brigdh

Hmmm. I hadn't tried to play it, so I hadn't noticed a problem, but I just tried and couldn't get it to work either. I finally found that if you download and install something called the Combined Community Codec Pack (http://www.cccp-project.net/) it will play on any player- or so it says, I tried it on Windows Media Player and that worked, at least- but there doesn't seem to be a version for Macs. Apparently you could also use the mega codec off of the K-Lite Codec Pack, but again, there's only a Windows version.

I know Kessie watched the episode before it was subtitled, and she has a Mac, so you could try asking her what she did?

As long as it's not a virus, you could always uninstall once you're done, and no one will ever know. *grins*

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quixotic-sense.livejournal.com

The mkv (Matroska) file should be playable with VLC media player, but depending the codec used by the fansubber it may not play very well -- Matroska was developed for Windows. The alternative is downloading the Matroska Quicktime Component (http://sourceforge.net/projects/matroskaqt/).

Personally I loathe the mkv format, but it seems to be all the rage now. Some fansubbers generally come out with mkv and avi versions of the same fansub.

From:

p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com

Weirdly, it will start to play on my older version of vlc, but then it crashes with all kinds of improbable error messages. My current version of vlc won't open it at all, and mplayer insists there's something wrong with the file. And yet, that seems highly unlikely, what with other people being able to watch it and all.

But I didn't know about the quicktime component. I'm going to try installing that and see whether it helps -- although if the documentation is correct, even if it does it won't show the subtitles.

It wouldn't bother me, I don't think, if I knew for certain that it just wouldn't play on a Mac. But this thing where I should be able to make it work, but somehow not, brings out the dysfunctional obsessive in me.

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ravenbell.livejournal.com

Oh, the joy of fansubs. :P I use the VLC Media Player with

The K-Lite Codec Pack (also comes with Media Player Classic, which should play those soft subbed MKVs)
http://www.codecguide.com/about_kl.htm

and the CCCP Codec Pack
http://www.cccp-project.net/

From:

p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com

Thanks for the pointers. It was worth a look, but sadly for me those are Windows-only packages.

Strangely, I have an older version of VLC that will begin to play the thing, but it records errors and then crashes. And the players that I have that should be okay with Matroska all claim that there's a problem with the file. But if Brigdh has it working, I somehow doubt that this is really true.

There has to be something that will work. There almost always is. But then, perhaps this is simply the universe's way of reminding me I have a story to write, and should not even be trying to look at the damned thing now.

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YES! I totally didn't think it would be picked up this fast, omg! :D :D :D

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I know! I'm so happy; I like it when people make things easy on me. *grins*

By the way, you have a mac, right? What program did you use to watch the episode?

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I normally use VLC Player, which plays practically everything, but the subs aren't showing up for me. :( Is this the problem that everyone else is having?

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They're showing up for me (using Windows Media Player + the Combined Community Codec Pack), but Phoebe uses a mac and couldn't get it to play at all. Huh, that sucks. I wonder what the issue is with this file.

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It's strange because the subtitles showed up in the opening and the translations of descriptions, but whenever someone speaks, there's nothing. I managed to track down the subbers website (http://umai.keepsilence.org) where they have direct download links and tried again, but nothing. It mentions in the file stats that it's softsubbed, but since the opening has the subs fine... I don't know what's happening. :|

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Huh. The opening shows up in a different font than the regular subtitles for me, so maybe they coded them separately? I wonder if there's just another codec you could download and then it would work, something that VLC doesn't normally include.

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...I never know about these codec things. :| I guess I'll google VLC and softsubs and see what comes up. *shrugs* God, for the das of .avi files and hardsubs. Gah.

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Dude, I'm with you. I found this whole thing really irritating, and I didn't even have to go through such a complicated process to play it.

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Ahahaha: the subs are softsubs ASS which VLC doesn't support. Now to find something that will support them...

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I watched the first episode last night and loved it. Also I don't know if there is a version for MAC, but I have been using the CCCpack mentioned earlier with Media Player Classic.

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Well, I have a PC, so I could watch it without too much difficulty, though I do feel bad for the people with macs.

