - the show with Iceman) fondly, despite their flaws.

    I'm eagerly awaiting the Macross DVDs, but I have to wonder if it's worth the extra money over a VCD box set from Ebay. [Finally on-topic] I think Animeigo's [animeigo.com] move to go exclusively DVD is a good one. As they explain, VHS sales for anime are way down. Going DVD should increase profitability, and more importantly, showcase extra features like different language tracks. This is what makes the Buena Vista "Mononoke" decision so appalling. I mean, can you imagine releasing "Life is Beautiful" on DVD with only the English dub? Just painful.

    Incidentally, there was a great website that discussed the merits of subtitling over dubbing. It's no longer at its old URL (http://www.sig.net/~slogan/anti-robotech.htm), but if someone knows the current location of "The Anti-Robotech Web Site, Home of the Campaign Against Bad Dubbing," please point it out; it addresses every reason why releasing "Princess Mononoke" without the Japanese track (and subtitles based on a direct translation) is a crime against art. If you haven't done it yet, sign the petition at www.dvdtalk.com" [dvdtalk.com].

    ....

  • Considering that there is a lot more anime news on the site now, maybe it's time anime had it's own topic on slashdot. I know the Four Star Dragonball would make a cool Icon for it :)
  • It was announced at the AnimEigo panel at AnimeExpo a few days ago. :)

    Anyway, since I need some karma, here are some funny things Robert Woodhead said at the panel:

    First, AnimEigo is "famous" for not saying if they have or have not licensed a series, and he was being bombarded with questions of the sort at the panel, so he eventually said:
    "AnimEigo neither confirms nor denies the licensing of the You're Under Arrest TV series. AnimEigo neither confirms nor denies the existance of AnimEigo or the existance of Japan. This whole Japanese animation thing might just be a figment of your imagination."

    Upon a complaint that AnimEigo was going DVD-only:
    "Buy DVD players, you lazy sons of bitches."

    At the start of the panel:
    "This is the hour where I get to bullshit to you guys."

    Talking about Shin's (AnimEigo translator/video touch-up guy) paycheck:
    "At the studio we have a dial: $100/hour: crappy, $200: ok, $300: decent, $400: good, $500: great, and then in magic marker there's $1100: what Shin wants."

    That's all I can remember for now. :)

  • heh, UY. word. My #2 favorite series. :)

    My 1st favorite series is Kimagure Orange Road.

  • Mind you, there *have* been complaints regarding the Evangelion DVDs, even after they were released. This site [tripod.com] has details on most (if not all) of the issues involved.

  • There is a snandard for DVD. Just some cheap DVD players that came out around last Christmas didn't bother to support dual-layer DVD's.

    Lots of DVDs are duel layer. I can tell because my player has a super breif, but supper irratating pause when refocusing. Movies I was buying last summer, and before were duel layer.

    The Matrix has some other problem. Like use of alternate angle, or a diffrent path through the movie or something. I'm not quite sure, beause my player didn't have problems with it. I think it has problems with the "white rabbit tour" which is the normal movie, but some scenes show a white rabbit, and if you hit enter then you get a "making of" for that scene. I'm not quite sure what DVD features are used to do that.

    Now all we need is the average street price of all DVD's to come down to compete with VHS movies. I've been supporting DVD since late 1998, and so far, only good things have happened. (Special editions of movies, lower prices, better quality, no more flipper movies, etc...)

    I havn't bought VHS movies for a long time (well, ever, but my wife use to buy them a lot). I seem to remember them costing more then I pay for DVDs after a quick trip through a price search engine [dvdpricesearch.com]. Are video tapes really cheaper still?

  • I've only heard of a single anime DVD, Princess Mononoke, that's dub-only. Well: Card Captors will have separate sub & dub releases. Devilman, Dog of Flanders (which also has 10 min. cut), Dragonball Z (up to vol. 17), Eight Man After, Fist of the North Star, Lupin III: Mystery of Mamo, Monster Rancher, Ogenki Clinic, Pokemon, Street Fighter II, and Venus 5 were all released dub only on dvd. There are also a few that have a Japanese track but no subtitles, but I can't remember any.
    -----------
  • Got my DVD drive just in time! My anime shopping list for the next two years:

    1. Ranma 1/2 (including all of the movies)

    2. Sailor Moon (ditto)

    3. Macross Plus

    4. Gunbuster (one of my absolute faves)

    5. Akira (due out next year, I hear)

    6. Cowboy Bebop

    7. Ghost in the Shell

    8. old school Dirty Pair

    9. Dirty Pair Flash

    10. old school Bubblegum Crisis/Crash

    11. Bubblegum Crisis 2040

    And a horde of others I can't call up at the moment. Anyone else got a shopping list?

