PaulV

I recently discovered the Weinstein Company's Dragon Dynasty DVDs of a bunch of HK films. Any thoughts on whether, generally speaking, the Dragon Dynasty versions are better than (or at least equal to) the best quality versions of the HK or foreign release of the movie? For some of these HK movies there have been so many different releases that it makes my head spin. I'm most interested in the picture quality, with audio being a distant second.

Brian T

Almost hate to do this, as I'm generally not fond of being forwarded to ginormous threads, but this discussion,
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=466542
at 20-some pages, does contain a lot of good info regarding Dragon Dynasty's releases versus their counterparts.

as does this 54-pager at AsianDVDGuide.com
http://adg.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=1032

Pros and cons not matter which way you spin it, really. Diligent research at this and other forums is about all you can do if you're only satisfied with owning the best, most "absolute" version of any well-known Hong Kong title you buy, particularly if you're factoring the mixed-bag quality of American releases into the equation. I import all my Hong Kong titles as I don't like to wait seemingly forever and pay significantly more for having done so. And too often what Dragon Dynasty has given us - especially in regards to newer titles - isn't that much better than what comes from the Hong Kong/Thai/Korean/etc. distributors in the first place, and far sooner, too. And that's not to say that they aren't giving it the old college try . . .

PaulV

How did I miss that 20 page thread? My searching skills really need work. Anyways, thanks Brian.

(I wonder what are the odds that HD versions of these will be released.)

Brian T

I've been wondering about that myself. I'm in no great rush to go HD just yet, and I have to wonder if the quality of elements available for the vast majority of Hong Kong films would even benefit from the increased resolution offered by Blu-Ray. I can certainly see it on new releases like FLASH POINT and INVISIBLE TARGET and most of the higher-profile, higher-budget Hong Kong films from this point onwards (and from the past few years), and maybe even the Shaw Brothers catalogue, but there's so much stuff out there for which original and/or complete camera negatives and all that good stuff are probably just wishful thinking at this point. Besides, VCDs still have their charm (and plenty of exclusive titles), despite all the naysaying, and they're still big sellers in Hong Kong, so . . .