(THIS PAGE IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION)
Now that the audience of this blog is growing little by little now, which is something good, I decided to make a little page for Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to help everyone quickly into getting answers to questions that have most likely been asked before a few or many times by others.
Blog
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Blog
What is this blog for?
As you can see, this blog should be the official site for AnimeShoko itself, where it was born. All official announcements should also come from here. I have been a member of many anime-related communities in the past, and I also have some mini mkv threads on a few forums out there. So in case some shady character is saying the he is me, the best way to know if it's true is through here, of course. And all the real contacts info here is for sure, me.What is a mini mkv?
Basically, a mini mkv is a video which uses matroska(mkv) as a container for streams, but with a obviously smaller size than what a video usual has. The purpose of encoding a video into mini mkv is to offer others a smaller video file while keeping the quality good.Of course when a video's file size is reduced, so is the quality. What is targeted on mini mkv encoding is the decent to good quality that one can watch. There is a certain limit on what a human sense can perceive, for both video and audio. We can for example, reduce the detail of high-motion scenes on video on a level that a human eye will most likely not notice the quality reduction, or turn an audio into a variable bit rate where it adjusts quality depending on sound complexity, like reducing bit rate on parts where there is only character dialogue, while allocating those saved bits into scenes with complex music instead, thus saving bits of memory.
Who encodes mini mkv?
In the past few years, there have been many mini mkv encodes out there, not sure about who are all of them and who encoded what. You can find a site which have focused on mini encoding, they're popular. But to be honest, I've tried downloading some few series there, and I hated the quality. It made me say like "What is this mini encoding stuff, I should have just DL'ed a PSP format instead." and some more foul language about the garbage. That site really gave me a bad first impression about mini mkv.But after some time (around December 2011), I have tried looking for a certain series in an anime community forum, and only found a mini-mkv thread for it. I felt that I have no choice since I wanted to watch it already. I downloaded it and was amazed on the quality (not that HQ but decent) and it's a 720p video with a file size of around 90MB. I thought myself "So, there really are ones who can encode such in this quality." and wanted to learn myself how to make some.
At first, it was just a little experiment, and just trying it for fun. I have read some info, browsed for more articles/contents about it, and after 2 weeks, I managed to encode a decent video. I was so happy way back then, even if that quality is far from what can I do now. I kept encoding one series after another, and on the way learned a thing or two.
So as of now I am the sole encoder on this blog. One big disadvantage about it is that doing it alone is slow. But one big advantage for it is, I control the quality of each series released here. And I am a little strict about it, since I collect my own encodes as a collection.
Releases
What is your encoding standard?
On my encoding experience, I learned which standard to have for myself. The normal format for my encodes is below.Container: Matroska (mkv)
Video: MPEG4 h264 10bit (Hi10p)
Audio: AAC 48000Hz
Subtitles: Softsubs
I have further customization rules for encoding, depending on different factors:
I only encode MKV. I know that I can remux them into an MP4 container, but MKV is the ideal container for me, since it can hold multiple audio/subtitle streams good.
I encode h264 video stream in Hi10p (10bit) format. There have been too many debates about it since the past year, and I know that some people prefer the usual 8bit in the past. But to avoid having the same argument over this blog, I'll justify it by saying that it's my personal preference. The end.
When a video source is Blu-ray, I encode it into 720p. When it's from DVD, I encode it into 480p. On HDTV releases, I used to encode the Winter 2012 releases into 480p, but decided to try 720p on Spring 2012 releases. Depending on the feedback, I might encode back on 480p again next season, or totally stop encoding ongoing series.
I personally think that HDTV releases have better quality at smaller size and 480p, and it seems to have the same quality when I compare it on a 720p at same screen playback resizing. It's like having a stretched 720p on smaller file size, and ending up being the same as the naturally 720p video. The HDTV releases aren't really high quality in the first place, compared to DVD/BD releases.
When the source is dual-audio (English/Japanese), I encode it into a dual-audio mini mkv. But the default audio track will always end up as Japanese. My personal preference, I never watch using english dubs anyway, just putting it there when available from source video so people who prefer them can switch over the english dubs when they want.
I always find what I think is best release for a completed series when I decide to encode it. For example, if there is both DVD and BD release for a series, I'll encode from the BD source. And if there is a dual audio version, I'll encode from that. But on cases where there are DVD release with dual audio and BD release with only Japanese audio, I'll choose the BD over the DVD. It's my personal preference, no further explanation.
In case of subtitles, I choose between fansubs who both encoded the same BD/DVD releases by personal preference too. For example, even if everyone says they think that ANE release for Oreimo Hi10p BD is better, I still choose Kira-fansub for untold reasons, which is only for me to know.
I also prefer Softsubs over Hardsubbed releases, since hardsubbed videos decrease the compressability. In some video sources (usually Exiled-Destiny DVD releases), they have both the vobsub and UTF-8 SRT streams. I prefer the SRT text over the ugly yellow subs. But on some other releases that only have vobsub, usually DVD R1 releases like Naruto, I have no choice but to use it. I won't waste more time importing/converting vobsub into a Styled Softsub since it's been already a drag doing everything.
I only encode with Japanese dub, English subs. It could be dual audio, but never English dub only videos, and never will do non-English subs.
I encode only ordered chapters from sources which also have had ordered chapters.
Playback
I can't play your encoded video.
The videos I encode are Hi10p / 10bit. It's also encoded with various settings which are intended for PC playback (though I'm not sure about playback on android and other devices).For PC playback, I recommend VLC, CCCP Player, and K-Lite Codec Pack.
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