Forum - View topicFormats for Anime My Collection
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warhammerkid
Posts: 1 |
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I just bought several Raw Japanese Blu-ray discs, but there is not an option for them in the formats drop-down. If the "encyclopedist" could add that as a valid format, that would be greatly appreciated.
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Only Dan could add more formats.
By the way, contrary to the misconception of most American users on this site, VCD has been and still is a valid, legal format that is being produced nowadays. If defunct formats like LD, UMD, and HD-DVD can exist I don't see why VCD cannot. |
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ManOfRust
 Posts: 1935 Location: Seattle, WA |
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I don't think it's really a misconception but rather stems from the fact that VCDs are pretty much non-existent in North America. For whatever reason, it's a format that just never caught on here. I didn't even know what they were until the first time I visited Singapore and saw them in a store. That being said, there is certainly a lot of legally produced anime available on VCD, so for the non-North American visitors to the site it would be nice to see it added as an option. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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An important factor was that when the technology of VCD came out, most American families already had had VHS players, and the space-conscious, moisture-resistant advantages of VCD could not justify its inferior video quality. I've written about the issue almost two years ago. That said, with VCD basically nonexistent in the legal market of North America, it is much more commonly witnessed at Asian towns selling "imports" i.e. bootlegs, thus many American anime fans incorrectly believe "VCD = bootleg."
Including newest popular titles like Lucky Star. |
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Dan42
Chief Encyclopedist
 Posts: 3794 Location: Montreal |
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Well that was really easy to do, so done.
The original reason why I didn't put VCD is because in 99% of cases it's used for piracy; e.g. people burning fansubs on VCD. Even at the time when I made that decision I was aware of a few cases where VCDs were used to distribute legal anime in HK, but even then the vast majority of HK VCDs were pirate copies. Care to correct me? |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Technically speaking, if it was "burned" then it's not a VCD made from a legal factory, but rather a CD-R recorded with either DivX-encoded fansub files (my Pioneer DVD player can read those) or burning MPEG video (and one has to convert files before burning) onto a CD-R with VCD format.
I understand that as a North American English-based website, with its majority of users located at the same continent, it might be necessary to make sacrifices in order to avoid unwanted accusations e.g. "how can you allow users to add bootleg VCD in their collections?" Therefore, I can only wish that evidences shown below are sufficient to provide a good reason for a VCD option as a valid format. First I have to admit that I don't know much about the current market situations in Hong Kong, but Intercontinental Video Ltd. (IVL, now part of Kadokawa Group as Kadokawa Intercontinental Group Holdings Ltd.) has released VCD of Studio Ghibli titles like Spirited Away. If you really want more proofs I'll ask my friends in HK. Now, for the market I familiar the most: Taiwan. The four major licensees (Mighty, Muse, Proware, Top-Insight; Proware's catalog is now complete at ANN, others' are being added now) all carry VCD even today, although in various degrees. Mighty is clearing out its remaining VCD reserves. VCD is still available for extra-long series like Naruto and Keroro as packs, for parents don't want to invest too much on complete sets of DVD; they just want pacifiers. Muse has VCD as combo packs as well, but including some less "generic" titles, like MariMite + MariMite Haru and Ramen Fighter Miki (just NT$299 -- US$8.99!). More "generic" titles like Love Hina is also available. Proware is probably the last company that continues pumping its newest licenses in VCD format: Lucky Star, School Days, Clannad, Code Geass, you name it. Many of its longtime customers are bewildered by their decision and insistence, though. Top-Insight's online store My-Cartoon does not have a dedicated VCD area like the other three, but many of its titles, either older ones like Full Moon O Sagashite or newer ones like The Prince of Tennis, still have VCD versions (and sometimes VCD only) available. By the way, the all-time American fans' favorite Cowboy Bebop was licensed by Top-Insight as VCD, but its sale was quite poor and almost forgotten. TV appearance is still the most important factor for popularity (thus Top-Insight was the first to cooperate with Chunghwa Telecom's MOD PPV service). Hope these information helps. |
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Dan42
Chief Encyclopedist
Posts: 3794 Location: Montreal |
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I never doubted that there existed legit VCD titles, but it seems there's more of them than I thought. Still, what's going to happen is that once the release database is upgraded to be user-editable, I'll add VCD to the formats. That way there will be some oversight in terms of preventing bootleg VCDs from getting into the database. But it won't be possible to add VCD "custom releases" as you can currently do with other formats in MyAnime.
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