Why isnt there a 'good quality' release of Police Story 2?

[grim_tales]

Are you offering to do one for us? If not, its fine.
Have you sampled the custom BD yet, if so whats the quality like?

[saltysam]

"Cost of a blank and postage and we are good to go" was pretty clear i've had a quick look,looks good,obviously they've used the dimension disc as the main source...

[Markgway]

The Dimension cut is the only one available in true HD. Unlike most US Jackie releases this one was close to uncut with only the coda (and original credits) missing.

[grim_tales]

I didnt know that Mark, thanks
Sam, if I may can I take you up on your offer Thanks

[luckystars]

The Dimension cut is the only one available in true HD. Unlike most US Jackie releases this one was close to uncut with only the coda (and original credits) missing.

But the retail blu has no original audio right?

[grim_tales]

Nope, don't think so. But at least the dub has Jackie doing his own voice.

[Markgway]

The Dimension cut is the only one available in true HD. Unlike most US Jackie releases this one was close to uncut with only the coda (and original credits) missing.

But the retail blu has no original audio right?

No, English dub only.

This custom version should be worth it even for those who don't normally bother with customs because the chances of a better DM2 are currently extremely slim.

[saltysam]

i see Matt Stevens was heavily involved in producing the DM 2 Custom.Didn't he used to post here yonks ago and have regular spats with yi-long's mate Gill

[grim_tales]

I remember Matt Stevens and Gil, Gil could be annoying at times TBH

[Markgway]

i see Matt Stevens was heavily involved in producing the DM 2 Custom.Didn't he used to post here yonks ago and have regular spats with yi-long's mate Gill

I seem to remember that Matt Stevens was a regular poster at the old ADVDG. That was my first haunt. I was introduced to Bullets by Bruce Leroy (remember him?). I think Bullets was at its peak back then with plenty members.

[Markgway]

Gil could be annoying at times TBH

That's typical Grimian understatement!

[grim_tales]

He was definitely annoying, didnt he start arguments constantly and also change his name to Jonathan Stathes (sp?), I'm sure I remember a certain director used to be one of our own... how times change eh? Seems like a long time ago now

[Yi-Long]

I never had a problem with Gil, or Gill, or Mr. Gill, or whatever. He offered criticism, and usually he had the arguments to back those criticisms up, and he always remained civil.

On some fora, when you're critical people take it very personal and they will feel attacked, but I never understood that.

You see it on gaming fora, when you say you would like to see a game having the OPTION for the original Japanese voices. members on those boards will go completely nuts with 'NO!!!', clearly not really understanding the meaning of the word 'option', and will call you 'weeaboo' and whatever else smart things they can think of to make you shut up and back down.

Well, back then, some people on the asian DVD fora said we shouldn't be complaining about butchered cuts, or dub-onloy releases, or pan&scan, because we should simply be grateful that these movies were being released and so we should just shut the fuck up and support those releases. Hell, even people like Quentin Tarentino were using that argument.

Obviously, I don't agree with that opinion.

Anyway, back to this Drunken Master 2 business, why don't they just upload this version as a torrent onto a major site?

[Markgway]

Anyway, back to this Drunken Master 2 business, why don't they just upload this version as a torrent onto a major site?

Probably because it would end up being sold by Pan Media or some such.

[saltysam]

i've just grabbed their custom of Police Story...below is their description





IMDb Link........: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089374/

Genre............: Action
Distributor......: Custom Created by Myself and msp1518
Year.............: 1985
Country..........: Hong Kong
Director.........: Jackie Chan

Source...........: Paramount Japan, Hong Kong Legends, Dragon Dynasty, Others
Blu-ray Codec....: AVC
Blu-ray Size.....: BD50
Programs Used....: Adobe Premier CS6, Adobe Encore CS6, Adobe After Effects CS6,
Audacity, Imgburn, Subtitle Workshop, AnyDVD HD and more.

Screen Format....: 2.35 Widescreen
Resolution.......: 1080p - True High Definition
Subtitles........: English, fully spell checked and synced up. The best available
translations for both versions of the film.

Menu.............: Newly created menus with animation
Video............: Untouched
Audio............: Synced up Laserdisc 16bit PCM Stereo audio
Extras...........: All available extras from all home releases are compiled in this version.

Audio for uncut Japanese version:
. msp1518 supplied the Laserdisc PCM audio for the Japanese cut. He took the time to sync up the audio BETTER than the original. Furthermore, the audio has had any hiss and buzzing sounds removed without affecting the fidelity of the track.

The bottom line is that you probably have NEVER heard Police Story sound this good. The uncompressed, filtered and synced up 16bit PCM Stereo track presented here is dramatically better than any other audio track for the film that is available anywhere.

Audio for the shorter Hong Kong version of the film:

1. The 16 bit PCM Stereo audio track.
For the shorter Hong Kong cut, I used the superior PCM audio track for all scenes that I could, splicing in the remixed Cantonese track for a few minutes in the beginning of the film.

