Eclipse Productions

The Eclipse FAQ

A Naze Nani Eclipse, to answer some common questions.

Who are you?
A small group of fansubbers.
How long have you been around?
The group itself has existed since mid-october 2005. The individual members have all been fansubbing for years.
What do you mean by “small group”?
Exactly what it says; the core staff of Eclipse has never been more than about eight people or so. We believe having a small, dedicated and reliable team is better than having a big team that is harder to coordinate.
So who are the members, then?
That's not really any of your business. But if you've read this FAQ, then you've probably already met most of the staff in the IRC channel.
Where do you hang out, and where is your distro?
#eclipse @ irc.rizon.net is our IRC channel, both for chatting and leeching purposes. The eclipse|* XDCC bots (and some others) are official distro, and there's an online packlist for them. There are frequently a lot of other bots and fserves in the channel, but all bots that don't show up in the online packlist are run by independent third parties and we have no influence whatsoever over them. Yes, this does include bots with +h/+v! (Do note that far from all people with +h or +v are bots, and that sending XDCC LIST to someone who isn't a bot may lead to a ban.)
The other way of getting our releases is by using torrents. We finally had enough of unstable servers and got ourselves our own tracker.
ALL other ways (that is, everything except the official bots and the torrents), including HTTP direct downloads, torrents on other sites than eclipse.speedsubs.org, and bots/fserves in the channel are not official ways of distro. Which in itself doesn't necessarily mean that you shouldn't use them; just don't complain to us if they break somehow.
That tracker page seems a bit dry, don't you want something bigger/better?
Nope. We don't need it, nor want it; we get more than enough attention as it is. We didn't really want our tracker but the instability of other trackers more or less forced us. Originally we didn't even intend to have an IRC channel either, it just kinda happened.
IRC channel rules?
Basically there are only two:
  1. Do not spoil. Not anything.
  2. Don't offend the ops unless you feel like getting kickbanned. (The op in question reserves the right to define “offend”.)
This basically means we make up the rules on the spot. Just use your common sense and you'll be fine. In addition to that, here's some general info to keep in mind:
  • There are no “official” triggers.
  • !list and @find may or may not do something, and if they do it's only because individual users and/or bots respond to them.
  • The fact that there aren't a lot of explicit rules doesn't mean you can feel free to go around making an ass of yourself. It just means that we can ban you when we feel you need to be banned, and also saves us the trouble of coming up with excuses when people whine about not actually breaking any rules.
Why can't I talk in the channel?
Most likely because it's set mode +M. Which means, you must have your nickname registered with Rizon's NickServ or you'll be muted. In your IRC client, type "/msg NickServ help register" (without the quotes) to get information about how to register your nickname.
I got banned from the channel!
You probably deserved it. Or maybe you didn't. We're not particularily interested in which, but if you weren't a total asshole that really managed to piss us off, your ban will probably expire in a while. While you wait, consider your sins and be aware of the fact that intentionally evading channel bans can get you permanently banned from Rizon. Oh, and PM'ing ops (the one that banned you as well as other ones) is a very good way to get your ban extended.
I'm not banned, but the instant I join the channel I get kickbanned by someone called “ChanServ”!
Congratulations, you managed to piss someone off enough to get yourself added to the channel access list at a negative value, which means you get autobanned if you try to join. Do yourself a favor and stay out, because if we find you in the channel again, you're most likely getting akilled from Rizon.
The bots aren't sending me anything!
The bots frequently get flooded by XDCC SEND requests at release times. The bots themselves are on fast links, so speed is not an issue – what is an issue is Rizon's message queue. When several hundred requests pop in within a few seconds, the bots will simply have to delay a lot of messages to avoid getting flooded out. Just be patient, your send will start eventually. If it doesn't, you may want to check that your IRC client isn't ignoring sends (mIRC does this by default) and that your firewall isn't blocking incoming transfers.
Is Eclipse an exension of another group or something? What is up with the constant joints with Static-Subs?
Eclipse is its own group and has no particular ties to any other groups. That said, some Eclipse members naturally work for other groups as well, which certainly isn't uncommon these days.
The frequent joints with SS are because they were kind enough to lend us a translator back in the early days of the group, and he kinda stayed along for the ride after that.
Would you drop a series if it became licensed in the US while you were subbing it?
No. Both Shana and Fate/stay night were licensed before they even started airing in Japan, for example.
But you dropped Slayers Revolution!
We were doing it jointly with SS, and while we didn't want to drop, SS did, and so it was dropped.
But what about shows with official/legal streams?
The answer is still "no". The world is bigger than what R1 licenses cover, and Eclipse is an international group (in fact, about half the group is European, another half is Asian, the third half is unsure and the final half refuses to say). Sorry, but we won't abandon the rest of the world simply because someone bought the R1 license. If you can make streaming work, more power to you. In the meantime, let us enjoy our fansubs, mmkay? Sending us threatening letters will not be appreciated, nor result in any action being taken.
Eclipse is a speedsubbing group, right?
Yes, Eclipse is the speediest of speedsub groups. We basically invented the concept of a high quality speedsub. Want some proof? We are so dedicated to the concept that we bought ourselves the domain speedsubs.org and continue to set new standards in the field of quality-to-speed ratio.
But I think it'd be fine if you took some more time to get better quality!
