Macross Frontier Episode 2 Talkback Thread *READ 1st Post*

[Kamion]

Thanks, veffidas! CCCP and Media Player Classic works like a charm. The subtitles are also placed correctly. Very very good.

[Graham]

Ditto, CCCP and Media Player classic work great.

Graham

[Final Vegeta]

Just installed those two, and got the Gattai ep 2 running very smoothly on Windows Media player, but can't get the subtitles to show. Have 'on if available' selected, but they don't show.

Oh well, have to stick with VLC player. Playback might be slightly jerky, but at least I can see the subs.

It seems VLC sucks when there are subs.

My WMP 11 plays the file correctly with subs on. Maybe you have another version of WMP? In that case, try changing the extension of the subs from .ass to .srt . The trick is that ffdshow support .ass, while older WMP did not, so you just fool WMP and then ffdshow does the job. Maybe the subs will flicker a bit this way, but you can read them.

EDIT: Otherwise I think you can simply download the directvobsub filter, that should help (with .mkv you can't change extension).

FV

Edited April 13, 2008 by Final Vegeta

[Final Vegeta]

By the way, here are the lyrics for Diamond Crevasse, the song that Ranka and Sheryl were singing at the end of the episode (and it's also the ED).

When I was in love with God, I didn’t think that such a parting would come

It’s long long good-bye…

Goodbye, goodbye, over and over again

I tell myself as best as I can

That waving my hand is kindness, right?

Now, I want strength

I encountered you; the STAR shined and I was born

Indeed if I love, indeed if there’s i

Don’t ever let go of me again; catch me

I want you to whisper, “You’re not alone” to me, planet…

FV

[Mellow Yellow]

Bleargh, I've been using cccp for 3 years and I've never been able to get this high res h264 bs to run smoothly on my 2GHz cpu. Media player classic's video is 2 seconds behind the audio and VLC is constantly alternating between smooth and choppy video Shouta, please save us (or at least me) with your superior release

[kensei]

Wow what an episode. I can make out some bits of the dialogue, hopefully my japanese classes will start soon.

I loved the battle scenes, and the blue single lasered VF-25(A) that Mikhail (I believe that this is the english equivalent, instead of Michelle, which is a girl's name anyway. This is because I've fought a guy in Sweden by the same name, and it sounds very close) just screams Max VF-1A.

So far I like the music, but I really hope they'll nail a great one at the end, something as good as Do you Remember Love? or better.

[Sergorn]

Well that was even better with the Subs

Just one other thing I've noticed - Grace mentions an upcoming "Miss Macross" election to Sheryl - wonder that's how Ranka will make her debut ? That'd certainly be pushing the whole Minmay parrallal

-Sergorn

[VFTF1]

Well I'm downloading - although I fear I am donwloading raw...

I take it no subed version has been made yet?

I feel kind of stupid for downloading raw. I know no Japanse.. maybe I should start learning. Good a time as any

VFTF1

[akt_m]

Bleargh, I've been using cccp for 3 years and I've never been able to get this high res h264 bs to run smoothly on my 2GHz cpu. Media player classic's video is 2 seconds behind the audio and VLC is constantly alternating between smooth and choppy video Shouta, please save us (or at least me) with your superior release

Use k-lite (comes with coreAVC) instead.

Edited April 13, 2008 by akt_m

[Radd]

Finally saw the Gattai fansub that appeared on Animesuki today. Well, I say "finally", but I started downloading it the moment I got home from work, and it took maybe 15 minutes to download. I'd forgotten how fast torrents can get. But, ja, I thought it was fantastic. Also, brilliant. Quite positively amazing.

I was kinda worried after the editing in the broadcast version of the first episode, but I've no complaints about this episode. At least none that I've completely forgotten in the face of how awesome the episode was.

Well, that's not true. The CG looked really chintzy in places. However, as far as anime CG goes, it's no worse than par for the course.

I loved the flight sequence at the beginning, though. Beautifully done.

I also think the characters are turning out to be really interesting already. I love Alto, Ranka, and Ozma. I'm not certain whether or not I like Sheryl, but I really want to see what she does next, so I certainly enjoy her as a character so far.

All in all, I can't wait until next week.

[CF18]

Bug:

At 5:33-5:35, the arms were blasted off.

At 6:26, right arm reappeared.

At 6:50, left arm reappeared.

At 8:44, arms are gone.

Otherwise nice ep, very "macross".