I include four other audio tracks on this version:
2. The 5.1 remixed Cantonese audio track.
3. The English dubbed audio track.
4. The Hong Kong Legends Bey Logan Commentary track from the early 2000s.
5. The more recent Dragon Dynasty commentary track which features Bey Logan and Brett Ratner.

Extras:

I attempted to compile all the special features from all the releases of Police Story that I could find. There are SEVEN separate video special features included here. The total running time for all the special features is close to TWO HOURS. The included features are:

1. A "Making Of" feature on Police Story featuring Bey Logan and Brett Ratner
2. An Interview with Jackie Chan - 20 minutes long.
3. Another interview with Jackie Chan - about 10 minutes long
4. A special feature on the Stunts of Police Story - 35-40 minutes long
5. A Retrospective on Jackie Chan's career called "The Early Years" - 35 minutes long
6. The Hong Kong trailer for Police Story - 2-3 minutes long
7. The HKL English trailer for Police Story - 2-3 minutes long


Uploader's Comments:

This is my second custom Blu Ray edition that I have uploaded. I plan on doing this for a number of classic Hong Kong films that I believe deserve to be respected and given the "deluxe" treatment.

For this release, I was helped greatly by Matt Stevens aka msp1518, who provided the PCM audio and the subtitle file. Furthermore, he was able to do some extensive audio editing to sync up the audio even better than the original and he was able to improve the quality and remove some imperfections without affecting the fidelity of the track.

For every release that I put out from now on, I will use the uncompressed PCM audio sourced from the laserdiscs. If you are not familiar with the difference, you will be amazed at the quality difference in the music, dialog and sound effects. Nearly ALL DVD and Blu Ray releases of these films feature horrid remixes and low quality, compressed garbage for the audio tracks. The Laserdisc PCM audio tracks, on the other hand, sound fantastic.

The video was sourced from the only genuine HD 1080p source in the world, that being the recent Japanese Blu Ray released by Paramount. That video is presented untouched apart from some subtle brightness and contrast adjustments.

One key feature of this disc is that I present BOTH the extended Japanese cut of this film AND the shorter Hong Kong cut that everyone is familiar with. But I didn't use the upscale of the HK cut that was featured on the Japanese Blu Ray. I actually recreated the HK cut of the film literally frame for frame using the HD footage from the Japanese cut! Therefore I am able to present both versions of the film in genuine HD! This also allows me to include the two commentary tracks that would not have fit the Japanese cut, as well as the English dubbed audio track and the remixed 5.1 Cantonese track.

I felt it was worth spending the extra time on this film because it is one of Jackie Chan's best films. And it has received horrid home video releases over the years.

I think this is simply the best version of this film you are likely to find for a VERY long time. The subtitles are from the best translation, the video for BOTH versions is in genuine HD, and the audio is uncompressed PCM Stereo sourced from the laserdisc, extensively edited to surpass even the original.

And there are nearly two hours of bonus video.

And custom cover and disc art.


This was quite an effort. I want to thank msp1518 for his help on this project. If you appreciate this release and would like to see more like it in the future, leave a comment. Stay tuned for some more collaborative efforts between myself and msp1518 in the near future.

For now, enjoy the release!

[Markgway]

If I'm not mistaken they've used the unremastered Japanese theatrical cut as their video source (that means burnt in subs throughout).

[grim_tales]

Please let us know how this compares to the HK DVD of Police Story I've never seen the full Japanese version, only the ending (afaik)
Is there a BD of the custom Police Story 2 as well?

[Markgway]

Please let us know how this compares to the HK DVD of Police Story I've never seen the full Japanese version, only the ending (afaik)

Here's the opening...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaTWEW2H6X4

[saltysam]

Please let us know how this compares to the HK DVD of Police Story I've never seen the full Japanese version, only the ending (afaik)
Is there a BD of the custom Police Story 2 as well?

As Mark said they've used the japanese unremastered but only HD source for the transfer (jap side titles) the audio will be the best yet i think,pcm from the laserdisc.No Police Story 2 BD Custom yet,i believe their next project is Supercop.

[saltysam]

i've recently acquired the custom PS2 dual layer DVD featuring the original HK Cut & Cantonese Mono if anyone's interested

[grim_tales]

YGPM Salty

[saltysam]

I grabbed the custom BD of Drunken Master,taken it's the japanese release with english subs added.not perfect but true HD (take note FS) by far the best release of this classic i've seen.Trying to grab SITES but i'm currently blocked for excessive DL

[Killer Meteor]

The HKL DVD of Police Story 2 should have been under fire for false advertising. The packaging blantantly states "2.35:1 widescreen" (HKL usually just listed 16:9 widescreen), yet what is on the disc is clearly a 2.00:1 crop squished down to 2.25:1!

[saltysam]

Wow this sounds good http://us.ebid.net/for-sale/drunken-mas ... 293724.htm i doubt Twilight Time will offer this much on their eventual release

[grim_tales]

Wow, great price. Never used ebid before.