TVB Released VCD/DVD Questions

[wargods]

According to the guy from tower3a forum, TVB will release War of the Dragon 還我本色 (1989) DVD set very soon.

[Ken Cheng]

According to the guy from tower3a forum, TVB will release War of the Dragon 還我本色 (1989) DVD set very soon.

Well whoopee....another mediocre TVB oldie.

For goodness sakes, what the hell is TVB waiting for? Are they going to hold off on the REAL classics until global warming gets us all?

[Trinie]

My guess is that they are releasing these average ones first to get them out of the way. Then I am guessing that they plan to release a series of classics in a row so they can make a big wade of dough all at once.... That's just my guess though... Hm... lets see if I am right...

[Robin]

I hope TVB will release the Police Cadet 1-3, Two Most Honorable Knight and Hap Hak Hang soon on dvd completly uncut, digitally restored and remasterd with accurate English subtitles.

[Maz999]

According to the guy from tower3a forum, TVB will release War of the Dragon 還我本色 (1989) DVD set very soon.

Oh wow... How random. The name of the series was so unrecognizable that I had to google it and this is another one of them series which I watched once and never remember scenes or anything from. It stars Simon Yam and Leung Ka Yan and yes, it is another forgetable series. I only remember the opening theme song by Dave Wong which was a nice song.

[wargods]

Here's my personal wishlist for TVB DVD releases.

3. THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY (MAN IN THE NET)

7. THE BROTHERS

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY - 85eps (1hr each)
THE BROTHERS - 75eps (1hr each)

If TVB decides to release either one, I wonder how much would it cost.
I am certainly not going to bother doing the estimate price calculations...

I hope they don't put 5 episodes into each DVD9 instead of 4eps just to cut cost, because that would lose a bit of quality.

[almo89]

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY - 85eps (1hr each)
THE BROTHERS - 75eps (1hr each)

If TVB decides to release either one, I wonder how much would it cost.
I am certainly not going to bother doing the estimate price calculations...

I hope they don't put 5 episodes into each DVD9 instead of 4eps just to cut cost, because that would lose a bit of quality.

Yeah TVB will definitely juice it out for the longer shows. I hope they don't though. Actually 5 eps on DVD9 works fine. I have a few shows where they have 5 on one disk to even things out and no quality loss.

[Ken Cheng]

THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY ended up being 80 episodes, not 85.

So far, the TVB DVD sets have worked out to approximately a dollar per episode (give or take). The better value seems to be in the longer series as you are likely to pay $30 for a 20-episode series, but only about $40 for a 40-episode series (depends on the merchant's mark ups too).

At a dollar an episode, THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY would work out to around $80...a pretty steep price, but not a bad value in light of the quality of the series.

If you make a good product, people will buy it.

If TVB can sell crap such as A TASTE OF BACHELORHOOD and WAR OF THE DRAGON (which remains to be seen; will anyone really buy these series?), it can sell THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY.

Time to bring out the A-List, TVB...way *past* time, really.

[almo89]

THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY ended up being 80 episodes, not 85.

So far, the TVB DVD sets have worked out to approximately a dollar per episode (give or take). The better value seems to be in the longer series as you are likely to pay $30 for a 20-episode series, but only about $40 for a 40-episode series (depends on the merchant's mark ups too).

At a dollar an episode, THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY would work out to around $80...a pretty steep price, but not a bad value in light of the quality of the series.

If you make a good product, people will buy it.

If TVB can sell crap such as A TASTE OF BACHELORHOOD and WAR OF THE DRAGON (which remains to be seen; will anyone really buy these series?), it can sell THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY.

Time to bring out the A-List, TVB...way *past* time, really.

Lets just get 25 eps of the Bund out of the way first. That one more than anything else needs a release. My dad was recently watching the VCD version and can't believe how much they butchered out haha. It actually looked kinda funny with the cuts they made.