[Radd]

On the technical notes, I used Media Player Classic and saw no issues. I'm not certain what codecs I have, as I've not messed with them in ages. I can say that I avoid codec packs like the plague, though. They always seem nice an convenient at first, then seem to cause no end of trouble later for some reason. Of course, maybe I'm being stodgy and they've improved a lot since I last messed with them.

[akt_m]

Just watched, i think it was way too forced for them to meet coincidentally at the same place. But the action was v. good.

[kensei]

I can't believe you guys got the torrents so fast. My internet connection is basically free, cause the damn number of seeders is actually 6 out of something like 2500. Where is the love my brothers?

[Heron]

I got my file in no time, but when I play it the audio is out of synch with the video.

[Radd]

Just watched, i think it was way too forced for them to meet coincidentally at the same place. But the action was v. good.

How so? And, which time?

The only time that is really a coincidence is when Alto meets Ranka when she's on her way to the concert. If you mean when Alto sees Ranka in trouble outside the concert hall in episode 1, well they were all escaping from the same place, not really forced if you ask me. If you mean when all three meet at the end of the episode, well...Sheryl was looking for Alto. She saw him flying an SMS fighter on the news, and was searching for him around the SMS building. Alto got kicked out of the SMS building not far away, and had good enough reason for being there. The most coincidence is Sheryl running into Ranka. No coincidence Sheryl noticed her, though, as she was also on the news. I thought that last part, at the end of the episode, was particularly well set up, compared to many much more forced meetings in many other anime, and fiction in general.

Edit: Realized there was potential spoilers. New and improved with spoiler tags, just in case.

Edited April 13, 2008 by Radd

[Beltane70]

I loved the battle scenes, and the blue single lasered VF-25(A) that Mikhail (I believe that this is the english equivalent, instead of Michelle, which is a girl's name anyway. This is because I've fought a guy in Sweden by the same name, and it sounds very close) just screams Max VF-1A.

The name's not supposed to be Michelle, it's meant to be Michel (one l and no e at the end), which is the French equivalent of Michael, just like Mikhail is the Russian equivalent of the same name.

[veffidas]

Bleargh, I've been using cccp for 3 years and I've never been able to get this high res h264 bs to run smoothly on my 2GHz cpu. Media player classic's video is 2 seconds behind the audio and VLC is constantly alternating between smooth and choppy video Shouta, please save us (or at least me) with your superior release

Mellow Yellow, have you tried the most recent version of CCCP? Their h.264 codec has much improved since last year. I'll try running Gattai's *.mkv on a 1.7GHz mobile machine and let you know the results.

Use k-lite (comes with coreAVC) instead.

The moral win of using CCCP is that the creators specifically sought out to not infringe on any intellectual property of others which is why CoreAVC isn't packaged with CCCP. By downloading K-Lite, you're essentially pirating CoreAVC. If you must steal CoreAVC, I'd recommend using CCCP in conjuction with CoreAVC only. CCCP is specifically tuned to ensure none of the packaged codecs conflict with each other, while K-Lite is supposedly a hodgepodge of potentially incompatible codecs.

[crasis]

Uhh... h.264 isn't garbage, whatever you're using for playback clearly is though. Not every problem Mac users face can be blamed on a 3rd party, so ditch the smugness and do some troubleshooting.

Wow, way to be a jerk. If you read my post again, I wasn't going off on a Mac vs. PC debate or whatever it is that you're insinuating. I was merely pointing out that I have had no problems with playing other files/ requiring more processing power in the past. I only mentioned I was using a Mac at all in hopes that someone would offer an alternative that wasn't PC-only to fix my troubles. But thanks for the rudeness.

VLC for Mac sucks at h.264 playback, and quicktime is a big hunk of fail. Give MPlayer a try, I forget which version I have on my Intel Macbook but it played Gattai's first episode with no problems, not sure about the second episode, because that computer generally lives in the trunk of my car when I'm not working.

I'm using a 1.8 GHz G5 with 2GB of RAM, and it HATES these h.264 files, whether I use VLC, Quicktime w/ Perian or MPlayer (hell, MPlayer immediately crashes when I try to load any of the Gattai files - and I tried 3 different versions of MPlayer last night). So, yeah, I think I have a problem with h.264. Any other types of video files play perfect on this machine. I spent hours researching this last night, and it certainly looks like I'm not alone in this frustration.

