French DVDs and Blu-Rays of Asian Movies

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 10 Mar 2005, 16:52

This thread is meant to help you if you're interested in french editions of asian movies.

EDIT (2006-01): I don't really feel like updating this list anymore.
You'll have to look for the posts with an Update header to find out about the latest DVD releases.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 10 Mar 2005, 17:03

Tom where can you get the Lone Wolf and Cub series from?

I'm not bad at French but maybe the R1's (which look excellent going by Sword of Vengeance) would be better for me

I only took GSCE/A Level French.
Doesnt the HK remaster of DM have a full Cantonese track? I might wait for HKL's PE.

Is the French DVD of Brotherhood of the Wolf sans English subs?

As for The Killer, I bought the CE for the rare Taiwan cut of the film, you can actually switch the French ones off and you have "Ing-rish" underneath.

8)

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 10 Mar 2005, 17:23

where can you get the Lone Wolf and Cub series from?

Amazon.fr still has them.
The entire series (6 movies) in 2 Boxsets containing 3 movies each.
The french title is "Baby Cart".

Is the French DVD of Brotherhood of the Wolf sans English subs?

Yep. But it has french subs for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

Doesnt the HK remaster of DM have a full Cantonese track?

I think in some parts it switches to mandarin because the original cantonese track was too damaged.

I might wait for HKL's PE.

Might as well wait for hell to freeze over.

As for The Killer, you can actually switch the French ones off and you have "Ing-rish" underneath.

Yep. But I prefer the shorter cut myself. I prefer the original cantonese soundtrack.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 10 Mar 2005, 17:25

maybe the R1's (which look excellent going by Sword of Vengeance) would be better for me

The R1 picture is Waaayyy too soft when compared to the HK Vidéo version.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 10 Mar 2005, 17:25

Yes I prefer the shorter cut (Woo's cut, AFAIK) too, but I have the HKL for that which is fine by me so I have the best of both worlds

8)

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 10 Mar 2005, 18:08

OK fairy muff.

Did HK Video get better materials and stuff than Animego? Because to me the R1 looks great.

So it is still best for English speakers (IMO).

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 10 Mar 2005, 18:20

Firstly fantastic thread Tom well done. My Eastern Eye thread is better though

. Can you change the title please to include the word "asian" somewhere please.

Do any of these distributors ever include English subs for the film or extras? If so what titles?

I have the HK Video "Tai Chi Master" with only Chinese subs, the subs may not even be from Tai Chi Master for all I know (direct port Chinese bootleg) and "Fist of Legend" with English subs (DivX with VobSub subs converted to DVD with burnt in subs). Both are fantastic quality.

Tom2681 wrote:But since they're not burnt-in, they're easy to remove with DVD-Shrink or other DVD backup software.

or own a hacked Sony player.

It's a pity you'll lose quality using DVD Shrink though. Well it's a good excuse to buy that dual layer writer.

Tom2681 wrote:30€ ( about 20 quid) is the average price for a french dvd.

The fact they're very good quality doesn't excuse the very high price IMO. Why are French DVDs so expensive? Is there no competition?

UK DVDs are often as good quality (overall) but are almost always at least 25% cheaper, a lot of the time 50% cheaper.

I own a few French DVDs but even those I would get £20 is a rip off. I paid £25 for Apocalypse Now Redux and am glad I did but that is only because the film is so outstanding. I wouldn't pay that for a good film.

Tom2681 wrote:There are a few exceptions (as always), like Musa.
M6 Vidéo have released the international cut. Still, there is an option in the dvd that allows you to watch the full korean cut using seamless branching (no harm done, then).

If only PA had done this! As everyone wanted.

Tom2681 wrote:They're very mean to TV commercials but they don't seem to care about movies.

I guess because adverts can be seen by anyone. Surely they must censor sometimes? If not there is little point in them being there.

I presume bestiality wouldn't be accepted (fake or real) for example? or paedophilia (fake or real).

Tom2681 wrote:as well as an optional 5.1 french dub.

I thought you said no remix?

Tom2681 wrote:Movies already released:

OMG I had no idea they'd released so many.

I wonder how they can release OUATIC 4 and 5 but no other western company can. Maybe they can now?

Tom2681 wrote:Comparison with HKL:

Are you able to compare against the FS remaster to?

Tom2681 wrote:CTV belongs to TF1.