  • That is nothing Anime Village is releasing Blue Submarine #6 as 1 episode pe disk. However the bitrate is such that every 30min is ~2.2gig long.

  • Anime DVD Reviews (Score:3)

    by WilsonSD ( 159419 ) on Saturday July 08, 2000 @09:08AM (#948947) Homepage
    I have a website I'm working on that has reviews of Anime DVDs. People might find it interesting. It's at:

    http://www.xalien.com/anime/ [xalien.com]

    Hope you like it.
  • Robotech was just plain cool. My buddy was completely in love with Lynn Minmae (sp?) but I just was annoyed by her. Let's start a Minmae flame war!!
  • Im pretty sure there newest series isnt karekano.. karekano has been finished for a while :)

    heres a cut-paste from animeondvd.com

    50 point font: rumor (05:48 PM EST): Regular reader "Ferricide" wrote in today with some secondhand news. According to a friend who is good friends with someone at Gainax, volumes 2 - 6 of FLCL will contain English subtitles. This is essentially an experiment for them, and if it proves well for them, they'll do this with future releases. I personally find this to be a very good thing and I honestly think it will have a very minimal impact on the domestic region 1 market. Very few people, even with the allure of English subtitles, are willing to shell out 50$+ for one OVA episode, or 30 minutes of animation. The people who will do this are the ones who were doing it previously for things that didn't have subtitles. There will be more people who will join them on these titles, but the overall impact I believe will be minimal. That said, I truly hope this trend continues and that those who are interested in seeing it continue head over to the Gainax site, load up that English section, and send them a polite email telling them they've got your business. Besides, how many of us will then pick up something like FLCL domestically as well? I'm snaring the R2 discs and will pick up the eventual R1 release when it gets acquired. Anime fans are suckers I tell ya!

    I dont think FLCL is karekano...

  • DVD player multi-region hacks (Score:4)

    by philj ( 13777 ) on Saturday July 08, 2000 @09:13AM (#948950)
    A list [reviewer.co.uk] of DVD players that are multi-region hackable (with hacks), for those of us that can't wait for country specific releases :-)

  • I want Starblazers on DVD dadgummit! The real problem is I would love to have the Japanese versions of vintage anime on DVD (Starblazers/Space Cruiser Yamato or G-Force/Gatchaman) but I'm not sure if the studios or distributors are willing to go to the trouble. Please release my american favorites in their unbastardized original forms! I beg of you!

  • Eh, I'll agree with dude.

    You'd have to give me a lobodomy to opt out though.

    :)

    -jeff

  • Finally! (Score:5)

    by Chairboy ( 88841 ) on Saturday July 08, 2000 @09:14AM (#948953) Homepage
    I pre-ordered Urusei Yatsura on DVD over a year ago from Animeigo. 40 episodes of the TV series on DVD, woo-hoo!

    On topic, when Animeigo first started this project, they were talking about squeezing a bunch on each disk and selling the series for what would calculate out to $50 or so each DVD. A bunch of people freaked out, saying that they had been trained to expect each DVD to cost $20, no matter if it was a half hour documentary or 4 hours of Anime.

    This brings up an interesting point: People have been trained to pay for media, not content. Even though they are getting what they would pay $200 for on VHS, they complain because they equate DVD Disc with a set price.

    This is the same thing that Napster is showing in our culture. People don't have a problem with sharing MP3s, but physical CDs are another matter. We still (for the most part) purchase bunches of CDs (at the price we've been trained to expect) when we like the music, even though we might have already downloaded the specific song off Napster or Gnutella.
  • I'm not even an anime fan, but what about region codes? I'll presume that some fans have an unlocked player that will do all regions, and I'll presume that some titles will be US-released region 1.

    But will the anime houses in Japan be releasing titles with all-regions coding so that collectors everywhere will benefit? If not, this seems like something designed to wreck the market, not save it. Say what you will about VHS, but at least you can play them without the MPAA getting in your way..

  • oops: s/RIAA/MPAA/g

    --Bob

  • erk.. some self corrections ^_^

    revenue should be sales.

    They sell alot more vhs tapes.. but make more revenue from dvds..

    er ya.. shoulda clicked preview, not submit. ^_^;
  • EX Magazine [ex.org] did an article on VHS vs. LD vs. DVD a while back, so I'd mind as well post a link to it here:

    DVD's and Their Place in the Anime Video Hierarchy [ex.org]

  • If you don't count the ease to distribute fansubs on VHS, DVD is clearly the better medium to have anime on. Not only do you get the better sound and video quality of the DVD, you also get the ability to turn the subtitles on and off at will, and even (groans) fall back on the English re-dub incase there is someone in the room who simply can't read fast. Although I don't agree with stamping out the VHS market so rapidly, I think the shift to DVD is a good thing.
  • I don't know, the problem that I have with AnimEigo (et. al.) going to DVD is that pretty soon HD-TV's gonna come out, and when it does, the picture quality's going to be much better -- which will lead to YA new home-release format. This is the main reason why I'm not getting a DVD player -- because I know in a year or two, it'll be more or less obsolete, in favor of HDVD or whatever the hell they'll call it. Sure, VHS sucks, but it's more or less established. Ah well, it's all the same.
    ---

  • There's more (Score:3)

    by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Saturday July 08, 2000 @10:03AM (#948960) Homepage Journal

    In addition to the points raised in the article, there's another thing to consider: It's expensive to produce VHS releases - More expensive than producing DVD (though cheaper than LD.) I realize that Audio CDs cost more than tapes, but never mind that.

