Forum - View topicPoll: Subtitle Technology
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Angel_Trainee
 Posts: 48 Location: TX |
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Well I like it how the font colors change when other charecters are talking it's easy to know who is talking.
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indrik
 Posts: 365 Location: yonder |
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I'm not sure I understand. I'm sure I've seen subs changing colors when different people are talking, although it's just been from yellow to white or something like that. I think anything more fancy than that would get annoying. But what are the next gen subs like? More along the lines of the fansub stuff, halfway in between? Can somebody describe this for those of us who remember beta and aren't going to buy one of these until a format wins?
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KocaKoala
Posts: 15 |
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I like the fancy shmancy fansubs myself. I have to agree with Mylene about the karaoke part, I hate when they put the words up to late or take them away afterwards. If you want to see good fansubs though, AonE and AnY's team effort on Ah! My Goddess was great. Fancy, yet easily read fonts. Different colors are used when the speaker is speaking on-screen, off-screen, or thinking. The words in the karaoke were there before each word was sung and didn't leave, and a feather would fall on each piece when it was supposed to be sung. So there ARE good quality fancy fansubs out there! Yarr!
Also interested in what Blu-Ray and HD will offer. I hate the default yellow subs >_> Soo much. |
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whoisfriend
Posts: 369 |
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I picked the middle option, though the poll does seem relatively biased.
Just thinking about it, most anime fans watch subtitles and not much effort is put into the subtitles themselves (not translation). Most subs look like the standard generic, which is, well, cheap. When .hack//SIGN was on YTV, they used subtitle fonts similar to the text when real world people were talking and didn't have voices. What I'd actually prefer is sign subtitles translated aprroximately where the sign is and with a similar font. This is one of the things I like about fansubs (I dislike Karaoke by the way). |
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Kouji
 Posts: 978 |
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I prefer the good 'ol fashioned standard subs. I never understood why fansub groups have the Japanese text playing with the lyrics on fansubs. I feel like it takes up too much space on the screen and it's really pointless because most American anime fans don't know Japanese so why would they need to know what the lyrics look like in Japanese text? And the American anime fans who do know Japanese probably have no need for fansubs anyway. I just wish they would keep it simple and have only the English translated lyrics and romaji. Or the least they could do is alternate between using the English translation in one episode and using the romaji and Japanese text in the next episode, so at least then the credits won't feel so crowded. And I especially hate those flashing subtitles they use during battle scenes in anime. Like, when I was watching the Loveless fansubs, it was very distracting having to keep up with what the characters were saying during the fight scenes because one moment the subtitles would be at the bottom of the screen while the characters are talking normally and the next minute the subtitles would be up in the air flashing around, and they would only keep the subtitles up for a few seconds at a time, so I ended up missing what a lot of the spell names were. Just keep it simple and keep the subtitles at a decent spot at the bottom so they're not in the way. Part of the reason why people hate watching subtitled movies is because they think the subtitles are distracting from the visuals. Why do you want to alienate the anti-sub crowed even further with those annoying flashy subtitles? And all for what, for the sake of a gimmick? If you need flashy subtitles to make watching anime more enjoyable because it somehow makes it "cooler", then maybe the anime you're watching isn't all that great to begin with. The only thing I wish more official subs would start doing is retaining the Japanese honorifics, but that's another can of worms right there
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Drowning_Wolf
Posts: 193 |
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Hum, I don't think I ever watched any fansubs where the subs were really distracting, flashing, animated etc. But, I personally do like a nice lettering and maybe different colors for different characters while watching my animes. Subtitles looks better that way, in my opinion.
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Belle Starlia
 Posts: 27 |
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I really hate plain DVD subtitles. I own a box-set of Last Exile, and though I love the Japanese version, the subtitles for it that the DVD comes with just suck. Ugly yellow. Plus the timing was bad, but meh.
I prefer something 'nice'. It doesn't have to be overly flashy (like the karaoeke often is in anime-openings, Or the special effects the one-piece fansubs have, just something sensible. A nice, easy to read font type, white in color preferably in most situations, with a black outline to it. It's simple, easily read, and doesn't make me want to kill the screen every time I see them. But.. if the subtitlers want to do fancy things, I say let them do it as long as it looks nice. |
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Dante80
 Posts: 218 Location: Athens Greece |
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Hm...lets see...
