All About DVD Remastering Movie studios and media distributors in Hong Kong often release films on DVD 4-6 weeks after they finish playing in the movie theatres. Compare this to the 4-8 months it usually takes American DVDs to show up on store shelves after their theatrical release. Everything about the Hong Kong film industry is sped up when compared to Hollywood. One of the end results can be hasty initial releases of films on DVD. This isn't to say that these DVDs are terrible. Usually, they are quite decent, but may be lacking special features. Remember that HKFlix.com will always carry the latest version of a particular DVD. Sometimes we make mention on the product page if the DVD is remastered, but not always. To gain a better understanding of what goes on when a DVD is remastered, let's consider "Armour of God 2: Operation Condor" a Mega Star DVD. In our approach, we will look at 5 primary criteria: Transfer (picture quality), Running Time, Subtitles, Sound, and Trailers/Extras. TRANSFER Old Release: Had a slightly-below-average to average transfer that was too dark. The source print (film) used for this transfer was not good, as exhibited by nicks and scratches throughout the film. New Release: Very good transfer from obviously different source film. Fewer artifacts throughout the film. Another common change during a remaster is the aspect ratio. The aspect ratio is the proportion of the film as displayed on your TV. Generally, movie purists want to see the entire film, which will result in a letterboxed picture. RUNNING TIME Old Release: 106 minutes New Release: 102 minutes There was one minor cut (about 5 seconds) in the remastered version of this film. So why is there such a drastic change in the running time? The difference in the running times is due to a PAL source being used for the new release. For example, Jackie Chan's "Scripted, Directed, & Starred By" on-screen credit at the beginning of the film occurs 7.51 minutes into the film on the old release. On the new release, it occurs 7.31 minutes into the film. The new release is definitely running slightly faster, and that translates into a shorter running time. Despite this example, cuts are often the cause of running time differences. Usually, footage is added, but it can go both ways. SUBTITLES Old Release: Chinese (Traditional), English, Indonesian, Malaysian New Release: Chinese (Traditional), English, Chinese (Simplified), Japanese On the old release, the subtitles were in a very thin font and were difficult to read. This was corrected in the remastered version. Different subtitle options are usually the result of new market research which indicates that, for example, this film would be a hit among the Japanese. Some HK DVDs are initially released with "burnt-in" (or "embedded") subtitles. These are subtitles that are embedded into the print, so they aren't removable. Mei Ah used to do this a lot. Thus, many remasters of old Mei Ah DVDs will correct this glaring problem. SOUND Old Release: Cantonese (DD 2.0), Mandarin (DD 2.0) New Release: Cantonese (DD 5.1), Mandarin (DD 5.1) Obviously, on paper, the sound of the remaster benefits from a huge upgrade from basic stereo to Dolby Digital 5.1. We say "on paper", because the Chinese are just now figuring out how to put together a good multi-channel mix. As it turns out, the sound of this remaster is pretty good, as should be the sound of most contemporary remasters. TRAILERS/EXTRAS Old Release: No trailers; No extra features New Release: Trailer for the feature movie (Armour of God 2: Operation Condor), plus trailers for four additional films. Also features cast information, and a movie synopsis. Remasters almost always contain more special features. Conclusion The whole concept of remasters in Hong Kong DVD releases is very simple: in a rush to get the initial version out the door and in stores, studios are forced to do a rush job. For the popular films, even while the initial version is being put together, a separate team is already working on the remaster, which often polishes up every aspect of the DVD--from the feature presentation to the interactive menus, subtitles, and even the packaging. Is it worth it to skip buying an initial release? That depends on how much you want to own the DVD. Remember, not every DVD gets a remaster. Probably less than 40% are remastered, and it can take up to a year for this to happen. Not only that, but sometimes, if you fail to grab a DVD as soon as it is available, you might miss out completely on getting a copy. For example, the DVD "Shiri" was only in-print for about a week! For whatever reason (usually related to copyrights), the "Shiri" disc was pulled. It may be re-released in the future, but who knows if it will be the same DVD. For example, as of this writing, we believe that it will be re-released as a region-3 DVD, whereas the previous version was an all-code. So our advice is: if you really want to own a DVD, get the initial release when it first comes out. If you aren't sure if you want it or not--and you have patience--maybe wait to see if it is re-released in remastered form. Image Comparison Below is a comparison of images from the two releases of "Armour of God 2: Operation Condor". Note the superior contrast, sharpness, shadow detail, and brighter image of the remastered version. Also note the different menu layout and the different opening movie sequence, which is slightly different, indicating that a different film print was used for the remastered version. (There may be some compression artifacts in the images below. This is not due to the quality of the DVDs, but rather because these images have been optimized for the web.)