dangermousie | Entries tagged with clubbox

I wrote this up because I was going to do this download 'tutorial' for someone on my flist but then I realized that maybe others would like to see it. I would have loved to have a really simple and encompassing tutorial when I started ;) So here it is to share in case anyone else is interested.

OK, a quick and dirty tutorial. I am not sure how much you know so I wrote as if you don’t have much info. It’s not meant to sound patronizing, so if you know stuff I mention already, just skip that ;)

There are a million other ways to do it btw, this is just (IMVHO) quickest and easiest, at least for me.

First off, I am assuming you are not a Mac user. If you are, I have no idea how these things work on Macs.

OK, to get started.

WHAT YOU NEED IN ORDER TO PLAY DRAMAS:

To play dramas and sub files, what you will need are:

(1) ‘codecs.’ Codecs are programs that allow your video players to recognize subtitles. You need these for any dramas that are ‘soft-subbed’ aka that have a separate subtitle files from video files. (Hardsubbed ones have subs burned in so it’s obviously not an issue).

(2) A video player that will play subs. Most likely you have a video player on your computer already. Most likely you’ll need to install a different, sub compatible one in addition. E.g. I am sure there is some way to get Real Player to play soft-subbed files, but I have yet to figure out how. Of players available, I prefer MPCPlayer and/or VLCPlayer as they play subs and play almost any format. But GOMPlayer is better than both.

(3) If you download files that are split into multiple parts (as are almost all video files on jdramas e.g.), you’ll need a little piece of software known as ‘HJSplit’ to enable you to join the files so that you could play it.

HOW TO GET THE SOFTWARE NECESSARY:

Here is the process. If you complete it, you should be able to play anything with subs ;)

1. CODECs.

To download a codec pack which will cover all the codecs you need at once, go to:

http://www.cccp-project.net/

and download the codecs (I assume you’ll dl the windows version). Follow all the instructions.

Once you do that you should have all the codecs necessary.

2. Video Player

You are in luck. The codec pack you downloaded comes with a free media player, MPCPlayer, which also happens to be one of my favorites. While you can also install VLCPlayer or GOMPlayer, and I can tell you how to do that (hint: just google for them), there isn’t really any need.

3. HJSplit.

To install that software, just go to the community info section of

jdramas comm. Last time I checked, they had the link to the dl. Follow the instructions and dl.

Now you have all the components necessary to dl.

HOW TO DOWNLOAD FILES AND PLAY THEM

I am not fond of torrents myself and only use them as means of last resort. Clubbox has some amazing stuff you can’t find elsewhere but given other options I find clubbox (it’s a Korean direct dl site. It’s in Korean but you can still navigate it) a bit too slow.* So for now, I am going to address just direct download, the files from sendspace, megaupload, yousendit etc (aka all the files posted on jdramas and a lot of other places).

* In fact, for an excellent clubbox tutorial, indespensable for anyone like me who doesn’t understand Korean, go here. I am sure there are torrents tutorials out there but I don’t have my hands on one at the moment. Let me know if you need torrents help and I’ll write something up.

But yeah, direct downloads. I am going to do it through a hypothetical, OK?

Suppose you really want to download first episode of a jdrama ‘My angst is so so pretty’

You go to a dling comm and see that you are in luck. The first ep and the subs have been posted.

The ep downloads consist of following files

Episode 1:

Part 1: hxxp://www.megaupload.com/1373737373 (in real scenario, just replace the ‘xx’ by ‘tt’, I did not want to create false url)
Part 2: hxxp://www.megaupload.com/234676767
Part 3: hxxp://www.megaupload.com/9865433

Subtitles:

hxxp://www.megaupload.com/000333333

What do you do?

You click on the link to ‘part 1’ and then once you are on megaupload (or any other direct downloading site), you click the download button and download it according to the site’s rules (click on ‘save’ etc etc. It’s important not to interrupt this process and let it finish, including the transfer time, because unlike torrent or clubbox, if you stop dl in the middle here, you’ll lose everything and will have to start over).

Then you do the same thing with Part 2, Part 3, and Subtitles.

It is very important that you save all four of them in the same folder (I generally create a separate folder for each drama I watch but it’s obviously a personal preference).

