Avoid Zoke Culture House of Flying Daggers DVD!

[senordingdong]

I just bought this disc and found out that the print is REALLY bad. It's Telesync quality with hard to read burned on subs. As far as I can tell, it is a legal copy, but it's a really bad one.

[dleedlee]

I went to a local Chinese book and video fair this weekend and saw copies of Flying Dagger. It listed Chinese and English subs, but the covers were obviously bootleg quality. And under the wrapping there was a big white sticker over where the audio language would be (next to the subs info) that said 'Chinese'. At first I thought it was a boot of the legit mainland release but not sure why the legit cover would say with Eng. subs. I was tempted but passed. I didn't notice the supposed label but I don't think it was Zoke.

** off topic **

I did pick up some nice 2CD sets of Teresa Teng, Cai Qin/Tsui Kam,A*Mei and Faye Wong (supposedly SACD!) though @ 3/$20. The sourcing might be questionable, but the quality is excellent. I also found a 2CD collection of martial arts movie/TV themes featuring (Sam Hui,Roman Tam, Jackie Chan, et al). All in all, I got 7 sets for $40, the nice lady not charging for the 7th set.

My dad picked up a couple TV series, one from Tai Seng (Detective Files II). When we got home, the discs were the blue tint variety which I gather means 'homemade'. They were also packaged in a case so that 10 discs stacked on a spindle. I think the way the pricing worked in general was the legit TV series were @ .90/disc and the bootlegs were @.60/disc.

Weird sidenote, I played the Tsui Kam CD while I stayed for dinner and in the process discovered that my dad was a Zhou Xuan fan! Man, what a surprise that was. (Zhou Xuan was a famous songstress/actress from the '30s and '40s who met a sad end.) I've been a fan of hers for quite awhile now and to learn that my Dad was also a fan is a strange convergency.

[senordingdong]

This one has a real cover, from a store that only supplies legit copies. The label on the disc itself is not a sticker. The official region 3 disc comes out on Oct 22, so if you have an all region player, you should check that out. I myself am waiting for a proper region free release.

[dleedlee]

Yeah, I can wait. Not like I have a lack of movies to watch. I don't want to support bootleggers (the CD discussions above being a big exception ) I wish I had waited on the extended cut of Hero, too. Maybe the HK release will come out soon, and without the Face logo.

[magic-8]

Preorder the Edko DVD from layoyo.com, due out on the 19th!

[dleedlee]

Can't remember where, but I read that the Zoke subs were better than the Edko translation. Anyone have an opinion as to which is better?

[cyk]

the only copy that I have found of Flying Daggers with good English subtitles is Edko films one....but you should note that it is Region 3 so unles you have a dvd player that can cope with that I suggest you purchase the vcd.

[PAUL MARTINEZ]

I have the Zoke Culture VCD and the subs at times are hard to read. Not so much that you can't follow but does get annoying sometimes. It however did not have any influence over my overall feeling about this film. Which is not very good at all. If you have seen the film I'm wondering how others feel. I really have some problems with it which can be read in detail on my review. But I seem to be the only one who feels this way.

[dleedlee]

Can't remember where, but I read that the Zoke subs were better than the Edko translation. Anyone have an opinion as to which is better?

I should clarify, I meant that I heard (wish I could remember where) that the subs were a better translation. Actually, I have the Edko DVD but I haven't watched it yet because I'm holding off for watching it on theatrical release first, which is hopefully, later this month. I did the same with WKW's ITMFL, I bought the lousy first release of the DVD and held on to it for about three months, watched it in the theater before seeing the DVD. Luckily, the TF1 and Criterion releases came out eventually.

Hey, Paul, does the Zoke vcd also have the pop up logo?

[PAUL MARTINEZ]

Yes it does.

[dleedlee]

Thanks. Some Pearl City vcds also have pop up logos but these are old b/w films and they are hardly noticeable. I think with the newer films it'd be more of a distraction. I'm still too afraid to watch the Hero Extended Edition.