We don't care. We also know you don't care about groups that release late. But in any case, it seems you didn't read the previous answer. We're not losing quality to speed as it is. Just taking more time wouldn't improve our releases; we do what we do, and when it's done we release. Having more time wouldn't help much if at all; it'd just make it possible for us to sleep some more.
Your editing sucks!
Yes, of course.</sarcasm> Seriously, a lot of people are saying that our editing is crappy or that our translator isn't doing his job properly when they feel the script isn't localized enough, or “too literal”, or we didn't translate some pun but put a TL note instead, or even when we put a TL note at all. You might think that we're doing that because we're incompetent, stupid or just plain lazy, but it's actually a conscious decision! I could write a lot of words about this, but here's the tl;dr: we are not professional translators, and we are not making our translations available specifically for the american market. Period. If you are watching fansubs, we assume that you are sufficiently interested in Japan, the Japanese language, and Japanese culture in general that you'd rather have an explanation for that pun someone just made, than a half-assed attempt to adapt it to English. If you do not agree with this and would rather like your Japanese anime without Japanese, we suggest you contact a commercial licensor/distributor in your country; we are sure they'd be happy to supply you with a more easily digestible dub or sub.
Will you do show X?
Most likely the answer is “no”. If we said we're doing something, we're doing it. If we didn't, we aren't. Of course, this might change with time, but until you hear us say something about it or see us release a promo, you can assume the answer is “no”. If we've already picked up two weekly shows this season, the answer is definitely no. We're a very small group and we don't want to burn out, so no more than two weekly projects at a time. HAHA SO WE LIED ABOUT THAT. Let's boldly go where we've never gone before! Oh, and we reserve the right to change our minds at any time, so even if we said “no way, we'll never do that” last week, this week we may (or may not) release the first episode.
Why haven't you released episode X of show Y yet!? It's already been Z hours since it aired! DID YOU DROP IT!?
If we drop something (has happened a grand total of one time in 3+ years), we'll make damn sure you know it, so no, we haven't dropped it. We will release it when it's done (which is probably before most others anyway). If you ask about when it will be released, we will delay the release just to fuck with you. (OK not really but sometimes some of you guys really make us want to do this.)
Can I join Eclipse?
You can /join #eclipse, at least unless you're banned. You can't join the group itself unless you were invited. Which you weren't. (Since some people don't seem to get it: YES, this means we are not recruiting. Let me put it this way, about three fourths of the group can be considered “founding members”. If you had any chance of getting in, you'd know about it.)
You're a bunch of elitist pricks!
Yes, of course. Got a problem with that?
How do I play these h264/MKV things?
Download the CCCP codec pack. Also make sure you read the FAQ, especially the installation instructions. If you run into trouble, ask on the CCCP forums or in the CCCP chat.
I'm on Linux/BSD/Mac/Solaris/something else, what do I do?
Get MPlayer.
What about VLC?
No. Just… no.
Is it true that I can steal the subtitles from your MKV's?
You could steal them from the AVI's too if you wanted (OCR is simple), but yes, it's very simple to demux our scripts. Google mkvtoolnix and read its manual.
Does this mean you think it's OK if I used your subs for X?
Depends on the value of X. We'd prefer you didn't sell them on eBay or something like it, but it's not like we can stop you. We don't mind if you use them to make a non-English fansub, though, but even if we did, it's not like we could stop you from doing that either. As for taking them and making your own English fansub, that'd just be silly, but again it's not like we could do anything to stop you. Feel free to do a re-release with better video though, if a better source (such as DVD's or Blurays) becomes available. Oh, and if you're using our scripts to make your own fansub in whatever language, please try to make sure you're actually competent enough to pull it off without embarassing yourself, before you start doing it. Hint: you won't like the answer if you ask us for help with retranslating, demuxing scripts, duplicating signs etc., etc. (Yes, people have asked us. Several times.)
What about karaoke effects? Can I have those?
No, go make your own if you must have them, it seriously isn't hard. The current pro tip is to skip them entirely though; fashion is changing and karaoke isn't “in” anymore.
It seems a lot of random people have +h or +v in your channel. Can I get that too?
Maybe. If we feel you contribute enough in some way, you might. You will not get +v for running a standard FServe.
I come in peace. Take me to your leader!
Eclipse doesn't really have a “group leader”. We're actually remarkably democratic. (Or communist, depending on how you look at it. :P) But if you really need someone to talk Serious Business™ with, contact boon in #eclipse, he's the closest thing we have.
Does that mean he's the guy I should speak to about this awesome idea for a joint project I have?
Yes, that's correct. Be warned though, we usually only joint with people we know and trust really well, so if you have to read this FAQ you're probably not on the list of people we'd consider. Sorry.
Do you guys need help with server bills or anything? I'd gladly donate a few bucks/euros/yen to help keep you running.
While we appreciate your desire to help, we really wish you'd do it in some other way. Feel free to buy DVD's or Blurays of the shows we're doing, for example. We don't need the money, nor do we want it. We're fans, doing this for fans, and involving money in it is not acceptable. In other words: thanks, but no thanks. This also means that “nag screens” saying “please donate to keep this service running” for ads (be it for DDL, bots or anything else) in the channel are not acceptable, either. If we see you doing this, you and/or your bot will be banned.
When, if ever, will you guys stop subbing?
When we get bored with it, I guess. Or when the legal alternatives to fansubs stop sucking so much. Or possibly when we find the love of beautiful women. I personally prefer Belldandy, but… well.