Cardcaptor Sakura

[Blanchimont]

SMC;

23.976 fps H264/AVC (2664 kBit/s)
5.1 Surround AC3 (640 kBit/s)
Subs ASS

...theirs is only 720p though. Very similar to SS, though perhaps a wee bit more retention of grain, and a wee bit stronger colors(though nowhere near as much as CalChi). Should be a straight encode from the BD.
A downside is that Zalis probably wouldn't approve of the font/typesetting used, but if the recent Sailor Moon releases are anything to go by, the subs themselves should be quite decent...

Edit; Few random screenshots (video using Haali renderer), taken with the kmplayer with subs visible(possible by opting to render the subs directly on the image and selecting 'what you see'...);
http://hosting11.imagecross.com/image-hosting-26/5224wys.PNG
http://hosting11.imagecross.com/image-hosting-26/6901wys1.PNG
http://hosting11.imagecross.com/image-hosting-26/4307wys2.png
http://hosting11.imagecross.com/image-hosting-26/6789wys3.png
http://hosting11.imagecross.com/image-hosting-26/1105wys4.png
http://hosting11.imagecross.com/image-hosting-26/228wys5.png
http://hosting11.imagecross.com/image-hosting-26/3021-SMC-_Cardcaptor_Sakura_01-BD-720p.H264.AC3-4CA223FC-019858-15-30-33-.PNG

[Zalis116]

SMC;

23.976 fps H264/AVC (2664 kBit/s)
5.1 Surround AC3 (640 kBit/s)
Subs ASS

...theirs is only 720p though. Very similar to SS, though perhaps a wee bit more retention of grain, and a wee bit stronger colors(though nowhere near as much as CalChi). Should be a straight encode from the BD.
A downside is that Zalis probably wouldn't approve of the font/typesetting used, but if the recent Sailor Moon releases are anything to go by, the subs themselves should be quite decent...

Eh, I don't like fonts and stylings in a lot of releases, but then again, I don't have any say or authority in the matter 

[Desbreko]

Comparison of KAA's, SMC's, and Sakura's 720p ep1:

[KAA]
• Uses edited R1 DVD scripts.
• Includes honorifics, leaves "onii-chan" untranslated.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed.
• OP/ED are soft-subbed with karaoke.

[SMC]
• Subs apparently don't use any contractions of the word "is," which is awkward. Commas are also frequently missing.
• No honorifics, reverses name order to given first, family second.
• Typesetting is a mix of soft- and hard-subbed.
• OP/ED are hard-subbed with karaoke.
• Video looks practically identical to KAA's, maybe retains a tiny bit more grain.

[Sakura]
• Uses edited R1 DVD scripts.
• Includes honorifics, sometimes leaves "onii-chan" and "okaa-san" untranslated.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed.
• OP/ED are hard-subbed with karaoke. Uses creditless versions.
• Video retains less fine detail and grain than KAA's and SMC's. It looks smoothened and antialiased.
• Uses ordered chapters to link in the OP and ED.

I can't comment on the audio since I just use a cheap stereo headset and it all sounds the same to me.

By the way, there's no color difference between these three encodes. If you're seeing different colors, it's probably because you don't have your H.264 decoder doing high quality YV12 to RGB conversion and/or it's using BT.601 when it should be using BT.709.


Screen shot comparisons, taken in MPC-HC using the Haali video renderer and VSFilter:

KAA 01
SMC 01
Sakura 01
Fade and color gradient in the OP. It looks like the creditless versions that Sakura used are lower quality.

KAA 02
SMC 02
Sakura 02
Title screen. KAA is soft-subbed, SMC is hard-subbed.

KAA 03
SMC 03
Sakura 03
OP subs and color gradient.

KAA 04
SMC 04
Sakura 04
Chroma bleeding is blurred out some in Sakura's encode, which is easy to see around her eyes here. Not really worth the loss of detail, in my opinion, since it's still plainly visible. Also, honorifics.

KAA 05
SMC 05
Sakura 05
Onii-chan~

KAA 06
SMC 06
Sakura 06
SMC's subs need moar commas.

KAA 07
SMC 07
Sakura 07
Holy smoothening, Batman!

KAA 08
SMC 08
Sakura 08
Sakura's has extra typesetting but it appeared a frame early, in the previous scene.

KAA 09
SMC 09
Sakura 09
Lots of detail lost in Sakura's encode here.

KAA 10
SMC 10
Sakura 10
Another fade and color gradient. As you can see, it holds up better in Sakura's encode than the one in the OP did.

KAA 11
SMC 11
Sakura 11
ED subs.

KAA 12
SMC 12
Sakura 12
Leave It to Kero-chan typesetting. They all fail at capitalizing "it" in the title.


In the end, I prefer KAA's version because their subs read smoother than SMC's, I like their styling the best, and they're fully soft-subbed.

