-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- « Zhentarim DivX Presents » =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Title: Bubblegum Crisis 2033 Parts: 01-08 (complete) Genre: Action / Drama Release Date: February 4th, 2002 Feature Length: 0:46:19 (Part 01) Tinsel City 0:28:20 (Part 02) Born to Kill 0:26:56 (Part 03) Blow Up 0:38:09 (Part 04) Revenge Road 0:44:04 (Part 05) Moonlight Rambler 0:49:48 (Part 06) Red Eyes 0:48:47 (Part 07) Double Vision 0:50:07 (Part 08) Scoop Chase Size: Part 01: 400 MB (443 MB with subpack) Part 02: 188 MB (214 MB with subpack) Part 03: 257 MB (282 MB with subpack) Part 04: 377 MB (412 MB with subpack) Part 05: 642 MB (692 MB with subpack) Part 06: 635 MB (693 MB with subpack) Part 07: 545 MB (602 MB with subpack) Part 08: 574 MB (632 MB with subpack) Audio Language: Dubbed English w/ Japanese Language/Subtitle Pack Audio Encoding: Episodes 01-04: CBR 128 kbps Mpeg Layer 3 Episodes 05-08: CBR 160 kbps Mpeg Layer 3 Video Frame Rate: 23.97 fps (IVTC with decomb1.81) Video Resolution: Episodes 01-04: 512x384 Episodes 05-08: 576 x 432 Video Codec: Divx 3.11 Video Bitrate: Episodes 01-04: VBR 1000 kbits/sec Episodes 05-08: VBR 1450 kbits/sec Source: NTSC DVD Ripper: MentarOmega -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Subtitle Pack Use: To view the file with subtitles, just execute the sub.avi. If you rename any of the files, they will not play properly unless you rebuild the sub.avi. If the subtitles don't play, open the Windows Media Player empty and select sub.avi "from the inside", it should work then. Encoding Notes: Rip made with Gordian Knot 0.23. While it was possible to make episodes 01/02 and 03/04 fit on one CD each, it was impossible to do the same for episodes 05-08 without big quality loss, so I decided to up their resolution and audio quality a bit and fill the CD some more. The source quality is okay, but it already contains some significant rainbowing. Still, for its age (and BGC 2033 is _old_) it's still quite okay. Audio is quite good. Credits: Come visit our web page at http://zhentarim.cjb.net or on IRC at DALnet channel #zhentarim. BUY it! If you like this, please support the creators of this anime by purchasing it. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- DVD Review Ripped from AnimeonDVD.com -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews/region1/a-d/bubblegum_crisis-1.htm Running Time: 399 minutes combined Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Suggested Age: 13 Audio Rating: B+ Video Rating: B+ Menu Rating: A Content Rating: A Reviewed By Chris Beveridge What We Say: Ah, Bubblegum Crisis. One of the three "holy grails" of 1998 anime to come to DVD. After months and months of delays, we finally have this truly shiny disc set in our hands, and a lot of people are ready to scrutinize it. BGC has been available in the states for just about 8 years now, and if you haven't seen it or read any reviews of it, then jump over here to the Anime Web Turnpike BGC page for links to a ton of places. Bubblegum Crash was my first serious exposure to "near-pure" anime, my first commercial/domestic subtitled release back in, mmm, 92 I believe. I was hooked seriously with that show, with it bringing me back into the anime world once again. After devouring Crash, I went and week by week, acquired all 8 episodes and the 2 music videos on VHS. A few years later, I bought 'em all again on laserdisc. Now, a few years later, here I am again, scarfing up BGC. And, once again, I'm loving it. The audio on the disc contains an English and Japanese language track. At some point in the near future, my wife will be providing a review of the English dub track. The Japanese track is clean and clear and makes a decent use of the front soundstage, especially for a show coming from 1986 or so. There are several surround/rear moments, especially with the music and it works out quite well. This is a solid track that I imagine would have been somewhat crisper in a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, but I'm not going to complain about it. The video is also very clean and clear, though there are a few instances of some grain as well as a couple of nicks in some sections, most notably in the earlier episodes. This is mostly due to the age of the film source material, and nothing could have fixed it, and it only detracted slightly from my viewing mostly because I was looking for such things. After awhile, I simply ignored it and enjoyed the show. Ah, the packaging. Well, I think this came as a surprise to just about everyone. To be blunt, it's a PC software box. Exactly what my copy of Rainbow 6 and other PC games over the years have come in. In my grading up above, I gave it a dual result. The F is because it's simply not what is accepted in the DVD world. In the DVD-ROM only world, sure, those are for software and games. While videos are now being called software, I don't consider them that in the same sense as I do computer games and OS packages. The box, though a bit crowded, is very nicely done. It's definitely eye catching and fits the mark of being a truly shiny product (hence the A grade), but there is no way to keep it out. I have two very nice wooden racks that hold 140 DVD's in keepcases/snappers. There's maybe a 1/2 inch of space above each case before the shelf above it. They fit perfectly, and display nicely. This box, as nice looking as it is, will now reside inside another cardboard box in my closet, out of sight, only to be looked at again sometime in the future, and most likely thrown out at some point. The jewel cases will be added to the large pile of them I have from my Playstation games, and inserted into some blank keepcases and placed onto the racks with all my other discs. Which is a real shame, as Animeigo releases have always had these great spinescenes over the years. This is a big disappointment. The menus are quite well done, and very responsive to selections. There aren't a huge amount of selections on the standalone players, though the chapter selections are done nicely. On the DVD-ROM aspect of it, it works out great, especially the gallery (and the couple I printed out came out real nice as well). Very well done in this respect. The one thing I've neglected to mention so far is something I consider to be among the best feature of this set: an anime with honest to goodness GREAT subtitles. We've got yellow with borders, we've got green with borders and we've got red with borders. The only limitation that we have, and although it's mildly annoying at first, is that when a second person speaks, it has to clear the entire subtitle frame and replace what was there and add in the second persons subtitles, which is very quick, but also noticeable enough to the human eye. After watching a couple of episodes, you really don't notice it unless you're directly looking for it. The subtitles are otherwise the best I've seen on an anime DVD yet from ANY company, and very readable the entire way through. Kudos to Animeigo/M2K on this one for showing that it can be done right. I also scanned through the first disc on the DVD-ROM drive, and I'll leave this one with a "Your mileage may vary", and I hope to hear from people on the forum or for a DVD-ROM owner to do an alternate angle on the video quality. I noticed a lot of rainbow effect that were not visible on the standalone player and my TV, and some ittering was also apparent. But, I may just not be totally up to date on irmware/software for the Compaq player I have. Overall, this is definitely an easy purchase to make. Getting all 399 minutes of the show as well a other goodies for the price of what one of the four laserdiscs cost me (and I won't even go into the VHS costs), it's definitely a great bargain, especially for those who haven't seen it before. The only downside to the entire package is, well, the package itself. It's not a big deal in the end run, but I hope that some of the complaints and issues about it reaches M2K and Animeigo and if they do produce more shows after this one (and I hope they do!), that they realize that we're not a software market, but a video market.