Hand Maid May possible replacement

[Goroshi-sama]

Just a few days back I downloaded a4e's Hand Maid May and noticed theres lots of problems in some vids..

- Some episodes have corrupt/poor japanese audio
- Some episodes have corrupt subbing aswell, the subs appear before they say something or way after aka. timing issues..
- OGM container (not really so big problem, but would prefer MKV..)

Ideal group WOULD BE Blitz.. I havent yet seen any of them and would like to know if they are any better than the current vids. I tried to find their releases but almost all torrents are dead and the whole group is pretty much dead..
If any possible, has someone checked Blitz's releases and have them..? If they are completely better than a4e's would it be ok to replace it?

[macros74]

BTW, I'm redoing the subs for Blitz' Hand Maid May (with the group lead's permission) - fixing the timing, doing simple typesetting on the subs and signs, cleaning up the editing, making Japanese audio with English subs the default, etc.  This version will get an 'official' release, as [Blitz-something], if that's of any interest to the discussion here.

archivisth

Ooh, that sounds good. Would you be willing to create a Songs/Signs Only track for the benefit of English dub watchers? It shouldn't take much more than *Copy all lines with onscreen text and songs* -> *open new .ass file* -> *Paste* -> *include during muxing* I don't fault Blitz (or any other group) for leaving that track out, since the Hand Maid May DVDs didn't have one to begin with. Or, if you could get me the .ass files for the main subs once you're done with them, I'll go through and copy the song and sign lines to create the secondary-track files.

Status? 

[Pzc]

There's also Legacy's release, although that
one is ogm too. Have no idea how it compares
to a4e's version nor Blitz's though.

[archivisth]

BTW, I'm redoing the subs for Blitz' Hand Maid May (with the group lead's permission) - fixing the timing, doing simple typesetting on the subs and signs, cleaning up the editing, making Japanese audio with English subs the default, etc.  This version will get an 'official' release, as [Blitz-something], if that's of any interest to the discussion here.

archivisth

Ooh, that sounds good. Would you be willing to create a Songs/Signs Only track for the benefit of English dub watchers? It shouldn't take much more than *Copy all lines with onscreen text and songs* -> *open new .ass file* -> *Paste* -> *include during muxing* I don't fault Blitz (or any other group) for leaving that track out, since the Hand Maid May DVDs didn't have one to begin with. Or, if you could get me the .ass files for the main subs once you're done with them, I'll go through and copy the song and sign lines to create the secondary-track files.

Status? 

I turned the edited/typeset subs over to an experienced DVD team, and they're producing a new version from R2 sources, modifying my scripts as needed for encoding and timing. However, the project is going slowly (I'm helping to QC ep 1), so uploading Blitz makes sense to me.

I never created a song/signs track, because I don't watch English dubs.

The archive is probably too big to be an 'attachment' - it's >400KB. Plus, it's a do-it-yourself project to mux the subs, fonts, and chapters into the existing Blitz release. I'm happy to send the archive to anyone who wants to play with it (for example, to create a song/signs track).

[Xiong Chiamiov]

I'm happy to send the archive to anyone who wants to play with it (for example, to create a song/signs track).

If Zalis doesn't volunteer again, I'll give it a go after the new year begins.

[Zalis116]

I'm happy to send the archive to anyone who wants to play with it (for example, to create a song/signs track).

If Zalis doesn't volunteer again, I'll give it a go after the new year begins.

My offer still stands, but maybe we can split up the work a bit? Archivisth, can you post the archive on a filehosting site, or would you rather send by e-mail?

[archivisth]

Here it is:

http://www.yousendit.com/download/VGlmeW55Tk1GR0VLSkE9PQ

[Zalis116]

The archive is probably too big to be an 'attachment' - it's >400KB. Plus, it's a do-it-yourself project to mux the subs, fonts, and chapters into the existing Blitz release. I'm happy to send the archive to anyone who wants to play with it (for example, to create a song/signs track).

If possible, it'd be better in the long term to just create a new release and seed that on BBT. We can assume that if the subs/fonts archive is available, people who know how will mux them with the Blitz release, if Blitz's encodes are uploaded as-is. Over time, that'll mean that more people have self-made, unique files, and fewer people will have the original files to keep the torrent swarm healthy. But if we create a new release, then everybody who DLs it will have the same files.

Songs/Signs Only Subs:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1QXCYHMR

Just a little suggestion....

I noticed that the timing in the songs wasn't post-processed, although the main subs appeared to be.

Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.84,0:00:37.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hold on till blue skies spread inside your heart.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.84,0:00:37.14,Overlap,,0000,0000,0000,,Kokoro ni aozora hirogete norikirou yo
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.22,0:00:40.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Always in the rainy days in my life!
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.22,0:00:40.06,Overlap,,0000,0000,0000,,Itsumo no rainy day my life!

You probably know that a gap of .08 seconds creates a distracting "flash" in the subtitles. I figured out how to automatically fix the times with the Timing Post-Processor, without resorting to manually editing times.
1) Select only the OP and ED subs
2) Check the "affect selection only" option in TPP
3) Check the "make adjacent lines continuous" box, with a threshold of 125 (or whatever, that's just what I used)
4) Select only the "Default" style in the box on the left, and press OK (this will fix the English in the OP, and all of the ED)
5) Repeat steps 1-4, but choose only "overlap" in step 4 (this will fix the romaji in the OP)

I went ahead and post-processed the song timing in the new "2ndary" files. You may want to do the same with the song subs in the main sub files. Or feel free to replace the OP/ED in the main files with the adjusted versions from the secondary files. Obviously you don't have to if you don't want to. But when it comes to issues with DVD subs, I've always been more annoyed by timing flashes and scene-bleeds than by color/style/positioning.

[archivisth]

I noticed that the timing in the songs wasn't post-processed, although the main subs appeared to be.

Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.84,0:00:37.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hold on till blue skies spread inside your heart.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.84,0:00:37.14,Overlap,,0000,0000,0000,,Kokoro ni aozora hirogete norikirou yo
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.22,0:00:40.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Always in the rainy days in my life!
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.22,0:00:40.06,Overlap,,0000,0000,0000,,Itsumo no rainy day my life!

Yeah, song timing isn't changed. Flashes don't bother me, so I didn't alter anything, beyond making sure that both English and Romanji were displayed together. (Originally, English and Romanji appear in alternate episodes.)

If I were going to invest more time, I'd fade the lines in and out in closer approximation to the actual line lengths, but you should suit yourself.

[archivisth]

Okay, it's been a long time, but there's progress! 

1. Zallis116 did a signs/songs track and fixed the flashing in the songs.
2. Next step is to merge those songs back to the main subtitle scripts.
3. Then remux.
4. Then offer.

It should be ready by the end of the month (September, 2010, that is).

Kudos to agpfriend for offering the Blitz version and bringing this back to top-of-stack.

/a

[apgfriend]

Okay, it's been a long time, but there's progress! 

1. Zallis116 did a signs/songs track and fixed the flashing in the songs.
2. Next step is to merge those songs back to the main subtitle scripts.
3. Then remux.
4. Then offer.

It should be ready by the end of the month (September, 2010, that is).

Kudos to agpfriend for offering the Blitz version and bringing this back to top-of-stack.

/a

Great!!! Hey... right now they might start arguing in the comments of my offer whether or not the color of the videos from Blitz is good... They are actually giving preference to a4e.

I don't know if this is because I offered (lol)... anyway, I'll post in the comments there that if "they are okay with Blitz they should actually wait for you"... else, I think you shouldn't rush, What if they totally reject Blitz video, and that's what you are working with right?

[archivisth]

Offer is up.