Surely it's the other way around?

This is the same CT right?

grim_tales wrote:Is the French DVD of Brotherhood of the Wolf sans English subs?

The Canadian DVD is almost identical and has English subs for everything.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 10 Mar 2005, 18:29

Because to me the R1 looks great.

Yeah, but the colors seem to be altered.
I think they did it to make it look more natural.
But the movie probably isn't supposed to look like that.

Look at this picture:
http://img71.exs.cx/img71/3739/SABRE.jpg

(HK Vidéo is 1st, EE 2nd and R1 3rd).

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 10 Mar 2005, 18:36

Can you change the title please to include the word "asian" somewhere please

Yep. Will do.

Do any of these distributors ever include English subs for the film or extras?

It's very rare. I know "In the mood for love" has english subs.
I don't know of any others.

Why are French DVDs so expensive?

We have to pay some kind of stupid tax that's included in the price of those dvds. That's why.

Surely they must censor sometimes? If not there is little point in them being there.

Nah. They're responsible for movie ratings, though (PG-13, R, etc...).

I thought you said no remix?

No remix for the original language only.
French dubs are often remixed to 5.1.

Are you able to compare against the FS remaster to?

I might for some titles. I'll see what I can do.

-CTV belongs to TF1.
-Surely it's the other way around?

CTV is a label owned by TF1.
TF1 belongs to Columbia.
Columbia belongs to Sony.
Etc...

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 10 Mar 2005, 18:50

You put in some work on this thread Tom

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 10 Mar 2005, 20:40

Oh yeah. 20 minutes.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 10 Mar 2005, 23:47

Many thanks Tom, that's great work.

Wish I was French sometimes...

ICE-angel · Post by **ICE-angel** » 11 Mar 2005, 02:07

Beer · Post by **Beer** » 11 Mar 2005, 08:33

bradavon wrote:I wonder how they can release OUATIC 4 and 5 but no other western company can. Maybe they can now?

Not entirely correct. A DVD of OUATIC 5 is on the Italian market too since 2002 or 2003. The problem is that it is dubbed in Italian with no original audio track...

BTW, fantastic thread Tom!

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 11 Mar 2005, 10:28

IMO the R1 looks better, its' sharper and the colours look much more vibrant

memetic · Post by **memetic** » 11 Mar 2005, 11:03

Tom, great thread. Can you give a link to the review that has those screen comparisons? I can read French badly

(also I read that Bride With White Hair is now on French DVD since Feb.)

grim_tales wrote:IMO the R1 looks better, its' sharper and the colours look much more vibrant

I agree with Tom. To me there's a strong brown tint running through the whole thing that doesn't look at all natural, but done for purpose of seeming natural.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 11 Mar 2005, 11:45

Can you give a link to the review that has those screen comparisons?

Of LW&C you mean ?

http://web12.dvd2web.de/okami1/okami1.htm

It's a R4 vs R1 comparison.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 11 Mar 2005, 11:50

I read that Bride With White Hair is now on French DVD since Feb

Indeed. I don't have it yet but I will soon.

Here's a review:

http://www.dvdrama.com/rw_fiche-4878-.php

You can always translate it through Altavista-Babelfish if you don't read french.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 11 Mar 2005, 11:54

There's one particular scene with awkward framing which always looked to me as if something's not right in the R1 of the second film in the series, namely the opening duel as the film begins. During the entire long range lateral shot you virtually don't see the bad guy on the right side of the screen.

The R1 is slightly cropped on the right side.
On the french dvd you can clearly see the bad guy on the edge of the frame (better than on your screenshot anyway).

But if your TV has overscan, you won't see the bad guy at all.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 11 Mar 2005, 12:32

Fine don't reply to my questions/comments Tom see if I care

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 11 Mar 2005, 14:06

I agree with the comparison, IMO the colours and contrast/brigtness on the R4 look awful compared to the R1, in some pics it does look sharper though.

ICE-angel · Post by **ICE-angel** » 11 Mar 2005, 19:52

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 11 Mar 2005, 21:43

The things I do for these people...

There you go:

ICE-angel · Post by **ICE-angel** » 12 Mar 2005, 15:49

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 12 Mar 2005, 18:29

bradavon wrote:Fine don't reply to my questions/comments Tom see if I care

Maybe it was lost in translation but that was your cue Tom to reply 8)