    DVDs seem to be about the same price as VHS, or a touch more, and they cost less to make per unit; The packaging is pretty cheap, especially in lots of a zillion, and it's all lighter and takes up less space, plus you can fit more on a DVD (including promotional material for your other productions) and more in the keepcase (including promotional... oh, you get the idea.)

    DVD is also convenient because you don't have to go back and forth between analog and digital. You do a transfer from the final editing copy of the film (anamorphic, we hope) along with appropriate audio. The audio can then be fucked around with to do Dolby 5.1 or what have you, but usually you get standard Dolby encoded in the normal two uncompressed PCM audio tracks on anime. It's kind of amusing to watch my Sony receiver light up blue when the Dolby Demo Clip pops on, or the menu loads, and that stuff is in 5.1, and then the blue light goes off and the display reads PCM 44.1KHz. :)

  • They don't have the announcement on there site yet, just a brief mention of Robotech.

    But here is the link to watch.

    http://www.advfilms.com

    -joe
  • Now, I would have thought that with the absurd legal machinations of the MPAA, and other shitty tactics like region encoding, the slashdot camp would staunchly denounce the DVD format. Why is it then that everyone here goes ape shit over DVD? Do they like region encoding?

    Earth to mcelrath: Region coding only affects the 1% or so who don't have a region-free player, given that most outlets seem to sell mostly modified machines.

    Now, PAL versus NTSC versus SECAM etc., that's a whole different kettle of fish...

  • Bah, my tv isn't much larger than my monitor, and it doesn't sound nearly as good as my computer. I should just get a tv tuner and give that old tv to someone.

    And since my computer is next to my bed, I would much rather cuddle there than on the couch.
  • If you don't want to buy a player, that's up to you. Right now, that "next" format doesn't exist, neither do the players, media or anything else, and when it DOES get released, will people still be waiting for the "next" format after that one? I believe it is more than a year away and if the present pattern holds, it will take at least three years to take hold in the market in which the players and media are at available at a good price, and all this time you would be stuck with VHS deck and with DVD players costing under 200$, you'll have the use of it for at least four years, at a cost of about 50$ a year, and your media won't degrade as much with time. I doubt any future standard would abandon the DVD format now that it is in full swing with thousands of titles available. It is backward compatible with the CD format and most players can play the old Video CD format too.

    "Bottom line, done properly, DVD is so much better than VHS that it isn't funny." (http://www.animeondvd.com/press/ animeigo/ae001.htm [animeondvd.com])

    Besides, the works that they put out will be mostly subtitled only, and the market for subtitled video tapes has "gone to hell" because many of the sub fans have effectively jumped ship to DVD-only.

    The masters for most anime are video only (for TV series), meaning being limited to ~525 lines of vertical resolution, finding good original film for a TV series is rare (Macross is the first I've ever heard of this, and it is getting major cleaning). You will gain little by going high-density. Even if the format is supersceded, it won't render worthless the DVDs that you've bought.

    Using your argument, no one should buy computers because they'll be obsolete in a few months, they should wait for "x" technological achievement.

    I really don't think people should be buying TVs as while they can display downconverted HDTV using a converter, they cant get the detail. I am living with what I have, an old borrowed 20" Sony until the HDTV capable displays come down a bit more in price. The difference here is that HDTV is available as a standard already, but that market is slow as the displays are still expensive being large TVs.
  • Actually, if I'm not mistaken, doesn't AnimEigo have the rights to Robotech/Macross?
    ------------------------------- ---------
    Robert Dumas
  • Anime *has* been moving to DVD. Actually, it's been moving to DVD much quicker than live action has. Animation may just be easier to print to the format or something. In any case, AnimeOnDVD.Com [animeondvd.com] has something like a couple hundred DVDs reviewed, and more are coming every week.

    My DVD collection is almost exclusively anime DVDs. I really should get some live action stuff...
  • It's about time.
  • Nope, they have the rights to Macross (Japanese Anime), but not the rights to Robotech Macross Saga (English Version).
  • > What's wrong with showing this to kids?