[Valkyrie addict]

I have a dual-core 2.8GHz 3GB usable SDRAM, 8600 GTS vidcard, but my pc hated that h.264 file, but I managed to play it via firefox, until I downloaded a much friendlier version

back on topic:

noticed a rather annoying error for me, don't know uif it has been mentioned before...

when Alto gets in the VF-25 and starts shooting before episode 1 ends, he's wearing his X-gear, later when episode 2 starts his X-gear is not on and sorta looks like a seat, yet when the CG image on the valk appears he's with his X-gear again, then switch back to non-cg and his X-gear is in place of his seat again, in the whole chase scene, he's not wearing the x-gear, up until the very second he jumps to rescue Ranka and his X-gear is magicly on, comes back to the cockpit and his x-gear is not on again.... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........

Edited April 13, 2008 by Valkyrie addict

[Dio]

I too am having one heck of a time running it on anything. I've got the CCCP installed, and both regular Windows Media and the Media Player Classic return errors. I'm plum out of ideas at this point, maybe I should just wait for AiA to turn their sub out, since I know their Ep 1 worked great for me.

[veffidas]

I'm using a 1.8 GHz G5 with 2GB of RAM, and it HATES these h.264 files, whether I use VLC, Quicktime w/ Perian or MPlayer (hell, MPlayer immediately crashes when I try to load any of the Gattai files - and I tried 3 different versions of MPlayer last night). So, yeah, I think I have a problem with h.264. Any other types of video files play perfect on this machine. I spent hours researching this last night, and it certainly looks like I'm not alone in this frustration.

I unfortunately have an Intel Mac, so I can't help you out there. Though, it seems odd that MPlayer would crash as it does play fine on my machine, assuming the packaged binaries aren't functionally different. Have you tried the custom MPlayer Universal Binary found at AnimeSuki?

I too am having one heck of a time running it on anything. I've got the CCCP installed, and both regular Windows Media and the Media Player Classic return errors. I'm plum out of ideas at this point, maybe I should just wait for AiA to turn their sub out, since I know their Ep 1 worked great for me.

It's odd that errors are being returned. Is the file complete, and does the file CRC check? Additionally, if you feel comfortable with it, you may try running CCCP's Insurgent to remove any potential conflicting codec packs previously installed on the machine.

Anecdotally, I've successfully run Gattai's *.mkv for episode two on a 1.7GHz 2GB machine with no audio/video sync issues using the most recent version of CCCP.

Edited April 13, 2008 by veffidas

[crasis]

I unfortunately have an Intel Mac, so I can't help you out there. Though, it seems odd that MPlayer would crash as it does play fine on my machine, assuming the packaged binaries aren't functionally different. Have you tried the custom MPlayer Universal Binary found at AnimeSuki?

Yeah, that was the most recent version I tried when you linked it before. For some reason, I immediately get this message when I load the file: "Abnormal playback termination." Or it just crashes. ::shrug::

Ah well. At least the Gattai team was kind enough to offer up their subtitles as an .ass file separately. I downloaded that, renamed the file to that of my original raw and opened the raw in Quicktime w/ Perian...and it worked! Subtitles! YES!

I'm still looking forward to AiA's version, since they seem to encode files in a way my machine can handle, but this will do for now.

[veffidas]

Yeah, that was the most recent version I tried when you linked it before. For some reason, I immediately get this message when I load the file: "Abnormal playback termination." Or it just crashes. ::shrug::

Ah well. At least the Gattai team was kind enough to offer up their subtitles as an .ass file separately. I downloaded that, renamed the file to that of my original raw and opened the raw in Quicktime w/ Perian...and it worked! Subtitles! YES!

I'm still looking forward to AiA's version, since they seem to encode files in a way my machine can handle, but this will do for now.

Hmm, since the PowerPC and Intel makes do seem to have different maintainers, I guess the differences do become evident. Incidentally, I made a big stink earlier about how AiA I-Z's Episode 1 (Broadcast) did not open properly with Perian (error) or MPlayer (inaccurate time bar and desync issues halfway or so through) on my machine.

Glad to see that you've got something working in the meantime.

[Heron]

Ok, finally got it to play correctly using CCCP and CoreVac(sp?). I dunno if the subtitles were all bad as I have a limited grasp of Japanese but man was this episode kick ass. I especially like the song at the end and the interactions between the characters. Big Brother better start flying his desk otherwise he will be out of the show when they prepare the pineapple salad!

