A primer for new buyers and collectors.
For those brave enough to venture into Asian malls to find titles and see what other gems are to be discovered, here are a couple of things to note:
1 - Purchase the DVDs as legally as you can. ie: no bootlegs or pirated DVDs - (purple/ violet coloured underside, envelope packaging and bad print jobs are dead giveaways). It's a crap shoot with the quality, audio, picture, even subtitles and chances are there are no special features.
Some, however are packaged so incredibly slick that the only giveaway of their inauthenticity are their prices. Even at rock bottom bargain prices, you're still looking at $7-$10 USD per release.
Reputable online distributors like YesAsia.com and even Amazon will carry them.
Also be aware that if you chose to venture into the stores, bad summaries of the film on the box doesn't necessarily make it a bootlegged/pirated copy - you always loose something in the translation. Have a good laugh though, some of them are really funny.
2 - DVDs aren't the only thing titles come in. Should you not want to spend the $15-$30 for the DVD, there usually is an option to purchase the title on a 2 disc VCD for about $10. Think VHS, but on 2 discs and without the potential wear and tear. It should still be able to play on most DVD players. - You may want to consider this option if you can't understand the language it's presented in and not want to pay extra for the special features it may have.
Also - if you do bring home a VCD, you may have to fiddle around with its audio, especially if you hear two soundtracks playing at the same time - most noticeable when there is dialogue. The reason being is that most VCD releases of Asian films have one audio track that is in Mandarin and the other in Cantonese. I tend to use the audio track that syncs up with the picture - the original soundtrack.
3 - CHECK CHECK CHECK to see if they have English subtitles - Especially if you can read and understand this post but can't read Chinese characters. It should say on the cover somewhere. - Please also note that the English subtitles, more often than not, only extend to the film's presentation and NOT the special features.
4 - CHECK CHECK CHECK Part Deux to see if the DVD can be played on your DVD player. If your player is Region Free, you have nothing to worry about otherwise check the region code on your DVD player and match with the DVD disc.
The codes are as follows:
DVD-0 - No Region
DVD-1 - Canada, United States
DVD-2 - Europe (incl. France, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Arabia, Japan and South Africa)
DVD-3 - Korea, Thailand, Borneo, Indonesia
DVD-4 - Australia, New Zealand, South America, Mexico
DVD-5 - India, Africa, Russia and the former USSR
DVD-6 - People's Republic of China
DVD-9 - Expansion - Region Free coding
5 - Do your research on certain titles. On the rare occasion (and it has been happening fairly often) there is a US release of an Asian title because it was picked up by distributors. Special features and commentary may be subtitled as a result. - or they may be missing altogether.
Good Hunting!
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