The epic quest for fansubs

[sgupta]

animegirlalways, DVD-9 is dual layer. Basically, single layer is about 4.7 GB (DVD-5) of data, whereas DL discs can hold 8.5 GB of information (DVD-9); I think they just round up to get those numbers. The reason you need DL for these ISO's (actually, probably only the first 3) is they're each over 6 GB. The last 3 ISO's curiously are quite a bit smaller as they changed how the DVD's were encoded for the last 3 discs (still great quality though), so those can probably fit on a single-layer DVD if you prefer, but the 1st 3 definitely need DL.

ImgBurn simply burns images, so it'll work for either single layer or dual layer. The thing is, to the best of my knowledge, unlike burnable video, ISO's *cannot* be compressed or altered as to how much space they take up since they're an exact duplicate of a disc, hence you need the type of disc that will fit the ISO you're trying to burn.

As far as discs, in my experience, stick with Verbatim if you can. Memorex works well in some drives, but has pretty big problems in others. Not as sure on other brands. I just know Verbatim has a good rep for compatibility in most drives, including Sony's.

Burning software is always a tricky topic. I used to use Nero but hate their recent versions, and the same goes for Roxio, and those seem to be the two major suites out there at the moment. I liked when they used to be simple with standalone applications for each task, but they've become really, really bloated in recent years. Personally I like VSO's software applications, and also Slysoft's, but those both sell more targeted applications instead of suites (ie. you buy a product that's meant to do only one thing well instead of "everything"). And of course applications like ImgBurn that are completely free are great. But I digress as I'm starting to get opinionated - lol.

[sgupta]

I made a V1 hardsub for Episode 01. It's not as good as I would like due to unforseen problems popping up during encoding, but I feel the subtitles are much better with a smaller font, a better position, and writing by a native English speaker.

I'm uploading it to DepositFiles and MegaUpload now. And don't worry, I'll release a better version in a day or two.

Awesome! So did you use the Korean sources and reword some of them, or were you working from a different source? I look forward to seeing what you've done with it - I hope the encoding problems aren't too terrible.

[Bad Username]

I took the Korean subs as a base and rewrote most of the lines, fixed punctuation, made the worker robots speak in ALLCAPS, etc. A couple of times, the meaning was unclear, so i had to look up the Japanese subs for the same line to translate from a dictionary, and once I had to build the kanji up from a multiradical chart to find the correct word because I couldn't hear it too well. The video itself has interlacing artifacts and the subs are off by a noticible fraction of a second due to my preferred encoding software deciding to crash repeatedly, making me settle for an encoder that couldn't deinterlace and had shoddy sub timing. I have since downloaded a later version of the software, so it shouldn't happen again.

[Bad Username]

It's uploaded now. This links to my DepositFiles Astro Boy folder, so you can use this one link to see if I've uploaded anything new. Every DF download adds $.01 to my account, so I'll very slowly be able to purchase the other volumes faster.

http://depositfiles.com/folders/Q0T04K1L7

And here's a MegaUpload link for those who can't use DepositFiles:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DHK4BH11

[sgupta]

I took the Korean subs as a base and rewrote most of the lines, fixed punctuation, made the worker robots speak in ALLCAPS, etc. A couple of times, the meaning was unclear, so i had to look up the Japanese subs for the same line to translate from a dictionary, and once I had to build the kanji up from a multiradical chart to find the correct word because I couldn't hear it too well. The video itself has interlacing artifacts and the subs are off by a noticible fraction of a second due to my preferred encoding software deciding to crash repeatedly, making me settle for an encoder that couldn't deinterlace and had shoddy sub timing. I have since downloaded a later version of the software, so it shouldn't happen again.

Cool, I'm looking forward to seeing it (downloading via DepositFiles right now). Sounds like you did quite a bit of work on the translations despite the Korean subs helping, so thanks for that! For the parts that were unclear, was the meaning in Japanese substantially different than the subs, or no? I'm assuming you're using the Japanese video as source, yes, and then just encoding the subs right into it based on timestamps? I hope that new version of the program resolves your subbing issues - I'm sure they're quite frustrating.

