At AX, the industry claimed that fansubbed shows have been killing DVD sales. One of the points (thanks to Chibi Tokyo and other podcasts for reporting) was the fansubbed copies of certain shows can still be seen on Youtube even after these shows were licensed.
Next, some of the points we have discussed here at Anime Diet Radio (you can heard the latest eps here) and other points I’ve heard from other people, including people from the industry:
– fansubs are killing DVD sales.
– some DVDs are not well made at all and they’re a waste of money.
– companies should make episodes downloadable online, as soon as each eps is show on Japanese TV.
– some anime eps are already downloadable, but these files are dubbed and they’re so encrypted/protected/whatever that you can’t do anything else with them except just watch them – you can’t even back them up on discs (some clarifications here will be greatly appreciated).
– People do buy DVDs they like.
Here are my thoughts:
1. Fan subs are ultimately what helped to bring anime over to the States. It’s almost like an institution (albeit it’s really not, and it’s not going to be) for letting the fans previewing the newest titles available.
2. As for the DVDs, some of them have such bad production values on subtitling and/or dubbing, so much so that many complaints are heard. However, who’s to say for sure that not enough people buy well produced DVDs?
3. I don’t appreciate pirate copies and I appreciate DVD rips evenless. Yes, I’ve downloaded these before from a certain site. But I have stopped and I’m tossing away all the DVD ripped discs and replacing them with licensed DVDs – the artwork and the included goodies are such treats for me as a fan. But some people may feel entirely different about these things.
4. DVDs are cool, but they can be such a hassle to keep because they take up physical space. If I can download good subtitled copies and store them on my HD, I can access them so much quicker.
What do you think?