Since many people ask me how they can get shows from my Japanese Drama collection, I wrote down these simple rules to be followed.Please read the following and make your selection so that I know exactly what you want.
Basically I need to know which format (SP or EP) you want me to use, as this will affect the shipping cost.
Also you'll have to be patient since making copies takes a lot of time and this is just my hobby, not my work.
- First of all, I really prefer to trade for other Japanese dramas with English subtitles. Sorry, no Anime or Chinese subbed shows. If you have a list, please send it to me via e-mail. If it's on the web, just send me the location so that I can check back to see if you have received new shows. I'm only interested in complete series, so please specify if you are missing some episodes or if some episodes don't have subtitles.
- Obviously if one has received one show from someone else, one cannot guarantee the picture quality. It would be nice to know if a show has problems (for example tracking problems, weak signal or taped off air instead of cable etc.) Unfortunately I didn't have time to rate the quality of my shows. I know some of them have serious problems though the majority is in pretty good shape.
- The trading is usually per series, regardless of the number of episodes in the series or the length of each episode. Sometimes episodes are longer than the normal 45 minutes, sometimes they are shorter because the TV station edited some material out, so it's much simpler to just consider the show as a whole instead of counting the number of episodes.
- I try to keep the space my tapes take to a minimum, so I usually edit out commercials on the fly while recording the show, and I use T160 high-grade tapes which can store 9 or 10 episodes per tape in EP mode (see below for taping modes) or 3 episodes per tape in SP mode.
When trading I would like to receive the same type of tapes, i.e. 3 episodes per T160 tapes in SP mode; this usually requires 4 tapes for the entire series.- If your show still has commercials, you may not be able to fit 3 episodes on a T160 tape. This is inconvenient because it requires 6 tapes instead of 4, increases the shipping costs, and forces the viewer to fast-forward to skip the commercials. If possible I would really like the commercials removed. It's ok if it's not a clean edit, that is if I can still see the beginning of the first commercial and the end of the last commercial. What's important to me is so save tape space and avoid the fast-forward.
If you have nothing to trade, I can still send you what you want, provided you cover the cost of the tapes and s&h. I've never done SASE (Self-Addresses Stamped Envelop), but if you prefer SASE, that's fine with me.
If you want to cover the costs, here's what I need:
$2.50 per each T160 tapes required. In EP mode you'll always require two tapes for the entire series (some series even fit on a single T160 tape). In SP mode usually 4 tapes are required.
S&h is $3.20 for shipping 2 tapes, $4.30 for shipping 4 tapes, $5.40 for shipping 6 tapes.
So, a request for a series in EP will typically cost $8.20; a request for a series in SP will typically cost $14.30.I always use the same type of tape (BASF T160 SHG) even if a series requires a T120 tape. This is because I buy the tapes in bulk and they're much cheaper than buying a single T120 at the local video store.
If you want a series in EP mode, what I usually do is put the first 9 episodes in EP mode on the first tape and the remaining 2 or 3 episodes in SP mode on the second tape. Let me know if this is not acceptable.
Just to make things clear, there are two possible choices for taping modes: SP and EP (sometimes calles SLP).
In SP mode one can fit 120 minutes of footage on a T120 cassette and 160 minutes (2 hours and 40 minutes) on a T160 cassette.
In EP mode one can fit 120x3 = 6 hours of footage on a T120 cassette and 160x3 = 8 hours on a T160 cassette. Note however that the picture quality is better in SP mode and worse in EP mode.
This is usually not a problem for shows taped directly off TV, but it becomes a problem after the show has been gone through many copies.A new taping mode has been recently available on SuperVHS tapes. This taping mode, called ET for Extended Technology, records more detail than either SP and EP mode, but the tape can only be played on a SuperVHS deck. This format is ideal for master copies, and is the one I now use for the shows I tape myself off TV.
Each show is normally 11 or 12 episodes. Each episode is usually 45 minutes plus commercials. Sometimes the stations shortens the show by editing some scenes out or by removing the opening/closing credits. This makes some episodes as short as 40 minutes, which means that using EP mode one can fit 11 episodes on a T160 tape. Therefore some series (e.g. Private Actress, Happy) only require a single tape -- this is the great advantage of removing the commercials; it really saves tape space!I hope these details have been clear enough to save you time. If you prefer something different than what outlined on this page, please make it very clear in your request.Other shows have longer episodes. Typically the first or last episode of a series is one hour instead of 45 minutes. Our local station likes to split these long episodes in two parts of 30 minutes each, which may confuse you. When I refer to an episode number I always mean the number shown during the credits, not which week it was shown from the start.
Note also that some series (e.g. Love Generation) have a greater variability in episode lengths: some episodes are 50 minutes, some episodes are 60 minutes, and one episode is 74 minutes (always without commercials!) This is why I just consider the whole series regardles of the number of episodes it has.
This page maintained by : Giampiero Caprino
Established : March 6, 2000