The official Tartan Asian Films thread!

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 01 Apr 2005, 23:59

Lourdes wrote:Why do people still go on about Tartan improving when most of their releases are NTSC>PAL conversions and not even NTSC>PAL conversions done properly.

Because put simply they have improved. I've never said they were perfect but it's obvious they have greatly improved.

As for NTSC to PAL to me anyway it's all a load of bollocks. I've not noticed it, don't care about it so am happy as larry. Their releases now are anamorphic, have decent subs, decent extras and decent 5.1. They also for me have decent video quality too.

While you can complain about NTSC to PAL everyone must agree the AV quality of there discs is far from the worst we've ever seen and quite frankly acceptable when you compare it to the god awful AV quality we used to get, with stereo only sound, burnt in subs of a low grade, very dark prints which were often in very bad shape.

I honestly think people aren't happy unless they have something to moan about DVD wise. Personally I'm more than happy if I'm given a decent 5.1 mix and decent anamorphic picture. The vast majority of new titles that are anamorphic I'm happy with. There are a few I'm not such as the Korean Pianist DVD (I suspect it was sourced from the Canadian DVD). I've since upgraded to the R1 USA and while having boring as you like packaging the picture quality is much nicer.

Also at the end of the day I really don't see the point of moaning for the sake of moaning. This is the way Tartan are releasing their DVDs and the odd 5-6 people moaning isn't going to make any difference. I'd much rather have Tartan's DVD than Korean DVDs which cost the same or more but have no English subtitled extras. I don't like paying for coaster.

This is all just my opinion of course.

p.s - As for JSA I understand you need a projector or the like to notice the difference between progressive and interlaced (is that the alternative?) so again to me I don't give two hoots. I'd gladly buy the R4 as it has an hours worth of English subtitled extras and decent AV, or decent enough but of course the Tartan DVD is better with DTS and more than likely much better subs for the extras.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 02 Apr 2005, 06:49

I guess you don't use a progressive display, CRT TV I assume? On such equipment you won't notice the most obvious effects of interlacing and NTSC>PAL conversions. However you're still affected by various artifacts and general poor quality caused by this. And for those of us with good equipment it's a big problem. If I didn't also have a CRT TV I'd go for less transfers which are proper Film>PAL conversions.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 02 Apr 2005, 20:48

Yep. The room I watch TV in isn't big enough for other technologies.

AFAIK most people have CRT. What do you mean by less transfers?

blade · Post by **blade** » 03 Apr 2005, 07:55

bradavon wrote:DVD Times have confirmed the extras for JSA:

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=56423

This looks better than the R4 mainly for the DTS plus deleted scenes and probably better English subtitled extras (the subs on the "extras" aren't supposed to be to hot). I imagine the Making Of. is the same as the one on the R4.

I'll wait for reviews but I suspect I'll be removing the R4 from the Eastern Eye thread.

Thanks for the info and link

If i had to choose between EE and Tartan JSA, JSa looks the winner.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 03 Apr 2005, 07:57

bradavon wrote:Yep. The room I watch TV in isn't big enough for other technologies.

AFAIK most people have CRT. What do you mean by less transfers?

Typo, I meant lesser.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 03 Apr 2005, 14:39

Sorry I'm still confused??? Blade - huh?

Is there something wrong with people's typing today? :mrgreen:

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 04 Apr 2005, 02:02

According to the comparison up on dvdbeaver, the recent Sympathy for Mr Vengeance CE is NTSC>PAL. Does Tartan have the US rights to Mr Vengeance? If they don't then meh, the UK disc seems fine.

I received my Tartan Infernal Affairs mid-last week. It's a real cracker.

The coverart is fucking ugly though.

Schweet, JSA has DTS. That's on my must-buy list.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 04 Apr 2005, 11:37

I've been paying close attention to Tartan USA. Their release of "A Tale of Two Sisters" sounds good and I'd like to see how it compares to the other releases as the Tartan UK one was inferior to the R2J and R3K. And I'm looking forward to their releases of Oldboy (no speedup) and Samaria (cleaned up?).

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 04 Apr 2005, 14:43

I've read from many sources Oldboy and ATOTS were great UK wise with proper PAL transfers; rare I know. I believe they're the only two of the recent release though.

Me I'll be getting the UK ATOTS and Oldboy as I'll probably be able to get them cheaper.

EvaUnit02 wrote:According to the comparison up on dvdbeaver, the recent Sympathy for Mr Vengeance CE is NTSC>PAL. Does Tartan have the US rights to Mr Vengeance? If they don't then meh, the UK disc seems fine.

It's not on their website but I don't believe anyone else has it so I'm sure they'll get it at one point.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 04 Apr 2005, 17:56

I believe Tears and Days were also proper Film>PAL transfers too and it looks like they might be getting the original audio soon. But you know this.
Oldboy was okay, same master as the UE but it isn't as sharp and is slightly cropped. All the Oldboy transfers are poor though I still need to see the HK one. PAL speedup bothers me on this release because I've seen NTSC versions so many times before.
ATOTS looks notably worse than the R3K which is in turn worse than the R2J. So the NTSC one could like better. I'mn ot bothered about speedup with this one as I've only seen it once before and need to rent it before I buy anyway.

