jspartan
09-11-2008, 01:21 PM
I was on vacation in Thailand from Aug 17th to the 31st and found a store that carried Blu-ray Discs.
I searched for some that could not be purchased in the US. I ended up picking up Almost Famous and Kung Fu Hustle.
Here is my quick take on them...
Almost Famous looks to be the Hong Kong BD imported into Thailand. It is the Untitled version of the film but sadly with very few bonus materials.
The video quality is excellent with proper fleshtones and great saturation. Very little edge enhancement can be seen. As for sound, a Dolby TrueHD English track is selectable. Due to my equipment setup, I can only hear the 640kbs Dolby Digital lossy track via my PS3. The track lets the music run free with the LFE kicking in during the songs. Albeit its not reference quality, fans of the film will still find the audio superior to the DVD's audio. The only bonus materials are a music video and a short video interview with the real Lester Bangs. Both are presented in 480p 4x3 and the interview looks like it came from a video tape.
Fans who want an everything but the kitchen sink package may want to wait for Dreamworks Home Entertainment to release this in the US. This disc is from Sony Home Entertainment (Columbia Pictures has international rights) and is all-region. For those who can't wait, this is the best presentation thus far. I paid about $32 US for the disc but the UK import is the same and can be had for $1-$2 US less.
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My receiver does not output the PCM 2.0 downmix as stereo surround. For some reason, my PS3 sends only a stereo track to the TV and the TV routes that to my receiver. So if I select any lossless track (Dolby TrueHD, dts HD MA, and PCM) and the PS3 is set to linear PCM, my audio comes out front heavy with very little if any surround sound activity. Thus I have to select bitstream output and have the PS3 auto choose the lossy track for the best audio.
I don't plan to upgrade my reciever since I bought it less than two years ago.
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Kung Fu Hustle also looks like the Hong Kong BD disc. The big difference is that this is the original uncut HK version of the film. Since this is for a different market, only English subtitles are included.
Video quality is pretty top notch but its not perfect. The high-def transfer does not hide the CGI well and colors are a tad off in certain scenes. Its a definite upgrade over the DVD but most will want to wait for a major price drop on this. As for sound...folks who have the same problem I do will find this disc the best one yet. The US BD only has a PCM Cantonese track but this import has both PCM Cantonese and Dolby Digital 5.1 Cantonese. A nice addition for people who experience the same sound output issue I have. The DD track is an improvement over the dts track on the DVD.
Bonus materials are the same as the US BD but English subtitles are only available for the commentary track. The other special features are subtitled in Thai only. This means that the only other English friendly extra is the Ric Meyer interview. All the video bonus features are presented in 480p 4x3.
Overall, this is a great purchase for fans of the WHEN the price drops. I picked it up for 999baht which equates to about 30dollars US.
I searched for some that could not be purchased in the US. I ended up picking up Almost Famous and Kung Fu Hustle.
Here is my quick take on them...
Almost Famous looks to be the Hong Kong BD imported into Thailand. It is the Untitled version of the film but sadly with very few bonus materials.
The video quality is excellent with proper fleshtones and great saturation. Very little edge enhancement can be seen. As for sound, a Dolby TrueHD English track is selectable. Due to my equipment setup, I can only hear the 640kbs Dolby Digital lossy track via my PS3. The track lets the music run free with the LFE kicking in during the songs. Albeit its not reference quality, fans of the film will still find the audio superior to the DVD's audio. The only bonus materials are a music video and a short video interview with the real Lester Bangs. Both are presented in 480p 4x3 and the interview looks like it came from a video tape.
Fans who want an everything but the kitchen sink package may want to wait for Dreamworks Home Entertainment to release this in the US. This disc is from Sony Home Entertainment (Columbia Pictures has international rights) and is all-region. For those who can't wait, this is the best presentation thus far. I paid about $32 US for the disc but the UK import is the same and can be had for $1-$2 US less.
-
My receiver does not output the PCM 2.0 downmix as stereo surround. For some reason, my PS3 sends only a stereo track to the TV and the TV routes that to my receiver. So if I select any lossless track (Dolby TrueHD, dts HD MA, and PCM) and the PS3 is set to linear PCM, my audio comes out front heavy with very little if any surround sound activity. Thus I have to select bitstream output and have the PS3 auto choose the lossy track for the best audio.
I don't plan to upgrade my reciever since I bought it less than two years ago.
-
Kung Fu Hustle also looks like the Hong Kong BD disc. The big difference is that this is the original uncut HK version of the film. Since this is for a different market, only English subtitles are included.
Video quality is pretty top notch but its not perfect. The high-def transfer does not hide the CGI well and colors are a tad off in certain scenes. Its a definite upgrade over the DVD but most will want to wait for a major price drop on this. As for sound...folks who have the same problem I do will find this disc the best one yet. The US BD only has a PCM Cantonese track but this import has both PCM Cantonese and Dolby Digital 5.1 Cantonese. A nice addition for people who experience the same sound output issue I have. The DD track is an improvement over the dts track on the DVD.
Bonus materials are the same as the US BD but English subtitles are only available for the commentary track. The other special features are subtitled in Thai only. This means that the only other English friendly extra is the Ric Meyer interview. All the video bonus features are presented in 480p 4x3.
Overall, this is a great purchase for fans of the WHEN the price drops. I picked it up for 999baht which equates to about 30dollars US.