How to get started with creqing

This guide is meant to get you started with creqing, it will explain how/where and what to creq, in different sections depending on what kind of object you want to change.

Most creqs are done to the files, as they are often entered wrong, and alot of the time, things in anidb change, and the fileentries need to be updated because/in preparation of this.

Files

These are usually the most easy creqs to make, as you generally do them if you have the file at hand, and notice that things are wrong/missing in the fileentry.

If you do not know whether you have files like this or not, you should check your mylist reports. There are a number of reports made specifically for the purpose of finding missing information.

A few different aspects of the files to take a look at are these:

Length			If the length of the file is entered wrong or not entered at all, please check in your favourite video-player how long the file is. Note that sometimes if you have bad codecs installed, your vidoe player may show the time wrong; we recommend you use the CCCP if you are in doubt. You could also use avdump for this.
Hashes			AniDB stores a bunch of hashes that are used to uniquely identify each file, almost every file in AniDB will have an ed2k-hash, and most files will also have a CRC. If you want to fill in all the hashes that AniDB supports, I would recommend that you use one of the AniDB clients to hash your file: AOM or WebAOM.
	Official CRC		You should mark this if the CRC matches the official CRC for the file, as provided by the releasing group. As you noticed, there were a few caveats in that sentence: The file needs to be released by an actual group. The group that released it has to have listed the official CRC. This can either be in the group's IRC-channel topic, their website, their forum, or the filename as long as you got the file directly from the group.
Version			If you the group has released more than one version of this episode, you should set which version it is here. This information can often be gleaned from the filename, it if contains a "v2" or similar. If there is no file already in the DB by this group for this episode, it will likely be a v1 (though there are exceptions). Some groups do not list which version a file is, and at such times, you should use your own judgement.
Censored			If a file is censored, you should make sure tihs flag is set. Censored does not mean that there are bleeps instead of swear-words, it means that genitalia or extreme guro is mosaiced/blurred out.
Group			This should be set to the group that released the file - the groupname is usually supplied in the filename unless it has been renamed. Note that it should be the group of the ones who did most of the work on the file that should be entered, not someone who just redistributes the file, or (god forbid) reencode the file by himself for whatever reason. Alot of RAW groups only redistribute files - they do not encode or capture the video themselves, they just download it from their favourite p2p network and redistribute it on another one. further information
Released			Here you should enter the date the group released the file - if the group does not specify the date on their own website but you know when it was made public, you should specify the date using GMT. A few resources you could check for file release dates if you cannot find the information on the group's website or IRC channel are the following: Envirosphere or Baka-Updates.
Audio			When it comes to audio, you should check how many streams there are, what languages the streams are in, how many channels the streams are, which codecs the streams use, and what bitrate the streams are in. Note: For each stream, this is usually different!
	Language		As some files do not specify which audio language a file has, you should really try to check this by listening to the audio. If you do not know the language, if the file specifies which audio it has, then that is good enough. You can find out which language a stream uses in alot of different programs, but we here at AniDB will recommend the nifty little program called: avdump.
	Codec		For finding out which codec an audio stream uses, we recommend that you use avdump, but you can also use AOM if the file is an avi-container with just one audio-stream. If you use AOM for this, you should note that it doesn't specify whether an mp3 audio stream is CBR or VBR. A general rule you can use for this is, that if the bitrate is specified as 112, 128, 160, 192 or something like that, with only 0s as decimals, it is probably CBR. If it has decimals or are other numbers that just seem odd, it is probably VBR. This is not a failsafe rule however, but it is generally accepted as good enough.
	Bitrate		Quite alot of fileentries have missing or bad bitrate information, though for audio it is more common to have than for video; you can and should use avdump to get this information. If you want to, AOM will also work.
	Channels		The number of channels of audio for a file - 2.0 is standard stereo, and it is also the most common. Other valid options include 1.0 for mono, 4.0 for Dolby Surround, 5.1 for Surround, and there are also 6.1 and 7.1, but those are so far very rare. Note: Creqing for this has not yet been implemented. But it should be soon.
	Streams		If the file has more than one audio-stream, for now, you need to specify this information in a comment. This will soon be changed however, since AniDB very recently added support for multiple audio-streams. You just can't modify them yet. further information
Video			Most files contain only one video stream, but there are exceptions. If the file you are creqing has more than one, for now, you should add the information about it in the comment field. Also note that alot of players and video-file inspectors won't be able to correctly detect these kinds of things, so you should use a program like avdump to get correct information.
	Resolution		The resolution is specified by the video-stream's width and height, you can use a program like avdump to find out what the exact measurements are; and if the file is in an avi-container with just one stream, you can use AOM.
	FPS		FPS stands for Frames-per-second, and describes how many video frames are displayed each second in the video-stream. This is a very newly added field, and as such it cannot be creqed just yet. If the file is in a matroska video container (mkv), the FPS can change whenever the video needs it, so these files cannot be accurately entered here. For most files the frame-rate will be 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 30 or sometimes even 120fps. In Japan and the US, DVDs and TV-shows are mostly encoded/broadcast using 24, 29.97 or 30fps, while in Europe, 25fps is most often used. So depending on the origin of the file, you can make assumptions about its fps. Note: Creqing for this has not yet been implemented. But it should be soon.
	Codec		When it comes to codecs, you should use programs such as avdump or maybe even gspot (though this is not recommended, as it reports the FourCC entered, which can sometimes be wrong). In general, avi-containers have DivX or XviD, and H264 is most often encountered in matroska video containers (mkv). These are not rules however, and you should actually check which is the correct codec.
	Bitrate		Bitrates for video-streams are a tough thing to get correct - in fact, there probably is no "correct" bitrate at all, because most different programs report a different bitrate. There is no standard way to get the bitrate. AniDB recommends you use avdump to get the bitrate.
Subtitles			When it comes to subtitles, there are two major things to take note of: if it is hardsubbed or if it is softsubbed. If it is softsubbed, there can easily be more than one subtitle-stream, however if it is hardsubbed, it would be much more encumbersome to make more than one subtitle-stream. For now, because stream-editing hasn't been implemented just yet, you will haveto add information about the different streams in the comment field.
	Language		Set the language to the subtitle's language. If it is softsubbed, and you don't recognize the language used, you can take a look at what avdump says about the subtitle-stream. However, it is better to say which language is used by viewing the file with the subs and enter it that way, since erroneous information could be entered.
	Type		This specifies whether the file has softsubs or hardsubs, softsubs are a separate stream only rendered when the video is being output to the screen. Hardsubs are encoded as a part of the video-stream. Note: Creqing for this has not yet been implemented. But it should be soon.
	Flags		Flags you can set should include whether the subtitle stream is especially designed for the hearing impaired, or if it has director's comments in it. Note: Creqing for this has not yet been implemented. But it should be soon.

Sources

Note:

For every change you propose, you should specify your source.

Filenames

If your source is a filename, you should specify the filename, as well as account for where you got it.

Topics

If your source is an IRC topic, you should specify which channel and network (and password if needed) it is on, as well as the actual topic.

Forum posts

If your source is a forum post, you should give a link to the thread and/or specific post you refer to. Note that if the poster is not one of the group's actual members, the source will be regarded as invalid.

Websites

The main website of a group is not enough, unless the information is in a newsitem on the front-page, you should specify the exact page where your information was found.