Digital Downloads of Idol DVD/Blu-Rays

Gabranthe

New Member
Sep 13, 2008
4
10
Hello everyone!

I'm sure the topic of purchasing idol DVD's has been discussed ad infinitum here, but I'm also just as sure that a few members here know more than I about getting hold of some more titles in a less traditional medium: namely digital download.

I know of only one site, eic-book, that provides a limited service for digital download of some series (SBVD, JMRD etc.). Are there any other sites that offer a similar service? I'm sure many of us outside of Japan would like this option to be more thoroughly explored.

Finally, a big shout-out to desioner, and others (?), who offer a superb and professional service in providing the opportunities for such titles that are not released to the wider community to be ordered and posted here.
 

Death Metal

Burning Knuckle
Jan 9, 2007
642
966
Hey Gab. @jwiz once sent me a message and suggested that we brainstorm about this, but unfortunately I never went back to it - sorry jwiz! Maybe it's the time now.

There are a few other sites that offer digital purchases that I know. I've been able to purchase and download from these:

Eic-book.com: it is a good source for stuff that you may not find anywhere, but what kills me in Eic-book the most is that they use WMV files with Microsoft DRM. Fortunately I have specific hardware with me to be able to brake it losslessly, so it's not as much a big issue as it could be for others. Their Full HD releases are REALLY good in quality (at the expense of ~6 GB downloads), but their SD ones are just average (a typical 16:9 video is encoded at 768x432). All in all they are a good source with acceptable prices, but they take very long to release certain titles digitally (like 1 year after DVD street date...). They do release Task Visual titles digitally on the DVD release date, though.

Entaland.jp: typically a reliable source, but very limited in terms of what is available, unfortunately. It offers Full HD videos for some SmashTV labels, like Clubteen's, and that's where I get mine from. The awesome thing is that they normally release videos for download a good 3 weeks before the official DVD release! Their video quality is variable but typically good (in one instance I got a HORRIBLY encoded video, and that was for JSSJ-138, but forget about complaining unless you can write good japanese...). They don't use DRM and have been encoding in MP4 now, but their prices are very much expensive. If you don't want to spend that much money with them, you have the option of waiting about a year for Eic-book to offer the same thing. :p

Xcream.net: this is definitely the cheapest site of all I'm listing here. Very cheap prices, but they also use MS DRM (WMV files). They also have quite limited offer compared to Eic-book (well, everyone else pales in comparison to Eic-book, to be honest). I've used it to get early Layfull stuff and also some Mare (that I posted here), either because it was cheaper than Eic or because it still wasn't available there at all. Anyway, their most redeeming feature is price; video quality is just okay (I've gotten 16:9 videos from which I had to crop black bars, though...).

Bagus-web.com: a nice clean website with titles from many labels available for download, even stuff that isn't available at Eic. Unfortunately though, here enters the points system. You don't get to buy a video straight for a price in money; instead, you buy points and use those points to get the videos you can afford. Of course you always have to spend higher than you would by getting a single video with money, so it's only worth if there's a title there that you must have. I've got JSSJ-122 from there in 1080p (for some reason it didn't show up in Entaland), and their video quality is rather accomplished. Recommended under circunstances like this - and because they use MP4 with no DRM.

U18.tv: they have many many titles available, but they also use an annoying points system, much like Bagus-web; works the same way, in which you buy a set number of points from the options they offer and spend with what you can. Fortunately there are many good old titles for an acceptable amount of points, but also at some point you're bound to get frustrated at missing "just a few" to get something. I've downloaded a couple of classics from them and their SD video quality could be a tiny better. They don't use DRM though, which is a plus.

These are the ones I know and use. I am always on the look out for new sites that offer digital downloads though, so I'll definitely update this list if I find something new. Like you, I think digital downloads are an awesome means for foreigners to obtain this stuff legaly. The offers are currently really scarce though; even in Eic-book, there are thousands of titles that aren't available digitally (and nobody has ripped yet :p).

A small p.s.: on the topic of the hassle involved to buy from these sites, I can tell they're quite hassle-free. I don't speak japanese and was able to do it using my international credit card, so I assume anyone can. Nothing that a quick Google Translation wouldn't help :)
 
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jwiz

Akiba Citizen
Apr 6, 2007
966
1,505
No problem Death Metal.

Entaland.jp has that Japanese captcha system that I never got around. How did you do it?
 
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Death Metal

Burning Knuckle
Jan 9, 2007
642
966
I had to use the Windows character map app. If you set the font to one like MingLiU (available in Windows 7), you can see all available japanese characters. Then the nasty part of it is to manually look in the map for the characters that are displayed in the captcha. That's the only way I thought of doing it and it involved some trial and error too.
 
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jwiz

Akiba Citizen
Apr 6, 2007
966
1,505
Crap been away. And you had the same problem I was having. I seemed to not select the proper character set and it was a bitch to enter it in time because there was a time limit for the captcha.
 

Fuzzypeach

Active Member
Dec 12, 2009
111
111
Hey guys just too make sure, can I dl bluray from EIC-Book? I appreciate your response bc I am feenin for Mayumi, Asami, Hiyori, Rei, and whatever idol that is there. Thank you
 

ihmissusi

Well-Known Member
Jan 10, 2014
444
1,197
I guess I can give life to this thread as my questions are related to buying IV downloads :)

Has anyone here been buying any HD IV downloads recently?

