Macross Frontier and Fansubs

[Batou]

Still no sign of a [AiA I-Z] Macross Frontier 05.mp4 sub?

(Sigh). Still nothing in the rss feeds.

I have to say the AiA releases have really been impressive so far. I thought Shinsen would wind up being my favorite, but I've honestly preferred AiA's translations overall. I've been burning these episodes to dvd so I can watch them on the big screen, and I don't know what it is, but the AiA versions just look so much sharper as well. Hardly any compression effects or video ugliness so far, which the Shinsen avi's have unfortunately shown ... don't get me wrong, it's not bad by any stretch, but AiA's just look sharp as a razor in comparison. That's not a knock on Shinsen at all: It may just be the formats they're using (mp4 vs avi) and the dvd software I'm using having an easier time decoding it. Mp4 isn't lossless, is it?

I'd like to echo the huge thank yous here to all involved in subbing these. As others have stated, it's such a luxury to be able to see very professionally translated versions being released within days of hitting the airwaves in Japan. You guys are doing us fans a MASSIVE service and I can't tell you how much we all appreciate your hard work. It's a very good time to be a Macross fan, and you guys are a large part of the reason. The only way it's going to get better would be for Satan to finally come and claim Macek's soul for the collective evils of depriving us domestic releases of this stuff for decades, thus paving the way for a Macross Frontier box set in every western retail outlet.

I guy can dream, damn it.

[Gubaba]

Again, if they're taking their time so that it comes our right, I don't think any of us should complain. Accuracy > Speed.

EDIT: And Batou is dreaming of an R1 MF boxset...I say your dreams are too small. I dream of a series of matching boxsets, all put out by the same company, translated uniformily, of EVERYTHING Macross.

If I had several million dollars to spare, that's what I'd do with it...profits be damned!

Edited May 10, 2008 by Gubaba

[Heron]

Still no sign of a [AiA I-Z] Macross Frontier 05.mp4 sub?

Woot! It is out and it was great!

[Birdman]

Just wanted to chime in with a HUGE THANK YOU to all the subbers out there. Mucho appreciated!!!

[Morpheus]

AiA sub is up, thank you

[Project Phoenix]

Again, if they're taking their time so that it comes our right, I don't think any of us should complain. Accuracy > Speed.

EDIT: And Batou is dreaming of an R1 MF boxset...I say your dreams are too small. I dream of a series of matching boxsets, all put out by the same company, translated uniformily, of EVERYTHING Macross.

If I had several million dollars to spare, that's what I'd do with it...profits be damned!

Not gonna happen. As long as HG and its legion of misguided heretics exist, an R1 box set will never come into existence.

Of course, if it does happen sometime in our lifetime, I foresee it being released as a premium box Set costing at least $2,000 each. If you have seen the Legend of the Galactic Heroes DVD Premium Box Set then you will know what I'm talking about.

[kensei]

hmmm...the Gattai .ass file for the latest ep is not out yet.

[Batou]

Again, if they're taking their time so that it comes our right, I don't think any of us should complain. Accuracy > Speed.

Judging from the results, I think it was worth the wait. Don't know if any of those guys are reading this, but outstanding job on Ep 5. That was AiA's best work yet, and all that extra work going into such a dialog-heavy (that appears to be setting up the plot for the next few ep's, I'd imagine) really paid off.

I'd buy you guys a drink and let you grope my sister if I knew who you were. And if I had a sister.

[EDIT: And Batou is dreaming of an R1 MF boxset...I say your dreams are too small. I dream of a series of matching boxsets, all put out by the same company, translated uniformily, of EVERYTHING Macross.

If I had several million dollars to spare, that's what I'd do with it...profits be damned!

I think I'd live on a yacht in the Mediterranean, being fed hand-peeled grapes by a crack team of Swedish models who were trained in the art of ninjitsu. They would kidnap Kawamori-sama and force him to animate new Macross episodes from my underground Bond villian lair. When he died, I'd keep his head in a jar of formaldehyde and form a secret cult worship it as it froated majestically.

[Gubaba]

I think I'd live on a yacht in the Mediterranean, being fed hand-peeled grapes by a crack team of Swedish models who were trained in the art of ninjitsu. They would kidnap Kawamori-sama and force him to animate new Macross episodes from my underground Bond villian lair. When he died, I'd keep his head in a jar of formaldehyde and form a secret cult worship it as it froated majestically.

I take back my earlier comment...your dreams are indeed bigger than mine.

[Vinnie]

I just noticed on AnimeSuki that there's a fansub group called Deculture. Ironically, they aren't working on Macross Frontier.

