Member Killer Meteor Posted July 30, 2008 Member Share Posted July 30, 2008 Is the English dub free of new sound effects. This odd flaw affected DD's One Armed Swordsman and Siren's Heroic Ones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member chen lung Posted July 30, 2008 Member Share Posted July 30, 2008 What are the subtitles like? Would upgrade for the proper video, mono options with English dub and extras. I do like the IVL covers better though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Dragon Posted July 30, 2008 Member Share Posted July 30, 2008 I am gonna go broke upgrading these Shaw releases, I'm telling you... This film is one worth having with great video because for so many years the VHS was so crappy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member chen lung Posted July 30, 2008 Member Share Posted July 30, 2008 Come on someone! I'm dying for a review ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Running Man Posted August 3, 2008 Member Share Posted August 3, 2008 Are both Cantonese and Mandarin tracks on the disc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member froffeecoffee Posted August 3, 2008 Member Share Posted August 3, 2008 Yes, both tracks are on the disc. Media Blasters are great for including extras, language, trailers, and interviews. I'd say they are setting the standard for kung fu dvds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member chen lung Posted August 3, 2008 Member Share Posted August 3, 2008 Yes, both tracks are on the disc. Media Blasters are great for including extras, language, trailers, and interviews. I'd say they are setting the standard for kung fu dvds. Thanks for confirmation. How are the subtitles? Any grammar errors and unmentioned extras? Strangely, Media Blasters don't seem to be including English openings credits like they did with 'Heroes Two'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member vengeanceofhumanlanterns Posted August 5, 2008 Member Share Posted August 5, 2008 this movie has a deep message about mo duk (martial virtue) and is very hung kuen specific which could be the reason why many dont have this on top of their list..for me though this is my favorite ... I could not agree more. The message Chen Kuan Tai gives to Gordon Liu upon completion of his training is awesome. The english dubbed that is. Well done translation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Dragon Posted August 5, 2008 Member Share Posted August 5, 2008 Just picked this up today along with The Master. Looking forward to seeing what all the chatter is about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted August 5, 2008 Administrator Share Posted August 5, 2008 this movie has a deep message about mo duk (martial virtue) and is very hung kuen specific which could be the reason why many dont have this on top of their list..for me though this is my favorite ... I could not agree more. The message Chen Kuan Tai gives to Gordon Liu upon completion of his training is awesome. The english dubbed that is. Well done translation. That's my favorite element of this film. I really feel the martial chivalry. I've shown this to a lot of younger student while training because it has a great message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member chen lung Posted August 5, 2008 Member Share Posted August 5, 2008 That's my favorite element of this film. I really feel the martial chivalry. I've shown this to a lot of younger student while training because it has a great message. Agreed. The final scene with The Pops and Mr Liu is rather touching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted August 6, 2008 Member Share Posted August 6, 2008 I just watched the fight between Lau Kar Leung and Lau Kar Wing and HOLY COW!!!!! :eek::eek::eek::eek: Every time the scene ends my hand forces me to rewind it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted August 6, 2008 Member Share Posted August 6, 2008 The final scene with The Pops and Mr Liu is rather touching. I agree. It was a pretty special scene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Running Man Posted August 8, 2008 Member Share Posted August 8, 2008 Just picked up the title. Haven't had a chance to go through it yet, but chen lung my boy...you and I seem to have been heard. The film, the original Mandarin trailer, and even the text-less opening, which are all anamorphic, are all fully progressive. The textless opening by the way is a great little bonus, and is definitely something that doesn't surprise me that was included on the DVD from them since it's something that comes from their anime releases. When I get to look through more of it I'll report back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member chen lung Posted August 8, 2008 Member Share Posted August 8, 2008 Admittedly, I watched the IVL one again because I liked the film . Of course, I'll let you go through it. Then once I get it, I'll probably do the same . "Stop bull****ting!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member chen lung Posted August 22, 2008 Member Share Posted August 22, 2008 OK, got my copy today. 