mrwilson

is Panmedia a real label? I always stayed away from those discs. I thought it was a bootleg label. Wasn't Pedicab Driver and the extended cut of The Killer 'released' by Panmedia?

Dashiell

I'm not sure if it's a bootleg label, but an example of their product can be found here:

http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID....qx/details.htm


The quality of the discs marked "digitally restored and remastered" is really nice, just the mastering seems to be really shoddy.

Linn1

Red Sun, Pan Media, Xenon, etc. are all bootleg "companies" that have been the prime reason for kung fu films NOT being released in the US. Companies don't care to release them because much of the market has been saturated by these bootlegs. And if these guys hear a legit company is coming out with a release, they rush to beat them to ruin sales. I have been involved in FAR too many releases that have ended this way. HK Flix doesn't care if they are keeping companies away from buying the rights to these films, they continue carrying these bootlegs no matter if they are getting releases in the US or not. They have been sent cease and desist orders from Celestial, but they insist that they are not bootlegs because many of them are English dubbed. Which is a bunch of bunk anyway, as Celestial owns worldwide rights to the films AND their dubs. I've got a feeling Harvey Wienstien and his lawyers will have something to say about it though.

FYI, the reason why "their" remastering is so nice is because they steal these transfers from the HK DVDs. The reason why you have some problems, is Pan Media and the like get their DVDs burned in Taiwan or Malyasia with cheap processes. They won't last as long as the legit discs over time. Why fans buy these when: A.English dubbed ones of the same quality can be found among fans easily for nothing, and B. The legit HK releases (or Thai if you don't have a region free machine) can be found for the same price or cheaper online is beyond me. SImply look on the CD-Wow thread in this forum and you can get the HK releases for $9.99 with free shipping. In the process, you support the actual people that worked on these releases and help make sure that bootleggars don't profit from their work. Ditto for damn near everything else on HK Flix BTW. All of the Pan Media and Red Sun stuff are things they stole from other regions, fans, or other bootleggars. Sorry, but I could go on and on about these guys. If you care about kung fu films getting good quality releases, don't support them.

Dashiell

Wow, thank you Linn1!

I had no idea these were bootlegged discs. I had a feeling something wasn't quite "right" with the way the discs were mastered. I do actually own a great number of legit Celestial releases and merely assumed this other company (PanMedia/Red Sun) only handled the American English releases. I do own several region-free players.

When you say "ditto for damn near everything else on HK Flix" do you mean that the IVL/Celestial releases from HKFlix are questionable as well? I really hope that's not the case...

I'd really like to find a reputable dealer... CD-WOW thread you say?

Linn1

and reading it, I see I wasn't even close. What I was trying to say is, I wouldn't order anything from HKflix. The reason why is they actively support these bootleggars. For a long time, they even went so far as to post on their site that the Pan Asia releases were public domain because they used the English soundtracks. Not including the fact that everything else was stolen from the HK releases. Yes, I'd go with CD-Wow, dddhouse.com, and yesasia in that order for Shaw releases. As for the English dubbed ones, everything is coming from various US companies. They only legit companies right now with US rights are Image(who have about two discs a month) and the Wienstien Company (releases coming for next year).

Dashiell

Ahh yes... I'm lead to understand that Weinstein will be releasing the ENTIRE Shaw Bros collection on DVD under the Dragon Dynasty label... is that correct?

Linn1

they only have 50 out of 700+ titles. Image has some and there's another company who's releasing some as well. The Weinstiens got some good stuff, but there's some they clearly didn't know the original English titles for when they picked the ones they wanted, as they left off some great titles.

Dashiell

I've placed orders in all 3 online shops... CD-WOW (with "Iowa" link), DDDHouse and Yesasia. We'll see how it goes!

vjack99

Are you saying that all Red Sun DVDs are bootlegs? I ask because I just received one via eBay yesterday.

Dashiell

Apparently so...

I bought a whole bunch of Shaw Brothers releases only to find out the hard way. According to my new friend in the above post, the PanMedia/Red Sun discs are actually ripped from the IVL/Deltamac releases, and reauthored with an english soundtrack.

I began to suspect something wasn't quite right with these discs because I was getting 3 out of 6 defective (which almost never happens with legit releases)... would lock up and freeze about an hour into the film. This would occur on about 6 different players, ranging from Oppo to Pioneer. I came here to the forum and found out the news.

Now I buy nothing but the Celestial (IVL/Deltamac) releases, and in their native language. Look great, and haven't had a defect yet.

Linn1

Red Sun are a bootleg label. They own no rights, and steal from the real rights holders. If you order any Shaw Brothers DVD from Amazon that is not from Image or the Weinstien's Dragon Dynasty titles coming next year, you are getting a bootleg. One that will often have problems and mastering flaws. In the end, they're not really worth it, as all the well known films with be released sooner or later. Everything else you can get from IVL via the links we've mentioned.