    Nothing really, It's just that these people who grew up on Micky Mouse and Bugs Bunny are aghast at the concept of using animated characters for something other than children's entertainment and then they apply that mindset to whatever they happen to be butchering at the moment. I'm sure that some of the "content approvers" or whatever nice name the censors get are horrified that breasts could be in a cartoon much less used for humorous purposes.
    This could be the beginning of a nice censorship rant but the reasoning is probably something along the lines of the American TV producers dont want any possibly objectionable material in their "product" so that it appeals to the broadest market/audience and makes them the most money. They probably went back and aired previously cut episodes so they could go running around screaming about new Pokemon episodes and make more money.

    --
    Ixnorp
    Type. Submit. Insert foot in mouth.
  • Okay, so now we can see all the lewd subliminal frames as we flip through the DVD. Scary to think of all the hidden things we might find in Dragon Ball Z. I wonder if the cop-offs like Pokemon do the same thing? ;)

    CAD [cadfu.com]
  • I would be good if VHS tapes were cheaper.
  • Lets hope the move isn't premature. Lots of good anime is on the old big LaserDiscs, and now it is getting harder and harder to find players for those.
    -----------------------------
  • The Matrix does use other features as well that some DVD players didn't bother to implement. Some can be fixed with firmware upgrades, but that still means a trip to service. By what I know of DVD's, the rabbit is a subtitle, and the DVD then has the possibility of jumping to a different part if enter is hit when that is up. One of the Bond movies does some nice tricks with alternate angles to show a storyboard frame by frame with the action. My Panasonic A110 has had no problems with any movie with features like this, because they know how to properly support a standard.

    As far as tapes being cheaper, I have typicially found that in the same store, yes. Media play's average VHS tape is probably $12-$15, while DVD's are $20-$30. Online, that price is much different, but for DVD to reach even more people, the price has to drop. The major studios have all the equipment now, and have probably well payed for it, so the price drop should happen any time now.
  • Those breasts were on a guy!

    On Pokemon, they aren't afraid to draw stacked chicks in hot outfits to appeal to young adolescent male fantasies, but I think they rightly draw the line at unrealistically convincing crossdressers wearing very skimpy bikinis grabbing their own fake tits to jiggle them at little girls.
  • >I pray that they don't force us to watch dubed material.
    >But, with region codes, and whatnot. This may be the way they go.

    I don't want to sound insulting but from this comment I have to assume that you have not watched any anime on DVD. =)

    I think that the publishers have understood for quite a while that many of us prefer our anime subbed. They understand it very well actually, and know that we will even pay more for subbed than dubbed which is why you often see tapes with prices like $20 for dub and $25 for sub.
    Someone else noted in another post that DVD is perfect for multi-language videos so any publisher would have to insane to NOT put both English and Japanese audio on there. Less production costs (1 DVD as opposed to 2 seperate VHSs) means higher profits and dub+sub both on one disk means more happy customers.
    As an added benefit to the sub people we can then show dub people the differnce between sub and dub too. =P

    --
    Ixnorp
    Type. Submit. Insert foot in mouth.
  • ah.. yes, certainly FLCL != karekano.

    I'm going to look for the Japanese Gainax site now...

    BTW, you're right, we anime fans certainly are suckers.

  • I am not a huge Anime fan, but this definitely is a smart move, and one that will be common in the future. It just makes sense for any movie released in multiple languages to be on DVD vs. VHS for the subtitle/audio language selection features.

    As for being released solely on DVD I am all for it! There are many reasons to go this route, VHS wears out, DVD's don't (within reason of course). The cool additional features, and the fact that the DVD medium is gaining popularity at a very high rate!

    regards.

  • Ahh... cool, you're right. There's tons of information about FLCL (furikuri) on Gainax's website [gainax.co.jp]

    And it's relatively inexpensive compared to other Japanese releases, JPY2700 for episode 1, JPY3700 for episode 2.

  • Hey! (Score:2)

    by cr0sh ( 43134 )
    Forget DVD and the pigs (read, MPAA) who support it - get your anime on VCD here [vcd1.com] and here [jpopwww.com]!

    Actually, if you like regular movies, I have had good luck with this [coolvcd.com] place...

    Why have we forgotten about VCD's (which can be easily made on today's hardware for little money as well)?
  • Well, the box set AnimEigo is doing won't be shipped to Ireland. However, when they release the DVDs individually later on, the firms like Express.com and Amazon and so on will get them, and I believe some of them will ship overseas. Sooner or later, you'll be able to get them...
    --
  • Actually, BGC 2040 vol. 1 on DVD has been confirmed [animeondvd.com] for a 9/12/00 release date from A.D. Visions.
    --
  • The 'copy protections' on DVDs are all optional:
    CSS is optional, choice of the manufacturer
    Region coding is also left at the discretion of the manufacturer of the media
    Macrovision is optional AND requires per-copy license fees

    Therefore, rather than boycotting, write to AnimEIGO demanding no region code, CSS, no MV.
    ---

  • This isn't that great of a thing... I can't buy any anime DVD's becasue I'm still boycotting the DVD industry until the 2600 trial is over...

