Anybody ever bought cheap import anime dvds?

Post by **Quzar** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 10:28 pm

from a site like this: http://www.discountanimedvd.com/ ?

I was thinking about getting some, but I worry about the quality, and making sure they are official japanese releases and not the hong kong version of it.

Post by **melancholy** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 10:38 pm

The words 'quality' and 'hong kong version' do not belong in the same sentence. I bought Love Hina off of that site about 3 or 4 years ago, and the video is worse than watching a VCD.

navi · Post by **navi** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 10:49 pm

Really? I bought Love Hina from the same place and it looked beautiful.

Post by **Quzar** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 11:06 pm

I have the official love hina complete box set, but it set me back 110$ last christmas, but was well worth it. The thing is it seems like they sell a mix of both legit japanese import dvds, and hong kong bootlegs.

What company does your love hina thing say it is made by? On the site they show 3 different companies under imports: Animation Video, Anime Cartoon, and FX. It seems like FX may be legit as it doesn't offer chineese subtitles on it's dvds.

Post by **melancholy** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 11:12 pm

navi wrote:Really? I bought Love Hina from the same place and it looked beautiful.

I bought the Hong Kong version of it. It was $35 after shipping. Not only does it look like garbage, but the subtitles are broken as well. And don't even get me started on my Hong Kong version of Lain. I literally had to rip three episodes from one disc and reencode them onto a new disc because the audio was off by almost 3 seconds. Paid $23 for that one. But I suppose that's what I get for buying illegal anime. My Evangelion and Outlaw Star discs, however, are quite nice, considering how much compression they had to do to make them fit on three discs. It's hit and miss really when it comes to cheap imports.

Post by **Quzar** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 11:51 pm

Sigh, maybe i'll just keep searching. If I'm gonna end up with a bootleg thing anyways, i might as well just download an ogm or mkv copy and make my own dvds =\.

Egotistical EvilN · Post by **Egotistical EvilN** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 10:57 am

I bought lupin series 1,2, and 3. Excellent quality, subtitles are decent. I also purchased Hokuto No Ken. Excellent quality as well, subs are a little bit better. Look out for "you guy" in the subs.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 1:08 pm

If you buy from that site, make sure you buy sets with english dialogue. These are usually the best quality as they are R1 copies.

Lartrak · Post by **Lartrak** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 3:37 pm

melancholy wrote:The words 'quality' and 'hong kong version' do not belong in the same sentence. I bought Love Hina off of that site about 3 or 4 years ago, and the video is worse than watching a VCD.

Unless you're talking Hong Kong Legends, right? Heh. The only anime series I own is Trigun, which is a bootleg. Quality is pretty good, considering the high number of eps per disc. I was completely unwilling to buy the ludicrously inflated American boxset. $180 for about 10 hours of material? Ridiculous.

There are occasional legit HK releases which are usually still far cheaper than the American releases. I don't even bother differentiating anymore when buying online, it's extremely difficult to tell with Chinese stuff what you're getting (I'm referring to HK films as well). No one over in China seems to care, so I'm finding it difficult for me to.

Bit different when I buy in shops in places like Chinatown. I do try to find legit releases in those cases, but you have to be fairly knowledgeable in different labels to know what to look for.

Post by **melancholy** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 7:30 pm

I have the Trigun one. It's...okay. It could be better, but as you said, considering the high number of episodes on a disc.

Lartrak · Post by **Lartrak** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 10:11 pm

melancholy wrote:I have the Trigun one. It's...okay. It could be better, but as you said, considering the high number of episodes on a disc.

What does yours look like? The image quality is very good except in very high motion, where there is noticeable macroblocking. Subtitles are kinda bad, but I'd seen it with good subtitles a couple times before so that's OK.

Post by **melancholy** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 10:29 pm

Lartrak wrote:
melancholy wrote:I have the Trigun one. It's...okay. It could be better, but as you said, considering the high number of episodes on a disc.
What does yours look like? The image quality is very good except in very high motion, where there is noticeable macroblocking. Subtitles are kinda bad, but I'd seen it with good subtitles a couple times before so that's OK.

I guess I'm just picky about my shows. Like I said, it's okay, considering. It's still not one of the best compression jobs I've seen though. My 3 disc series of Evangelion and Outlaw Star series are quite amazing, and my Cowboy Bebop one is pretty good too. Compared to those three, Trigun does not hold up.

Hawq · Post by **Hawq** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 2:37 pm

It is a gamble with the bootlegs, my GTO, Excel Saga, Love Hina, Cowboy Bebop & Ranma seasons 1 & 2 are perfect, the Full Metal Panic I got is good with just occasional small oines in actiony bits but the Ranma season 3 I got was hideous thin horizontal lines almost all the time on any movement & on 2 episodes the jap audio vanishes entirely to be replaced with the english dub. Either I've been lucky for most of them or its a major gamble getting them, fortunatly I'm replacing them with legit remastered ones when possible like with Cowboy Bebop & I'm lookin into legit Ranma's from season 3 onwards now as I dont want the nasty side effects on my eyes (or ears if it cuts to the dub again)

Post by **melancholy** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 2:48 pm

God, I guess I got the one bad Love Hina in existance.

Covar · Post by **Covar** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 3:13 pm

i bought love hina from them, no complaints. subtitles could be better, but its legible. and i've already seen the show enough times with fansubs to know the dialog so i'm not complaining.

Lartrak · Post by **Lartrak** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 5:53 pm

melancholy wrote:
Lartrak wrote:
melancholy wrote:I have the Trigun one. It's...okay. It could be better, but as you said, considering the high number of episodes on a disc.
What does yours look like? The image quality is very good except in very high motion, where there is noticeable macroblocking. Subtitles are kinda bad, but I'd seen it with good subtitles a couple times before so that's OK.
I guess I'm just picky about my shows. Like I said, it's okay, considering. It's still not one of the best compression jobs I've seen though. My 3 disc series of Evangelion and Outlaw Star series are quite amazing, and my Cowboy Bebop one is pretty good too. Compared to those three, Trigun does not hold up.

I meant which Trigun release. I'm aware of two different boot releases, there may be more.

Edit to add: there are at least three. Just checked ebay and found two ones that are not what I got. Mine also appears to be the only one that is four discs instead of three.

Post by **melancholy** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 9:45 pm

Um...it has MAC printed all over the inside of it. Dunno.

Ominous 0nionfrog · Post by **Ominous 0nionfrog** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 10:45 pm

http://www.IloveasianDvds.com
is an excellent site for anime dvds.
Most of the Dvds are very good quality..
Very Cheap too, Check it out...

politoe · Post by **politoe** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 12:22 am

melancholy wrote:God, I guess I got the one bad Love Hina in existance.

My HK Love Hina's first three or four episodes on disc three are unwatchable. Worst quality. From what I asked at import-anime.com, they concluded that I most likely got a bad copy. Forgot to mention mines made from FX.

Sir Slash · Post by **Sir Slash** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 8:24 pm

I've bought stuff there before..... they dont have as much crap as they used to much more legit ...but the prices are higher now too