'The Master': yesterday. A little bit of bitchiness here, but as MB are improving, I'll report problems so they can be a bit better than they are (without seeming patronising). Been editing this most of the day as I watch the film. I know it's a bit inappropriate to post a big DVD review nagging about stuff on a forum about the films themselves (although the thread's here), but perhaps MB might be interested if they're notified of feedback primarily here. Better still, ask someone to come on or provide contact details. THE GOOD: Celestial Trailers The subtitles (slight punctuation issue though) have been redone in the Celestial trailers and added in two translations at the end not covered initially. They are also presented in the preferred state with the one video and the two audio tracks. Progressive The movie (like 'The Master') is indeed progressive in addition to the textless opening (unlike 'The Master'). Tracks Like 'The Master', MB have generally avoided superfluous tracks it would seem (except the textless opening - see below), but there's a few tracks with mis-labeled languages (rather minor though). THE NOT-SO GOOD: Subtitles On the main film: The subtitles are generally good, but upon further inspection (despite what I confidently had earlier), there's still a few grammar issues (45:56 - "Master, Yuen Ching set this up so we have to trouble you again") and the phrasing can be a bit awkward at times - I'd also encourage the use of shortening words like "is not" to "isn't" to avoid being too formal and for smoothness (the film has situations of being too formal). The translation isn't fantastic, but it does service and improves on things IVL didn't so well at (MB thankfully removes instances of "bull****"). The mention of "Young Master" is left out at 11:53, "Yes!" is written as "Yes master!", Yuen Chang's name is put down as "Yuen Ching" and "I know!" is written as "I know what you want to say!". I did wonder if the translator was working from the Cantonese track because at 1:20:30, only the Cantonese track has dialogue - oddly the names are of Mandarin origin. Perhaps MB thought fans were complaining about basing the translation of 'The Master' on the (incorrect) Mandarin soundtrack and sought to correct it by erroneously working from the (incorrect) Cantonese soundtrack for 'Challenge Of The Masters'? Perhaps it was a hang-over from Celestial's subtitles? Please use punctuation correctly (avoid using exclamation marks when a full stop is more suited, whilst insert commas where necessary), be careful of repeated subtitles (48:32) and have someone with good English skills check them in addition to making sure pretty much everything from mention of names is included and other things translated properly (avoiding being too literal of course which can lead to flubtitlisms). Overall, it's better, but there's room for improvement. Place subtitles with one line in the bar completely and have two lines spread between bar and picture evenly. Split two short sentences into two lines as opposed to the one full line. The layout seems to be inappropriate at times in terms of length and the alignment is a bit weird (three words on the top line, but eight at the bottom). If there's conversing, use the hyphen method below. Instead of have two separate subtitles for dialogue one immediately after the other, please put them together in the one subtitle to allow enough reading-time. The timing is a little bit off occasionally - appearing a bit late or cutting off. It sort-of extends onto Chen's interview. When he mentioned Lau's Group, I heard him mention Tang Chia and other names, but it wasn't covered. Instead of using the hyphen method like this: - I... - Shut up! ...MB do it like this (awkwardly spread across the screen with a big gap in-between, something maybe only suited for Hard Of Hearing subtitles on TV programmes or something): Shut Up! I... Elaborating on the hyphen method, use it for instances like 20:43 (this isn't done on the disc): - How is it? - I haven't seen you for a year. The opening credits without transcriptions aren't subtitled. Please translate those and be aware that some of the bi-lingual ones don't fully transcribe the Chinese ones - only one or two are done and the rest are left. Textless Opening It could have included an Cantonese track instead of an empty 'Chinese' one. Seems to start very suddenly too. Subtitles would have been a good idea here. English Trailer Sadly, this is interlaced and has chroma bleeding (everything is horribly orange) so if you have a similar case in future, please reduce the saturation or something. Despite being overall in the correct proportions (presented about 1:85:1 non-anamorphic), it's still a little bit distorted and I would have liked new black bars to mask off the analogue garbage. Please ensure all film-based features are progressive, as they've been interlaced a few times now. SUGGESTIONS: Chapters There's 16 here, but I feel the need for more - upto 30 for the average film. Menu Navigation in the menus is awkward - pressing buttons to options not in that direction: When I have a vertical list (Special Features and Set-Up), allow me to press left to BACK TO MAIN. When I press down in the Tokyo Shock Trailer menu, don't move down AND left or right to a trailer. When I press down in Scene Access, don't