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.
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
).
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
