TVB Released VCD/DVD Questions

[Dagger Lee]

About the number of episodes, the old TVB series dubbed in Viet were also about 45 minutes long each. However, now they are about 30 minutes each. They are just divided differently that's all. I guess that is ok as long none of the parts are cut out just like they are on the Chinese VCDs. Gosh, I hated that... The good thing is the DVDs in Viet are pretty good quality overall and are uncut. However, some of the series don't have that great quality and it is not as good as the Chinese DVDs. I even noticed that the VHS tapes for the Chinese version had really good quality compared to the Viet dubbed VHS.. WOW, a big difference....

Same for the Thai versions. It wasn't til around 1988 or 1989 that the episodes were about 36 minutes each and then finally 30 minutes each in 1997 when the poster/artcover had TVBI written on it. I still have my old VHS collection of some TVB series up to this day. I noticed how the ones from 1991 and before would always cut out the background music when someone talked. It was rather annoying if the background music was really nice too. Sorry, didn't mean to go off topic.

[Trinie]

No, actually the Viet versions were still 45 minutes even for the early 90s series. However, after the early 90s was when it started to be only 30 minutes each. THe background music is the same for the most part from what I have seen. However, that is for the TVB series... THe Taiwanese series have different background music for the original Chinese version, but in the viet version they put in their own wierd music...

[Dagger Lee]

No, actually the Viet versions were still 45 minutes even for the early 90s series. However, after the early 90s was when it started to be only 30 minutes each. THe background music is the same for the most part from what I have seen. However, that is for the TVB series... THe Taiwanese series have different background music for the original Chinese version, but in the viet version they put in their own wierd music...

Ah ok, I had no idea that the Viet versions were still in its orignal format til that time. Ah yes, that reminds me. I own this one HK movie on DVD called Fist Power. There's a Vietnamese audio option for it and while I don't understand it, I decided to listen to it just for the heck of it. Then I noticed how the background music was different from the original Cantonese audio! It was released by Tai Seng, if you're wondering.

[Will-]

Ah ok, I had no idea that the Viet versions were still in its orignal format til that time. Ah yes, that reminds me. I own this one HK movie on DVD called Fist Power. There's a Vietnamese audio option for it and while I don't understand it, I decided to listen to it just for the heck of it. Then I noticed how the background music was different from the original Cantonese audio! It was released by Tai Seng, if you're wondering.

The background music is different because it's a HK movie, not a TVB series. Basically there are two audio tracks: background and vocal. TVB provides Taiseng with both audio tracks for dubbing while Taiseng only got a single synchronized audio track for the HK movie. Since removing the vocal audio from the background audio won't work, Taiseng created its own background audio to dub the movie.

[Will-]

No, actually the Viet versions were still 45 minutes even for the early 90s series. However, after the early 90s was when it started to be only 30 minutes each. THe background music is the same for the most part from what I have seen. However, that is for the TVB series... THe Taiwanese series have different background music for the original Chinese version, but in the viet version they put in their own wierd music...

Thought it would be nice to share this information:

Back in 2000, I believe, Taiseng began to release rental TVB series on DVD format while Vietnamese began to remux TVB series. This was all originated from the warez scene: there were a few Vietnamese 'rippers' in the warez scene that started to record Vietnamese audio from VHS source, edited the Vietnamese sound using Cooledit (now known as Adobe Audition after Adobe bought out the product) to match with the Chinese audio track, then added the vietnamese audio track to the original Chinese DVD.

Heck, more people are doing this right now and release remuxed TVB series on newsgroup! So pretty much the current Chinese rental DVDs are also available in Vietnamese audio.

By the way, the two groups in the warez scene that started the distribution of remuxed Vietnamese series back in 2000 were AsianMedia (AM) and VietKrew (VK): VietKrew is still around in the warez scene but AsianMedia isn't because one of the group leaders got raided by the FBI for trading software.

[Trinie]

Thanks for the info! I am not too familiar with that kind of stuff since I watch in Chinese and Viet so I get all mixed up about whether the background music is the same or not. I don't really keep track of the background music that much. If I do only for certain series. I like to watch Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese series in Chinese only though and keep track of their background music more..I also never knew what "remux" really meant too...

[Will-]

Thanks for the info! I am not too familiar with that kind of stuff since I watch in Chinese and Viet so I get all mixed up about whether the background music is the same or not. I don't really keep track of the background music that much. If I do only for certain series. I like to watch Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese series in Chinese only though and keep track of their background music more..I also never knew what "remux" really meant too...

Remux is a term coined by the AsianMedia members in the warez scene to mean the process of muxing Vietnamese audio with Chinese video: Vietnamese audio from VHS and video from Chineses rental DVDs. In the past, I used to be a member of a release group, AsianMedia, that's how I know for a fact, that the background audio for Vietnamese TVB series is the same as the background audio for that of Chinese TVB series.

[almo89]

Started watching Heart of Greed on DVD. Up to episode 8. Easily the best looking DVD set out so far. Because it's so new, the picture quality is top notch.

