Upgrading - Dragon Dynasty & Image

[Monkey King 2000]

Which of the below would you first upgrade please?

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin - This seems to be the best DVD
My Young Auntie - I Realise there is no Cantonese track, which is a shame, but I am ashamed to admit I do not believe I could tell the difference between Cantonese and Mandarin. Especially bad as Hung Gar and most Kung Fu is in Cantonese!
Legendary Weapons of China - Probably my favourite Kung Fu film.
One Arm Swordsman - Very good film, but I prefer the above films, although not keen on the first hour or so of Young Auntie.

I prefere subtitles, but I am interested in also having the dubs, for years to come when I try and get my kids into Shaw films. Also I am interested in the better picture quality the DD DVD's have. I presume the Image DVD does not improve the picture. Also am I correct in thinking none of these improve the subtitles? Any advise would be really appreciated.

[Markgway]

I think MYA is the only one that - to me - isn't worth upgrading - because of the incorrect language issue. The other three titles are imperfect but generally superior.

[THESHAWMAN]

One armed swordsman..Dragon dynasty..is best print of this classic film available.PERIOD...its SUPERB DVD..

36th chamber of shaolin.Dragon dynasty.uncut. ivl disc is CUT. also has better image.

havent seen the other 2 yet,so cant comment on those.

[oldeschool17]

Legendary Weapons of Kung Fu(IMAGE)-Poor video transfer(very noticeable motion blurs/artifacts). I mean if you can deal with the IVL video transfers than this will be ok. Its definently watchable, but if yer a videophile thats very picky on video quality than this will be a dissapointment. Includes english dub and subtitles.

36 Chambers(Dragon Dynasty)- Best version agreed. Picture doesnt have the shitty motion blurs/video transfer issues that the IVL version has. Has a wealth of extras. Good buy!

In short, if you had a choice between Dragon Dynasty or Image, go with Dragon Dynasty. IMAGE has the worst overall quality

[chen lung]

Dragon dynasty.uncut. ivl disc is CUT
both are cut (frame cuts and a snippet from the sandbags). DD does PAL>NTSC correctly, or directly downgrades from the HD master (which maybe interlaced - donno).

Anyway, the only one I'm after is 'King Boxer' as I either don't like the rest of them, or they're lacking.

[killer meteor]

Given the image problems on the Image DVD of Legendary Weapons, there is the genuine PAL release from Siren. However, it appears to be Mandarin only and no English dub.

Typical. Three releases of Legendary Weapons and not one worth going for!

[oldeschool17]

id rather go with the siren visual release. The english dub sucks in my opinion so id rather read the subtitles and thats saying something considering im a dub fan

[killer meteor]

Let us know what you think of the Siren. I may end up going for it eventually

[gfanikf]

36th doesn't have frame cuts. Spannick said the early releases didn't have frame cuts.

[oldeschool17]

killer meteor,
It may be awhile before i dip into the siren visual release. If they had it on hkflix i would get it. Looks like the only way to get it is to either go on ebay or siren visual's website, neither of which i wanna do:\

[morgoth]

Oldschool, your Legendary weapons disc from Image wasn't good pic quality? It showed up perfect on my TV.

[killer meteor]

The Image Shaws I've encountered are the ones where they've taken the PAL-NTSC transfer and stretched it to NTSC speed, in the process making the blurred frames incredibly obvious, making the DVD resemble VCD. If someone can confirm that Legendary Weapons was not affected, I may buy it

Siren - good intentions but their site isn't very helpful on details, and some of the discs are let down by shoddy pressing. All copies of Duel Of Fists breaks up into blocks at one point. Having said that, I give them credit for trying and several of their discs are the best versions on the market.

[Yi Long]

What was cut from the IVL 36th Chamber?

[oldeschool17]

morgoth,
i dont have this disc anymore but when I did, i noticed some motion blurs when I played it on my computer. I may have played the first few minutes on my tv, but i want to say i noticed some motion blurs too. As a matter of fact, i think i had the same prob with Have Sword Will Travel. Id definently would not say the picture is perfect by anymeans. I mean, you cant expect much when they dropped the ball on securing a good video transfer deal with Celestial. My only gripe really( although kinda petty) with the movie were the dubs. the dub team was definently not the same ones we are familar with in such films as 36 Chambers of Shaolin, 5 venoms, Crippled Avengers.