[Ken Cheng]

Lets just get 25 eps of the Bund out of the way first. That one more than anything else needs a release.

Especially NOW, with China doing practically free advertising for the original BUND through the success of its remake starring Huang Xiao Ming. People's hunger to see the original in its full glory has been stoked by the success of remake. There won't be a better opportunity to cash in than now.

My dad was recently watching the VCD version and can't believe how much they butchered out haha. It actually looked kinda funny with the cuts they made.

The VCD edit is practically unwatchable. THE BUND was a series in which you really couldn't afford to miss a single frame.

[almo89]

The VCD edit is practically unwatchable. THE BUND was a series in which you really couldn't afford to miss a single frame.

Yeah it was really weird how they made Ken Tongs role really minimal which wasn't the case in the original cut. He was a smaller character, but he was a lot more important that the VCD cut showed him to be. They even cut out the part where CYF tells him to take bribes and wait till he gets to the top and then make ur own rules. I thought they shouldn't have cut that part out because it's weird how you see Ken Tong as this righteous cop and turns all corrupted the next second.

[Ken Cheng]

I have a pet theory on why TVB is releasing crap such as A TASTE OF BACHELORHOOD and WAR OF THE DRAGON instead of classics such as THE BUND and THE SHELL GAME.

About a year or so ago, after the successful release of ROCH '83 and LOCH '82 on DVD, and with HSDS '86 in the works, TVB was getting ready to release its best series, such as THE BUND, THE SHELL GAME, THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY, etc., in 2007.

Because TVB is infamously cheap, they hired minimum wage employees as office assistants. One such office assistant was a fellow by the name of "Ah Fook," whose IQ was lower than his belt size.

Anyway, one day, the general manager of TVB ordered Ah Fook to go into the vaults and get the master tapes for THE BUND, THE SHELL GAME, etc., out and deliver them to the remastering studio in preparation to convert them to DVD format. Ah Fook got the master tapes out of the vault, but on the way to the remastering studio, he got distracted by the delicious dim sum being prepared in the TVB Studio Commissary. While getting his dim sum, Ah Fook accidentally dropped the master tapes onto the studio janitor's cart, which tipped over and spilled several large bottles of ammonia-based cleansing chemicals on the master tapes. Within seconds, the master copies of TVB's best work of the 1970s and 1980s were wiped out just like that.

Ah Fook was promptly fired, of course, but the damage was done. Sitting around at a meeting a few weeks later, the TVB managers discussed what they were going to do about future DVD releases.

"Uh, well," Manager A said, "what's left in the vaults?"

Manager B tells him, "Hmmm. Well, we still have A TASTE OF BACHELORHOOD from 1986 and WAR OF THE DRAGON from 1989...those weren't damaged."

Manager A replies, "OK! Let's release those!"

Manager B says, "I don't know. They were pretty crappy series."

Manager A blurts out hotly, "Who cares?! We haven't got anything else!!"

"People are going to ask about the classics, you know," Manager B points out, "They're going to wonder why we're releasing mediocre crap we made back in the 80s instead of the good stuff."

Manager A sighs, "Well, uh...we'll worry about that when we get there...."

And that's how we're in the situation we're in today.

I *challenge* TVB to prove to me that something like that isn't what happened!

[Maz999]

The only reason why I think some of those classics like THE BUND have yet to be re-released might just be the fact that they are taking time to give them the treatment like the Jin Yong series (hopefully anyway...)

Notice the difference between these less-popular series and classics series TVB DVDs is that the less-popular ones are remastered and has either Cantonese or Canto/Mando audio with Trad/Simp Chinese subs ONLY while the classics have all with English subs, extra features and much better packaging.

My guess is that while they taking time doing that, they pump out the smaller minor series which we are seeing. With that said, I can't believe they are still releasing more of them TVB Programs, namely 'On The Road', 'Ten Years After'... and 'Children Song awards presentation'... WHY?

