Crunchyroll

ilmaestro

ilmaestro

State Alchemist
Yes, there are a couple of topics about Crunchyroll in one way or another, but no "general" discussion topic.

Anywho, I signed up for a free trial last night to see if it was worth paying for (I've long said I would pay for a service along the lines of Crunchyroll, so I'd like to support them now to see if they can get it absolutely right in the end). Overall, I was pleased enough with it to think I will carry on with a subscription.

The main issue I had was wondering about the extent of the region restrictions, and the effect that would have on the value of a subscription from the UK. As it turns out, there is still a massive selection of catalog titles that you have access to. Of the 20 currently airing "simulcast" shows, 16 are available in the UK. Plus, thanks to Crunchyroll, I can rewatch Hayate no Gotoku!! on breaks in work. ^_^

Is there anyone else who uses, or would consider using, Crunchyroll?
 
I've been hit by the region restriction one time too much to be tempted to sign up for it.

I've considered getting a proxy setup on the website for me to watch these sort of stuff, but things keep getting on the way.
 
I've been a subscriber since January and am loving it.

The way I see it, is that if you subscribe on the 3 month plan, it's $20 for the 3 months. That's $7 per month. That's just over £4 per month.

If you only watch one series per week, then you're paying £1 per episode, which isn't bad. Right now I'm watching four series per week. That's sixteen per month. 25 pence per episode. Bargain!

It isn't for everyone, so look at how many series you want to watch, and if it's more than two, and you're the type who wants to watch them now rather than in a week, subscribe! It's not that expensive and pretty good value, and you can even try some series you wouldn't normally have tried.
 
As I indicated in the OP, I am very much feeling the same as Fudce.

hopeful_monster, I guess that's fair, if the content simply isn't there that you want.

Maxon, would you care to expand on why not?
 
No, because I don't like the way they started out. I don't wish to support people who made their money by effectively selling other people's work, the same reason I don't buy bootlegs. They may be legit now but they'd never have gotten to where they did today if they'd gone through the legal channels. Frankly I think the industry should have got their arses locked up, not got into bed with them.
 
It was because of where they came from which gave them the oportunity to get where they are now.

Yes, I hated them at the start too, and when I heard that some company had invested into them I was just as skeptical as the next guy, but they did exactly what they said they'd do and removed all unauthorised videos from the site, and lost a lot of support from their old members because of it.

If they had just been a nameless startup I don't think they'd have got as far. As it is they're bad guys who have gone good, and that's something to be happy about.
 
Problem is, what about if they and others had never done what they had done, and the industry had never moved forward? You could argue that any future similar ventures would be making their money on the back of Crunchyroll showing that the market was there.

I know exactly what you're saying, but even the people who they were effectively stealing from recognized that they (Crunchyroll) were the ones doing things the "right" way, and had to accept that they were using outdated business models designed to benefit themselves as much as possible while the consumer was hung out to dry.
 
I've not been into anime long enough to know how ADV started out. Do enlighten me. The only history I can find online says they began as an anime and video games import business.

As it is they're bad guys who have gone good, and that's something to be happy about.
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Yep, the bad guys gone legit and making shitloads of cash, who were only able to get where they are today by the theft and sale of others' intellectual property. It's something to rage about, I can't stand seeing those sorts of people become successful.
 
I just remember hearing or reading somewhere, maybe it was an audio commentary, that ADV grew out of the original fansub scene, pre-Internet, when fansubs were created on video, and people mailed tapes to each other.
 
I refuse to subscribe to crunchyroll on the basis that only around 33% of it's overall content is avaiable for streaming in the UK.

That and Black Jack being region cockblocked is inexcusable.
 
I'm not that interested in streaming. I'd pay if it was on TV (and I'd finally get a TV license and watch some!) but the current model doesn't really work for me. However, if DVDs keep slowing down to the point where my backlog actually disappears and I run out of stuff to buy regularly, I'm going to be forced to take up online anime properly to actually get a reasonable flow of it. At that point I'd buy a subscription.