[wargods]

The Justice of Life (1989)
http://global.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept...id-1004921422/

new DVD cover, english sub included.

[sfccrx]

hell yeah, Stephen Chow and Alex Man.

[bobbywu]

Hey has anyone here ordered from Sensasian.com? All their products are real (non-bootleg) right?

[Ian Liew]

Hey has anyone here ordered from Sensasian.com? All their products are real (non-bootleg) right?

I've bought loads of stuff from Sensasian and it's all been great so far. All original stuff. Having said that, I've not bought anything for the past 3 years or so, but what I've had so far is pretty good. It's helps that my old office was within walking distance from their office, so it was comforting for me to hand my cheque over to a person who would be contactable via phone.

[Trinie]

I did order some CDs from sensasian years ago and it was authentic and original. They charged quite a bit for shipping since I live in the US. Right now they are offering free shipping for a number of items so it is good to order from them. They have a number of products that even yesasia does not have.

[almo89]

I just finished watching Heart of Greed. The DVD quality is excellent. Best released set to date. The same 2 commercials they play at the beginning of each disk gets irritating after a while since you can't skip it. I never understood why something I bought with my own money and I don't even have the luxury of skipping it.

On series itself, I enjoyed it a lot. I haven't enjoyed a new series in a long time. Last one would be A step into the past. Yeah that's how long it's been. The one thing that worries me though is that this show required the veterans to hold down the fort. The younger actors were just kinda there. TVB doesn't really have any young stars that can hold down the fort these days.

Ha Yu and Moses were my favourite characters in the show. Both were goofy and funny, but when it came to the serious parts, it was very convincing. One memorable scene was when Ha Yu came out of the hospital to protect his kids.

Susanna Kwan. What can I say. She's a fine cougar I'm telling ya . The main leads were veterans and even though Susanna Kwan has been in the business for many years, she wasn't really an actress. I remember her in small roles in ROCH83 and The Emissary, but it was nothing notable. This series made me believe that she was a seasoned vet. She was very convincing and played her villain part very well. And finally we have decent themesong because we have somebody that can actually sing. Sounds so much better than all the crappy themesongs we hear. Academy comes to mind. eeesh that was horrible.

Lee See Kei was also great. Her scenes of being nice and playing with the kids seemed kinda awkward at times, but when it came to the serious acting, she was on the ball. When she tricked Susanna, I was thinking wow that is very clever. You can tell that she has screen presence. She was in charge of the family and I love it when she goes "We are not in a court, we don't need evidence". That was a great line.

Linda Chung surprised me. I expected a lacklustre performance, but she did great. Her character gets kinda annoying at times, but overall her character is likeable. I'm surprised how good she is a crying in this show. Very very convincing. I did think that she cried too much though, but it appears that her acting skills were shown in her crying and court scenes. I'm not saying that she can't act outside of crying and her court scenes, but the regular Seung Joi Sum wasn't really that interesting. To sum it up, Linda Chung proves to me that she can act can improve to be even better.

Bosco and Tavia had important roles, but nothing jumped out at me. I remember Bosco being one my the better new actors in TVB when I first saw him and I expected him to take a big leap in this series, but it didn't happen. I didn't really see much in him in this show, but he wasn't bad though.

Raymond Lam did what was asked of him. He had a important, but small role in the show. He's one of the more reliable actors TVB has now.

[jennalipe]

I just recently rediscovered this great drama. Has anyone seen it? I don't have the full tapes, so I was just wondering if someone would be kind enough to describe what happened between Adam's first son (Ah Hao) and the oldest sister from the other family? Thanks!

[BearBearNweather]

You mean between the eldest son of Adam and the middle sister of Lau Ching Wan?

 click to show spoilers

They were together for a while inspite of the objections from her family. But she died in the end, all thanks to him

I like this show a lot. Strong performances from most of the cast. Prepare tons of tissue for certain scenes.

[jennalipe]

Thanks! How did he cause her death? I only have the first couple of tapes, so I've only seen the parts when they first met.

[angrybaby]

now THAT was a great tvb drama - people just don't know what they're are missing.

Yes its the eldest brother and the 2nd sister (Ting) not the oldest.
MAJOR SPOILEERR



Third brother 'rapes' the little Fong sister. Basically after a lot of tension, 2nd sister breaks up bitterly with eldest brother, He hands the power to 3rd brother who ends up throwing the Fong siblings off a roof. Thats how she died

there are reviews on this site, read it

[wtfmang]

For real, I see all these posts with people praising Heart of Greed, Family Link, etc and I can't believe the disparity between how good series were in the 90s compared to recent series that are praised as good now. The tension, drama and the acting in this is miles above anything made this decade in TVB, even though the portrayal of the stock market in this show is unrealistic.

[jennalipe]

I completely agree. TVB series that are produced recently are at best entertaining. It has been a long time that I've seen one I can truely call "great." David Siu did a really good job in here.