The Official "Help me!" Thread

[TwisT]

Well i have been looking for these 2 movies for years now.

Street Soldiers - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102995/
Quiet Cool - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091815/

I have been looking all over. Ever torrent site i know of, all of my DC hubs, on other forums, chats and asked friends but no one can find any place to download them from. Now it might just be that they are not even ripped in any way and might just not exist on internet.

But i thought i should ask if anyone here knows anywhere to get it or have it stashed away on some HDD or burned down. Hope you can at least take the time to check the sites you know and see if you can find it.

And no i don't want a site where i can BUY it since i don't feel like paying big money for 2 movies that probably suck and only hold a sentimental value because it was movies i loved when i was 10-12. I just want to relive old memory's.

[animus]

Okay, so I haven't had access to a PC in over 2 and a half months, and internet in over 3 weeks. So I was just wondering since I pretty much forgot all of the current anime I was watching, which is still currently worth watching.

[Board of Command]

ef - A Tale of Memories

[Buffalobiian]

Yes, ef, definitely. The last episode (7) was a complete masterpiece.

Other notable works include, but not restricted to:

Shakugan no Shana Second [SS-Eclipse are good]

Clannad [Eclipse again- Widescreen releases are about 4 eps behind SD releases]

Gundam 00 (get Menclave's HD for utter goodness)

Ghost Hound (first three eps were background info, lil slow, but ep 4 picked up well. Recommend Genjo HD)

Myself ; Yourself, light anime with dark undertone. [m.3.3.w releases are good]

[NM]

Don't know if anyone still browses the Help thread but...

I was wondering if anyone was familiar with Lightscribe dvds? I use Memorex labels for my anime when I burn them and I was going through a couple and some of them are having trouble being read (sadly among the ones that didn't work were Full Metal Panic ) because the Memorex labels are pretty much just stickers. My laptop is compatible with lightscribe so I wanted to know if anyone has worked with them and how does it work?

[Board of Command]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightscribe

You buy Lightscribe disks.

[NM]

Well, I already knew that, lol. But I suppose I should have my question clearer, sorry about that. My main concern is if I'll have problems copying from the dvd to my computer/laptop if I work with these lightscribe labels? The Memorex labels was pretty clear and said their may be a small chance that specific problem could occur (again, these are stickers that I could print the images on and put them on the dvd). I should have listened to them.

[Board of Command]

Aren't the Memorex labels just stickers that go on the top of the disk? That shouldn't damage the disk in any way.

[NM]

Yep, they are. When I put the disk (w/ the label on top) into the computer, all the data is there. But when I try to copy and paste them on the computer, sometimes the error appears saying "could not read data from source". Some episodes will copy just fine, others won't. Is it more of a burning problem then?

On the Memorex labels package, it says this: "Using a standard or full-face paper label on DVDs may result in the disc becoming unreadable".

[Board of Command]

Sounds like you burned some coasters. I really don't see how label stickers can make the disk unreadable.

You say some episodes can't copy. Can you play them directly?

[NM]

One of the episodes that didn't work for me was the Tessa OVA from TSR. I just tried to play directly and it was a no go. I tried another dvd of mine that I had burned (8th MS Team) and it worked just fine.

[Board of Command]

Then it sounds like you burned some coasters.

That, or maybe the disks simply went bad. I don't know how old those disks are, but burnt DVD disks have a shelf life. I think it's around 5 years? (but could go bad any time)

[NM]

Damn...

Well, thanks for the help then BoC. I still think I'll give the lightscribe dvds a go if the only problem is with the episodes being burned or simply the dvds going bad...it'll save me money on ink and the labels if anything.

[Animeniax]

It might not have anything to do with the labels. Did you try the disks on another drive? My Asus laptop DVD drive is kind of picky about reading some disks. My plextor dvd burner drive on my desktop is finicky too. The DVD drive on my company Compaq laptop reads pretty much any disk.

[NM]

I tried it once on my very old laptop from Acer and the Tessa OVA I mentioned before did not copy properly (took maybe about 4 tries to get it on the computer). I have a new laptop now from HP and I'm having the same problem with it. I tried out the original FMP! series and was having problems copying some episodes as well. However, I do recall my brother trying out my dvd (the Tessa OVA once again) on his computer and it copied just fine. I didn't think dvd drives would be very picky on the type of disks inserted?

[Kraco]

I didn't think dvd drives would be very picky on the type of disks inserted?

Ho... You have no idea. There are HUGE differences. Generally speaking it's not a bad idea to read some quality reviews/comparisons (I stress quality because I don't mean nonsense reviews without actual documented write/read and error correction tests) before buying drives. The price differences aren't big (unless you are speaking of those pro-Plextors that cost as much as a whole computer) but the performance varies a lot not only between manufacturers but between different models of the same manufacturer.

So, it really may pay off to buy a burner that has good burning performance and a dvd-rom drive that has an excellent reading performance. For, surprise surprise, those two things don't go hand in hand. Burners have a far more complicated technology and mechanics than simple readers and thus they receive a weaker signal from the disk when reading. That's why a carefully selected rom drive will read disks writers reject. I know because I speak of experience, and I indeed bought both my reader and writer based on fine reviews.

Anyway, before you buy blank media, check a site like video help to see what others have experienced with the said media code. I rarely buy dvdr media if I can't check the media code first. That'd be like buying a car without knowing if it's from the year 1982 or 2006.

[NM]

Wow, I really didn't know that most dvds could have poor quality...I guess now I've found the main problem! Burner wise I think I'm fine with my HP built-in burner (got the Pavilion Entertainment edition) since some episodes of anime are functioning correctly. I was checking out the Video Help site you gave me Kraco (already have this on my bookmarks ) and Verbatim makes the lightscribe dvds I had been talking about before. And their good quality according to the reviews so looks like I can save on ink and have better quality dvds.

BoC, Animeniax, and Kraco, thanks so much for helping me find my problem!

[complich8]

I've done the lightscribe thing. Burning dvds worked normally, but the lightscribe burn process is really really slow. Like, writing a simple text ring took 5 or 6 minutes. It was up to fifteen minutes for a decently large, readable, distinguishable piece of text. On a couple disks I went fancy and did graphics, and that was upwards of half an hour per disk.

Lightscribe looks ok, but not great. You're better off with a fricking sharpie and a little effort to write legibly, imo. In fact, the last 5 lightscribe-capable disks I burned, that's what I went with for the labels.

[Animeniax]

Aren't all lightscribe labels just that sandy beige color? Kind of bland to me.

[Kraco]

A friend of mine went through considerable trouble to once burn me a lightscribe disk but I can't say the end results would still be that fancy. Kind of bland, like Animeniax said.

I guess the best looking disks might made with printable disks and a suitable printer. Although considering those printers aren't marketed that aggressively, at least not over here, I wonder if they also have some problems.