How do you pick subbing groups?

Shiveron said:
I have a few preferences, (UTW/URW, HS, and Eclipse usually) but if they're not up I don't really care. There are a few I dislike though. No Coalgirls, I DON'T want 500TB of Flac audio files and OP/ED's with my download, I just want to watch my friggen show.

skullkid0 said:


Fail. Coalgirls are the best.

katsucats said:
Coalgirls are not necessarily the best in terms of filtering.

I don't download much anymore, but when I do, I don't stick to one group. I look around to see what options there are for the particular show, then I look for certain qualities that I require, like:

1. 1080p or 720p, depending on the source
2. BD-rip if possible
3. Hi10p -- I look at screenshots between releases to see who does a better job with banding, etc.
4. Subtitles -- I compare the subtitles to see which ones I like best. Some subbers are more literal, which I like.
5. FLAC is preferable over AAC or AC-3.
6. File size must be reasonable for the quality.
7. Extras -- not too important, but if there's a textless OP/ED, it's good if they include it.
8. Comments -- A quick look to see if anyone brings up good points that I might have missed.

As you can see, it's an annoying process, so I don't download much anymore. I'm a perfectionist.

A better way is probably just to get whatever is listed at Baka-BT.

Tyestor said:

BakaBT is usually pretty good but I only use them as a last resort. They only really care about video quality and not sub quality which is IMO the most important factor. If they have 1080p 10bit BD rips with a sub group that did that particular show very well, then excellent. Most of their torrents are very well seeded. But I'm like you, I go out of my way to find the best possible releases that I can but unlike you I cannot simply give that up.

Most of the anime I have now is at least 720p with quality subs (everything in my completed list and on hold list I have downloaded, you can see the total file size in my profile). There are some shows that I'm probably never going to find in 720p+ (mostly older stuff) which I am fine with but I know, someday, eventually, there will be a BD release or a remaster/rebroadcast and someone will sub it and release it. And I will download it.

katsucats said:
Video quality is actually the most important since it isn't hard to remux the video with whatever sub that you like to use. Usually it's not a big deal, but if you absolutely must have the best, that's probably the way to do it.

For example, I bought the Steins;Gate blu-rays, but I hate Funimation's subs. I'm not sure if they used CR, but it's very liberal; a lot of the changes are unwarranted. When I clear up more space on my file server, I'm going to rip that blu-ray, and then find the Commie subs from either Coalgirls or WhyNot and remux it back into the blu-ray M2TS. Steins;Gate is one of my favorite series, so in this case it's worth the effort.

Tyestor said:

As for Steins Gate, I'm waiting for WhyNot? to finish the second batch before I start the series. They're taking their sweet ass time.

JavierR said:
Shit. I didn't know about gg and hadena too, now that i've compared the subs the other groups are relatively better :/

I'm watching Chuunibyou gg's subs and I thought they were decent too...

infernotez said:
it made me lol. So then doki is pretty decent. Also crunchyroll is not half bad in that comparison.

How do you pick subbing groups?

DarkSageRK said:
Jesus, this thread is filled with stupidity.

BloodRequiem said:
Here's a pic for easy reference OP.

infernotez said:
I myself generally look on the show page and usually one sticks out as the best or I use another site and just usually click the blue/green links. My question is how do you guys pick especially when groups go defunct and all their work can end up lost into the tide that is the internet? I have been looking to watch both golden boy and the only group I have found has dead versions and the other group I have found are random. There is also like some of the lupin movies which were really only subbed by a single group which is now defunct and most of their versions are dead. The last one which has been the hardest for me to try and figure out a group would be Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai which has many groups who have worked on it, but all are quite controversial. The ones I see are the usual commiesubs, SubDesu, and horrible subs there is also groups like colormesubbed, chihiro and sarsu subs which are all groups I have never heard of and every group seems to have hater screaming (cr shit, crap, low qualithy, bad translations and everything else. I use commie subs to watch a few and don't really understand the hate for them and I used subdesu back for koi to senkyo to chocolate and I thought theirs were decent too.

How do you pick when the mob is mostly screaming bloody murder?

ezikialrage said:


I don't stick to any particular fan sub group.I wait until a series has finished airing and download from who ever is finished or who ever is finished subbing the uncensored version.

If I had it my way the fansubbers wouldn't leave in Japanese honorifics and everything would get a English translation or a English equivalent translation. There should be no sans,chans, sempias, itadakimasu or any other untranslated word in a fan sub. Leaving stuff untranslated is not cute.Its annoying and its lazy. Its extremely annoying when anime licensing companies who actually have the money to hire professional translators do the same shit that some of these fan subbers do.

Niko-kun said:
Hmm, didn't know this stuff about gg and hadena, especially the latter

JavierR said:
Shit. I didn't know about gg and hadena too, now that i've compared the subs the other groups are relatively better.

Niko-kun said:
From what I gather, I guess gg is acceptable(not the best but still), whereas hadena isn't.

Higashi_no_Kaze said:


It's not translating if the meaning is different though. it definitely has nothing to do with being lazy. Either you translate and lose at least parts of the meaning or you don't. Purely a matter of preference. If anyone, I'd call you lazy because you'd rather settle for half-assed and 'easy' translations as long as you don't have to remember stuff like the subtle differences between suffixes.
Because no, 12yo classmates do NOT call each other 'Mr. Tanaka' or whatever. Not in japanese, not in english, not in any language that exists outside of subs.

ezikialrage said:


No 12 year old outside of Japan call their senior school mates sempai, nor do they call their fellow classmates chan,san or what ever the hell else added to their name. They would simply just call each other by their names and maybe even just their last names. The goal of the translator should be to give the viewer as close to the same experience that the orignal viewers had. The orignal viewers didn't need a dictionary or to look up google to see what something means.Nor did they have to have translator notes floating around the top of the screen to tell them something means means when it could have been translated into English.

Z-flame said:
"I would compare Hadena’s release to Mexican street food – it might look tempting, just sitting out there in the sun. Hell, you wouldn’t even need to enter an actual restaurant; you could have it right now. But I warn you. You eat that Hadena taco and you’re going to get diarrhea and syphilis."

lol

ezikialrage said:
The goal of the translator should be to give the viewer as close to the same experience that the orignal viewers had.

ezikialrage said:


No 12 year old outside of Japan call their senior school mates sempai, nor do they call their fellow classmates chan,san or what ever the hell else added to their name. They would simply just call each other by their names and maybe even just their last names. The goal of the translator should be to give the viewer as close to the same experience that the orignal viewers had. The orignal viewers didn't need a dictionary or to look up google to see what something means.Nor did they have to have translator notes floating around the top of the screen to tell them something means means when it could have been translated into English.