go right through the chaptered numbers, go down to MAIN or NEXT. In Features when highlighting Trailer Gallery, don't go to Stills Gallery if I press up, go to Tokyo Shock Trailers. (Bitchy afterthought: The menu links say Trailer Gallery, but the menu says Trailers - same thing with Features and Special Features.) Also, at the end of the music, it starts to play half a second but then stops to play the menu again with the music beginning again! Versions Obtain opening credit sequences in English ('Heroes Two' had it, but curious to why it's not here) and if possible, add them to the film for a more authentic experience using seamless branching. For films with different versions, this is a handy situation. Slates Although some purists detest it (it did me at one time), perhaps having the slates player generated (when subtitles aren't on) is better than an official track as the average joe will think "ugh, get them subtitles off!", but I suppose it's tidier too. When you seriously think about it, do people need to be worried about player-generated subtitles for slates? It's not as if they're burnt into the picture, plus I can't think of instances that you'll watch the film without the subtitled slates anyway (an example of how it would work is HKL's 'Hitman'). Original Trailers With Burnt-In Subtitles On instances like 'The Master's original trailer which translated the things that the burnt-in subtitles didn't, it would probably be better to use a smaller white font in an attempt to match them (also put them into the picture perhaps). DVD-ROM Extras Is there any chance of DVD-ROM extras with wallpapers for all displays from Macbooks to PC resolutions? Maybe lobby cards and similar images at higher resolution if Celestial would allow it (perhaps without logos for purist reasons?). Sadly, bootleggers may take advantage though. Speaking of images, are behind-the-scenes images being included for MB releases (like the IVLs do)? Artwork I'm not incredibly keen on the artwork made for these with added limbs and fire-effects. Not sure in a few words how to constructively suggest a better artwork, other than avoid photoshopping stuff and making it look less ugly lol ! I'd change the 'Deadly Duo' artwork as the 'two faces' thing is a bit weird (particularly the shot chosen of Ti Lung) to something else with less-generic in terms of scenery (although I know Celestial's a bit restrictive), based sort-of outdoors and the use of body shots, etc (perhaps the yellow banners wouldn't go well?). I've always liked IVL's artwork - a 'safe bet' because it's true to what's contained and doesn't necessarily photoshop, but it seems a bit generic and modern 'for da kidz' sometimes (can't describe it). I was going to suggest reversible artwork with Chinese and English poster. Although sadly, it makes it a bit awkward and superfluous to display if a bulky slipcase is going to cover it up. I dislike slipcases as they look to be costly and don't fit in with the rest of your collection (especially if you've a particular storage system or they're stopped). --- I just think it's a bit strange that someone like me should have to report the technical problems (some being obvious to the average home-viewer), but if they're listening, then I appreciate that. It's quite a good release, but needs improvement (again !). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Running Man Posted August 24, 2008 Member Share Posted August 24, 2008 I'll only comment on two thing cause I don't have time to with anything else: The translation isn't fantastic, but it does service and improves on things IVL didn't so well at (MB thankfully removes instances of "bull****").p I have to disagree. Compared to the subtitles on the IVL, the MB is an enormous improvement over the IVL without a single shred of doubt. Your examples of them not being so are quite minor compared to the huge leap made to adding translations where none was given on the IVL and plus the big amount of information that is included in the translation of dialog that does not make them feel dumbed down from what I saw (I got to see about the first 30 minutes). So I have to say that the translation is "fantastic". And perhaps the included translation of the line only said on the Cantonese track was maybe MB trying to have a "universal" English subtitle track? In other words, one that'll cover both tracks at the same time? I wonder if it's possible for MB to stat including subtitles for each of the Chinese language tracks. Since they are including both that'd be incredible to do, but if money and time don't allow then it's okay. As long as they make sure they are translating them from the "official" track. Plus, the placement of the subtitles is not something that should be considered a flaw. It's simply placement of subtitles. As long as they are not in the middle of the screen and are somewhere below the main image it's cool. Although some purists detest it (it did me at one time), perhaps having the slates player generated (when subtitles aren't on) is better than an official track as the average joe will think "ugh, get them subtitles off!", but I suppose it's tidier too. When you seriously think about it, do people need to be worried about player-generated