    Oh welps :\

  • I am also anxiously awaiting "Back to the Future" to be released on DVD. The latest Studio radar blips suggest that the trilogy will be released on DVD by Christmas of this year.

    It would make a lot of sense to do it during 2000, considering this year is the 15th anniversary of "Back to the Future - Part I".

    Thank the producers of the DVD versions, also. They're going to be stuffed with a lot of special features. (I know what I want for christmas!)

    -- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?

  • Sounds like your experiences with anime lean toward Hentai....a far cry from Macross, Tenchi, El-Hazard etc. . . Do you dislike movies because rental places have pr0n rooms?

  • "animeondvd" (Score:5)

    by Tom7 ( 102298 ) on Saturday July 08, 2000 @09:19AM (#948986) Homepage Journal
    A rather good site I get my Anime DVD news from is:

    http://www.animeondvd.com/ [animeondvd.com]

    Nothing wrong with the occasional Anime post on slashdot, but I agree that it should be its category.

  • Lodoss, The Cursed Isle, is on DVD. A boxset actually.

  • More modern MPEG encoders cope very well with animated scenes. Early attempts were, admittedly, quite awful. You won't want to go back to LD once you've seen a well-encoded DVD.

  • Re:$$$ (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I would be good if VHS tapes were cheaper.

    You should be good anyway, I'm watching you.

    -God

  • Re:It was bound to happen. (Score:3)

    by Drakino ( 10965 ) on Saturday July 08, 2000 @09:21AM (#948990) Journal
    There is a snandard for DVD. Just some cheap DVD players that came out around last Christmas didn't bother to support dual-layer DVD's. The Matrix is dual-layer, so any player that can't support it will act weird. If I remember right, the GE and RCA under $120 or so players were the ones with this problem. The local Best Buy saw almost a 100% return on these.

    I'm glad more companies are supporting Anime on DVD. So far, my collection only includes what is out on DVD. I refuse to pay $25 for 2 episodes subbed, and $30 for 2 dubbed of Neon Genesis VHS when I can buy 4 episodes subbed, and dubbed in English, French, and Spanish for $15 on DVD.

    Now all we need is the average street price of all DVD's to come down to compete with VHS movies. I've been supporting DVD since late 1998, and so far, only good things have happened. (Special editions of movies, lower prices, better quality, no more flipper movies, etc...)

  • Wow! Do you have a link?

  • Fortunately, it looks like almost all companies that release anime have gotten the message - I've only heard of a single anime DVD, Princess Mononoke, that's dub-only. I think that's because the producers are worried about people "reverse-importing" the DVD (since Mononoke isn't out on DVD in Japan yet).

    In fact, I seem to recall that one company decided to stop releasing subtitled anime on VHS, and will subtitle only the DVD versions in order to save costs.
  • I guess this means I need to go out, and buy a DVD drive for my Macintosh so I can get new anime.

    Personally, I'd suggest getting a DVD drive for your entertainment center, rather than your computer. Both my computer and TV have their sound pumped thru the Dolby reciever. My couch, on the other hand, sits in front of the television. Go ahead and get a DVD-ROM drive, then try cuddling up with your girlfriend in an office chair during the scary parts of Scream 3. It just doesn't have the same romantic quality. Trust me, your SO will thank you.

    "Of course, that's just my opinion; I could be wrong." - Dennis Miller
  • I agree! Robotech was my favorite cartoon as a kid, my favorite book series as a teen, and my favorite epic sci-fi plot today. I'll be buying the DVD's on release day.
  • I just wish the standards for DVD had been settled first. Whatchoo talkin' about, Willis? The DVD-Video standard has been agreed on for years. The whole problem with the Matrix DVD is that it pushes the standard to the edge, and many players didn't implement all the features. It's kind of like bemoaning that web standards haven't been settled. The standards have been settled, it's just up to the vendors to stick up with them. By the way, don't get hopeful about the Matrix on a Mac. It's already established that Apple's DVD software won't handle it. I'm not very happy with Apple's DVD player as it has terrible problems with menus and selection of items is hideous sometimes. I've also seen it screw up where the mouse is supposed to be to select the buttons. (See the Trigun DVDs' picture galleries for an example.) The other concern I have, has to do with the japanese language. Don't worry. DVDs by actual anime houses (read not by Disney) actually have Japanese audio tracks. Some don't have English audio, but most do. Some also have Spanish, French, and other audio. It's funny to watch movies dubbed in Spanish with Spanish subtitles. Companies seem less inclined to lie with their subtitles (aka dubtitling) to match the dub when in Spanish.

