kung fu grip
Mar. 3rd, 2004 10:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabSay, I know other folks have wondered about this, so here's what could be construed as an actually serviceable PSA:
About those Hong Kong/Chinese subtitle DVDs.
eBay -- and other places, probably, but everything I am I owe to eBay -- has been offering of late TV show boxed sets in the so-called Asian collector's edition. They're way cheaper -- $19-$29 for a whole season, usually -- than the American DVD boxed sets, but I know folks are dubious.
Me, I boughtthree. FOUR. I can't count that high, apparently.
I have X-Files seasons 4, 5 & 6 in Asian Boxed Set, and ST:DS9 season 3 in said. I've watched them, mostly. Here's what I learned.
First of all -- don't worry about the subtitles. I always watch TV with subtitles, so I put them on, on purpose, but the Chinese subtitles on these disks toggle on and off just like every other subtitle on every other DVD.
Second of all -- as, I think,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shaye pointed out several weeks back -- the boxes do have Asian characters on them, which gives them a nicely kitchy value, compounded delightfully by the fact that frequently the text is spelled wrong: over here I've got the X-Friles episodes "Post-Modern Promtheus" and "Memento Mor."
They come in a little magnetic cardboard box, where the art looks xeroxed on but not unattractive. I haven't checked out the bonus features/special features on any of these DVDs, nor, come to think of it, have I seen evidence of them.
This is largely due to the fact that the menus/chapter headings are a little mysterious -- for example, you stick in a disk and your options are "play movie" or "select subtitle," without getting the root menu of episode titles to navigate through. Chapter advancement is equally spotty -- some episodes seem to be one chapter long (have no interior chapter breaks), while some, I swear, have chapter breaks every eleven seconds. Sometimes you can wiggle some DVD kung fu and back up to a chapter menu from inside the episde; sometimes they're just MIA entirely.
On the other hand, every DVD is different, by which I mean, every disk within the set is formatted slightly differently, so you might get lucky and get some with good chapter breaks and titles.
Plus, the image is crisp, video and audio are DVD-quality and tasty.
However. Several episodes I've viewed -- a couple per boxed set, at least -- choked/froze in that way that DVDs do, where if you're lucky you can frame-advance or scan forward to get out of the hang, and if you're unlucky you're stuck staring at the same shot of Mulder half-screaming forever because the counter's frozen. At least one episode per boxed set over here has frozen/shut down entirely, and, without chapter advance commands, made it impossible for me to watch the rest of the ep. I would forward-scan for several minutes without the frame changing, and then give up.
Um. I think that's everything I know about Hong Kong DVD Madness -- oh, and that it takes about a month for the boxed sets to ship to the US from Hong Kong -- so it comes down to a money question: if $19 is worth some blips as above as opposed to the $60ish the American boxed set would run you on eBay, I say go for it.
Last thing to consider, for those of us on the manic bell-curve of having money and being broke: if you get the Hong Kong DVDs, you'll be hard pressed to sell them back anywhere (insert your favorite used DVD store or eBay -- who's gonna buy 'em *used* on eBay when they can get 'em new so cheap?) if you hit that day when you need to hock stuff for food.
About those Hong Kong/Chinese subtitle DVDs.
eBay -- and other places, probably, but everything I am I owe to eBay -- has been offering of late TV show boxed sets in the so-called Asian collector's edition. They're way cheaper -- $19-$29 for a whole season, usually -- than the American DVD boxed sets, but I know folks are dubious.
Me, I bought
I have X-Files seasons 4, 5 & 6 in Asian Boxed Set, and ST:DS9 season 3 in said. I've watched them, mostly. Here's what I learned.
First of all -- don't worry about the subtitles. I always watch TV with subtitles, so I put them on, on purpose, but the Chinese subtitles on these disks toggle on and off just like every other subtitle on every other DVD.
Second of all -- as, I think,
shaye pointed out several weeks back -- the boxes do have Asian characters on them, which gives them a nicely kitchy value, compounded delightfully by the fact that frequently the text is spelled wrong: over here I've got the X-Friles episodes "Post-Modern Promtheus" and "Memento Mor."They come in a little magnetic cardboard box, where the art looks xeroxed on but not unattractive. I haven't checked out the bonus features/special features on any of these DVDs, nor, come to think of it, have I seen evidence of them.
This is largely due to the fact that the menus/chapter headings are a little mysterious -- for example, you stick in a disk and your options are "play movie" or "select subtitle," without getting the root menu of episode titles to navigate through. Chapter advancement is equally spotty -- some episodes seem to be one chapter long (have no interior chapter breaks), while some, I swear, have chapter breaks every eleven seconds. Sometimes you can wiggle some DVD kung fu and back up to a chapter menu from inside the episde; sometimes they're just MIA entirely.
On the other hand, every DVD is different, by which I mean, every disk within the set is formatted slightly differently, so you might get lucky and get some with good chapter breaks and titles.
Plus, the image is crisp, video and audio are DVD-quality and tasty.
However. Several episodes I've viewed -- a couple per boxed set, at least -- choked/froze in that way that DVDs do, where if you're lucky you can frame-advance or scan forward to get out of the hang, and if you're unlucky you're stuck staring at the same shot of Mulder half-screaming forever because the counter's frozen. At least one episode per boxed set over here has frozen/shut down entirely, and, without chapter advance commands, made it impossible for me to watch the rest of the ep. I would forward-scan for several minutes without the frame changing, and then give up.
Um. I think that's everything I know about Hong Kong DVD Madness -- oh, and that it takes about a month for the boxed sets to ship to the US from Hong Kong -- so it comes down to a money question: if $19 is worth some blips as above as opposed to the $60ish the American boxed set would run you on eBay, I say go for it.
Last thing to consider, for those of us on the manic bell-curve of having money and being broke: if you get the Hong Kong DVDs, you'll be hard pressed to sell them back anywhere (insert your favorite used DVD store or eBay -- who's gonna buy 'em *used* on eBay when they can get 'em new so cheap?) if you hit that day when you need to hock stuff for food.
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no subject
Date: 2004-03-03 07:19 pm (UTC)The problem I had on the one disc I've watched so far (BEEN. SO. BUSY.) is that after the episode ended, when I went back to the menu to choose the next episode, I got dumped into some beta-version menu HELL where I actually had to shut my DVD player off and then play the disc again, choosing the next ep from the first menu that pops up. No other way to navigate except that.
Still, for Seasons 1-7 for $200? I ain't complainin'. I've got other stuff I can hock. (For one, we now have one too many tvs and microwaves than we have actual use for. *g*)