Chinese Imports/Cheap Knock-offs

[Seppuku]

Are they a useful way of catching great movies and programs on the cheap, or do they devalue the film-watching experience?

I don't know what the score is- whether they have some weird Commie licensing loop or something- but there are a shit-load of these sweet Chinese box-sets available for import on places like ebay. I've bought ones containing every single movie Kubrick/Coen Brothers/Kurosawa/Ozu/Scorsese/Truffaut/Hitchcock ever made, and if I didn't I'd never have caught some gems that get lost in the ether. Sure, sometimes the subtitles are a bit whack, especially with those Japanese movies (which read like they've been Babel'd from Japanese to Swahili to Danish to Chinese and FINALLY to English), but you can always download better subs if you want.

Personally, if I can buy a whole director's ouevre for 20 dollars, I'm willing to look beyond any flaws.

What do you think?

[bastard_robo]

Half of my Forigen collection consist of these.

I dont know how else i would get movies lf i didnt buy them like this.

I usually buy them when theres a cool forigen movie out that i want to see. If i waited for some offical release, i would be waiting for years. (fuck battle royale still isnt available domestic here)

I own about 90 imports/knock offs at the moment.

the last ones i picked up were

DAYWATCH
DRAGON TIGER GATE
YAMAKASI

all under 40 bucks!

and the subs are really good to.

[Brocktune]

these hong kong jobs piss me the fuck off.

i purchased a dvd copy of kurosawa's largely unseen early mini masterpiece "they who tread on tigers tail".
worst. subtitling. EVAR!!!!!!!

i suppose its better than nothing. but with hack jobs like these, not much.

[Seppuku]

these hong kong jobs piss me the fuck off.

i purchased a dvd copy of kurosawa's largely unseen early mini masterpiece "they who tread on tigers tail".
worst. subtitling. EVAR!!!!!!!

i suppose its better than nothing. but with hack jobs like these, not much.

I know this is a bit of a runaround, but here's how I got past the weak subs that came with that disc: go to this website and search the Japanese name of the movie (here's Tiger's Tail's subs: http://subtitles-divx.net/19894/Tora+no+o+wo+fumu+otokotachi.html), and then go here and download this freeware thing that plays subs over the screen: http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/downloads/showsoftware_dvdsubtitle_player_175.html.

This means you've got to play the DVD on your computer, but it's better than having to read shittily translated lines like: "we eat hyim for dinner on Sunday, yes?".


Downloading subs is totally legal by the way.

[Brocktune]

0MGZ0RZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thank grod you came back, sepp.

im all over this shit!

[Fried Gold]

There is a particular type of cheap chinese knock-off to look for that is usually of a higher quality.

If they have a "DVD9" sticker or label somewhere on them it usually means they have been made by pirates off the coast of Indonesia/Malaysia/Thailand. They tend to get hold of official masters (through less than legal means) and make decent copies of them. Real Pirate DVDs (TM).

But buying pirate discs isn't recommend of course....

[Fievel]

It's the only way for an American cracker like me to watch Battle Royale without downloading anything. It was also they way I got the original Star Wars (with VERY cool bonus features) DVDs and the '97 Special Edition DVDs before Lucas finally said "Ehhhh.. what the hell" and released them. I'm not too proud of buying the boots I have bought, but at the time it was the only reasonable option. Add to that Nightwatch, Casshern, Shaun Of The Dead (before it even hit US theaters), Hero (also pre-US), Wonderful Days (aka Sky Blue... still unavailable), and Appleseed (pre-US).
Oh... I also bought the entire Cowboy Bebop series for ultra cheap and I'm pretty sure it was a bootleg copy simply because it was so cheap ($25).

Bless me Zoners for I have sinned.

[magicmonkey]

I'm having problems logging on today, I wonder if its this thread or my anus comment yesterday...

[bastard_robo]

It's the only way for an American cracker like me to watch Battle Royale without downloading anything. It was also they way I got the original Star Wars (with VERY cool bonus features) DVDs and the '97 Special Edition DVDs before Lucas finally said "Ehhhh.. what the hell" and released them. I'm not too proud of buying the boots I have bought, but at the time it was the only reasonable option. Add to that Nightwatch, Casshern, Shaun Of The Dead (before it even hit US theaters), Hero (also pre-US), Wonderful Days (aka Sky Blue... still unavailable), and Appleseed (pre-US).
Oh... I also bought the entire Cowboy Bebop series for ultra cheap and I'm pretty sure it was a bootleg copy simply because it was so cheap ($25).

Bless me Zoners for I have sinned.

You have done nothing worng, but say FUCK YOU! to the man who refuses to properly release these gems in a timely order.

(like Miramax! How dare they!)

[sonnyboo]

It's the only way for an American cracker like me to watch Battle Royale without downloading anything.

Really? I rented an NTSC DVD of it from Netflix last month....

That's legit.