  • LD wasn't so perfect (Score:4)

    by Megane ( 129182 ) on Saturday July 08, 2000 @11:54AM (#948996)
    Besides the obvious size, weight, and fragility issues, LD did have a few other problems.

    First of all, it only stores composite video. So you automatically have half the potential resolution of DVD.

    And then there were all the manufacturing problems. Laser rot was probably overrated (it could have been due more to old players than old discs), but there were lots of bad pressings done at the infamous Sony plant. In fact, ADV's first Evangelion disc was the only disc I ever had to take back and exchange because of speckling!

    Chroma noise was a problem too. I've seen all too many LDs with speckly oversaturated reds and browns due to chroma noise.

    And then there was the crosstalk problem. Most LD mastering had gone to a form of CLV which reduced crosstalk, but not 3M. And guess which pressing plant Animeigo chose? So on an out-of-alignment player, you get to see ghost sync bars dancing across the screen.

    A good mastering of a DVD will outshine a good mastering of an LD any day. I just wish they had gone with more than three colors for the subtitling spec.
  • The Tenchi Muyo Ultimate Edition box set - all of the OAV episodes, plus extra stuff, on three DVDs - has excellent quality. Anime on DVD [animeondvd.com] (a very useful site) has several reviews of the set [animeondvd.com].
  • First, we've got the RIAA/MP3 mess vs the GNU license (yes, I understand there's subtle differences between the two, but it's still comes down to rewarding the creator for creating.).

    And now here's another: the MPAA/deCSS on one side, and promoting DVDs on the other. I agree that DVD is a superior format espcially for anime as others have suggested here, and if the MPAA wasn't putting the smack down on deCSS, I'd have my DVD player already. But yet when a deCSS story comes along, people shout "boycott the MPAA!". You can't have it both ways, people.

    Sure, that's the general impression that I get from these threads and reflects no way on a single user (unless I really wanted to find one specific double-talker). However, the fact that such double standards exists might reflect on the bias that /. editors give to their stories (and then again, there are multiple editors for /., so another problem there).

    I think the solution here is for the editors to refrain for adding additoinal comments on the story message as to introduce such biases. Put a DeCSS case story and a new DVD release story as the plain submissions from readership without comment from the editors, and /. would not appear to have said double standard.

  • Entertainment center? Hehe, that's my computer. Hmm, actualy I do have a TV, an old 9" apple monitor. Being able to watch Stuff on my 15" Mac monitor would be much better of an option.

    Oh, and about the snuggleing up in an office chair. That's something I realy don't have to worry about for a while yet (not so good with the girls).
  • I thought if you held the 'I' key down, to mount it as ISO9660, then played it back, it'd work. (Thought I tried it on a G4 Server at my old work, and it handled it fine...)
  • LD sound is infact better thand DVD sound. This is yet another reasion LD's are more robust than DVD's
  • While I agree with your point (sometimes I hang out in Anime shops and I hear people judging some works ONLY by their price per minute ratio), I find that you chose a crappy argument when you're talking about Napster.
    The point in buying a CD you already downloaded from the Net somehow is IMO giving the artist his/her rightful compensation, since it's currently not possible to do so except by buying the media. It sucks, and I hope this will change, but it's the hard reality.
  • Actually, in lots of 500 or more, it's more expensive to manufacture audio tapes that CDs.

    Ma'at
  • I own a bunch of reagion 2 DVD's and a few reagion 1 DVD's All the coding does is make you a) get reagionless equipment or b) get a DVD player for each region you want Both are more of an anoyance than anything else. MMPA or not.
  • Actually, this episode aired for the first time dubbed on Kids WB a few weeks back. Except they completely removed the indicated scene which made for some odd jumps (Ash shouts 'That's Team Rocket', followed by TR's two pokemon in drag).

  • By the way, don't get hopeful about the Matrix on a Mac. It's already established that Apple's DVD software won't handle it.

    Just a quick bit of nitpicking...

    I've seen The Matrix DVD run quite well on a iMac Special DV (the granite one) with Apple DVD.

  • ...but DVD sound *can be* as good as LD. It's just that most of the time the stereo audio is compressed with Dolby Digital, to give more room for better video encoding. This is not always true, but ironically it's usually the cheaper mastering places that do PCM audio. (The exception is music DVDs.) The Iria DVD uses PCM, because it was such an early release.

    DTS does seem to sound better, but 192k DD stereo is still a lot better than 128k MP3.

    However, DVD excels in one way which is very important to anime fans. With LD, you can only add a single mono analog track to a disc with Dolby Digital 5.1. With DVD, not only can the second track be in stereo, but you can have multiple 5.1 audio tracks! So if the original Japanese was in 5.1, the domestic LD would have it in mere mono, and the dub in 5.1. Luckily I managed to get import copies of the Tenchi Muyo in Love movie LD (both CAV and CLV) cheap.