So Rank and Ozamu are 1/25 Zentran, eh?

[MacrossCN]

1、

When Vajra attack Alto's VF-25. This scene in Ranka's MEMORY!!

That is not Alto's VF-25, it is a aircraft!!!

Why????

There is Ozma's profile:

Ranka's old brother but they are no kin. Beacase once private action, he has been deprived of the military.

Who is ブレラ・ストーン(Brera Sterne)??

So, I really think this new Valk is Sterne's Valk. He is not Pilot of Macross Galaxy Fleet! He is pure Proto Culture descendant!! Ranka is his sis!

Ranka lost her memory in this accident and Ozma save her. Sterne order Vajra find Ranka.

Vajra's target is Ranka

Because When Alto touch Ranka in the cockpit, she shout, Vajra has reaction for it.

Official promotion message:

愛と友情と惑星の運命が交差する超銀河ラブストーリー ！！！

A Super Galaxy Love Story in which love, friendship and destiny of the planet intersects.

Which is Planet??? I think it is Ranka and Sterene's homeland, Proto Culture's homeland!!!

Valk is Over Technology(オーバーテクノロジー) by Zentraedi, So, if Sterene is Proto Culture, you could say VF-25 like Sterne's Valk~~~

HAHA

2、

The ED last scene, it is like Flash Back 2012, Minmay Farewell Concert.

Is this Sheryl Farewell Concert? So I think Sheryl will become the winner of triangle.

HAHA~~~

Edited April 14, 2008 by kresphy

[Elektrix]

Wow, way to be a jerk. If you read my post again, I wasn't going off on a Mac vs. PC debate or whatever it is that you're insinuating. I was merely pointing out that I have had no problems with playing other files/ requiring more processing power in the past. I only mentioned I was using a Mac at all in hopes that someone would offer an alternative that wasn't PC-only to fix my troubles. But thanks for the rudeness.

I'm using a 1.8 GHz G5 with 2GB of RAM, and it HATES these h.264 files, whether I use VLC, Quicktime w/ Perian or MPlayer (hell, MPlayer immediately crashes when I try to load any of the Gattai files - and I tried 3 different versions of MPlayer last night). So, yeah, I think I have a problem with h.264. Any other types of video files play perfect on this machine. I spent hours researching this last night, and it certainly looks like I'm not alone in this frustration.

Technically speaking, a PowerPC G5 is still perfectly capable of handling h.264 itself - in their h.264 FAQ Apple points out that a dual Power Mac G5 can handle a full 1920x1080 8 Mbps 24 fps movie without any problems, while less intensive h.264 content can run on much more basic processors than that.

I'm just suggesting that there might be some other problem as well, as h.264 content itself shouldn't inherently be a problem for a single 1.8GHz G5 (remember, Apple introduced h.264 support into QuickTime 7 well before the Intel transition).

I do understand your frustrations though in it not working, but I don't know if it's fair to say that h.264 is a "crap" format just because of it - there is still a lot of good about the format and its benefits over what came earlier (in fact that it is able to maintain higher quality with lower bandwidth; that's one of the big reasons we're seeing h.264 across the spectrum from mobile phone content to blu-ray.

-Elektrix

[Shouta]

Well that was even better with the Subs

Just one other thing I've noticed - Grace mentions an upcoming "Miss Macross" election to Sheryl - wonder that's how Ranka will make her debut ? That'd certainly be pushing the whole Minmay parrallal

-Sergorn

Episode 4 is actually entitled "Miss Macross" so yeah, probably.

[azrael]

When Ozma fully turned his head, Alto has already walked into the room. I just double checked; Ozma could only see Kathy but not Alto at that scene.

Please pardon me but why Ozma have to recognize Alto? Did I miss something?

The dialogue said "It's him.". That's wrong. An easy wrong. Even with my extremely limited Japanese, I heard him clearly say "Kathy?". I thought I also heard other words in other spots as well that were not in the dialogue. There were a few problems with episode 1, but I'll save that for the episode 1 thread. But this has "speed sub" written all over it.

[Heron]

The dialogue said "It's him.". That's wrong. An easy wrong. Even with my extremely limited Japanese, I heard him clearly say "Kathy?". I thought I also heard other words in other spots as well that were not in the dialogue. There were a few problems with episode 1, but I'll save that for the episode 1 thread. But this has "speed sub" written all over it.

