I'd have liked to post this in all the download areas (not just subbed) but this'll have to do.
I want to clarify that this post isn't any kind of personal attack on anyone, I just want to try and improve the quality of the MEPs as a whole.
In recent MEP's, I've noticed that a lot of the anime being used is fairly pixelated and low quality. I'm not going to enforce that everyone use BluRay rips and all that nonsense, but it'd be nice if we could get the quality a little higher. Unfortunately, this post won't help everyone, since everyone's computers have different limitations and allow and disallow certain file types, but hopefully it can be of use to some of you, and if it isn't, I want to try and find a better solution.
First off, if you aren't opposed to RAW anime (I know some people prefer to have the subtitles for watching as well as editing), I'd suggest downloading
.MKV files. These will not play on your computer because you have to extract them. I always found this annoying and (most of the time) futile, but my friend gave me a program that makes it a hell of a lot easier.
Once you've got your .MKV files, download
WinFX Free Video Converterhttp://download.cnet.com/WinFX-Free-Video-Converter/3000-2194_4-75211419.htmlIt's very straightforward, and will ask you to choose a file, what to convert it to, where to put the file, and what preset to use (this is the only confusing bit, you'll have to play around with it to find the best quality/video size for you). I usually choose
DVD, and then
NTSC DVD HQ Widescreen, but this is a big file type, so it isn't recommended if you don't have a lot of room on your computer. And that's it. I've had no trouble extracting .MKV's with this program, and I always get high quality from it.
Now, if you have a file type your computer won't play/use, I'd recommend
Any Video Converterhttp://www.any-video-converter.com/products/for_video_free/. The free version does have some limitations, but it should allow you to convert your episodes to the file type you need while keeping the high quality.
If any of you have any DVD's you want to rip either, I have a program for that too, but it's a little long to explain, so please ask me if you need it. Only problem being,
it won't work on any Funimation DVDs older than 2009.As for places to get decent quality anime, here are the links I have (I also have specific links for certain series in HD, so if you're having trouble finding something in particular, I can try and help you). Most of these post subtitled anime as it's released, but most of them also have .mkv options if the method above works for you.
http://www.animea.net/http://www.animetake.com/ http://www.animesenshi.com/http://www.anivoid.com/home/ (this site requires you get a free account, and you can only download 5 episodes a day, but they have a lot of stuff that most sites don't have)
and, if you're okay with using
torrentshttp://www.nyaa.eu/For manga, I usually use
http://rawscans.com/forum/index.phphttp://www.mangatraders.com/I hope this helps someone, and if you have questions, please do ask them. Now excuse me while I go bandage up my wrist...