My Girl [R1 DVD, YA Entertainment]

Wiki entry: http://wiki.d-addicts.com/My_Girl

Title: My Girl (SBS TV Series)
Publisher: YA Entertainment
Region code: 1 (North America)
Screen format: Full-screen format, standard (4:3) aspect ratio
Languages: Korean (Dolby 2.0)
Subtitles: English (soft)
Extras: Sandglass ep.1; Shoot for the Stars ep.1
MSRP: $99.99

Review equipment: emachines T6524, ViewSonic VA1912wb monitor
Purchased at: www.yesasia.com (not available through global.yesasia.com)

Comments
Picture and sound quality are excellent, and the English subtitles are very understandable. However, song lyrics and on-screen text are usually not subtitled, which may annoy some. The entire series consists of 16 one-hour episodes, which are spread out over 6 DVD-9's. Each DVD contains 3 episodes except the last disc, which contains just episode #16 and the 'extras', which unfortunately are just the first episodes for two completely unrelated k-dramas (Sandglass and Shoot for the Stars). By comparison, the Korean region 3 release had very similar specs (full-screen, Dolby 2.0, 6 DVDs), but included some extras which were actually related to My Girl (mini-documentary, NGs, etc). Also disappointing is YAE's failure to subtitle the cast "Thank You Message" that plays during the ending credits of episode 16; however, they later uploaded a subtitled version of this final segment on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBsL7QGp3gE

Overall, although the lack of any real extras is disappointing, this is a fairly solid release by YA Entertainment. If all you really care about is getting the actual show itself in English-subbed format, you will likely be satisfied with this DVD set.

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:03 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

lol they might as well put the entire series on youtube

Thanks for the review! Here are my thoughts:

YAE normally does not sub songs or text onscreen (like signs, etc). Personally, that doesn't bother me... I think too much becomes a bit distracting. Also, I agree about the lack ofextras on this set. However, I'd like to mention that YAE had a difficult time obtaining rights to any extra shows, NG scenes, interviews, etc. related to My Girl. I recall there was a discussion on soompi before the dvd was even released, and a member there even wrote to Tom Larsen and inquired about extra features. They tried, so I'll give them credit, but couldn't get anything for My Girl ... they know we want extra features, so I think they're probably working on it for future dramas. I believe Goong is the first, and only YAE release so far to have any extras at all.

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 6:50 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I think subbing the drama's songs is pretty important. If I'm gonna shell out that much money I want to be able to enjoy the whole experience. Music is a very important aspect of any movie/drama. The lyrics of songs makes me really feel for what's going on in the drama. Music isn't an extra but an integrated part of a drama. Having said that, I think I will pass on the version and wait for a better one to come out.

Thank you so much for your review... I was having a hard time making a decision to buy or not. You made the decision easy cause I won't pay that much money for a set with no real extras or sub for lyrics and on-screen text.

Thanks again.

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 2:40 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I think ladyroake has the right attitude. These are supposed to be professionally produced subtitled dvd's. Somewhere along the line the concept of "professional" lost it's meaning. The total amount of time required to sub and typeset a dvd is not huge. Fansubbers manage to do it in their spare time (however, it does take a LOT of spare time!!), people who are getting paid WELL to do it (and my suspicion is that most are paid POORLY), should be able to do at least as good a job without driving the production costs through the roof.

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 3:05 pm Post subject: Anh? Post Rating: 0

Wtf u said? 4*3 fullscreen?
this is a shame
' Cussing

'

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 3:12 pm Post subject: Re: Anh? Post Rating: 0

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:08 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Subbing text on screen is absolutely crucial - it could make the difference between a viewer understanding what's going or being totally bewildered. Fansubbers have done this quite well by subbing stuff like notes, signs, banners, caller id etc. But professional subbers tend to omit these details (from what I've seen in movie DVD's anyway) and gives the viewer the impression they don't care and don't enjoy the title very much, as opposed to the fansubbers who pour their heart and soul into their work.

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 11:13 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

A neighbor of mine dubbed voices for cartoons - he said that they weren't even given the chance to see the show that they were voicing... They had a script and had to guess about the mood. He said he just did everything with the same ditzy manic voice. Sometimes subtitles look like they were done the same way.

Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 3:01 am Post subject: yes Post Rating: 0

Yes, My Girl sure is 16*9 widescreen
They made a 4*3 standart DVD version is a shame 4 me
I'll never buy something with this kind of encode

Shineeee YA Entertainment
¬¬

Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:10 pm Post subject: Re: yes Post Rating: 0

Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:32 pm Post subject: hmm Post Rating: 0

well, so the best version is the tv-rip
that is 16*9 at least
~_~

Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:39 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I watched My Girl on the Korean DVD set... It was fairly well-done, though it was clear that the subber was not fluent in English and had to rely on a dictionary with some words - thus leading to odd, sometimes difficult-to-understand word choices. Like "impudent" - not an English word you hear every day - seemed to pop up in the subs all the time!

They weren't truly terrible per se. But in one scene Yoo-Rin tells Gong Chan "I'm sorry for making you hard alone". I was like, "Wait, did she just say that?" - but then I figured it meant "to stress somebody" or "to annoy somebody" (it was the scene before the "Absolutely!"-song, by the way).

My point is - to anybody who has seen both versions, or just the YA one, are the YA ones good in terms of understandability? I'd say bad subs are when you have to translate something into understandable English before you can grasp its meaning. I'm getting the Goong YA set and My Girl is my second favourite drama so I'd love to get the best DVD of My Girl, as well.