Alternatives to these HKL releases?

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 22 Jan 2005, 17:15

Yeah thats right but that was due to the agreement they had with Media Asia and what they themseleves did with the mixes, they didnt overstate the new effects like FS have done with their 5.1 tracks.
You're right all of the FS/IVL releases like BITH, Police Story, ABT, Once Upon A Time In China etc have original mono as well as 5.1 but if thats the case why couldnt HKL use that too? Did FS tell them they could use ONLY the remix, as the HKL of Warriors 2 has an English dub instead, no mono.

Islandguy · Post by **Islandguy** » 22 Jan 2005, 17:22

The problem also is the Fortune Star mono tracks on some of there releases (for instance Knockabout and Police Story 3) are out of synch so we loose either way.
I didnt mind HKL releases before because the sound was original and just enhance to the surround channel. The problem with the Fortune Star re-mixes, as well as Celestial with some of there Shaw titles, is that new sounds are added and spoil the sound completely.....As i said before its a real shame because the picture quality on the new Warriors Two discs is amazing..

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 22 Jan 2005, 18:51

Spoil, no.
Change yes.
Doesnt make them bad to add.

ReconFive · Post by **ReconFive** » 22 Jan 2005, 19:52

I agree with Islandguy about the new sound effects that Fortune Star has been putting into their remixes.
I have the Police Story box set and the Killer/BITH set and the image is awesome and they both sound pretty good overall.... its just such a great shame that they can't just enhance and lounden the original sound effects instead of changing/adding new ones that seem completly out of place.
<sighs> we can't win

I have not noticed the mono tracks being out of sync yet, but i have not watched the whole thing with it on.

Islandguy · Post by **Islandguy** » 22 Jan 2005, 21:03

Doesnt make them bad Romero??!!
What if there were added sound fx to classic films like The Wild Bunch , Dirty Harry or say the old Star Trek tv series......there would be uproar from the fans, but because its classed as a low budget kung fu film they think they can get away with it.
The film should be the way the director intended...picture and sound.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 23 Jan 2005, 02:01

Oh man, ICE-angel, I loved reading your "rant". That was beautiful.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 23 Jan 2005, 11:28

I didnt notice the sound on Police Story 3 being out of synch TBH, wasnt that originally synch-sound stereo (not mono)?
I agree with you islandguy, IMO its tricky though, would you still recommend the DVD to people who havent seen the film Warriors 2? (I'd love to see it).
Its a shame if the only DVD with a good presentation of a film still has something wrong with it

[Edited on 23-1-2005 by grim_tales]

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 23 Jan 2005, 13:58

Grim there is always the Fox DVD or if people care about the soundtrack so much the older non-anamorphic DVDs.

My point surely it's still the best release?

p.s - PS3 FS sounded fine to me to. The mono soundtrack wasn't in very good shape though. It was really tinny in a way the 5.1 remixes weren't.

Islandguy · Post by **Islandguy** » 23 Jan 2005, 14:47

Its still the best version by far, despite the sound tampering....its just annoying that they dont offer the mono option.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 23 Jan 2005, 18:07

It's Police Story that has the Mono track out of synch

ReconFive · Post by **ReconFive** » 23 Jan 2005, 18:48

To be honest, i thought the 5.1 track on PS1 was pretty good. The new sound effects for the gunshots seemed to fit very well. The one for ps3 however, i didn't like for some reason. I really have no idea why.

ICE-angel · Post by **ICE-angel** » 25 Jan 2005, 15:46

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 25 Jan 2005, 18:45

Then "it" will be the best version, no?

gojensen · Post by **gojensen** » 26 Jan 2005, 14:26

What film are you all talking about? PS3 is a NewLine title in the US AFAIK.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 26 Jan 2005, 15:32

We're talking about the IVL Police Story box set, with Fortune Star masters.

gojensen · Post by **gojensen** » 27 Jan 2005, 09:24

Right, though so... has Fox announced a US release? Because AFAIK NewLine has been keeping the Jackie titles over "there" with all the brand new hiphop tracks

(and that GOTTA be worse than an out of synch mono soundtrack?! right?!)

ReconFive · Post by **ReconFive** » 27 Jan 2005, 15:58

Yes!