Tartan USA have the rights for SFMV in the US. Well, they had the theatrical rights in 2002 at least because they showed it there then. I don't doubt that they'll put out a DVD at some point. Perhaps then they might care to sort out the subtitles.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 04 Apr 2005, 19:27

As for ATGB and DOBW I have the R1 box set now which is the way to go unless you only want those two films.

I read the R3HK is the same as the R2J if that helps.

What are wrong with the SFMV subs?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 08 Apr 2005, 11:10

Tartan's Summer releases:

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=56728

I'm hoping Tartan fix the audio for "Infernal Affairs 3". I've been waiting ages for this one. "Infernal Affairs 2" was released ages ago.

Oh and the commentary would be nice this time plus some decent cover art!

I see Tartan are re-pulling the double dip trick by re-releasing BR2 in a 2 disc set form. I suspect this time it will fall flat on their faces as it's such an awful film. Okay after seeing it again I enjoyed it more but that doesn't mean it's much good.

Besides the HK DVD while not having deleted scenes is very cheap and already has some extras on a second disc.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 08 Apr 2005, 11:17

There is no audio to fix, it was ony problematic on the initial release from Megastar. They then fixed it. I wish people would stop going on about it.

Battle Royale 2 will be the extended version which was released in Japan recently. Suicide pills at the ready!

I'm interesting in seeing how 2LDK/Aragami turn out. I have the nice Japanese releases but some extras may interest me, not that I ever watch extras really.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 08 Apr 2005, 11:30

Lourdes wrote:There is no audio to fix, it was ony problematic on the initial release from Megastar. They then fixed it. I wish people would stop going on about it.

People are only going on about it as there is no way of knowing which DVD you're going to get when you buy the HK DVD. I've only ever read guesses a new DVD was ever released. Do you have any links?

Lourdes wrote:Battle Royale 2 will be the extended version which was released in Japan recently. Suicide pills at the ready!

Has this been confirmed? What has been changed?

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 08 Apr 2005, 11:43

Topics at TheDVDForums and DVDTalk. At the former someone posted some numbers or other IIRC. And they were people who have had both a corrected and uncorrected copy. And the latest releases (8-Disc or 6-Disc) are fine too and have improved transfers.

It hasn't been confirmed but I'd bet anything on it. I don't know what has changed but there's an additional 19 minutes, no that's additional, not 19 minutes less.

Actually look Here.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 08 Apr 2005, 13:51

LOL

Did anyone at DVD Forums and DVD Talk say how you can tell the difference?

How much better and is it just IA3 which has a better picture? I'm not sure how they could make it better???

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 08 Apr 2005, 14:01

I'm pretty sure thre was a mention of an EAN/UPC type thing or maybe something on the disc.
The general improvement is small, take some random comparison caps and it's slight. But there was lots of cleanup work and fixes. New audio too, I never compared them but the DTS on the new ones is full bitrate, don't know if it is on the regular editions. But anyway, the R2UK's are good and have subtitled extras. IA2 was a tad disappointing after the great first release but hopefully there'll be a stellar third one. And then a HK 8-Disc style set, all subbed and tasty.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 08 Apr 2005, 19:00

Lourdes wrote:And then a HK 8-Disc style set, all subbed and tasty.

I doubt that will happen. What put me off buying it was the rip-off £70 price tag.

I may pick up the new 6 disc HK box set though which is £30. I'll wait to see what Tartan do with IA3 first.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 25 Apr 2005, 15:13

Dvdanswers have posted a couple announcements from Tartan USA (R1).

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (Japan)
Acacia (S.Korea)

Tetsuo piques my interest. Reportedly its horror visuals are very Cronenberg-esque. I like Cronenberg flicks, especially Existenz and The Fly (the only ones I've seen, LOL.).

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 25 Apr 2005, 19:39

Thanks.

Some how I don't think you mean pique.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 26 Apr 2005, 12:15

Brad,

I've read (on Play anyway) Tartan IA3 will be released in June.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 26 Apr 2005, 15:59

I hope the audio sync probs on IA3 will be fixed.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 28 Apr 2005, 00:07

OMG, somebody kill him. The IA3 audio synch problems were corrected by Megastar a long time ago.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 28 Apr 2005, 02:42

Oops, my bad. I didn't even know.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 19 May 2005, 01:38

I dunno why anyone hasn't bother to post this yet.

Dvdanswers have reported that Tartan USA (R1) are bringing out the third and final instalment of the "Whisper Corridors" K-Horror trilogy, Wishing Stairs. See coverart here.

Dvdanswers wrote:...The film is the directorial debut of Yun Jae-yeon, one of the few female directors on the Asian horror genre scene. The disc will be available to own from the 12th July, and priced at around $24.99. The film itself will be presented in anamorphic widescreen along with Korean Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 Surround tracks. English and Spanish subtitles will also be provided. Extras will include a making of featurette, a director's sketchbook and notes, some original theatrical promotional materials, a photo gallery, and trailers for upcoming Tartan Asian Extreme releases.