Apr 21, 2010 2:50 AM
Viewing FMA - Brotherhood online - the future of anime distribution?
For the last few weeks, I have been watching Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood online, thanks to MTV.it. This is a new experience for me on two levels. First, from a technical point of view, since I have watched most of my animes on DVD, or, for the oldest titles, on TV, as they were broadcasted by French channels in the 80's and 90's. Second, on the legal point of view, since these are not pirate download, but perfectly official streaming. Since, I live in Europe, I don't have access to FUNimation, but they aren't the only ones who secured the rights to offer fans a free access to all episodes. Dybex for the French-speaking market has been uploading up to 50 episodes so far on DailyMotion and MTV.it, has done the same on its platform.
As a passing note, the reason I have favored the MTV.it platform rather than the Dybex streaming is simply because, for the last few weeks, I have been unable to play DailyMotion videos. So, in order to have a minimally acceptable experience, I have decided to go along with the Italian subtitled FMA-Brotherhood, eventhough I don't really speak Italian. But French and Italian being sufficiently close, I'm not completely lost. Since I have seen the first FMA series (from 2003) and this one, although quite different, is part of the same narrative world, I can fill in the blank without too much difficulty.
On the technical level, the first thing I noticed were the problems with streaming. My ADSL connection isn't the fastest in the world and each time the server is overloaded, things will slow down to the point that the length of each episode is doubled (40 minutes instead of 20). At this pace, I have been thinking, it will take me weeks to watch this series. And indeed, I must be in 4 weeks, at a rhythm of 2-3 episodes per day. The other thing is of course the size of the image. It's tiny and I have to sit with my face close up to my monitor. Of course, I can switch to full screen, but then the image is so pixellised that it becomes just too ugly to watch. So, I watch it in normal size. I could have the HQ standard, but then, the streaming is really too slow. The other thing is that I can't switch on or off the subtitles, can't pass the begining credits, can't really go forwards or backwards, because it launches the buffering and takes for ever for the video to start again. In brief, it's far from all the comfort of DVD watching. From an aesthetic point of view, I also definitely prefer the DVD. If this is the future of TV series broadcasting, then I believe that physical platforms aren't dead yet, despite the increase in both legal and illegal downloading. Even casual audience will want something of better quality than that. Actually, only true fans would want to follow a whole 50+-episode series on a online platform like DailyMotion or MTV.
On the legal level, it also only half-satisfactory. Of course, I get to see each episode sooner than if I have to wait for the release of the DVD product. But I'm totally dependant on the online providers' good will and decision. They are ways to snatch these videos from their official platforms (I'm experimenting one of them, because of the fact that I can't use DailyMotion for some unknown problem...maybe because Flash doesn't work on 64-bits Windows platform yet, not sure though), but the quality remains unsatisfactory and it is illegal.
Therefore, if I want an aestically and technically pleasant experience, as well as a legal one, then I'll definitely stick with the present DVD system. I'm not too fussy about blu-ray, especially the new generation announced by Sony, which would place the licensing not with the physical product (the optical disc), but on a server under the control of the copyrights owner, meaning that they can shut it anytime, thus depriving you of the possibility to watch the content of your blu-ray. In a way, this new blu-ray system is equivalent to renting the license for an undefined length of time, but at the goodwill of the owner who can shut it down whenever it wants. I doubt very much that a large public will fall for this.
As a passing note, the reason I have favored the MTV.it platform rather than the Dybex streaming is simply because, for the last few weeks, I have been unable to play DailyMotion videos. So, in order to have a minimally acceptable experience, I have decided to go along with the Italian subtitled FMA-Brotherhood, eventhough I don't really speak Italian. But French and Italian being sufficiently close, I'm not completely lost. Since I have seen the first FMA series (from 2003) and this one, although quite different, is part of the same narrative world, I can fill in the blank without too much difficulty.
On the technical level, the first thing I noticed were the problems with streaming. My ADSL connection isn't the fastest in the world and each time the server is overloaded, things will slow down to the point that the length of each episode is doubled (40 minutes instead of 20). At this pace, I have been thinking, it will take me weeks to watch this series. And indeed, I must be in 4 weeks, at a rhythm of 2-3 episodes per day. The other thing is of course the size of the image. It's tiny and I have to sit with my face close up to my monitor. Of course, I can switch to full screen, but then the image is so pixellised that it becomes just too ugly to watch. So, I watch it in normal size. I could have the HQ standard, but then, the streaming is really too slow. The other thing is that I can't switch on or off the subtitles, can't pass the begining credits, can't really go forwards or backwards, because it launches the buffering and takes for ever for the video to start again. In brief, it's far from all the comfort of DVD watching. From an aesthetic point of view, I also definitely prefer the DVD. If this is the future of TV series broadcasting, then I believe that physical platforms aren't dead yet, despite the increase in both legal and illegal downloading. Even casual audience will want something of better quality than that. Actually, only true fans would want to follow a whole 50+-episode series on a online platform like DailyMotion or MTV.
On the legal level, it also only half-satisfactory. Of course, I get to see each episode sooner than if I have to wait for the release of the DVD product. But I'm totally dependant on the online providers' good will and decision. They are ways to snatch these videos from their official platforms (I'm experimenting one of them, because of the fact that I can't use DailyMotion for some unknown problem...maybe because Flash doesn't work on 64-bits Windows platform yet, not sure though), but the quality remains unsatisfactory and it is illegal.
Therefore, if I want an aestically and technically pleasant experience, as well as a legal one, then I'll definitely stick with the present DVD system. I'm not too fussy about blu-ray, especially the new generation announced by Sony, which would place the licensing not with the physical product (the optical disc), but on a server under the control of the copyrights owner, meaning that they can shut it anytime, thus depriving you of the possibility to watch the content of your blu-ray. In a way, this new blu-ray system is equivalent to renting the license for an undefined length of time, but at the goodwill of the owner who can shut it down whenever it wants. I doubt very much that a large public will fall for this.
Posted by
abeldi
| Apr 21, 2010 2:50 AM |
2 comments
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abeldi | May 20, 2010 12:20 PM
Thanks for your comment! I perfectly understand your point and agree with it to a certain point. I think that Internet streaming could be a good entry point into a new series or film, somewhat replacing going to a movie theater or watching TV. I know that a new brand of "Web-TV" are being developed that transform the TV screen into a mere terminal displaying videos straight on the Internet. Actually, I have figured out the origin of the problem I have been experiencing with DailyMotion and have been able to solve it, so now, I can watch these videos in streaming again. Still, I'll stick with my opinion on DVD for the moment. |
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seasons | May 20, 2010 8:30 AM
I've always preferred the watching DVDs to trying to stream or download episodes online, although I've found that having a decent computer, a good monitor, and a reliable Internet connection goes a long way to making online viewing a much more acceptable, even enjoyable experience. But I can understand your misgivings.
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