By David on November 27, 2007
ADV Films is excited to introduce a new digital download program making over 500 anime episodes available for just $1.99 per episode! Now you can pick and choose your favorite episodes from your favorite titles for this new, low price!
Moving forward, most new series ADV publishes will be available for download at the new low price – often weeks before it’s released on DVD! For a full list of what’s available, click here.
ADV currently has 32 series comprising hundreds of hours of anime available online in the convenient new $1.99 format, and many more series are on the way in 2008. You can also choose DVD-quality Premium downloads or purchase bundles including digital downloads and physical DVDs.
Posted in Anime News
I love anime. Specifically, series involving any of the following things: weird fantasy elements, super-powers, robots, aliens, wicked humor, crazy villains, horror, ninjas and samurai. I guess that means I like a lot of anime. I am pretty particular about the quality of animation and voice acting. If the character designs and animation quality aren't of über-quality, I quickly loose interest.The first anime-related series I ever watched was Battle of the Planets - otherwise known as Gatachman. The first true theatrical anime feature film I saw was Akira. My first exposure to manga was later in life when I read Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy.There are so many incredible elements of Japanese culture. Some of the most exciting to me are the style of design and storytelling. I'm a web designer & illustrator, and I find myself looking to Japanese design for inspiration all the time.Anime blogging has taught me even more about Japanese culture and anime than I ever expected, and I continue to learn more every week. In fact, I'd love to travel to Japan. Rachel and I hope to visit sometime within the next few years.
Note that the resolution of a 1.99 episode is only 320×240, about half the size of your typical fansub ep.
This would be really cool, if they weren’t using a Windows-only, DRM-riddled file format. As it is, these files are only one step above useless.
In recent weeks we have seen many open letters to the anime industry trying to let know how to correct the problems occurring in the industry today. I have been working on a article to post on my blog about this situation but it won’t be ready for a while.
But after seeing the news about ADV digital downloads, and a quick visit to ADV’s website. I feel that I have to make some brief comments now.
1. First of all let me give my congratulations to ADV for jumping on the digital download bandwagon.
2. Where’s the subtitled downloads, I spent a lot of money on anime and I only view subtitled anime, so as it stands I won’t be purchasing any of the downloads for now.
3. DRM, I agree that the industry needs to protect it’s investments but the earth is quaking under all content owners feet right now. Even though I’m a older fan I own a desktop with HDMI output, A laptop, several portable media players, and any format that keeps me from transfering my media files between platforms I won’t be buying anytime soon. I don’t care how the industry IDs their products as long as I can use it on any platform in my household with having to jump through hoops.
4. Quality, one of the reasons I still buy Cd’s is because of the quality issue, I can buy the CD and then rip the tracks into MP3 files at 320kbs then I can play these files with confidence in the quality of files on and platform in my household. With everything related to video switching to HD and many anime programs available in HD format where’s my HD download options. Many anime such as AIR are available in Japan in HD format, I’m willing to pay more for a download in 720P, 1080I, or 1080P format. My PC has a HDMI video card and I have one of the outputs going to my HD TV.
5. Cooperation, the anime industry needs to sit down with it’s core group of fans to determine what the fans want, and to talk realistically about cost vs value issues, in a consumer society like ours the companies that succeed see a void that needs to be filled and steps in to fill that gap, it does not work the other way around, The American auto industry almost went out of business by putting out products that the buyers did not want or were substandard compared to the Japanese, Korean, and German cars.
In closing, as a anime fan no one wants the industry to succeed more than me, I’m have been more than willing to spend my money on anime, but in the new digital age the anime industry needs to change fast (2-3 years) or die.