    Also, LD required a special decoder to get a usable Dolby Digital signal. This used to be built into amplifiers (which added $100-200 to their cost), but it was never built into an LD player.

    But there is one way in which DVD sound can be superior to its LD counterpart. DTS had to encode 14 bits per word (leaving off the two MSBs) to avoid blowing out speakers if you accidently played it as PCM. DTS on DVD can use the full 16 bits per PCM word.
  • I think everyone wins in this scenario. I am not about to pay $25 for a two episode subbed tape. I just can't do it.

    At $20 - $25 for a 7 episode DVD I know perceive a good value. I will make purchases. In fact I will start building a library. Animeigo will make a lot of sales they would never had made. I will amass a library. It seems like a win-win situation. (I mean linux-linux)
  • So let me get this straight. You saw the Anime article, opened it up, read the comments, posted, and announced that you don't want to waste your time with Anime articles?

    I was rather bored today at work... so sue me.

  • Anime on DVD is one of the best things since sliced bread. DVD is just suited for import titles of all kinds, you can have optional subtitles and different language dubs all on the same disc which means no more dubbed to watch subbed to collect videos anymore. DVDs also don't degrade after every time you watch it which means I don't need to buy new copies of my VHS collection every two years (I do alot of anime watchin'). Everything is now great, just kidding. Anime on DVD is fucking expensive. Of course DVD in general is expensive but Anime is expensive without a bunch of extra goodies on a disc. I was disappointed with the Ghost in the Shell disc, it had some production art and some interviews but I would have expected a bit better interaction with the disc a la Matrix or Austin Powers. Maybe with companies migrating entirely to DVD the sales of the DVDs won't need to carry the overhead from the VHS tapes and prices will drop a little. I want my Anime.
  • I picked up Gundam Wing Op1 early June. It is QUITE nice (and now I'm gonna buy Gundam 0083 cause of the trailer). What drives me batshit is that at the current rate Bandai/Sunrise is releasing the Gundam Wing DVDs, the entire series won't be out on DVD until late 2001. MAJOR SUCK.
  • Lets hope the move isn't premature. Lots of good anime is on the old big LaserDiscs, and now it is getting harder and harder to find players for those.
    Well companies will probally convert laserdisc anime to DVD. Also, for any of that anime that isn't being rereleased on DVD, I'm sure people will find ways of getting them in AVI or MPG format.
  • Speed Racer was my favorite cartoon as a kid.

    EGADS I'm old!


    --

  • Anime -- yuck! (Score:4)

    by Bud ( 1705 ) on Saturday July 08, 2000 @08:57AM (#949014)
    I vote for establishing an anime category in Slashdot, so that users like me can opt out.

    --Bud

  • I vote for establishing an anime category in Slashdot, so that users like me can opt out.

    Very good idea. Extremely good idea. I think it's about time Taco does that... I've seen it posted in a lot of places. This should be +5 :)

  • Now, I would have thought that with the absurd legal machinations of the MPAA, and other shitty tactics like region encoding, the slashdot camp would staunchly denounce the DVD format. Why is it then that everyone here goes ape shit over DVD? Do they like region encoding?

    Personally, I have no intention of buying a DVD player or movie until I can play it on any player in the world, including under Linux. The whole world moving away from VHS is giving a default win to the RIAA. It doesn't matter how the DeCSS case goes. They will still sell DVD's for different prices in different parts of the world, and you'll still have no rights with respect to DVD's you buy.

    What gives?

    --Bob

  • Ive known this was coming for a while.

    First off I'd like to lay down a little known fact about the anime biz.

    Dubs sell more. Far more. Most of the US based anime companies revenue comes from dubbed vhs tapes that people buy on a whim. I.E. "Wow this looks cool ill think ill buy it." The devoted anime fans who buy an entire series of subtitled tapes make up a fraction of the market, and a large percentage of these people have already moved exlusively to dvd. Although many people argue that if they carried more subtitled tapes they would sell more.. but this is a cyclical argument.. and i would wager that most people are too lazy to want to read their tapes. (dubs suck btw)

    Subtitled anime on dvd is a good thing for the consumer and for the anime companies. Im not sure here, but i think its cheaper to mass produce dvds then it is to produce vhs. The only people this is going to hurt are the small comic/anime shops where most of there revenue comes from tape sales. These stores cannot compete with Online DVD sellers [express.com] So they usually dont carry dvds. This sucks for a good number of my friends as this move is likely to destroy their livelyhood. (I warned them that this was coming...)

