MAD DOC

English

简体中文

English

简体中文

Appearance

Source Media, Encoding, and Project Management ​

Scope

This entry covers lawful sources, media structure, project management, and archiving. It does not list piracy sites, cracked tools, or methods for evading platform copyright identification.

Sources ​

SourceSuitable materialRequired record
Purchased physical mediaAnime, film, music, and bundled game contentEdition, region, disc number, and extraction date; whether technical protection may be bypassed depends on local law
Authorized digital purchase／downloadContent officially supplied as downloadable filesStore, order or license, download format, and permitted use
Rights-holder media kitPV, trailer, press kit, or contest-designated materialPublisher, original page, terms of use, and publication date
Open-license platformImages, fonts, sound effects, music, and videoExact license version, author, attribution requirements, and download date
Public domainMaterial whose rights have expired or that has been explicitly dedicated to the public domainJurisdiction, basis for the determination, and original archive
Creator permissionIllustration, photography, animation, music, and project filesLicensor, scope, platforms, term, and whether modification and redistribution are permitted
Self-produced materialDrawing, live footage, 3D, and recordingsParticipants and third-party dependencies such as models, fonts, and textures

“Free to download,” “no watermark,” and “found online” are not licenses.

Why MKV, HEVC, and 10-bit Media Often Fail to Import ​

Keep three concepts separate:

  • Container: MP4, MKV, and MOV are boxes that hold multiple tracks;
  • Codec: H.264, H.265/HEVC, AV1, ProRes, and DNxHR determine how video is compressed;
  • Pixels and color: 8-bit/10-bit, 4:2:0/4:2:2, and HDR/SDR determine how the image is represented.

If software reports that “.mkv is unsupported,” the container may be unsupported. An HEVC error may instead involve a system decoder, bit depth, hardware support, or variable frame rate. Inspect the actual media with MediaInfo or ffprobe before processing it; renaming the extension does not change the container or codec.

Demuxing, Transcoding, and Proxies ​

Demuxing／remuxing ​

Moves audio and video tracks from one container to another without recompression. It is fast and causes no quality loss, but it cannot solve an unsupported codec. MKVToolNix and FFmpeg can both perform the operation.

Transcoding ​

Decodes and encodes the media again. It can turn a highly compressed delivery format into an editing-friendly intermediate codec, but requires more space; using another lossy codec also introduces generational loss.

Proxy ​

Creates a temporary, low-resolution, easy-to-decode copy for editing, then reconnects to the original media for final output. A proxy does not improve source quality; its purpose is responsive interaction.

Frame-Rate Processing ​

Anime sources may mix 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, or 30 fps and variable frame rates. Before processing, determine:

  1. The target timeline frame rate;
  2. Whether the source is genuinely high frame rate, repeated-frame, interlaced, or variable-frame-rate material;
  3. Whether speed changes require frame blending, optical flow, or frame-by-frame reconstruction;
  4. Whether audio synchronization drifts over a long timeline.

Frame interpolation is not a universal quality enhancement. Occlusion, fast movement, flashes, particles, and shot changes can create stretching, ghosting, and “jelly” artifacts and require shot-by-shot inspection. Keep the original frame rate or use another method when a shot cannot be reconstructed reliably.

Color and Image Consistency ​

  • Misinterpreting limited and full range can produce raised blacks, crushed blacks, or abnormal highlights;
  • HDR material entering an SDR timeline requires correct color management and mapping;
  • Aggressive sharpening cannot restore detail already lost to low-bitrate compression;
  • Removing burned-in subtitles, station logos, or text generally damages the source image and should not be presented as “lossless”;
  • Before unifying color, determine the narrative purpose of each shot so that day/night and memory layers are not flattened.
text
project-name/
├─ 00_admin/          # brief, permissions, source list, version history
├─ 01_audio/          # music, dialogue, sound effects
├─ 02_footage/        # original source media, read-only
├─ 03_proxy/          # reproducible proxies
├─ 04_graphics/       # images, font notes, vectors, textures
├─ 05_project/        # editing, compositing, and 3D projects
├─ 06_renders/        # intermediate renders and cache
├─ 07_exports/        # masters, release encodes, covers, subtitles
└─ 99_archive/        # manifests, checksums, final archive

Filenames should include at least the content, shot or episode, version, and date. Use explicit version numbers instead of unstable names such as “final.”

Source Manifest Template ​

FieldExample
asset_idanime-a_ep03_001
NameWork A, Episode 3
Source entityRights holder／store／creator
Source URLOriginal page or order record
Acquisition dateYYYY-MM-DD
License／usePersonal practice, contest-specified, CC BY 4.0, etc.
Container／codecMKV / HEVC Main10
Frame rate23.976 CFR
Resolution1920×1080
Audio／subtitlesJapanese FLAC, Chinese ASS subtitles
ChecksumSHA-256
NotesHDR, proxy required, no redistribution

Conclusions Localized from Historical Tutorials ​

MAD Bar’s newcomer navigation once listed posts on MKV extraction, image search, locating original footage, and MKVToolNix. They show that source preprocessing has long been a central problem for newcomers, but some posts and images are now unavailable, and older tutorials may use obsolete software or point to unauthorized sources.

MAD DOC preserves their problem structure and original-post index, localizes generally applicable knowledge, and replaces old download links with current official documentation. See the original navigation in the Source Index.

For encoding parameters, frame rate, color information, and delivery checks, see Encoding and Delivery.

Tool Documentation ​