[almo89]

The only reason why I think some of those classics like THE BUND have yet to be re-released might just be the fact that they are taking time to give them the treatment like the Jin Yong series (hopefully anyway...)

Notice the difference between these less-popular series and classics series TVB DVDs is that the less-popular ones are remastered and has either Cantonese or Canto/Mando audio with Trad/Simp Chinese subs ONLY while the classics have all with English subs, extra features and much better packaging.

My guess is that while they taking time doing that, they pump out the smaller minor series which we are seeing. With that said, I can't believe they are still releasing more of them TVB Programs, namely 'On The Road', 'Ten Years After'... and 'Children Song awards presentation'... WHY?

We can only hope they are giving the Bund Jin Yong treatment. What happened to the rest of the Jin Yong series? I'm still waiting for Flying Fox and Smiling Proud Wanderer. I wonder if Wargods has any news on that.

But yeah the more popular shows are getting english subtitles like Justice of Life. It also came in a nicer box too. I wish they would release behind the scenes stuff too, but at this point, I'll just take the show uncut and released.

I have no idea why they are releasing so many variety shows. Do they even sell? I haven't bought one single DVD. It would be great if somebody knew how those were selling.

[Ken Cheng]

I still like my Ah Fook Theory better.

[wargods]

THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY ended up being 80 episodes, not 85.

You are right, my mistake. :\

Because TVB is infamously cheap, they hired minimum wage employees as office assistants. One such office assistant was a fellow by the name of "Ah Fook," whose IQ was lower than his belt size.

Ah Fook? Is he the character that always wears the green shirt in the Doraemon cartoon? LOL

We can only hope they are giving the Bund Jin Yong treatment. What happened to the rest of the Jin Yong series? I'm still waiting for Flying Fox and Smiling Proud Wanderer. I wonder if Wargods has any news on that.

Sorry, I still don't have any news. I don't understand why TVB keeps releasing all these variety shows that have no selling points whatsoever.
Who would really want to buy it? HK people can see them for free. Overseas people can see them on their satellite channels sooner or later.

[wargods]

Here is some TVB DVD news update:

TVB is currently still producing all the other variety shows to DVDs, but one of the shows will be Hong Kong Review (from 1980s). Let's see if anyone knows the Chinese title name of Hong Kong Review, if nobody knows....I will reveal the answer. I really think many people will actually buy this.

TVB will also release the drama "The Last Performance" 鼓舞 (1985). Andy Lau and Teresa Mo are the main leads. There is currently no release date of that at the moment, since the re-mastering procedures haven't been started yet. I guess TVB decides to release this because of the high TV ratings of their new Dancing Drama "Steps" 舞動全城.

[Ken Cheng]

TVB will also release the drama "The Last Performance" 鼓舞 (1985). Andy Lau and Teresa Mo are the main leads. There is currently no release date of that at the moment, since the re-mastering procedures haven't been started yet. I guess TVB decides to release this because of the high TV ratings of their new Dancing Drama "Steps" 舞動全城.

But somehow, even with the surging popularity of Huang Xiao Ming's XIN SHANGHAI TAN, TVB *still* can't get its act together and release THE BUND.

Either my Ah Fook theory is correct, or some TVB marketing execs deserve to GET execked Hui Mun Keung-style.

[almo89]

I recently bought the bootleg Japanese DVD of the bund. It's slightly compressed since there's only 3 disks for all 25 episodes. It's a hell of a lot better than the VCD. This will kinda quench my thirst for now, but not for long.

[bobbywu]

My guess is that while they taking time doing that, they pump out the smaller minor series which we are seeing. With that said, I can't believe they are still releasing more of them TVB Programs, namely 'On The Road', 'Ten Years After'... and 'Children Song awards presentation'... WHY?

For those of you who thought that Maz was kidding about the "Children Song awards presentation" :

http://us.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.asp...id-1005025431/

What the hell? ATV doesn't release enough series, and TVB is releasing random crap !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (No offense to any of the Nadia Chan fans out there.)