[namaiki]

SMC 06
SMC's subs need moar commas.
.....
Sakura's has extra typesetting but it appeared a frame early, in the previous scene.

I don't see where you would put a comma in that sentence.
.....
If you're using the DivX H.264 filter, make sure your decoder isn't buffering video a frame late ('to reduce effects of high cpu usage').

[Desbreko]

I don't see where you would put a comma in that sentence.
.....
If you're using the DivX H.264 filter, make sure your decoder isn't buffering video a frame late ('to reduce effects of high cpu usage').

There should've either been a comma or the word "and" after "candy" since it's a list of two separate things that Sakura was doing.

Here's some more examples of where commas are needed:

Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.35,0:03:03.44,Touya,,0000,0000,0000,,Even so, the stomping was noisy.

Dialogue: 0,0:03:06.10,0:03:07.66,Touya,,0000,0000,0000,,Just from you walking,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:07.66,0:03:10.25,Touya,,0000,0000,0000,,it sounds like a monster is stomping.

Dialogue: 0,0:07:45.13,0:07:47.08,Regular,,0000,0000,0000,,Opening the mouth into an O shape,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:47.08,0:07:49.81,Regular,,0000,0000,0000,,a boy{\fnVerona Script MF\b1\fs48}'{\r}s face became visible.
(And even with the comma, this sentence doesn't make sense.)

Dialogue: 0,0:15:19.20,0:15:21.80,Keroberos,,0000,0000,0000,,It is because of that,\NClow himself made the book
Dialogue: 0,0:15:22.12,0:15:25.24,Keroberos,,0000,0000,0000,,and put me as the beast of the seal on the cover.


For the typesetting issue, I was using ffdshow and no subpicture pre-buffering in VSFilter.

Oh, and another thing I didn't catch earlier is that SMC is inconsistent about writing it as "Cardcaptor" or "Card Captor." They switch back and forth a few times.

[Path]

My take, since I need to kill a few min before I head to class:

I don't see where you would put a comma in that sentence.
.....
If you're using the DivX H.264 filter, make sure your decoder isn't buffering video a frame late ('to reduce effects of high cpu usage').

There should've either been a comma or the word "and" after "candy" since it's a list of two separate things that Sakura was doing.

Agreed, though "while" would be a better choice than "and."

Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.35,0:03:03.44,Touya,,0000,0000,0000,,Even so, the stomping was noisy.

Agreed.

Dialogue: 0,0:03:06.10,0:03:07.66,Touya,,0000,0000,0000,,Just from you walking,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:07.66,0:03:10.25,Touya,,0000,0000,0000,,it sounds like a monster is stomping.

Agreed, though the sentence itself could use some work.

Dialogue: 0,0:07:45.13,0:07:47.08,Regular,,0000,0000,0000,,Opening the mouth into an O shape,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:47.08,0:07:49.81,Regular,,0000,0000,0000,,a boy{\fnVerona Script MF\b1\fs48}'{\r}s face became visible.
(And even with the comma, this sentence doesn't make sense.)

Agreed.

Dialogue: 0,0:15:19.20,0:15:21.80,Keroberos,,0000,0000,0000,,It is because of that,\NClow himself made the book
Dialogue: 0,0:15:22.12,0:15:25.24,Keroberos,,0000,0000,0000,,and put me as the beast of the seal on the cover.

I disagree. If you put a comma between "that" and "Clow," you should omit "it is."

Oh, and another thing I didn't catch earlier is that SMC is inconsistent about writing it as "Cardcaptor" or "Card Captor." They switch back and forth a few times.

Don't we all love inconsistency

Edit: ignore that note *cough*

[Desbreko]

Dialogue: 0,0:15:19.20,0:15:21.80,Keroberos,,0000,0000,0000,,It is because of that,\NClow himself made the book
Dialogue: 0,0:15:22.12,0:15:25.24,Keroberos,,0000,0000,0000,,and put me as the beast of the seal on the cover.

I disagree. If you put a comma between "that" and "Clow," you should omit "it is."

Hmm, yeah, now that I take another look, I think you're right. With "it is" there, it's not a dependent clause.

Still, I think it would read smoother by omitting "is is" and inserting the comma.

[Blanchimont]

I'm fairly certain SMC uses their own translations, so that would put them in a different group than KAA or Sakura. (Though do correct me if I'm wrong...)

As far I know there's no complete fansub of Sakura since before, the previous O-A release was a rip of the R1 dvds (except for the first 5 episodes where they later did v2s with R2 dvd source...) and EGs probably too as their other releases are rips as well...


Edit; Though what is it with SMC and their constant v2s? ...;

Expect Sailor Moon Classic 1v2-6v2 soon

[vuzedome]

Edit; Though what is it with SMC and their constant v2s? ...;

Expect Sailor Moon Classic 1v2-6v2 soon

Now that is a dedicated encoder.

