Now I'm really confused. It looks like the download finished so I quit uTorrent and tried to play the file. But it says it is a torrent file so I looked at the file info - it's just 33k bytes! Ran all night and was over 50% when I went to bed for a file over 700 mb in size. Then I opened it with uTorrent and it says "seeding". The only numbers that are changing at at the bottom on the upload and download things. The upload/download items at the top are blank and the ETA has an infinity mark.

I have no idea what is going on!

Just looked again - says it uploaded 132.3 mb, but the upload/download items at the bottom both say zero now and the uploaded total is stopped changing.

Seeds says 0/1 and peers is 0/17, in case that means anything.

Hold on - that new file was on my desktop (where usually downloads are put). Don't know what that new file is, but just checked the "download" folder and found stuff there. Have to run to a doctor appointment so can't check it until later.

^ Off-topic question: are you really in Hawaii?

bmwracer wrote:

^ Off-topic question: are you really in Hawaii?

Not at the moment. I do an annual visit with family in South Carolina and friends in Georgia so that's where I am until the 15th.

Just got back from the doctor so I'll check those other files now.

Okay, checked out the files - still have some confusion though so hear are my questions/observations:

What is the new file I referred to earlier that appeared on my desktop (33 k)? This is bigger than the bit torrent file I used to download the actual movie (that as about 20 k, I think). When I open it in uTorrent, it was doing some uploading.

When I opened the movie file (.avi), it said Quicktime player was the default but after selecting that, it said I needed to use Quicktime 7, so I did that - and got no subtitles. I then opened it in other things (DivX, VLC) and I got Japanese or some other Asian subtitles in one of them. I forget exactly what program gave which results, but when I went back to QT7, I got English subtitles.

Going back and trying each again, DivX gives no subtitles and the subtitle menue says "none".

QT7 now does show English subtitles. On the menus, it says subtitles "off" and language is set to "default".

VLC comes up with the Asian subtitles, but in the menu for subtitles, I found choices. Strangely, both #2 and #4 say English. Don't know if there is any difference. But when starting, it always is set to the first Asian subtitle choice. Found preferences where it lets you enter a default language for subtitles and I typed in English, but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

I haven't done a head to head comparison yet, but this file seems to have better video quality than my other copies so that is at least a big improvement.

Next I have to try to see what happens if I put it in iTunes or if I need to use Handbrake to create a new file first.

dabigkahuna wrote:

Okay, checked out the files - still have some confusion though so hear are my questions/observations: What is the new file I referred to earlier that appeared on my desktop (33 k)? This is bigger than the bit torrent file I used to download the actual movie (that as about 20 k, I think). When I open it in uTorrent, it was doing some uploading.

What's the extension for that 33K file?

Quote:

When I opened the movie file (.avi), it said Quicktime player was the default but after selecting that, it said I needed to use Quicktime 7, so I did that - and got no subtitles. I then opened it in other things (DivX, VLC) and I got Japanese or some other Asian subtitles in one of them. I forget exactly what program gave which results, but when I went back to QT7, I got English subtitles. Going back and trying each again, DivX gives no subtitles and the subtitle menue says "none". QT7 now does show English subtitles. On the menus, it says subtitles "off" and language is set to "default". VLC comes up with the Asian subtitles, but in the menu for subtitles, I found choices. Strangely, both #2 and #4 say English. Don't know if there is any difference. But when starting, it always is set to the first Asian subtitle choice. Found preferences where it lets you enter a default language for subtitles and I typed in English, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. I haven't done a head to head comparison yet, but this file seems to have better video quality than my other copies so that is at least a big improvement. Next I have to try to see what happens if I put it in iTunes or if I need to use Handbrake to create a new file first.

Hmm, not sure if can help you with this, 'cause you're running on a Mac and I use a PC... Where did you download the torrent file from?

It's a .torrent file - same as the one I used to get the file in the first place, but not the same size file.

I think the original torrent download came from the link you gave.

The subtitle thing is weird, but at least I can get it to work one way or another.

But ran into a bottleneck with iTunes. Don't see any way to get it in iTunes directly. Ran it through Handbrake and got a file, but no subtitles. Saw a subtitle setting in handbrake, but it wasn't very clear. Whatever I did resulted in no subtitles. Tried using VLC to create a new file, but it never seems to actually make one.

So the only version I have in iTunes is still the one I made from the poor quality download of .rar files.

dabigkahuna wrote:

It's a .torrent file - same as the one I used to get the file in the first place, but not the same size file. I think the original torrent download came from the link you gave.

Which link is that?

Quote:

The subtitle thing is weird, but at least I can get it to work one way or another. But ran into a bottleneck with iTunes. Don't see any way to get it in iTunes directly. Ran it through Handbrake and got a file, but no subtitles. Saw a subtitle setting in handbrake, but it wasn't very clear. Whatever I did resulted in no subtitles. Tried using VLC to create a new file, but it never seems to actually make one. So the only version I have in iTunes is still the one I made from the poor quality download of .rar files.