[Lakan]

Well, one also have to take the consideration of what file type a fansub group can provide. In my case, I have to choose Shinsen's AVI file and AiA's mp4 file because my comp can neither play the HD mkv files nor using the softsub option. Blame it on my lousy, 5-year-old comp.

same here bud, though mine is much older it's probably about 8 year-old. so i have to stick to shinzen for my weekly dose of Macross frontier.

and yeah I would like to join everyone in giving the people behind the subs a big thank you! If weren't for you guys we (those who don't understand japanese ) probably couldn't have been watching Macross Frontier in "real time".

[Gubaba]

same here bud, though mine is much older it's probably about 8 year-old. so i have to stick to shinzen for my weekly dose of Macross frontier.

Ditto. With everyone swtiching to h264, I feel like I have a Betamax...

[Morpheus]

Gattai episode 6 is up, they work fast on this one .

However I'm still loyal to AiA release, besides my PC doesn't like mkv format.

[Batou]

Gattai episode 6 is up, they work fast on this one .

However I'm still loyal to AiA release, besides my PC doesn't like mkv format.

You might try watching them with a different player. mkv's are practically unwatchable using vlc on my system, but gom player just chews through them without a sweat (pity, bc gom's subtittles are dodgy). If your computer can decode an avi at an acceptable framefrate, there's no reason it shouldn't be able to do the same with mkv's.

If all you're using is windows media player (), I'd try some of the alternatives. You shouldn't need a hotrod computer to watch these things.

[grss1982]

AiA just released episode 6. Looks like there back with a vengeance!!!

AGAIN...Thanks to all the groups subbing MF.

[boinger]

It's a Macross Bonanza!

Thank you subtitling guys!

[Tobi54]

Question to the guys that download all of the different releases:

Which do you think gives the best balance between accuracy, presentation, and video quality?

I'm putting a DVD together for personal use, I encoded it twice over the weekend, one time with Shinsen, which presentation and accuracy I liked very much, but it's a little weak on video quality, and one time with AiA, which is also pretty good, not quite as good as Shinsen in IMO, better picture quality though, but it looks like they have manipulated the contrast changing the way the video looks from the original release, I didnt like that too much, plus looks like the encoder I use didn't like mp4, noticed some mild stuttering on video playback.

I could always re-encode third party subs into the raws, but honestly some of these groups' presentations is so good that I rather keep those in the video, thanks in advance.

[Duke Togo]

Presentation/accuracy is all Shinsen, but I can't honestly say I've been paying attention to video quality on the sub releases. They may indeed have inferior video. AiA-IZ has really stepped up since episode 4, and episodes 5 and 6 have been really solid. Gattai is generally accurate, but it suffers when it comes to readability. Lunar is heavy slang and what not, I found it to be a real turn off. The AonE-Gekkostate-whatever release is pretty sub par as far as the translation goes.

[grss1982]

Presentation/accuracy is all Shinsen, but I can't honestly say I've been paying attention to video quality on the sub releases. They may indeed have inferior video. AiA-IZ has really stepped up since episode 4, and episodes 5 and 6 have been really solid. Gattai is generally accurate, but it suffers when it comes to readability. Lunar is heavy slang and what not, I found it to be a real turn off. The AonE-Gekkostate-whatever release is pretty sub par as far as the translation goes.

Oh I see.

I myself am leaning towards the subs of AiA-IZ & Shinsen.

Differences aside I again would like to say "THANK YOU" to all the groups subbing MF. We really appreciate the hard work you put in for this stuff. Keep it up!!!

[Vegas]

i have all episodes subbed by AIA, gattai and shinsen plus the raw per episode.

[Graham]

Ditto, I watch the raw first and then the Gattai, AiA and Shinsen. Watching all the diferent versions gives you a better idea of what is going on as sometimes one group may miss something or mistranslate something that another group gets correct.

Graham

[Tobi54]

Presentation/accuracy is all Shinsen, but I can't honestly say I've been paying attention to video quality on the sub releases. They may indeed have inferior video. AiA-IZ has really stepped up since episode 4, and episodes 5 and 6 have been really solid. Gattai is generally accurate, but it suffers when it comes to readability. Lunar is heavy slang and what not, I found it to be a real turn off. The AonE-Gekkostate-whatever release is pretty sub par as far as the translation goes.

Yeah, Shinsen subs are excellent on both presentation and accuracy, I might end up using those just because of that, AiA video does look better, but too dark IMO, I haven't checked out EP 5 and 6 of AiA though, hopefully they didnt mess around with the transfer.

