07-01-2003, 10:52 AM
Here's a basic Breakdown:
AC/MI - I think they made a majority of the HK DVDs that are out there. Their quality ranges from Godly to God-Awful. Their quality is variable in other words. They are good at encoding video, so unless the source is bad, the video should be pretty good. Their subs are dependant on whether or not fansub scripts exist. If they don't, the subs tend to be engrishy. Check the reviews to see what there is. Most of their sets aren't ripped from anywhere beyond the original R1, R2, R3, VHS or LD sets they get.
AV - Their catalog consists of half original rips, and half rips that they rip from other companies. A few sets they made were really spectacular, but most of the sets they made aren't all that hot. Recently, AV has switched from releasing good rips to making DVDs of VHS TV Rips. The subs vary from being decent to be total crap
AS/MAC - Their catalog is variable as well. If they rip from other HK Companies, the AS line tends to compress the set either by moving some episodes onto other discs (Gundam W went from 5 DVDs to 4 DVDs) or switching from DVD-9 DVDs to DVD-5 DVDs (Kare Kano For example). If it's part of the Mac or AC line, then the rips tend to be Direct Rips (except in Noir's case, where they turned 4 DVD-5s and a DVD-9 into 3 DVD-9s). Some of their R1 rips are outstanding, and others have problems with missing subs.
FX - This company deals exclusively with Ripping R1 DVDs. They have a reputation of having poor video quality since they don't encode the DVDs well (CBR instead of VBR). Mac and FX are in contention for best R1 ripper. Most would say they like FX better, however, they have their share of flaws as well. Some series apparently are ripped crap wise (Trigun had crap subs), others have some other problems, Eva (the 4 DVD set that is supposedly unknown is made by FX) and Kenshin both have audio desync problems. Most of their other rips are flawless however.
AC/MI - I think they made a majority of the HK DVDs that are out there. Their quality ranges from Godly to God-Awful. Their quality is variable in other words. They are good at encoding video, so unless the source is bad, the video should be pretty good. Their subs are dependant on whether or not fansub scripts exist. If they don't, the subs tend to be engrishy. Check the reviews to see what there is. Most of their sets aren't ripped from anywhere beyond the original R1, R2, R3, VHS or LD sets they get.
AV - Their catalog consists of half original rips, and half rips that they rip from other companies. A few sets they made were really spectacular, but most of the sets they made aren't all that hot. Recently, AV has switched from releasing good rips to making DVDs of VHS TV Rips. The subs vary from being decent to be total crap
AS/MAC - Their catalog is variable as well. If they rip from other HK Companies, the AS line tends to compress the set either by moving some episodes onto other discs (Gundam W went from 5 DVDs to 4 DVDs) or switching from DVD-9 DVDs to DVD-5 DVDs (Kare Kano For example). If it's part of the Mac or AC line, then the rips tend to be Direct Rips (except in Noir's case, where they turned 4 DVD-5s and a DVD-9 into 3 DVD-9s). Some of their R1 rips are outstanding, and others have problems with missing subs.
FX - This company deals exclusively with Ripping R1 DVDs. They have a reputation of having poor video quality since they don't encode the DVDs well (CBR instead of VBR). Mac and FX are in contention for best R1 ripper. Most would say they like FX better, however, they have their share of flaws as well. Some series apparently are ripped crap wise (Trigun had crap subs), others have some other problems, Eva (the 4 DVD set that is supposedly unknown is made by FX) and Kenshin both have audio desync problems. Most of their other rips are flawless however.