I've given some thought to the various versions and formats of films that are available and I'd be interested to know what people think.


Here are my thoughts...

For example, if you get a VCD of a film it tends to be taken from the theatrical print (apart from the new meh ah vcds).

As far as I understand it, they simply put the first reel on the first disc, then the second reel on the second disc.

I see this as being the most desirable to someone who might be considered a 'purist', as the film will be exactly the same as it was at the cinema (along with the burnt-in subtitles in chinese and translation into english).

I see this as a great way to have as a basic or 'reference' version of a film, however we all know DVDs are far better.

However, I tend to find as HK issue DVDs are at a very low price point - the quality often suffers especially with regards to the subtitles (I'm looking at you Deltamac!), I suppose simply because what was being read off the theatrical print wasn't checked properly or the timing wasn't kept the same.

Naturally, the issues I am coming across are because I am not a speaker of either cantonese or mandarin - so subtitles are essential to my understanding of a film (most of the time).

I won't go into the IVL remastered DVDs / boxsets - as I've seen that opinion is pretty much divided and with the new fortune star distributor deal coming - I don't see it being an issue for much longer (unless they do the same).


Finally, I think the Hong Kong Legends label is extremely good - they have even started including the original mono for certain titles and the bey logan commentaries tend to be pretty good (I've learnt a lot from them).

However I think they sometimes suffer, for example they make the picture of Jackie Chan (on Dragon Forever) look the largest on the cover. Naturally this is because he is the most marketable to the majority of potential buyers (outside of Hong Kong). If you look at the same film, but the HK version you'll see Jackie, Sammo and Yuen Biao all together. It's just a fact of marketing, so not a lot you can do about it.

In addition, BBFC cuts might need to be made, for example in My Lucky Stars or Eastern Condors.



Thoughts?

Usually I'd say DVD is going to be better because it has higher resolution and you don't have to change discs in the middle (which is not a very authentic simulation of the theatrical experience). One reel of film is usually only 10-15 minutes, so it's not the case that reels and discs correspond.

However, DVD does give the distributor more opportunities to make a hash of things, by including dreadfully remixed or out-of-sync audio tracks or retranslating the subtitles (and making them worse)... and HK distributors seem to relish the opportunity to get something wrong with everything they release!

Overall I choose DVD for 99.99% of titles though... and the majority of titles I pick up on VCD for some reason or another end up going unwatched!

MrBooth wrote:Overall I choose DVD for 99.99% of titles though... and the majority of titles I pick up on VCD for some reason or another end up going unwatched!

*gazes into crystal ball*
I see in your future a very big garage sale. Row upon row of unopened VCDs. And a whole bunch of us squabbling over them ............

i´m really not a friend of vcd´s, particularly the bad resolution disturbs me.
sometimes the pictures are totally zoomed and the subtitles are not completely readable.also the running time is mostly wrong.
but some re-releases on dvd have also a bad picture quality.

chiangkamfan wrote:i´m really not a friend of vcd´s, particularly the bad resolution disturbs me.
sometimes the pictures are totally zoomed and the subtitles are not completely readable.also the running time is mostly wrong.
but some re-releases on dvd have also a bad picture quality.

But some movies will only ever see the light of day on VCD (or LD, for that matter). So what does one do ?

lol Hope like mad you see a decent transfer to DVD in your lifetime.

Buy the LD if you can find it, and the VCD if you can't get the LD.
I like dvd's but I ain't that proud to totally exclude them!

IE: Crazy Safari, Ultimate Vampire, Mad Mad Ghost, half a dozen other films with Lam Ching Ying in it.

In some cases, like with Chinese Ghostbuster, the VHS is the only version with english subs, also, I am still kicking myself for not buying the LD of Crazy Safari two summers ago off of ebay... I thought I heard that Deltamac was outing this on DVD by now a few years back, but noooooo.

I think what I'm finding is that you just can't simply pick a certain format or brand and then you're sorted.

There's simply too many films!

What I'll be doing in future is after I find out about a certain film, I see all the different formats that it is possible to get it on - then decide.

Waaaaaa I want a dual layer version of Righting Wrongs and anamorphic screen waaa waaaaa

Tonic wrote:What I'll be doing in future is after I find out about a certain film, I see all the different formats that it is possible to get it on - then decide.

If you want particular films or actors, that indeed is the only way.