[Brigadier Chow]

You can expect that... all the movies you listed were made before the 1980's. By 1982 most eng dubbed films were done by a different team, for example 5 Element Ninjas, Flag of Iron, Shaolin Prince, and 8 Diagram Pole Fighter. If you listen to these dubs they are all the same team.

[oldeschool17]

indeed.

[GwaiLoMoFo]

Ive upgraded to all the DD Shaws except "My Young Auntie". And the only Image discs Ive bought are titles I didnt previously own (IVL's).

[stormybman]

I don't understand the tech. speak regarding image quality on the IVL's as opposed to DD, I have a Samsung 42" Plasma, and the films look great. None of the blurs or speed problems, and, btw, King Boxer on DD looks every bit as good if not better than all the others. I think it's the best looking Shaws/DD disc I have, image quality wise. I just hate they stopped doing the Dolby Digital 5.1 and 6.1, ruining my kung fu home theater surround experience. I'm glad earlier releases like Boxer Rebellion, and Marco Polo have the sound mixes... On a real quality system, it's a great experience. Damn the Mono tracks, move into the new Millenium, upgrade your audio! 8)

" Tell me the truth... No more lies!!!... If I turn myself over to you, will you leave the school alone? "

[killer meteor]

DD's are fine visually, its the Image releases that have problems

[venomchamber]

heh, Image has 'image' problems! :rollin

[morgoth]

MAybe it's cause I have like a 25 inch TV. I didn't have any problems with Legendary Weapons. If there are artifacts, they are very small, cause I didn't have any pic problems. HAve Sword WIll Travel I noticed a little, but not enough to bother me at all.

[David G Rees]

The sound re-mixes are terrible and sound out of place with new added sound fx not found on the original releases.I have a top range sound system too and i listen to the mono as that was what was originally intended they were not meant to have 5.1 0r 6.1 sound!
At least give the viewer the option of both then everybody is happy!


www.asiancultcinema.co.uk (http://www.asiancultcinema.co.uk)

[Markgway]

I just hate they stopped doing the Dolby Digital 5.1 and 6.1, ruining my kung fu home theater surround experience. I'm glad earlier releases like Boxer Rebellion, and Marco Polo have the sound mixes... On a real quality system, it's a great experience. Damn the Mono tracks, move into the new Millenium, upgrade your audio!

Such blasphemy should be punishable by death... or at least being forced to watch Fantasy Mission Force on a loop. :hat

[stormybman]

:rollin !!! I agree with David. Give the viewer more options, and we would probably endorse more product in an expediant manner. Otherwise, we are forced to choose between what is our preferred product and not be open as much to other available selections.


" Can you tell me, what teacher died of? "

[killer meteor]

The 5.1 soundtracks are mostly hideous. Having 5.1 for the sake of 5.1 is like having a black and white film colourised.

To give them credit where it's due, I though the remix for 5 Shaolin Masters was very good. No changed foley and a subtle distribution of the channels

[David G Rees]

"remixed from the original sound elements"...these are the key words on some of the better remixes of older classic films....

www.asiancultcinema.co.uk (http://www.asiancultcinema.co.uk)

[Monkey King 2000]

I very late thank you for everyones advice. I ended buying the DD DVD's and was not disapointed. I also found Legendary Weapons of China Image DVD at not a bad price and so went for this as well. Put this DVD in and was shocked how bad the picture was and then put in the ivl one and was again shocked. I only bought a plasma TV early this year and so have not watched most of my ivl DVD's on it yet. I have since noticed this issue with new ones I have purchased, but they were a lot better than this DVD. Anyway as hopefully we will get the opportunity to upgrade most other LKL films, I felt I needed to find a better version and so thought I would try the Siren DVD. I bought it from their website on the 30th August, it shipped on the 31st and it arrived today. Not bad considering I live in the UK. From the details on the DVD I believe it will be the same quality as Magic Blade (minus the dub) which I already have and was fine. However, oldeschool17 & killer meteor if you want I can let you know what I thought of the DVD.