Can't help you with the iTunes or QT stuff... I'm Apple-free.

Hmmmm, looking back, I can't find the link in the forum - maybe it was youn d-addict link and then I searched from there. Can't be sure because I've been looking so many places and following more links from those places.

The file name is: Swing_Girls_[Japan_2004].3307076.TPB(1).torrent

Hmmm, did a search on that and found it related to "torrentportal.com".

Maybe my icons on my computer got me confused and it was already there and I overlooked it. I do have bunched of icons on the desktop, but I thought I had them sorted out pretty well, but maybe not good enough with all the stuff I've been doing.

dabigkahuna wrote:

Hmmmm, looking back, I can't find the link in the forum - maybe it was youn d-addict link and then I searched from there. Can't be sure because I've been looking so many places and following more links from those places. The file name is: Swing_Girls_[Japan_2004].3307076.TPB(1).torrent

Uh, I never posted a torrent link for Swing Girls.... Only for Nodame.

bmwracer wrote:

Uh, I never posted a torrent link for Swing Girls.... Only for Nodame.

Yeah, I have that one. I must have found the other by jumping to links from other links you sent me like discussions in this forum.

Right now I'm trying to convert the .idx and .sub files to .srt so, I think, Handbrake will bring in the subtitles. Found an app that was supposed to do it but found out it wasn't compatible with Mac Lion. Then I found instructions on how to fix it. Trouble is, the instructions I've found to actually convert the files isn't clear or I'm screwing it up. If I ever get it working, I'll report on that.

The program is Avidemux.

One thing, if I'm reading this right, you can actually open the .srt in textedit which, I hope, would let me change a few words. There may be only a small number of swear words, but can't have any if I'm going to show it to middle school kids!

Might be able to clarify some things to. Like the line that says "Quitting the band" which refers to the note the boy has in the beginning. It was only when reading a summary that I was sure what it meant. I could change it to something like:

Note to quit the band

Well, back to work on this.

dabigkahuna wrote:

Yeah, I have that one. I must have found the other by jumping to links from other links you sent me like discussions in this forum. Right now I'm trying to convert the .idx and .sub files to .srt so, I think, Handbrake will bring in the subtitles. Found an app that was supposed to do it but found out it wasn't compatible with Mac Lion. Then I found instructions on how to fix it. Trouble is, the instructions I've found to actually convert the files isn't clear or I'm screwing it up. If I ever get it working, I'll report on that. The program is Avidemux.

I use AviDemux all the time to convert mpeg to avi.

Quote:

One thing, if I'm reading this right, you can actually open the .srt in textedit which, I hope, would let me change a few words. There may be only a small number of swear words, but can't have any if I'm going to show it to middle school kids!

Yup, the .srt file is nothing more than an ASCII text file.

Change the text??? That's censorship!

Quote:

Might be able to clarify some things to. Like the line that says "Quitting the band" which refers to the note the boy has in the beginning. It was only when reading a summary that I was sure what it meant. I could change it to something like: Note to quit the band Well, back to work on this.

For those translations of Japanese writing on signs and whatnot, I usually see it in italics/brackets/quotes/etc. to differentiate it from spoken words.

Dang, this is hard!

I haven't tried using AviDemux to change it to MP4 (I've been using Handbrake for that - haven't even looked to see how AviDemux works for that. But I've been working on the subtitles. I did figure out how to make the .srt file, but part of the process is to to the OCR stuff, entering each letter manual to match the image.

Supposedly as you do each letter, you don't get it again, but I ran into a rather huge problem - it OFTEN splits a later. Like a V may have just part of the first slant, then you get the other part. Some letters seem to be in three parts! Funny, but an "a" seems to show up just fine, but it asks me to identify EVERY "a". Many other letters as well.

Anyway, after doing 5 minutes, I just saved what I had and opened the file for direct editing to fix errors, then ran Handbrake on it - over 40 minutes - to get a new movie file to check it on. Played that movie on VLC so far. Had to select the subtitles, but they did work, including my editing.

Just one place didn't show up right (part of the item disappeared quickly) so I'll have to do it again just to see if I can solve it.

But this process will take forever! I may do it in bits and pieces. I think I can skip all the OCR stuff and still get a file with the time stamp info, but no text - then I could go through the movie, pausing at each item, and type it into the file (pasting what I already did, of course).

I found one person with he same problem with split characters - and he got no responses to his question.