I got some questions about buying and downloading IV from
different sites.

DMM

I noticed DMM has many IV works that aren't available in HD at
any other sites. I'm aware their recent DRM cant be removed.
But would still like to get some HD downloads from them.
  • Has anyone here bought IV downloads from DMM?
  • How is the quality of the HD videos of theirs?
  • What is the best way to buy from DMM if the international credit card doesn't work?
EIC-Book, Entaland and Bagus
  • Do I need to use VPN to create a account and download?
  • The DRM of EIC-Book can it be removed and what software?
  • The point system of Bagus. What is the conversion rate from yen to points?
  • As Death Metal mentioned. Does it work for others also to use international credit card on these sites?
 
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Haa-ya!

New Member
Jul 9, 2009
2
0
Has anyone from the US tried amazon.jp video (prime membership from amazon.jp)? I currently own a Fire HD tablet and a Fire TV, but I'd be willing to but a Fire TV stick from amazon.jp if that would "help". The IV selection is so-so (but cheap), but it would also be interesting for the Japanese movies as well ;)

Anyway, thanks for any responses!
 

qweo

New Member
Jun 11, 2009
3
0
I bought a movie from eic-av but it does not play. I am using Windows 8 and when I play the file I cannot get media usage rights.

Does anyone know of any solution?
 

ihmissusi

Well-Known Member
Jan 10, 2014
444
1,197
I bought a movie from eic-av but it does not play. I am using Windows 8 and when I play the file I cannot get media usage rights.

Does anyone know of any solution?

If I understood right the EIC movies have DRM protection. I haven't yet myself used EIC-book or EIC-av yet.
But I think you should get a code for viewing the movie when you buy it.
 

qweo

New Member
Jun 11, 2009
3
0
If I understood right the EIC movies have DRM protection. I haven't yet myself used EIC-book or EIC-av yet.
But I think you should get a code for viewing the movie when you buy it.

I did get a code and I think it is just an order code but I'm not too sure. From the site's help pages, there should be an online authentication when I play the file of the movie but this part does not seem to work or me.

Also, I don't think foreigners can buy from dmm.com. You could be able to use dmm.co.jp or r18.com which has some idol videos.

I didn't use a VPN to access eic-av and I used a debit card from U.S.
 

ihmissusi

Well-Known Member
Jan 10, 2014
444
1,197
I did get a code and I think it is just an order code but I'm not too sure. From the site's help pages, there should be an online authentication when I play the file of the movie but this part does not seem to work or me.

Also, I don't think foreigners can buy from dmm.com. You could be able to use dmm.co.jp or r18.com which has some idol videos.

I didn't use a VPN to access eic-av and I used a debit card from U.S.

I tried to check on EIC-Book about how it works playing their digital download videos.
First one has to unpack the video file. Then one has to use the latest windows media player.
It seems like one should use the login email and password to view the videos. But Im not
100% certain.

Yes you are right. Its not dmm.com...its dmm.co.jp.

R18 doesnt have the idol videos Im looking for :(

Sounds good one doesnt need VPN for EIC and also it works with international card :)
 
Last edited:

Nephrinn

Member
May 29, 2007
35
97
Just a little feedback from me. I recently bought 3 HD videos (Ayaka Okita) from eic-book and am quite pleased with the quality. Two of the videos were .wmv files (ripped from the bluray) and definitely appeared to be the 1080p @ 6000kbits they claim. They look significantly better than any of the pirated 720p versions on the internet.

The third video did not have a bluray release, so I was interested to see a HD version of it. Unfortunately, it has problems. First, it's encoded in some weird format with a .wspyv extension, and while the video appears to be high quality and MUCH better than the DVD, it has a lot of pixelation/noise when the video moves. It looks incredible when the video is still or not moving much, but the noise looks really bad at times. Which means they probably fucked up the encoding. It also doesn't help WHEN THERE IS NO AUDIO. Yeah, either they screwed up the audio or this .wspyv file needs some weird codec they don't tell you about. I'm not that mad about it because I do have a copy of the DVD, which I plan on extracting the audio from and using shadowplay to get the retarded DRM off these videos.

Still, it feels great supporting your favorite idols. :D
 
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Burning Knuckle
Jan 9, 2007
642
966
The third video did not have a bluray release, so I was interested to see a HD version of it. Unfortunately, it has problems. First, it's encoded in some weird format with a .wspyv extension, and while the video appears to be high quality and MUCH better than the DVD, it has a lot of pixelation/noise when the video moves. It looks incredible when the video is still or not moving much, but the noise looks really bad at times. Which means they probably fucked up the encoding. It also doesn't help WHEN THERE IS NO AUDIO. Yeah, either they screwed up the audio or this .wspyv file needs some weird codec they don't tell you about. I'm not that mad about it because I do have a copy of the DVD, which I plan on extracting the audio from and using shadowplay to get the retarded DRM off these videos.

Still, it feels great supporting your favorite idols. :D
I think the .wspyv extension is still the wmv format, but the one video you picked was probably a bad single pass encode. Yeah, the bad part of byuing files online is that you never know if the encoding will be up to par. I have come across some of those as well, and they were not cheap. Fortunately it's been a low ocurrence type of incident.

Anyway, EIC-book changed their DRM method from May 2016, so my review up above no longer applies. I will update my post soon and include another website I found that sells digital videos.