On a sidenote, just watched the 1st episode myself officially tonight (I'd seen several episodes before on and off but have just started to watch the series systematically), and when I watch one, I'm watching both the US English release followed directly by the Korean subtitled version. (I can only manage an episode a week or so, but that'll be nice as it spreads it out). All I can say is WOW - the differences between the US release/English dub and Japanese subtitled version are much more extreme than I thought. Usually in my experience English dubs may change some possibly objectionable content here or there or come up with a weird translation, but it amazes me that the entire core *meaning* of several bits of dialogue has been changed completely in the US version. (As just one example, in the US version O'Shay says he needs to catch up with Astro before the police do, but in the Japanese version, he says how could he possibly have expected a kid to stay put when children are innately curious - couldn't be more different!) The cuts are also definitely fun scenes and worth seeing (and one small cut is incredibly important to the story IMO)! I was also surprised that Astro speaks a LOT more in the US release (during bits where they're not necessarily showing his face/mouth). Some of it's entertaining - I'm glad I watched both versions, but several scenes have completely different feelings to them. (While both are good, especially for the fun of comparison and to see how things are handled differently, I do definitely prefer the Japanese translation). I found the subs quite excellent and there wasn't a single line that was uncomprehendible for me, though some could have been reworded a bit (as you're doing). Also, video and audio quality of the Korean release are hands down nicer than the US one (widescreen makes a huge difference), and from what I'm hearing about the Japanese release, it's even a bit better still. Nice!

[Bad Username]

Some of the stuff I rewrote was just for accuracy, or for stylistic purposes. "Inspector" Tawashi is more accurate than "Detective" (having the character bio screens helps), he works for the police (keisatsu literally translates to this; the Korean subs say he works for the "Special Investigations Division"), the power plant worker says he's reporting to the "Assembly" instead of "Congress" (assembly being a more neutral term for international audiences), etc. The joke right after the second commercial spot, surprisingly, was identical in both the Japanese and English versions; "tasuke" has a lot of different meanings, and in context it makes sense to use it that way. I just thought it was a clever Woolseyism in the English dub before I started this.

[sgupta]

Some of the stuff I rewrote was just for accuracy, or for stylistic purposes. "Inspector" Tawashi is more accurate than "Detective" (having the character bio screens helps), he works for the police (keisatsu literally translates to this; the Korean subs say he works for the "Special Investigations Division"), the power plant worker says he's reporting to the "Assembly" instead of "Congress" (assembly being a more neutral term for international audiences), etc. The joke right after the second commercial spot, surprisingly, was identical in both the Japanese and English versions; "tasuke" has a lot of different meanings, and in context it makes sense to use it that way. I just thought it was a clever Woolseyism in the English dub before I started this.

Ahhh I see - cool. Video works well here though I definitely notice the interlacing so it's nice that you'll be able to fix that - I like what you've done with the subs though. The joke I believe you're referring to is "Doctor!" followed by "THAT WOULD REALLY HELP." yes? I was curious about that, because I noticed they translated it that way in the US release, but the Korean release translates it as "That really helped!", which made me wonder if instead of being a joke about the Doctor, perhaps Astro helped them out of their predicament - I notice you translate it back to "THAT WOULD REALLY HELP", so indeed it is meant as a joke?

[Bad Username]

Yes, the meaning is almost certainly a joke. The visuals show the foreman robot taking care of the cabling robot, so I don't think it was Atom helping them.

[sgupta]

Rightright; I'm familiar with the visual; I just wondered if perhaps Astro helped them "offscreen", but you're right, the joke makes much more immediate sense.

[sgupta]

I am sure the Nero program is the problem, since the videos play fine on Windows Media Player. I haven't tried burning any of my fansubed anime downloads in some time, so it may be something happened to the program and I didn't know it until now because of the fact I haven't burned anything for awhile (I have many downloaded fansubs I need to burn and watch ). The last project I burned involved converting MKV to NTSC-mpeg2 (my version of Nero doesn't recognize MKV - don't know if a newer version or another burning program would) and when I tried converting these videos to that format it fixed the split picture but it made them fullscreen instead of widescreen.

Just a note that the original reason I tried ConvertXtoDVD is because it's one of the few converters/burners (it's sole purpose is to convert video of all types to a burnable disc) that handles MKV well, including the ability to include whatever subtitles or audio streams you want (as you're probably familiar with the fact that MKV can have several audio and/or subtitle streams that you can select). So I can tell you firsthand that this software works quite well for that purpose.