Holy Sh*t Play have killed off HKL's website! ;-)

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 08 Jul 2005, 19:58

Yes.

2 old DVDs for £15 is hardly a good offer when the likes of CD-WOW have them cheaper. I've got a good mind to cancel that HKL "newsletter", its got nothing of interest to say, like release dates etc.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 08 Jul 2005, 23:28

CD WOW are an anomaly. Most other e-tailors and certainly stores charge about the same. I wouldn't be surprised if most people who get the newsletter think they're good deals.

I beg to differ on the info front though it does contain the odd titbit.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 11 Jul 2005, 22:03

Ong Bak is up at DVD Times. Nothing new I don't think bar maybe the exact spec. and cover art:

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=57724

memetic · Post by **memetic** » 12 Jul 2005, 12:03

bradavon wrote:Where did you read DTS compresses worse than DD? As I'm sure this is not the case from many sources I've read over the years.

Ignoring everything else for a minute half bit-rate DTS (768Kbps) is nearly double full-rate DD5.1 (448Kbps) and is double low bit-rate DD5.1 (384Kps). That has to account for something.

A friend of mine knows quite a bit about it and explained that DTS is designed for "light" compression and that half bit-rate, while retaining a greater frequency range than DD, has a lower dynamic range. So short impulsive sounds compress worse than DD but sounds that occur across a large frequency range such as applause is still better in DTS. Unfortunately the latter case doesn't occur nearly as much as the former.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 12 Jul 2005, 13:53

Could you be right about it being designing for minimal compression.

jimmyscab · Post by **jimmyscab** » 12 Jul 2005, 18:04

ive heard dynamic range of DTS is higher than DD. :drunken:

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 15 Jul 2005, 11:44

Today's special is Duel to the Death for £10, I'm sure its cheaper elsewhere though.
I was wondering whether to buy DTTD, I know opinions are divided on it, some people love it (LD), others think its shit (Romero)

Anyway, from the news update:
Fist of Fury Features

The HKL production team recently travelled to Toronto, Canada to record the memories of Nora Miao, one of Hong Kong Cinema's most famous leading ladies. Nora was the only actress to appear with Bruce Lee in all three of his greatest cinematic achievements: The Big Boss, Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon.

Deeply saddened by his death, Nora has not spoken about her 'Bruce Lee experience' on camera for many years, so we felt privileged as she reminisced about her close personal friendship with 'The Little Dragon', and recalled a series of fascinating anecdotes that reveal 'the man behind the legend', as never before.

All coming soon on our feature-packed Fist of Fury: 2 Disc Platinum Edition. Pick up your copy from January 6th 2006.

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 15 Jul 2005, 12:27

Duel To The Death is OK, nothing special. Some great wacky moments in it and the choreography is good but I found the characterisation a bit thin

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 15 Jul 2005, 13:30

grim_tales wrote:Nora was the only actress to appear with Bruce Lee in all three of his greatest cinematic achievements: The Big Boss, Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon.

Was she in ETD?

I beg to differ I'd replace ETD with TBB easily.

grim_tales wrote:'The Little Dragon', and recalled a series of fascinating anecdotes that reveal 'the man behind the legend', as never before.

Yeah right. How many times have I read that before?

Ivan Drago wrote:but I found the characterisation a bit thin

Isn't that the case with many martial arts films.

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 15 Jul 2005, 14:01

Nora isn't in Enter The Dragon - not sure why, she'd have brightened the film up considerably.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 15 Jul 2005, 16:06

bradavon wrote:
grim_tales wrote:Nora was the only actress to appear with Bruce Lee in all three of his greatest cinematic achievements: The Big Boss, Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon.
Was she in ETD?

It's says WAY of the Dragon.

Nora wasn't in Enter, but there was a lookalike, Betty Chung.

And as for Duel to the Death: well, I liked it; but seriously a tenner, that's sooooooo much better than the 5.99 I paid for it PRE-ORDER from CD-Wow. Honestly are HKL taking the piss or what?