[Path]

Dialogue: 0,0:15:19.20,0:15:21.80,Keroberos,,0000,0000,0000,,It is because of that,\NClow himself made the book
Dialogue: 0,0:15:22.12,0:15:25.24,Keroberos,,0000,0000,0000,,and put me as the beast of the seal on the cover.

I disagree. If you put a comma between "that" and "Clow," you should omit "it is."

Hmm, yeah, now that I take another look, I think you're right. With "it is" there, it's not a dependent clause.

Still, I think it would read smoother by omitting "is is" and inserting the comma.

Well, that I agree with

Edit; Though what is it with SMC and their constant v2s? ...;

Expect Sailor Moon Classic 1v2-6v2 soon

If Desbreko's examples are all from a single episode, I'd say that they need to v2. Poor editing is poor.

[DaggerLite]

Coming from this thread, I just thought I'd comment that Sakura's release both looks the best and is the smallest in filesize out of all of these. The others look grainy to me, while Sakura looks pretty smooth. I'm personally not a fan of coloured subs, but as long as it's a static colour for all dialogue it's okay. they chose a colour that somewhat fit the show anyway, and doesn't cause too much contrast.

Dasbreko said that it looks smoothed and contains less detail than the other too. The fact that it looks smoother is a good thing in my mind, and I don't really see the detail loss in the shots I checked. Even the "lines" across Sakura's face in shot 6 are easily spotted. The grain in the others is however pretty distracting, and should've been filtered out.

[namaiki]

It's cell animation, so originally it would tend to look grainy at least to an extent.  However, it has been remastered so you would have to compare to the source.

[Desbreko]

Grain is detail when it's part of the source.

Also, look at shot 07. Most of the detail in the background there is stationary texture and not grain, yet it still gets smoothed out in Sakura's encode.

[DaggerLite]

Grain can be part of the source material, sure. I think the CCS Blu-ray release is just a remastered edition of the old release, but I don't really follow the news around this show, so I won't argue on that point. Grain being part of the original does not, however, mean that leaving it in for an encode is better than successfully filtering or "smudging" it out. Grain is not an "intended" part of the image, but it requires effort to remove without losing any image quality.

I think Sakura has done a great job on their encode, because all the actual detail (in the screenshots provided) is still retained. The "texture" on the door as you say is not really texture. It's just grain that can be interpreted as texture if your mind is good-willed enough. It's the exact same "texture" as elsewhere. When talking about actual detail, I'll point out a few that look perfectly fine in all three releases of shot 07: The switches are visible, Sakura's blurred hair is fully visible in front of the door/wall and the yellowish horizontal line in the middle of the door is visible in all releases.

There are two cons about removing grain in my mind right now:

• The same effect (removing grains) can be achieved with player filters, while adding retrieving the original image from Sakura's release cannot.
• Sakura's lines may look slightly less defined/blurry, which is the main reason I can see against removing grains in most cases. I do however think that this has been done exceptionally well in this case, and I can barely notice the less defined lines compared to KAA and SMC's release. This is even looking at a still frame. Looking at the moving picture, no one will be able to notice the slight blur.

Some pros could be:

• It brings out the intended picture in certain cases. Sticking to 07, Sakura's dress (below the collar) has its intended colour in Sakura's release whereas the grain in the KAA and SMC makes it lighter than intended.
• Less grains gives a less distracting image and doing this in the encode require less effort on the user side, be it messing with filters or the power required by the machine to do so on the go.

Besides all that has been said, Sakura's release is significantly smaller:

• Ep1 :: Sakura 335.874.971 :: KAA 498.843.438 :: SMC 624.780.218
• Ep2 :: Sakura 332.434.602 :: KAA 445.754.929 :: SMC 624.928.057
• Ep3 :: Sakura 325.614.853 :: KAA 534.793.453 :: SMC 625.644.855

Sadly, in the end, all of the releases are horribly slow from what I can see. If BakaBT doesn't mind waiting, my order would be Sakura > KAA > SMC for this particular show. Then again, I don't really care much about CCS personally. Just bringing my views to the light.

Edit
Looking more closely on the ones you pointed out earlier, I can see that certain important details were lost in Sakura's encode. Specifically, the glow of the ring in 03 and the obvious roofs having faded in with the shades in 09. I still personally think Sakura's encode looks better overall considering the decent job on the grains, though.

[kristen]

For one thing, I really do not like SMC's OP/ED. If you're going to have an OP like CCS with the kanji at the bottom, style it!

[Desbreko]

The reason Sakura's encodes are so much smaller is because they smoothed them out and thus the video compressed much better. Preserving grain requires a high bitrate.

And no, the texture on the door is not entirely grain. Most of it is stationary throughout the entire scene, like I said, whereas the grain varies from frame to frame.