Once all the parts of the ep and the subs are downloaded, you open HJSplit (I have put HJSplit onto my desktop for easier access but obviously that’s not necessary. Just open it from wherever you have it).

Click ‘Join.’ As an input file, pick the file that corresponds to part 1 file you dled (trust me, it would be hard to miss, it has a .001 after it and in any event only .001 files show to start joining). Then click on the button that starts the joining process (the output file will be picked automatically). The HJSplit program will find the other ‘parts’ files and join them automatically if they are saved in the same folder (as they should be). The output file, which will be the complete video file of the ep will be saved in the same folder.

Once it’s done (it might take a while), click OK and close HJSplit.

What you have now, if you open the folder where everything was saved is:

a. Three ‘parts’ video files (you can delete them).
b. The product of the joining: a proper and complete video file of the ep (keep that)
c. a subtitle file, usually ending in .srt (keep that).

You have to make sure (it is very very important) that except for their different suffixes (e.g. .avi for vid file and .srt for sub file) the names of the vid file and the sub file are IDENTICAL to the last space and letter.

And now we get to the fun part, the playing of the episode.

There are two ways to open it. One is to right click on the vid file and chose ‘Play in MPC Player’ as one of the options. Just click on that. The other is to go where MPCPlayer is saved (mine is a subfolder of the CCCP codec files which are themselves a subfolder of my Program Files) and then once you open the player do ‘file open’

Anyway, either way works. Once you open the video file, if the subs are saved in the same folder and with the same name as the vid file, as they should have been, they will play automatically (if not, there are ways to play them manually, and I can explain those separately if you like, but it’s much less painful to just save them with the same name).

Of course, with hardsubs, you don’t have to worry about subs, or if the video file wasn’t split so you don’t have to join, you don’t have to worry about HJSplit, but other than that, the process is the same.

The end.

Let me know if this works for you,

maya_morning and anyone else who uses this.

Must post my London pictures!

I am watching ep 9 of Snow Queen right now (after rewatching certain bits of DGCH repeatedly earlier) and OMG so good! He is falling apart on finding out who Bo Ra really is and then OMG OMG OMG hurt/comfort!!! Because he didn't show up for work and she is so worried (so not like her) and she finds him passed out in the gym, and there she is in her design outfit and expensive shoes, sponging his face, and her hands are shaking, and he is borderline delirious and she gets up to change the water and he holds her hand and whispers 'Don't go' because his usual barriers are worn down by grief and illness and eeeeeee! And she calls Geon Soo because he's a doctor (and reassures TW even though he is out of it, thus not worried, it's reassuring herself) and she doesn't care what it looks like and her appearance doesn't matter, and the fact that she trips carrying the basin doesn't matter (she falls and just picks herself up, feverishly active), and you can see the shock for GS as he finds her frantically scrubbing cloth. And she tells Geon Soo she won't go back with him but stay to take care of TW. EEEEEE!

I am SO excited about Witch Yoo Hee. First three eps are out and first two are Chinese-subbed (hopefully English subbed soon, as I don't speak Chinese :P). It has fun and Chefs and romance and (most importantly to moi) Jae Hee as the male lead (and also Kim Jung Hoon, Prince Yul in Goong as second male lead). *meep*

( Fan trailer and MV from youtube. I defy you to not want to see this after it )

Here is a very quick and easy guide to clubbox (it's for arashi.vox's clubbox but it's universal). For I love clubbox more than torrents and also some stuff (see below) I can just find there.

I am dling the soon-to-be subbed raws of If in love...like them and first two eps of Witch Yoo Hee right now. Hmmmm, maybe I should ul them on jdramas if no one has yet when I get the subs. Yay.

And last but not least, because I seem to be incapable of ever getting over Goong (reserved boys learning how to be human and saved from loneliness by bubbly girls is my favorite trope ever), I bring you my newest favorite Goong Shin/Chae-Gyung MV.

( MV here )

Oh. I really must rewatch this drama yesterday. Once I finish Snow Queen, watch the clubbox stuff above, as well as Let's Go to the Beach and Taiyu No Kisetsu. But before I'll watch Lovers, Freeze, Snow White and Something Happened in Bali. Heeee. I am too much of a dramaholic.