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 15 Jul 2005, 16:43

Just get the Fox dvd of Duel to the Death for a few pounds and then if you like it, buy the HKL as its not anything good and still no idea why HKL choose that film to release

but each to there own.

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 15 Jul 2005, 17:13

It's a title of considerable reput but I would rather HKL smelt the coffee and released Hapkido

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 15 Jul 2005, 19:47

I wish HKL would release many great films, soon please

stick that in the forums.

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 15 Jul 2005, 20:08

I requested Hapkido today on the HKL forum, along with assorted old school classics

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 15 Jul 2005, 22:37

Ivan Drago wrote:I requested Hapkido today on the HKL forum, along with assorted old school classics

There's not enough money in them for HKL to make old school films a priority. Angela Mao has a cult following... but HKL need to shift major units to turn a profit. Jackie Chan does that. Jet Li does that. Angela? Very unlikely.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 15 Jul 2005, 23:29

Markgway wrote:It's says WAY of the Dragon.

Oops I meant:

I beg to differ I'd replace TBB with ETD easily.

romerojpg wrote:still no idea why HKL choose that film to release but each to there own.

Avenging Fist
Red Wolf

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 15 Jul 2005, 23:40

Avenging Fist
Red Wolf

Body Weapon
Naked Weapon
The Master

Suddenly I'm losing all respect for HKL.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 15 Jul 2005, 23:42

Has anybody made a topic about that stupid/f***ing/rotten/bastard voice-over man on the HKL forum ?

God I hate those new trailers !

I'd do it, but I fear I might get mad (and banned forever). :shock:

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 Jul 2005, 00:25

Is he different from the old stupid/fucking/rotten/bastard voice-over man they used to use?

I quite like Naked Weapon although it would be better if they cut the rape scene, that added nothing and instead hurt the film.

p.s - No need to * here. The big debate on a swear censor ended in NO

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 16 Jul 2005, 00:51

No need to * here. The big debate on a swear censor ended in NO

"F***ing" is lighter than "Fucking".
That's why I put the * in there.

Is he different from the old ....... voice-over man they used to use?

Nah. When I'm talking about new trailers, I meant the post-2002 trailers.

The good ol' music-only trailers were fine. I still watch them very often.
Stuff like 200AD, Armour of God, Drunken Master, Snake in the Eagle's shadow, Hong-Kong 1941, etc...

The voice-over trailers make me want to throw the dvd out the window.
Dragons Forever, Moon Warriors, Swordsman, Tiger on the Beat come to mind.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 Jul 2005, 01:15

I was referring to the voice-over man who used to speak the biographies (remember? right at the start).

I liked that approach but it seems no one else did so they killed that idea.

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 16 Jul 2005, 11:30

"There's not enough money in them for HKL to make old school films a priority. Angela Mao has a cult following... but HKL need to shift major units to turn a profit. Jackie Chan does that. Jet Li does that. Angela? Very unlikely."

It's got Sammo, hasn't it?

The animated bios are a waste of space and take up bit rate that should be for the picture

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 16 Jul 2005, 14:44

Not that much surely?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 Jul 2005, 17:27

Exactly Grim. The fact is 80-90% of DVDs have at least 1Gb not used of the 8.5GB (dual layer) available. So clearly bit-rate is not actually an issue as much as people think.

Take "Road to Perdition" Fox's reason for dropping DTS (which at half rate takes roughly 750Mb) which is on the R1 was lack of space. I checked out the total size of the UK R2 DVD when I got it and it's only 6.7Gb so more than plenty of room left for DTS!

Besides animated biographies take naff all space up. Still it's a moot point they no longer use them.

p.s - Sammo isn't what he used to be and has never had a foot hold in the west in the way Jackie Chan or Jet Li have. Joe Public wouldn't know who he is.