Which is okay as it means I get to watch Hard Chase for a third time!

[Chronocidal]

1、

When Vajra attack Alto's VF-25. This scene in Ranka's MEMORY!!

That is not Alto's VF-25, it is a aircraft!!!

Why????

There is Ozma's profile:

Ranka's old brother but they are no kin. Beacase once private action, he has been deprived of the military.

Who is ブレラ・ストーン(Brera Sterne)??

So, I really think this new Valk is Sterne's Valk. He is not Pilot of Macross Galaxy Fleet! He is pure Proto Culture descendant!! Ranka is his sis!

Ranka lost her memory in this accident and Ozma save her. Sterne order Vajra find Ranka.

Vajra's target is Ranka

Because When Alto touch Ranka in the cockpit, she shout, Vajra has reaction for it.

2、

The ED last scene, it is like Flash Back 2012, Minmay Farewell Concert.

Is this Sheryl Farewell Concert? So I think Sheryl will become the winner of triangle.

HAHA~~~

K, is this speculation, or actual info? Cause that would explain Ranka's voice having an effect.. but it also opens lots of other cans full of worms.

The shot from Ranka's memory makes me think "escape pod." My guess at this point would be that Ozma rescued Ranka during that event, and got the military boot for it, or something...doesn't make much sense he'd get kicked out for saving someone, unless he completely neglected his orders.

Also.. I think we're underestimating how big that vajra is. The thing it's attacking looks nothing like an aircraft of any sort... what it does look like is either a satellite (because of the big sensor dish on one end), or an entire space station. And I'm not talking MIR-sized, I'm thinking more like a star trek style starbase. The central core of the thing looks like it has rows of windows lit up, and could be anywhere from 15-20 decks tall.. and that's ignoring all the other parts of the structure. So, the impression I get is that that particular vajra, while it looks like the one that Alto fought, might be a vastly larger version.

K, can of worms time though.. if Ranka is pure Protoculture, how did Ozma wind up saving her? Assuming she was on that space station, how did she get there? And best one yet... if Sterne is Protoculture, I'd like someone to explain how his fighter and the VF-25 look so similar. I'm hoping against hope it's not another "lost and never heard from again" fleet that an enemy picked up Valks from.

Edit: before I forget, I remember someone mentioning that Alto's gear doesn't stay attached to him all the time... I think that's on purpose. When he gets in the VF-25 at first, his gear immediately starts interfacing with the plane itself, locking him into the controls, and keeping him in the seat (combo control/restraint system). When he jumps out, the system must have a crazy-fast release mechanism to disengage him from the plane. Remember, since the pilots wear their gear, they don't need ejection seats, which is why Alto still had a place to sit after the other guy ejected. I'll have to watch all that again, and I don't expect it to be completely worked out yet.. it seems like a really complex system.

Edited April 13, 2008 by Chronocidal

[MisaForever]

I think I'll wait for the Shinsen sub. This one wasn't bad but there were errors and I'd prefer someone a bit more precise before putting on DVD

[azrael]

K, is this speculation, or actual info? Cause that would explain Ranka's voice having an effect.. but it also opens lots of other cans full of worms.

I prefer, the "wait-and-see" approach.

[Gubaba]

Wow, way to be a jerk. If you read my post again, I wasn't going off on a Mac vs. PC debate or whatever it is that you're insinuating. I was merely pointing out that I have had no problems with playing other files/ requiring more processing power in the past. I only mentioned I was using a Mac at all in hopes that someone would offer an alternative that wasn't PC-only to fix my troubles. But thanks for the rudeness.

I'm using a 1.8 GHz G5 with 2GB of RAM, and it HATES these h.264 files, whether I use VLC, Quicktime w/ Perian or MPlayer (hell, MPlayer immediately crashes when I try to load any of the Gattai files - and I tried 3 different versions of MPlayer last night). So, yeah, I think I have a problem with h.264. Any other types of video files play perfect on this machine. I spent hours researching this last night, and it certainly looks like I'm not alone in this frustration.

You're not alone. I've got a Mac G4 (10.2., and AT BEST, h.264 files will play as audio only, no visuals at all.

Shinsen Subs and Central Anime are good about giving people a choice of h.264 or XviD. I wish that were more common, especially with Macross F.

[Vegas]

i dont know if this was duscussed before, im thinking those vajras and ranka's living/gubaba cellular phone are from one origin/maker?