[azrael]

I'll say Shinsen is pretty good on the translations, but AiA-IZ has the best quality video. Aone/Gekkostate/Menclave is about the same as Shinsen in translation and video quality but they are ridiculously slow (Menclave is probably to blame for that, and they know it, they even say it on their site). I'm gonna agree with Duke Togo about Gattai. Accuracy is getting better but translation readability gives me a headache.

[MisaForever]

I'm going to stick with Shinsen. While the others have their good points, Shinsen seems to be the best overall.

[Batou]

I'm going to stick with Shinsen. While the others have their good points, Shinsen seems to be the best overall.

I agree that their translation seems more accurate (for the most part), but I gave a shot at burning them to dvd and the video quality compared to AiA was just so far off I lost interest.

Burning AiA to disk using Nero Vision (yeah, it sucks, but it's all I have) has yielded fantastic results for me. You really have to get in close and squint to see any hints of video compression, artifacting, etc. It's absolutely gorgeous, and I recommend everyone try watching this on a big hi-def screen (as opposed to your computer monitor, no matter what resolutions it supports). Even at just 720p it looks amazing.

Edit in: I have to add, in AiA's defense, their translations just keep getting better and better. Ep 5 was by far the best version released to date, IMHO. The extra time they took with it really shows.

Edited May 13, 2008 by Batou

[MisaForever]

I agree that their translation seems more accurate (for the most part), but I gave a shot at burning them to dvd and the video quality compared to AiA was just so far off I lost interest.

Burning AiA to disk using Nero Vision (yeah, it sucks, but it's all I have) has yielded fantastic results for me. You really have to get in close and squint to see any hints of video compression, artifacting, etc. It's absolutely gorgeous, and I recommend everyone try watching this on a big hi-def screen (as opposed to your computer monitor, no matter what resolutions it supports). Even at just 720p it looks amazing.

Edit in: I have to add, in AiA's defense, their translations just keep getting better and better. Ep 5 was by far the best version released to date, IMHO. The extra time they took with it really shows.

You're kidding right? All of AiA's episodes thus far for Mac F have been dark! I had to turn up the brightness on every TV I've watched it on (my own AND a friend's) because of how dark it was. I don't know what they're doing to the episodes but they're adjusting something and it looks horrible. Otherwise they're fine.

[hal9000]

I just burn them to a CD and watch them on my ps3, all AIA and Shinsin subs. Only thing I notice is some Frame freeze in the Shinsin's, Thanks to all the fan subers.

[Tobi54]

You're kidding right? All of AiA's episodes thus far for Mac F have been dark! I had to turn up the brightness on every TV I've watched it on (my own AND a friend's) because of how dark it was. I don't know what they're doing to the episodes but they're adjusting something and it looks horrible. Otherwise they're fine.

They are boosting the contrast for some reason, I have also noticed the darkness, and honestly I dont know why they are doing that, their video compression looks to be the best, there's really no need for messing around with the contrast. On a side note, IMO the only thing that keeps the Shinsen releases from being perfect is the somewhat weak picture quality.

Edited May 14, 2008 by Tobi54

[DJ Loe Kee]

^it's free fansub, no need for it to be perfect. that's why they release dvd's later on (hopefully the import japanese dvd will have english subs since we won't get a dvd release here in the states). besides the dvd's better video quality, i've quit buyin' them and made the switch to fansubs only 'cause i prefer the "black border around the white text subtitles" that fansubs use... and i can read all of the subs even when the background is a light/white color (i can't read 100% of the subs for my retail dvd's of anime that i've bought in the past... you get one benefit but you lose another thing, make your choice).

[Duke Togo]

^it's free fansub, no need for it to be perfect. that's why they release dvd's later on (hopefully the import japanese dvd will have english subs since we won't get a dvd release here in the states).

No, but I don't imagine people go into fansubbing thinking, gee, what they are saying doesn't really matter. And don't hold your breath on seeing this on DVD,

[DJ Loe Kee]

Several instances of funny wording. Not plot errors, mind you, but just how it reads. Alto tells Mikhail that "you better not forget this!" when he is pushing him hard, which makes no sense. It should read something like, "I won't forget this!" Also, "It's twice as tough with the EX-Gear switched on.", which again, makes no sense. Its easier with it switched on. There are several instances of that kinda thing in this episode. And then it seems like several people are just given the rank of captain (including Bobby??). Some of their choices when it comes to wording strike me as odd, as well. Shinsen's first three episodes are still better than the first three put out by the other three groups doing this series, and I was just a little shocked to see such a drop in quality in this release.