    Most individuals who buy subtitled anime are also the kind who want the best quality and are more likely to have a dvd player. I made the move to DVD a while back and i havnt been disappointed with the quality of anime titles available. Ill put the obligitory link to animeondvd.com here [animeondvd.com].

    This shouldnt suprise anyone, and is a good thing for me as a devoted anime fan and someone commited to dvd.

    btw, im pretty sure that none of the anime companies are members of the MPAA.. maybe pioneer.

    On a region-encoding note.. Gianax, the company that made Neon Genesis Evangelion and Gunbuster is now releasing their newest series on dvd in japan w/ english subtitles. Wonder what that could mean? :)

    Im currently writing dvd reviews for atanime.com [atanime.com] and a few buddies and myself run #animeondvd efnet, so stop by if you feel like talking.

  • As I understand it, some DVD players won't play unencrypted DVDs. I could be wrong.

    ---
    Zardoz has spoken!

  • Actually, in lots of 500 or more, it's more expensive to manufacture audio tapes that CDs.

    What I meant was that the retail price of a prerecorded AudioCD is higher than that of a prerecorded AudioCassette.

    Hell, a good audiotape is $2 or more, blank; Though that's much higher quality than the tapes they sell you with music already on them. In spindles, CDs are between $0.12 and $2 in lots of 50; In Jewelboxes they range from about $0.50 to $4 each. I can easily get a generic CD (or the 80 minute GQ brand silver/blue spindle of 50 I paid $12 for at Fry's on special) for cheaper than a decent audio tape. Even a crappy CD sounds better than a good tape, provided it'll play in your playback device. Silver/blue CDR plays in everything I own.

  • Maybe your problems are due to Macrovision which is known to cause problems with video projectors. Japanese Evangelion DVDs have best quality I have ever seen, far sharper than any of laserdiscs that I have. I too prefer LDs becouse of their superior look (and their price of used discs in Japan...) :)
  • Is Otaku no Video with fully removable subtitles! Because of all the charts and stuff, they had to put black-block backgrounded subtitles over the video in a lot of places.

  • Price (Score:3)

    by Cyan I.C. ( 161700 ) on Saturday July 08, 2000 @09:01AM (#949027) Homepage
    This is truly a wonderful thing, When I bought lodoss wars on dvd for instance, it was 43 dollars (US), on vhs, that set is about 170. Also, we wont be seeing the remastering debacles that have been occuring with the likes of evangelion, i remember being told it would be out last october, but it has been delayed due to "remastering probs" from vhs. toodles.

  • I wouldn't call myself an otaku, but I'm quite the fan; I've about 80 tapes (fifteen of them Urusei Yatsura). So when I saw that Animeigo were making the movies available in a DVD box set, my first reaction was 'woohoo!'.
    Sadly, they won't ship to Ireland. In fact, they state that they won't ship to another address if they think it's going to Ireland (okay, they said outside the US, but I only read Ireland).
    This is a pain in the nuts, if you'll pardon the technical term. Especially so since I was able to order the first movie direct from Japan (only one, just in case it didn't have subtitles. Guess what? It didn't. At least Bubblegum Crisis did).
    This isn't an anti-animeigo rant; they're the company I have the most time for. Their liner notes are excellent, and they've a much higher hit rate than (say) Manga, who'll release any old crap. Rather it's an anti-region-licencing thing; something I'm sure I don't have to elucidate on here.

    On a related topic, the reason I'm able to write this in the first place is that I've got a multi-region DVD player. If I didn't, I'd be stuck with disks from the UK and Japan. There are many, many films that just aren't available in Region 2 (or on PAL VHS, for that matter), and I don't appreciate being told I'm not allowed watch them. Again, I'm probably preaching to the converted here but I needed to get it off my chest.

    PS: When will we see slashbid so I can sell a Japanese Language copy of Urusei Yatsura movie #1?
  • I guess this means I need to go out, and buy a DVD drive for my Macintosh so I can get new anime. Hmm, oh well it could be worse.
    I just wish the standards for DVD had been settled first. With VHS, I can stick it in any compatable player, and go. Not the same with DVD. I bought 'The Matrix' and tried to play it in my parents DVD player. No dice, it would just load for about 30 min, then eject the disc. Maby I'll get to watch it after I order my new drive? Who knows.

    The other concern I have, has to do with the japanese language. I pray that they don't force us to watch dubed material. But, with region codes, and whatnot. This may be the way they go. What a sad state this world is in when a man can't watch a anime in it's origional japanese language.
  • For anime, Laser Disc is the best for animation quality. With DVD, the compression/decompression introduces quite a bit of line noise. On small screens this isn't too much of problem, but I normally watch anime with a projector and have either a 110 inch viewing area or a 25 foot viewing area and the line noise in DVDs is very noticable.

    While the sound quality is better and the language/subtile options are more robust on DVDs, I still prefer LDs.

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