DVD Subs: 
SRT Softsubs: 
I think I like the second better...there is nothing uglier IMO than a yellow sub... |
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bakaShin
Posts: 102 |
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the best and most translated is my 1st choice. But it sort of depends on the type of series afterward. I enjoy the so called "gimicky" subs just because they are providing extras that most companies ignore all for free. Action series such as one piece features moves that is specific for characters and thus i like having effects for it.
I just dislike the bare minimum where its just regular text and having nothing else explained. |
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holl.e.rama
Posts: 102 Location: California |
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I agree. That's totally a loaded question "What do you prefer, standard DVD subtitles, advanced, colorful and gimicky fansubs, or something in-between?" When the "gimmicky" option comes in last, it won't be hard to know why. Personally, I like fansub format. They don't usually use fonts that are too difficult to read, and they match the color to the characters and fun stuff like that xD The standard yellow subs are sort of ugh looking. Though, truthfully, I don't think it matters all that much : / |
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Cave
Posts: 80 |
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There's a reason why that ugly, yellow font is used. First, color-wise yellow is a very good choice as it isn't blinding (like red would be) and stands out very well (though I have seen pro-subs that are hard to read...). The outlining helps to keep it from fading into the picture.
The typeface chosen is san-serif since its much easier to read than a serif font; especially when you consider distances into the equation. Watching it on your computer monitor; it doesn't matter as much which font is used because you're a mere foot or so away from the picture. On a TV, though, you usually sit at least a few feet away. Anybody here see Live-Evil's subs of Death Note? I don't know WHAT they were thinking when they decided on blackletter font. Sure it was readible, but if that were on a TV, you'd -never- be able to read it properly. I would look to see more variety in pro-subs, though. (I chose the middle option in the poll). The yellow does look pretty nasty after a while. Just a little something to give it flavor or spice it up. No karaoke effects though. Anyone see Saizen's karaoke effects for the PoT OVA? It makes me cry at night. :( I thought Saizen cared about quality too - ha. |
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Pepperidge
 Posts: 1106 Location: British Columbia, Canada |
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Ugh, I stand by simple, straight-forward, conventional subtitles as they appear on DVDs today, and have no desire whatsoever for any major "advancement". I'm kind of disappointed that this poll will likely lead to some.
At least we aren't being polled on karaoke. The day companies actually begin putting that kind of garbage on official releases is the day all credibility they possess in my eyes is shattered. |
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Nagisa
Moderator
 Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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I gotta disagree with you there. The first image looks professional, takes up less space, and has a thicker black line around it, making for an easier read against backgrounds with similar color as the font itself. The second image just looks blocky and amateur, like someone just ran it through Premier in just a couple minutes, and the line around it is thinner. It also takes up more space and obscures more of the screen. And that drop shadow is just laughably frivolous fluff that isn't needed. Not to mention I just have a pre-determined aversion to blocky white text like that, as the only people I've ever seen use it are the utter bottom-of-the-barrel fansubbers with the unbelievably embarassingly awful translations and horrific grammar. Them, or the scumbag DVD rippers who always find some way to screw up the timing. It looks crappy, and the people that use it tend to be just as crappy, at least in my view. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6883 Location: Kazune City |
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I'm fine with either one--sure, from time to time I'll come across a fansub that uses a font I don't like, but there's generally the solution of "get it from a different group," which is not a (legal) option for those dissatisfied with DVD subs. One recent example was Strawberry Panic, where the group I got it from used a light pink font that got pretty hard to read sometimes. But, that group did better at what I value most from any fansub or DVD, which is subtitles that are:
* Edited to standard English (or whatever is appropriate to convey the dialogue being spoken, such as slang, "broken" language, childish language, etc.), and are enjoyable to read, i.e. not "let's save time and make this as literal as possible." * Without misspellings, sloppy grammar errors, or word confusion. And even many of the pros have slipped to using "alright" when "all right" is still the only acceptable way to write it. * Thorough enough with sign translation without being overkill, preferably with proper placement on the screen to simulate the Japanese viewing experience.
 Without any prior knowledge of these series, are these from fansubs or DVDs?
 
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DemonEyesLeo
 Posts: 844 Location: Japan |
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I definitely prefer standard subtitles. I hate the gimmicky stuff. I mean, it looks cool but I need to be able to read them as quick as possible without being distracted. I watched an episode of Death Note that used this Gothic style font. While that fits the show and was really neat looking, it was also a little difficult to read because the letters had these squiggles and wavy lines that made them look different. Once again, that stuff is cool to look at but completely unnecessary.
And in regards to the above screens. I'm guessing they're both from DVDs. |
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