KBS America DVDs (General Comments)

I received some KBS America DVDs. Since it'll be a while before I get through these, I thought I'd give some early thoughts for anyone considering buying a KBS DVD set. Currently KBS America has a couple of bundle sales going on, these are:

Can’t Get Enough Rain $199.97
(Full House; A Love To Kill; Sang Doo, Let’s Go to School)

Shades of Love $195.97
(Sweet 18; I’m Sorry, But I Love You (a.k.a. MiSa); Second Proposal)

Family: The Love and The Hatred $111.98
(More Beautiful Than Flowers; My Rosy Life)

I bought the "Shades of Love" set, because I like Sweet 18 and heard good things about MiSa. For all three series in the bundle, the packaging is almost entirely in korean... almost no English to be seen except for the "KBS America" logo and the DVD specs located on the bottom of the box. I can't be sure for Sweet 18 and Second Proposal, but the packaging for MiSa is virtually identical to that of the Bitwin release from Korea
(for pictures of the Bitwin version, scroll to the bottom of this page: http://www.xanga.com/contentlatest.asp?user=Prisci4U&fid=51&tab=reviews&bflag= )

As for the DVDs themselves, I have a suspicion that these are pretty much the same as the korean releases. The menu for Sweet 18 is entirely in Korean (good luck trying to navigate the menu to find the English subs...), while Second Proposal is thankfully in English. On the plus side, all three DVD sets appear to have the extras found on the Korean releases, but on the down side... none of the extras are subtitled. I can't comment on the sub quality for the episodes yet, since I haven't gone through the DVDs yet.

So should you consider buying these? Well, if you've previously imported Bitwin DVDs and liked those, these appear to basically be the same thing (including extras). Presumably since these are domestic releases, they're a cheaper alternative to getting the Bitwins. I'm guessing KBS America is marketing these primarily to Koreans living in America, since they've made no effort to localize the packaging, or modify the menus to make them more understandable to non-Koreans.

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:01 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Hmm... I wonder if the Full House is the same as the one I bought? I'll have to include photos in my reviews when I flesh them out this weekend.

I noticed that the package from KBS America was shipped directly from their office... Which it turns out is within walking distance of my home!! I am going to make an appointment and stop by. I will ask them pointedly about online drama trading and also the exact nature of their license arrangements with YAE. Mostly I want to encourage tham to be a little more careful with their own subtitles... If they are going to produce these super-deluxe sets, then by gum they should take as much care with the subs as with the box!!

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:20 pm Post subject: KBS Post Rating: 0

I have ordered from them before. I ordered "A Love to Kill". It took four months to arrive. Sad

. Since then, though, they have been working on improving their online estore and I'm giving them another chance Smile

. I ordered the package with "Rosy Life" and "More Beautiful than Flowers".

While you are visiting there would you find out when (or if) "Spring Waltz" will be out......PLEASE??? Such a beautiful drama, so sad that the ratings weren't very good.

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:27 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I got my dvd's within a week. I'll try to set up a dialog with them so that we can email them to ask about specific shows. One of the "funny" things about the dvd's is that they are a little TOO sharp. They should add some white noise to kill that bizarre airbrushed-on makeup foundation that everybody has on every square inch of exposed flesh. Of course, it's nice to see hair that looks like hair, and the fabric textures in the fancy clothes. And the food looks incredible!! But the subtitles... The subtitles...

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:52 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

sosushi2,

I guess Spring Waltz will be released to the North American market... check out this link: http://us.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/section-videos/code-k/pid-1004636613/

in the past, i heard that YAE had trouble getting KBS dramas... once KBS America was established, i just assumed they would be manufacturing their own dvd sets, so this was a surprise to me. i'm not sure if KBS America will release their own set, though.

anyway... just wanted to say this thread is very helpful. i have not purchased any dvds from KBS America's e-store yet, since they re-opened.

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 7:06 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Well, so far I can unreservedly recommend the KBS America release of The Immortal Yi Soon Shin. And I can recommend Full House with the caveat that the subtitles are slightly distracting due to poor punctuation and flatness of idiom. More effort was put into making the dialogue elements reflect the character of the speaker in Yi Soon Shin, making it a winner.

The packaging and dvd presentation are exceptional in both cases. I wish every dvd went straight to the main menu without ads and copyright notices the way these do!

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 8:03 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 7:41 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

KBS America just sent an email announcement to all their customers... And Cc'd their entire customer list, disclosing it to everyone on the list.

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:20 pm Post subject: KBS Post Rating: 0

I received an apology from them. What exactly did they do? What does Cc'd mean?

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:49 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

They exposed their entire customer list, which is the single most valuable asset of a niche marketing company. I could now market competing products to an audience known to have spent big bucks for Korean drama dvd's in the recent past. I could probably even successfully pose as KBS America while doing it. I could also just sell the list to YesAsia, who could probably make a decent number of sales by offering special deals only to the people on that list.

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 4:37 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:40 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:00 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

wow, that's really scary to hear. Pokute, are you on that list? Do you know what they're going to do about it?

I actually really dislike KBS-America opting to have an e-store because some dramas may never see the chance to become a dvd set. Delightful Girl Choon-hyang isn't really being offered anywhere, and I know KBS-America doesn't have any plans to release Delightful Girl Choon-hyang here, but it's like if they won't who can? Also, their prices are standard dvd set prices, but at the same time places like YA offer their products with an at least 10% discount off of retail price and have special offers from time to time, but KBS being as small as it is doesn't seem like it'll be able to afford to extend those offers to us any time soon. The closest they've come were those special themed sets, but most of the time I only want one of the series in that grouping, and you'd end up having to pay so much money for the entire set anyways.

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:17 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Reading a message over at url=http://808dramafans.proboards21.com/index.cgi?board=kdvd&action=display&thread=1112931344&page=23]Hawaii K-Drama Fans Forum[/url] the YA Entertainment version of Spring Waltz has been edited. Cussing

I won't be purchasing this box set from YA

It's already on it's way, unfortunately. Hopefully, someone will offer an unedited version with good subtitles.... but I guess that's too much to ask for our $100.00 dollars or so...... Whistling

..

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:19 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Yes, I was on the list. They apologised and blamed it on the mailing software... Anything else I would say about it would constitute gratuitous harping.