For my money, Shinsen has been doing the best work, accuracy and readability. Gattai does well with accuracy, but suffers when it comes to readability. AiA-IZ is a solid read, but the translation has been a little too fast and loose for my liking. You *must* get plot points right when subbing, over everything else. However, their episode 4 release is my favorite Frontier sub so far. Outside of the big flub on Ranka being the only survivor of the 117th Research Fleet, I really felt AiA-IZ took a big step forward with episode 4, and I am eagerly awaiting their episode 5 work.

those are NOT translation errors. i've just now got around to watchin' ep. 4 & 5 (and i paused it to make this quick comment).

"It's twice as tough with the EX-Gear switched on."

well, he is runnin' laps, so "what's his name" (mihail i think but i'm lazy to look on wiki what his name is, ep. 4 is still on pause) what's the ex gear turned on to make his 25 laps harder on him.

"I won't forget this!"

he's just sayin' that he won't forget the abuse from from what's his name.

those lines are not bad english. they are grammatically correct. and they make perfect sense to the action on the screen. i really don't see what the fuss is about. if i was to turn in this script (i haven't finished ep. 4, it's still on pause) as an assignment to my english professor, he/she wouldn't mark off on it (i know how to write, now math is another subject, what do you mean 2+2 doesn't equal 158,125,125,876?!?)

[Duke Togo]

"I won't forget this!"

he's just sayin' that he won't forget the abuse from from what's his name.

Yes, I know this, but that is NOT what the sub said. It said, "you better not forget this!", and that was incorrect. And it makes no sense for it to be harder to do laps with the EX-Gear powered on, that would make it easier.

Edited May 14, 2008 by Duke Togo

[DJ Loe Kee]

No, but I don't imagine people go into fansubbing thinking, gee, what they are saying doesn't really matter. And don't hold your breath on seeing this on DVD,

it will be on dvd, i can guarantee you that. 7 and sdfm are all on dvd... the japanese will release a dvd for their (japanese) viewing pleasure. and somebody will buy the import the dvd, rip it their hard drive and create soft sub file... so that ppl who purchase the import dvd can rip their dvd to the hard drive, combine the rip and the sub file into the appropriate software, and burn a new dvd.

and i really doubt that these ppl who capture the raw are usin' professional video capture equipment.

http://www.avid.com/products/professional-film-video.asp

if you want "true hd quality" buy the dvd. until then, we'll have to settle for whatever quality their tivo or pc's video capture cards gives them (and they shouldn't be tryin' to remaster the film unless they have professional experience, they just need to use a compression method that doesn't "take away" too much off the original video's quality. me, i'd rather have the uncompressed video format and then i could use my own software to compress it and make the file size smaller. but that will never happen).

remember, support artists and buy retail, even if it is just one cd or dvd a year/every two years (you can avoid $20 once a year or two right). any other music/graphic artist on this forum will "feel" me on this one (yea, i dl music/anime but i still buy dvd's/cd's every couple of months).

[DJ Loe Kee]

Yes, I know this, but that is NOT what the sub said. It said, "you better not forget this!", and that was incorrect. And it makes no sense for it to be harder to do laps with the EX-Gear powered on, that would make it easier.

then why is that shinsen fault??? shinsen did not write the script. isn't that the fault of the japanese company/writers that wrote that line. sometimes ppl cannot enjoy ENTERTAINMENT. i've seen plenty of plot holes in other anime but it doesn't distract from the overall anime (ok, so the plot holes do but it's not real life, it is FICTION).

ok, i will not argue any more about this. let's agree to disagree, i'm goin' back to watchin' episode 4 & 5 of macross f and then i'll study my korean vowels and consonants, this is really a waste of time.

edit:

one more thing, do you understand japanese??? do you know that it was a mistranslation or are you just comparin' it to another fansub release??? i haven't heard one person you knows japanese come in here and say "this is what they really said". sorry but i switched from japanese to korean so i won't attempt to translate macross f or email my friend/tutor from japan just to ask her what they really said ('cause i may find a japanese website that i want to order from and i'll save my "let me bother her for a translation" later on when i really need it).

the only thing i saw wrong was the "20th" miss macross contest on the stage backdrop vs. the translation of "12th" miss macross contest. and i really don't feel like lookin' up in my japanese book the words for "12th" and "20th". my listenin' comprehension suxs anyways so i probably would still say "wtf did they say" even after i learned the words (just like i said every time my japanese teacher said something in non-english).

Edited May 14, 2008 by DJ Loe Kee

[Gubaba]

the only thing i saw wrong was the "20th" miss macross contest on the stage backdrop vs. the translation of "12th" miss macross contest. and i really don't feel like lookin' up in my japanese book the words for "12th" and "20th". my listenin' comprehension suxs anyways so i probably would still say "wtf did they say" even after i learned the words (just like i said every time my japanese teacher said something in non-english).

It was the 12th...so, point for Shinsen.