I really enjoyed the episode, too! I'm so looking forward to the next one.

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Lol. I'm waiting patiently for the next episode. (We should have it soon because there was a delay with the first one, right?) It has been quite a while since I have read Romeo and Juliet, so I used my border's rewards today to buy a nice, new copy. I just never liked the ending with the families getting along, and now I'm glad because that can't happen.

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I love Romeo and Juliet! It's my favorite Shakespeare play. What do you not like about the ending? Do you think it's unbelievable?

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I was fine with Romeo and Juliet's death. I thought it was kinda funny. I didn't like how the families stop quarreling afterwards. It just didn't seem believable. Oh my daughter is dead! Oh my wife and son are dead! (It was Romeo's mom who died right?) Well let's get along so there are no more deaths. ::big happy hug:: I mean I know the first few lines tell me that that is exactly what is going to happen, but I just never found it believable.

On another topic though, do you think they will keep the parts about the plague? If so, how do you think they will handle it in the future Verona?

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You thought the deaths were funny? I've never heard anyone say that! Why, if you don't mind me asking?

I think the families making up works better as a symbolic thing than a literal thing; I can see how realizing how your actions are destroying the things you care about would make you change your behavior, but people are usually more stubborn than that in real life.

I would guess not. I mean, it's not very essential to the plot, and they've already changed far larger things than the plague.

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Well, I never really identified with Romeo or Juliet, so I really didn't care what happened to them. Romeo was very emo the whole play, mope mope mope, so I wasn't shocked when he drank the poison. Like I said, it was a long time ago, but I remember the deaths being so absurd they were funny.

People are that stubborn, if not more, in real life.

I really liked the part about the plague though!

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Heh. I can see why you'd think that. I'm surprised you like the play though, if you have so many problems with the main plots.

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It's because I hit the "do you bite your thumb at me sir" bit and was hooked. I've read a handful of plays and Romeo and Juliet is toward the bottom of the list. I liked Hamlet and Midsummer better, but I didn't like any of the characters in Othello so that one is ranked below RxJ.

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Have you read Titus Andronicus? It's a more obscure one that I'm very fond of. And you definitely couldn't criticize it for being too emo, though possibly it would have the same problem as Othello, as no one's very sympathetic in it.

Merchant of Venice is pretty good too, but it can't quite decide if it wants to be a comedy or a drama, and so a lot of it feels weirdly contradictory. Hmmm, Macbeth is excellent, of course, but is similar to Othello in a lot of ways (or at least it feels that way to me). I really enjoyed King Lear. Most of the historical ones I've read blur together for me (the various Richards and Henrys and whoever); they tend to have excellent scenes or speeches, but the plots are fairly unremarkable.

If you haven't read 12th Night, I really recommend that. Very fun romantic comedy with lots of girls disguised as boys and gender-bending.

...I feel like there's a really obvious one I want to recommend that I'm forgetting, but I can't think of it right now.

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Ah! I forgot that I have read King Lear! I wanted to take a Shakespeare course at the college, but I got a promotion and was unable to because of a schedule conflict. But I had already bought the books so I have Arden Shakespeare versions of - sonnets, Hamlet, King Richard III, Tempest, 12th Night, and Othello. I bought a new copy of Romeo and Juliet, and I own cheap copies of some of those, as well as Macbeth.

My plan is to do Romeo and Juliet, 12th Night, Tempest, Macbeth, etc. Sadly, I won't have time to really read until the summer. 12th Night is sounding really good (I know the basic plot) because I am a fan of girl characters in general.

From:

weirdquark

One of my housemates came by last night and asked me if I wanted to see some Romeo and Juliet anime. And I thought, "eh, it'll be....wait, no, it's THAT Romeo and Juliet anime! Yes!"

So we watched it, and it is strange and awesome.

And Mercutio shows up for five seconds and there is simultaneous squeeing. We are Shakespearean fangirls, yes we are.

And thanks for linking to the trailer again -- I had thought I had showed it to all of my housemates, but I apparently missed one. I was going to go hunting for it, and now I don't have to.

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