The IVL box set is great, and includes the original mono (which i have yet to notice any out of synch sound).

The remixes are not [i]that[/i] bad either.

DO NOT BUY DISNEY VERSIONS OF ANY ASIAN FILM!!!

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 27 Jan 2005, 19:15

Unless it's Hero and even then . . .

[quote][i]Originally posted by gojensen[/i]
Right, though so... has Fox announced a US release? Because AFAIK NewLine has been keeping the Jackie titles over "there" with all the brand new hiphop tracks

(and that GOTTA be worse than an out of synch mono soundtrack?! right?!) [/quote]
You mean Disney and who's talking about Fox releasing PS3? Unless I'm missing something.

Fox are releasing several other JC films.

[quote][i]Originally posted by gojensen[/i]
What film are you all talking about? PS3 is a NewLine title in the US AFAIK. [/quote]
I believe it's a Disney title under their BV range and is called Supercop of course.

ReconFive · Post by **ReconFive** » 27 Jan 2005, 21:07

Nah Hero has awful Americanized dubtitles that are unacceptable for a film like that. (IMO)

The DTS track is the only good thing about the miramax dvd.

Speaking of Hero... as most of you probably know, the Japanese dvd has a very much improved image from any other version currently available (naturally). If you had held off on getting it because of the high price, there is a "regular edition" coming out tomorrow. In almost every case, Japanese "regular editions" have the exact same quality as the SE or LE, just no extras (which are not subtitled in english anyway). Its priced at about $24 US, half the cost of the 2-disc SE.

If you are a fan of the film, IMO it is worth the upgrade even if you already have the Edko disc for the vast image improvement.

Already got mine pre-ordered.

[Edited on 27/1/2005 by ReconFive]

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 27 Jan 2005, 21:38

And what about the Extended Edition? Is there a decent DVD of that yet?

Cheers

ReconFive · Post by **ReconFive** » 27 Jan 2005, 22:11

No, unfortunetly not yet.

It is inevitable that at some point there will be a good extended version though. I'm not exactly sure what's in the extended cut, or if its anything important enough to warrant an upgrade.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 27 Jan 2005, 22:25

Ah right, thanks. Well I haven't seen Hero, I've been holding out for the Extended Edition 'cause I like all my films to be the longest cuts if you know what I mean. All I know of for the EE is a stupid DVD where a watermark comes up all the time or something like that.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 28 Jan 2005, 00:01

The Chinese DVD is acceptable considering the cost but it's also pretty shoddy. It's not as bad as most have made out though.

Personally gasteropod I wouldn't wait and see the theatrical cut. I really can't see another extended cut coming after:

A: The trouble it has caused trying to release it.
B: Disney clearly don't want it to exist.

p.s - Thanks for the heads up ReconFive.

ReconFive · Post by **ReconFive** » 28 Jan 2005, 05:18

No problem

By the way, i noticed in the Fox R1 topic you mentioned something about the HK Tai Chi Master dvd having the
dialog coming out of all 5 speakers?
I know its a crappy disc but i was thinking about buying it just to have the movie on dvd, but i had not heard about this issue.
Is it still watchable?

Thanks

[Edited on 28/1/2005 by ReconFive]

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 28 Jan 2005, 15:49

[quote][i]Originally posted by ReconFive[/i]
By the way, i noticed in the Fox R1 topic you mentioned something about the HK Tai Chi Master dvd having the
dialog coming out of all 5 speakers?
I know its a crappy disc but i was thinking about buying it just to have the movie on dvd, but i had not heard about this issue.
Is it still watchable?[/quote]
I'm surprised you've not heard of it.

It depends on how much you can tolerate it. I've not seen the film so it annoys me even more and I've been unable so far to watch anymore than 10-20 mins.

The original (very OOP) HK DVD had burnt in Chinese/English subs and Mono sound. It hadn't been remastered but considering the current DVD isn't remastered either (technically they've remastered it a bit but they've done a dreadful job).

If I could find it I'd get a copy as the burnt in subs can't be as bad as the 5.1 here.

Having said that it's the only version available with English subs so yep if you can find it for under £5 I'd get it. I have the French DVD too and it's so gorgeous it really annoys me it has no bloody English subs.