Dashiell

Hey Linn (or anyone that may know),


Does anyone have any experience with shopping from:


http://shaw.intercontinental.com.hk/en/


I got to the link using the address given on the back of the IVL Shaw releases. It appears to be the most "official" place to get Shaw DVDs, and they're running at about $10.80 (US) per disc. Can anyone attest to the service?

PS - I received my orders from both CD-WOW and DDDHouse, they seem to have done a great job.

Linn1

direct order page for the Shaw Brothers releases. It's worth it for the early releases there, as they are largely out of print.

flixtime

I ordered from shaw.intercontinental one time and it was a while ago. They were okay. One thing is...I don't know how accurate they are with inventory. Meaning just because you see a title (like the OOP ones) listed on the site doesn't necessarily mean they will have it to sell. I remember they couldn't come up with a couple of titles I had ordered and they simply shipped what they had available. I wish they had informed me so I could have chosen substitutes. Like many, when I do order I tend to go a number of titles to lower the average cost, and when they ship fewer it sort of made it no different from purchasing elsewhere. I could be remembering inaccurately but I thought I'd throw it out there. If your order is for more recent titles then they are fine. Though I haven't used them buyoyo.com is also another option but I think they too might have the same issue with inaccurate inventory listings on their site. In that way, I tend to prefer DDDHouse.

And for those that might have some expiring CD-WOW vouchers, I watched "The Protectors" and it was a nice little film. Don't be put off by short 62 minute runtime as the film felt fuller than the runtime would suggest and it was a satisfying viewing. It had a nice storyline, good characters, and the action-level (mostly sword-based if I recall correctly) was good and evenly spread throughout the film. While I wouldn't call it essential or anything, it is certainly worth picking up with any unused vouchers you may have.

Dashiell

For the record...


I just placed my second (and major, for me) order with DDDHouse. They did really well last time with getting my order to me here in the US.

This second order was for twelve (12!) IVL Shaw releases. I'll let the group know how they did soon...

CD-WOW is equally impressive! I've been using them when I can, but it seems their stock of Shaws is limited. They've only taken 2 days to deliver some orders (once shipped)!

scrooge7

will Shaw brothers release any movie on Blue ray?
thanks
scrooge7

Dashiell

I am likely to be lynched for saying this, but...

I watch the IVL Celestial's on a 50-inch 1080p HD set, upconverted using Oppo's 981 DvD player. With the upconverting players readily available and not expensive at all, I fail to see any reason for Celestial or any other studio to spend the money on HD-DVD or Blu Ray versions of these films. They would likely not make any money on them and that's not good for anyone...

I never say never, but a legit Celestial release upconverted to 1080p (or even 720p) is likely to be as good as these films are ever going to look!

Just my $.02

asianxcore

Does anyone know the original OAR for "Chinese Super Ninjas"?

There are two releases now (one uncut, one edited for TV) but both are Full Screen. I noticed HKFlix had a pre-order up for a new version of the film in 2:35:1.

Also does anyone have any info that upcoming release?

Slumbering Fist

That is probably the official IVL HK release scheduled for later this year (October). You might want to hold out because Media Blasters has announced their first wave of Shaw titles for US distribution which includes...

Five Elements Ninjas (aka. Chinese Super Ninjas)
Black Magic 2
Flag of Iron
Heroes Two
The Master
Challenge of the Masters
Martial Club
The Deadly Duo
The Brave Archer
The Ten Tigers of Kwangtung

asianxcore

Thanks for the heads up Slumbering Fist.

I'll wait up for the MB release.

chente

heh. My coworker just lent me a copy of this film. Coincidences are funny.

asianxcore

Did you enjoy the film?

Also does anyone know if there are any huge differences between the Chinese and Thai version of "Five Deadly Venoms" (I think both might be IVL)

HKFlix has the Thai version in stock and I was just curious if I should wait for the re-stock of the Chinese version or pick up the Thai disc.

chente

I got about 3 minutes into it and turned it off. I couldn't deal with the Pan and Scan, the bad dub and the constant strobing bar on the right edge of the frame. I'm going to wait for the Celestial.

Regarding the Thai version play close attention, many of those releases are DVD-5's instead of DVD-9's.

asianxcore

Thanks for the info about Thai releases. I might see if I can find the Chinese version at some other e-tailer

Sucks about Five Element Ninjas, totally understand though. When I first saw the movie as a kid it was a VHS copy of a terrible print of the movie. Not only was it P/S with the dub (as you mentioned), all of the gore was cut out of the movie. The reviews for the DVD copies of the film confused me because I didn't even know there was blood/gore in that movie

flixtime

I'm not sure if DVDTalker Linn1 is still around here, but if so, a question for you...do you know what might have happened to the Taiwanese Eastern Star releases that were planned (see posts #21, #23, #42 in this thread)? Given that the easternstarfilms website seems to have disappeared, I'm guessing the entire project was scrapped. I don't know anything about the films themselves but I do remember really liking the planned cover art for the DVDs.