[Dez]

Topic says it all. If you download your anime you can mention what program you use, and which site you dl from.

Normally I would download my anime because I want the best possible quality, and i'd rather just download a few series while I sleep so that I can watch and watch, then wait for each ep to stream on the web. However I encountered some issue with my connecting and torrent some time ago, and i'm just too lazy to bother fixing it anytime soon.

So currently i'm streaming the little anime I watch these days, and Stage6 used to be a excellent site for everything video, too bad it shut down. So now i'm left with Megavideo, didn't really bother to look up any other sites yet.

[Midgarsormr]

Eh. Youtube, Veoh, and Pisoga.com's.

[Dez]

Youtube? Aww >_<

And Veoh is somewhat annoying, lol.

[Howling]

I download all mine, mostly off Usenet, as I store it after watching. I use VLC to watch it, and I watch it sat in my big comfy chair infront of my pc's 22" ^_^

[Frein]

I download all of my stuff with torrents. I have a large wide screen and a good sound card so I'm not touching streamed video. :p

I recommend µTorrent as I find it to be by far the best client I've used.

As for what sites I use, I get 90% of my stuff from AnimeSuki and in case it's licensed or MFI produced, I go to Baka-Updates.

[Zinrae]

I use torrents mostly, and sometimes IRC archive bots for various groups.
For the torrents I use baka updates, boxtorrents, and go to the fansubber's sites.

[Gravity]

Howling said:

I download all mine, mostly off Usenet, as I store it after watching. I use VLC to watch it, and I watch it sat in my big comfy chair infront of my pc's 22" ^_^

Usenet ftw! That's where I get all my HD animes.


And for all you people using youtube/veoh, I feel your pain, I had to use it for a whole year before I had gotten a new computer.

[Midgarsormr]

Eh, I just don't like downloading things. Unless I have no other choice I don't.

[Howling]

Midgarsormr said:

Eh, I just don't like downloading things. Unless I have no other choice I don't.

I've only watched a few youtube'd episodes of things, and it really wasn't as enjoyable as downloaded episodes - the quality is soooooo different. You should try downloading and then just delete when you're done?
Why don't you like downloading them anyway?

[Midgarsormr]

Downloading always gives me the weird vibe that something wrong might happen, lol. I've always been cautious. This is like my 3rd computer. The first one was killed because my friend downloaded tons and tons of RoMs (which I don't know how to do) for me, all classics, including Chrono Triggers, FF's, Breath of Fire's, and Sonic's. Second one was killed because my cousin decided to download everything he could get his retarded hands on. It still works, but slow. And this Mac is my 3rd and personal one. Only thing I've downloaded on it is WoW, and 2 players.

Edit: Come to think of it I miss all those downloaded RoMs, but there's a select few I'm dying to play again like Chrono Trigger and BoF's. Maybe Wild Arms 1.

[Endrance]

Midgarsormr said:

Downloading always gives me the weird vibe that something wrong might happen, lol. I've always been cautious. This is like my 3rd computer. The first one was killed because my friend downloaded tons and tons of RoMs (which I don't know how to do) for me, all classics, including Chrono Triggers, FF's, Breath of Fire's, and Sonic's. Second one was killed because my cousin decided to download everything he could get his retarded hands on. It still works, but slow. And this Mac is my 3rd and personal one. Only thing I've downloaded on it is WoW, and 2 players.

That's called paranoia.



I have 15 full anime's on my external HD and never had any problems with it.

[Midgarsormr]

Yes, I'm aware it's paranoia. Any other solutions? Anyways,

I'm pretty sure it's because I don't know the right way to do the downloading.

[Frein]

Midgarsormr said:

I'm pretty sure it's because I don't know the right way to do the downloading.

Step 1: Download and install a torrent client. Takes about two minutes total. µTorrent is actually so light it doesn't even need to be installed.

Step 2: Download a torrent file of the anime you'd like to download. These are tiny, generally under 50kb.

