Forum - View topicNEWS: FunimationNow Streaming Content Moves to AnimeLab in Australia, New Zealand
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Azza Murphy
Posts: 115 |
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Well this is great news because I'm already using AnimeLab and I find it way better then FunimationNow ever was.
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Charou
 Posts: 123 Location: Sydney, Australia |
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Agreed. And of my numerous streaming subs, Funimation's subs are easily the worst in format. White text, black background, no regard for screen placement. Good riddance. Animelab has been a blessing for us AU/NZ anime fans.
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juusee
Posts: 35 |
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I just checked the "Recently Added" list on Animelab and there are 204 shows that were just added. This really is a big win for AU/NZ fans. Madman has been doing quite a bit of good work for us from Animelab and and theatrical releases of anime films. Americans only recently got the chance to catch Weathering With You while my local cinemas screened it way back in August.
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Lynx Raven Raide
 Posts: 412 Location: Central Coast, AU |
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This makes perfect sense going forward, and I'm glad they kept the branding and interface rather than reskinning the FuniNow one. Shows they have faith in the branding and platform to keep it over transferring everything the other way, though there have been compaints about the recent changes to the interface, but I have no problems especially since they have added a click on video pause like every other streaming service. Haven't tried FuniNow, though heard bad things about their interface and such but looks like they have updated that too.
All this does make me wonder though how things will go with Sentai licenses going forward. Keeping AnimeLab means keeping Madman's existing Sentai licenses, but with the introduction of HiDIVE, the talk of CR beefing up their Sentai catalog and the existence of Hanabee as an alternative for physical releases, it makes me wonder if Sentai will rely on them more and Madman will rely more on content from their sister companies Funi and Aniplex |
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Trenton4k
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in the last 2 months I've been having issues logging on to website it say internal server error
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harminia
 Posts: 2058 Location: australia |
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Send a message to their customer support email |
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nDroae
 Posts: 382 |
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Funnily enough, guess whose web browser player currently doesn't have the screen click play/pause toggle? 
On FunimationNow you gotta use the spacebar or the button in the bottom left corner, and if you want to skip back, you can't use the arrow keys, you have to click the little <10s button next to the play button. Here's how it looks for me on my desktop (Chrome, Windows 10): 
Full size: https://imgur.com/Imwchet Don't get me wrong, I find FunimationNow usable enough, and I plan on letting my annual subscription renew at least for now. But I definitely miss having their content in VRV. Assuming AnimeLab is indeed better, I'm glad for you all who'll be getting it via AnimeLab instead. Back in 2015 Funimation had some minor issues, and I had some friendly exchanges with helpful representatives, but a year or two later they revamped their entire site, and since then it seems like it's only been worse than it was before. It's of course possible the overall average Funimation user experience is better now; I can only report mine. For me the one good new thing is that their mobile app now supports offline downloads (does AnimeLab?), but even there, the downloads seem to stop unfinished much more often than downloads in VRV do. Other minor issues I have include the lack of a queue URL that I can park my tab at (while viewing the queue, the URL in the address bar is https://www.funimation.com/account/#subscription which directs to the account billing page), having to log back in after a few hours of inactivity, and inconsistent ability to reorder the queue. (VRV doesn't allow custom queue sorting, but its automatic sorting by last watched is better than Funimation putting new additions at the bottom. I've been trying to move a certain show to the top for two weeks now.) I'm surprised by the contrast between Funimation being in this state, and VRV being better despite having been cheaply developed in Moldova. ( https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/87stdb/this_is_why_crunchyroll_hasnt_actually_continued/ ) I don't know, is Funimation's development also outsourced? |
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harminia
Posts: 2058 Location: australia |
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Yes, as of just recently |
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Lynx Raven Raide
Posts: 412 Location: Central Coast, AU |
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Not sure if the feature was added (never tried it before the change) but while AL doesn't have the seconds skip button the arrows now work for that. If it is outsourced, maybe they should tap their sister company Down Under for a replacement
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nDroae
Posts: 382 |
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On PC, arrow keys are preferable over GUI buttons, at least in my opinion. It seems to be a known practice to watch the Monogatari franchise with a finger ready to hit the left arrow key at any time. And yeah, sounds like that could be a good idea even if it's still in-house!
 I'm impressed (@harminia) that AL has added offline downloads. Less than three years ago, my only legal options for watching anime offline on mobile were Netflix and Amazon. Perhaps it's become more of an industry standard in recent years (I don't pay much attention outside anime streaming).
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harminia
Posts: 2058 Location: australia |
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I don't really know heaps about it but I believe offline streaming is becoming more and more a thing. It's something a lot of people ask for when it's not available, so I think platforms like Netflix having it as an option has made people want it on everything, like people see it as a default platforms should have? I believe FuniNow had it so by replacing it in AU/NZ I assume AL tried to keep their services as in line with what Funi offers, so people don't complain lol |
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alextenshi
Posts: 50 |
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Ever since they relaunched their website in 2016, FunimationNow uses Sony New Media Solutions's Ven.ue platform for streaming. Maybe they should instead use their Aussie and European friends to help design a better service. |
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