It did rather look as though Crunchyroll forced all the companies to do what they said in a lame way (by relentlessly breaking the law until their terms were presumably capitulated to). I do view them negatively for that and probably always will. They have the best spread of contracts now of anyone though, so unless someone else pops up in the meantime or the companies start their own initiatives it would probably have to be CR I picked in the dark future of infrequent R1 anime releases. Would also quite like to watch some of their k-dramas etc.

R
 
Just Passing Through said:
I just remember hearing or reading somewhere, maybe it was an audio commentary, that ADV grew out of the original fansub scene, pre-Internet, when fansubs were created on video, and people mailed tapes to each other.
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Fansubbing is one thing, charging people for access to fansubs (with no money going either to the original creators or the subbers) it is quite another. I appreciate that in the days before the internet and P2P subbers needed to be reimbursed for the cost of the tapes and that back then, that was the only way to obtain English language anime. If what you say is true then at least ADV were actually doing something for their money (the translation, subtitles and mastering). Crunchyroll never even did that - They hosted other subbers' work and charged people for it, pocketing the cash themselves.

Crunchroll are / were leeches of the worst kind, making money from other people's hard work while doing very little themselves. No wonder they got a big investment from Venrock. Venture capitalists have turned making money from other people's work while doing nothing productive themselves into an art form.
 
ayase said:
Crunchroll are / were leeches of the worst kind, making money from other people's hard work while doing very little themselves.
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I think this is obviously untrue. They weren't burning these episodes to disc and selling them down the market, they were clearly providing a service that people couldn't produce on their own.

I'm not saying it was right to use this service to make money from other people's work in the first place, rather than initially trying to set up a legit streaming service, but I certainly couldn't have done what the people behind this did.
 
ilmaestro said:
Maxon, would you care to expand on why not?
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Because they show nothing worth watching and what ayase said about their beginnings.
ilmaestro said:
I think this is obviously untrue. They weren't burning these episodes to disc and selling them down the market, they were clearly providing a service that people couldn't produce on their own.
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Dude, I went there in the early days. If you wanted something above Youtube quality, you had to pay. However, that's irrelevant. The main point is that Crunchyroll made money off fansubbing even though fansubbing was already being done for free by and for the anime community.
 
ilmaestro said:
ayase said:
Crunchroll are / were leeches of the worst kind, making money from other people's hard work while doing very little themselves.
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I think this is obviously untrue. They weren't burning these episodes to disc and selling them down the market, they were clearly providing a service that people couldn't produce on their own.
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Er... what about P2P file sharing, where most of the videos submitted to Crunchyroll in the early days came from in the first place (usually without the subbers' knowledge) which Crunchyroll then charged people to watch at the same kind of quality they could have downloaded for nothing, as was the subbers' original intention.

Fansubbers & Bittorrent sites = Robin Hood. Admittedly still thieves, but generous ones.
Crunchyroll = The guy in the (crap) remake of The Italian Job who nicked off with the gold for his own benefit after other people did all the work.
 
edit: @ Maxon. So, if they started airing things you wanted to watch, would you consider using them in the future? Or are you moralistic enough about their past to not even consider it?

Maxon said:
However, that's irrelevant. The main point is that Crunchyroll made money off fansubbing even though fansubbing was already being done for free by and for the anime community.
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I'm not disagreeing with the main point, I totally agree with you here.

ayase said:
Er... what about P2P file sharing, where most of the videos submitted to Crunchyroll in the early days came from in the first place (usually without the subbers' knowledge) which Crunchyroll then charged people to watch at the same kind of quality they could have downloaded for nothing, as was the subbers' original intention.
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This isn't remotely the same service as streaming video.

It's clear that you still harbor some grudge against them for breaking "the code" of not making money from fansubs. I'm not sure how this is so easily separable from fansubs in and of themselves. Fansubs are morally accepted by most, I assume, because they are seen as a benefit to the industry, despite the number of companies in the industry who are against fansubbing. I see CR as an extension of this (something which is - or, in this case, was - illegal, but benefits the industry overall), rather than a branch of the same tree that I mentioned before, selling burned DVDs on a market.
 
Conan-san said:
I refuse to subscribe to crunchyroll on the basis that only around 33% of it's overall content is available for streaming in the UK.
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Is this true? o_O They must have a *massive* selection for US users, then.
 
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