Maybe he program works better on a PC. I might try that and, if so, then copy the file to my macbook.

dabigkahuna wrote:

Dang, this is hard! I haven't tried using AviDemux to change it to MP4 (I've been using Handbrake for that - haven't even looked to see how AviDemux works for that. But I've been working on the subtitles. I did figure out how to make the .srt file, but part of the process is to to the OCR stuff, entering each letter manual to match the image. Supposedly as you do each letter, you don't get it again, but I ran into a rather huge problem - it OFTEN splits a later. Like a V may have just part of the first slant, then you get the other part. Some letters seem to be in three parts! Funny, but an "a" seems to show up just fine, but it asks me to identify EVERY "a". Many other letters as well. Anyway, after doing 5 minutes, I just saved what I had and opened the file for direct editing to fix errors, then ran Handbrake on it - over 40 minutes - to get a new movie file to check it on. Played that movie on VLC so far. Had to select the subtitles, but they did work, including my editing. Just one place didn't show up right (part of the item disappeared quickly) so I'll have to do it again just to see if I can solve it. But this process will take forever! I may do it in bits and pieces. I think I can skip all the OCR stuff and still get a file with the time stamp info, but no text - then I could go through the movie, pausing at each item, and type it into the file (pasting what I already did, of course). I found one person with he same problem with split characters - and he got no responses to his question. Maybe he program works better on a PC. I might try that and, if so, then copy the file to my macbook.

You should just download the DVD rip from asiandvdclub.org and spare yourself the grief.

bmwracer wrote:

You should just download the DVD rip from asiandvdclub.org and spare yourself the grief.

Joined itd - haven't taken the time to figure out how it wall works or which files to get (lots of references to things like "DVD9" which I assume is region 9).

Do you happen to know if those DVD rips use .SRT files instead of .SUB/.IDX?

You see, I'm still thinking of doing it the hard way, letting me clarify some stuff in the subtitles and dumping the swearing so I can show it to kids. And I know there is at least that has a typo ("beller" instead of 'better").

But if a DVD rip is using .srt instead of what I got with the other versions, it would much easier to start with a properly functioning file. But I expect it is the same so I'd need go through the process anyway. So the main thing would be to get a DVD download only if it is better than the bittorrent I already have.

Didn't do crap with it today. Woke up with extreme stomach, back and side pain as well as plenty of head discomfort. All but the stomach are existing problems, but normally mild. This was worse than anything I've had in the las 13 years. Hurt so much, with no way to get even a little comfortable, that I went to the emergency room. Feel ine now, but way short of sleep and tomorrow I travel a bit to visit other people on my vacation.

dabigkahuna wrote:

Joined itd - haven't taken the time to figure out how it wall works or which files to get (lots of references to things like "DVD9" which I assume is region 9).

Nope.

DVD9 means it's a dual-layer DVD, about 8.5GB, as opposed to the more common DVD5 which is about 4.5GB.

All the ripped DVDs at asiandvdclub.org have their region coding removed, so it'll play anywhere.

Quote:

Do you happen to know if those DVD rips use .SRT files instead of .SUB/.IDX?

All the DVD rips are from the original source DVDs, so they're .idx files, which are basically image overlays, not text.

Quote:

You see, I'm still thinking of doing it the hard way, letting me clarify some stuff in the subtitles and dumping the swearing so I can show it to kids. And I know there is at least that has a typo ("beller" instead of 'better"). But if a DVD rip is using .srt instead of what I got with the other versions, it would much easier to start with a properly functioning file. But I expect it is the same so I'd need go through the process anyway. So the main thing would be to get a DVD download only if it is better than the bittorrent I already have.

The DVD rips from asiandvdclub are either in their native DVD format (.vob, .vts, etc.) or .iso image files, so they're DVD quality.

That said, some of the DVD rips are from crappy transfers, like VHS to DVD, instead of remasters from the actual film source.

Quote:

Didn't do crap with it today. Woke up with extreme stomach, back and side pain as well as plenty of head discomfort. All but the stomach are existing problems, but normally mild. This was worse than anything I've had in the las 13 years. Hurt so much, with no way to get even a little comfortable, that I went to the emergency room. Feel ine now, but way short of sleep and tomorrow I travel a bit to visit other people on my vacation.

Hope you're feeling better.

Well, I was feeling better, but the pain came back last night. Not nearly as bad so I'm hoping it wil continue to improve. It better, before I fly back to Hawaii for 10 hours!

Probably won't get into those downloads until then.

Here's a guide on BitTorrent which might be useful: http://www.sendspace.com/file/0yissa

bmwracer wrote:

Here's a guide on BitTorrent which might be useful: http://www.sendspace.com/file/0yissa

Thanks a lot. I'll check it when I get back to Hawaii - I've spent every day except Sunday either in an emergency room or the hospital. Kidney stone! Hasn't passed yet, but I think I have the proper pain pills to get me back home. Better - I don't want to suffer for 10 hours or more on a plane!

dabigkahuna wrote:

Thanks a lot. I'll check it when I get back to Hawaii - I've spent every day except Sunday either in an emergency room or the hospital. Kidney stone! Hasn't passed yet, but I think I have the proper pain pills to get me back home. Better - I don't want to suffer for 10 hours or more on a plane!

Ouch!

Coincidentally, our office manager has been out this week with gallstones.