Step 3: Double click said torrent file and your client will start downloading the thing. New releases can usually be downloaded at the highest speed allowed by your connection, so if you're on DLS or Cable it usually goes really fast as most releases are 170-200Mb.

Also, many fansubbers nowadays like to make two version of their releases: XviD and h264 encodes. H264 is more processor intensive so old computers start lagging when viewing them, but the image quality tends to be far superior to the older XviD, so that's what you should aim for if you have a decent rig.

Also, if you don't have the correct video codecks on your computer, you won't see anything when trying to run a video file. In order to get everything you need in a neat package, get the Combined Community Codeck Pack. With CCCP you also get Media Player Classic, which most people agree is the best media player for anime. It is very user friendly, doesn't require installation and eats minimal system requirements, which is good when watching super high quality encoded videos that your system might not be able to handle on heavier players like Windows Media Player.

[Taiyz]

I use TokyoTosho to find my torrents, IsoHunt for batches, Azureus to download torrents and Windows Media Player with the Combined Community Codec Pack to play them. I use Media Player Classic for temporary videos, RealPlayer for temporary music, Quicktime for the .mov plugin because otherwise it's horrible and obtrusive, and Winamp for general music.

Otherwise, I'll use BleachExile for direct downloads when a subber I don't normally follow gets an episode out early, and either fourzerofour.us for direct downloads or Veoh for steams of shows I want to show other people (BE can also work in this category though.)

I use YouTube for finding MADs, although I typically will just add them as a favourite there, then copy and paste the video name into Google and watch it on Nico Nico Douga for the original quality.

Edit: Goddamn it, the board ate my edit. I had this follow-up about XviD and h264 but...
Anyway; I like XviD because it's light and my 360 can run it on a proper TV. h264 gets annoying with video lag; it's not a very refined codec. Definitely the quality points go to h264 however, if you can run it.

[Midgarsormr]

Frein said:

Step 1: Download and install a torrent client. Takes about two minutes total. µTorrent is actually so light it doesn't even need to be installed.

Step 2: Download a torrent file of the anime you'd like to download. These are tiny, generally under 50kb.

Step 3: Double click said torrent file and your client will start downloading the thing. New releases can usually be downloaded at the highest speed allowed by your connection, so if you're on DLS or Cable it usually goes really fast as most releases are 170-200Mb.

Also, many fansubbers nowadays like to make two version of their releases: XviD and h264 encodes. H264 is more processor intensive so old computers start lagging when viewing them, but the image quality tends to be far superior to the older XviD, so that's what you should aim for if you have a decent rig.

Also, if you don't have the correct video codecks on your computer, you won't see anything when trying to run a video file. In order to get everything you need in a neat package, get the Combined Community Codeck Pack. With CCCP you also get Media Player Classic, which most people agree is the best media player for anime. It is very user friendly, doesn't require installation and eats minimal system requirements, which is good when watching super high quality encoded videos that your system might not be able to handle on heavier players like Windows Media Player.

I don't think these steps will work with a Mac ;_;, thank you for the information, though.

[Howling]

Get a proper PC then ;)
Much as I like how pretty OS X is, it really is useless for most things except the more "professional" types of software, like Photoshop

[Yamii]

Midgar, Macs can run a torrent client just fine. I recommend Azureus as it would be the most user friendly on the Mac platform.

But back to the OPs question. I download, either from a hosting site, or through a personal friends IRC bot with 1.7 terabytes of Anime...its a monster.

[Griever]

mhm I watch em on crunchyroll - feed your need! (wonders me, that nobody mentioned it already) that's a very good site and you can watch most anime in highquality.

[Yakuzan]

Endrance said:

That's called paranoia.



I have 15 full anime's on my external HD and never had any problems with it.

Well my Friend has basically burned 10% of the internet on CD's his closet is full of them, mostly movies and anime.

[Howling]

I've got near 700GB of anime.. I've had to stop downloading it for now, till my new pc comes, as I've run out of space. Gonna be hitting 1TB pretty soon though :)