subtitles for slates? It's not as if they're burnt into the picture, plus I can't think of instances that you'll watch the film without the subtitled slates anyway (an example of how it would work is HKL's 'Hitman'). Trust me, this is how ALL anime and other companies work and not once has this ever been a problem in the history of the world to anyone. You're the first to even suggest so chen. Besides, I would get seriously pissed if they were done this way. It's an unnecessary thing to do, especially if someone is watching the film and needs no translation whatsoever ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted August 24, 2008 Member Share Posted August 24, 2008 Chen Lung, any comments on the English dub? All genuine The subs on the Australian DVD were from IVL but in a worse font and colour, and wern't very well thought out at all. I also felt the picture was excessivly zoomed in, but I have nothing to compare this too - perhaps the original trailer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member chen lung Posted August 24, 2008 Member Share Posted August 24, 2008 Your post is about the Master? This thread is about Challenge of the Masters. It was about 'Challenge', but I brought up 'The Master' because I was comparing on things improved. Trust me, this is how ALL anime and other companies work and not once has this ever been a problem in the history of the world to anyone. You're the first to even suggest so chen. First to suggest player-generated subtitles? Well, HKL did it . Chen Lung, any comments on the English dub? All genuine I did suspect a kick at one point, but perhaps I was being a little obsessive. Probably fine and worth the upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member oldeschool17 Posted August 24, 2008 Member Share Posted August 24, 2008 Your post is about the Master? This thread is about Challenge of the Masters. How about starting a new thread? I already know this disc is a piece of dung. And am pissed I bought it preorder. So that would make what, 3 MB discs you pre-ordered? You must be a glutton for punishment if you think they are dung and didn't bother to cancel this one;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Running Man Posted August 24, 2008 Member Share Posted August 24, 2008 First to suggest player-generated subtitles? No. First to suggest that having subtitles for just text being optional might be a problem. It isn't. A company like Media Blasters does good by labeling what each sub-track is and keeping it optional. Again, it's preferable that way because if someone purchases the disc and does not need subtitles of any kind, why should they not be able to remove them if they choose to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted August 24, 2008 Member Share Posted August 24, 2008 So in short, a good disc? I don't think we need endless branching of alternate credits and the like. Risks complicating things Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member chen lung Posted August 24, 2008 Member Share Posted August 24, 2008 So that would make what, 3 MB discs you pre-ordered? You must be a glutton for punishment if you think they are dung and didn't bother to cancel this one;) Personally I don't know why people pre-order. Unless it's a limited edition situation of 'first-come first-served', there's no advantage and if a negative review comes back, you may have wasted your money if the retailer doesn't do refunds. Take the recent release of 'Fearless' as an example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member chen lung Posted August 24, 2008 Member Share Posted August 24, 2008 No. First to suggest that having subtitles for just text being optional might be a problem. It isn't. A company like Media Blasters does good by labeling what each sub-track is and keeping it optional. Again, it's preferable that way because if someone purchases the disc and does not need subtitles of any kind, why should they not be able to remove them if they choose to? Good point, I suppose. I only suggested it because it was a disc aimed at the English-language market. However, perhaps that's a bit narrow-minded as there's non-English speakers such as Chinese that wouldn't require the player-generated subtitles. So in short, a good disc? I don't think we need endless branching of alternate credits and the like. Risks complicating things Yes, overall a reasonable presentation and better than any version available of course. I don't see why it should be difficult to implement branching as I've seen it done in DVD Studio Pro. Unless MB themselves can answer, the possibility remains open - Cliff at BCI said he'd consider it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member oldeschool17 Posted August 24, 2008 Member Share Posted August 24, 2008 Heh, really. I ment preordering the Master. I preordered the Master. And Heroes Two. But not Challenge. Which is a good disc. Buy it. But not their version of the Master. Heh, I have the ILV and the Siren versions of the Master. They are all crap. CRAP. Well, the Siren is decent. I have it. I just havent opened it up and watched it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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