Goong (Palace or Princess Hours) from YA Entertainment

Last edited by sabriyahm on Sun Jun 24, 2007 3:36 am; edited 5 times in total

I'll be brief

I originally viewed my copy from Netflix
http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?movieid=70057731&trkid=90529
I then bought my copy at Best Buy
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=15331446&st=princess+Hours&type=product&id=1604324
It can also be purchased from YesAsia
http://us.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/pid-1004508038/code-c/section-videos/

This is a 9 DVD box set with 3 episodes per disc. The last disc is just Extras. It comes with English subtitles only and Korean audio only. These are Region 1 discs

Subtitles = They are complete, grammatically correct with no noticable errors or ommissions.

Video Display = The picture is widescreen, but it is encoded as 4:3 with black bars above and below.

Video Quality = The picture quality was excellent.

Audio = Audio quality was excellent and consistant.

Extras = Includes an entire disc of Extras subtitled including the Specials.

Misc. = For whatever reason I am able to play these discs only when using Windows Media Center or Power DVD. Windows Media Player and Real Player were all unable to read the disc. {Windows Media Player cannot play the DVD because a problem occurred with digital copyright protection} was the error message.For info I have Windows XP Media Center OS with 2gb ram and 3.2 dual core processor. I also have almost every way to play a video on my computer.

Overall this is a high quality release. I was annoyed at the discs difficulty in playing in my computer. Also the aspect ratio may annoy those with widescreen TV's. However the great extras and professional subtitles more then make up for it to me. GRADE A-

EDIT; This review is for the North American release Release Date: 11/21/2006 only. Purchase other versions at your own risk. I have and they were sub par to say the least.

Here are some pics to help in purchasing. I think it is ok to display these.

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:18 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

That's interesting that a dvd that you paid for would tell you that you weren't allowed to watch it on your computer. Could you edit the review to specify the operating system and software you use to view dvd's (since it is the OS or software that is blocking you)?

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:18 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Thx for the info Smile

I don't know which software you use to watch the dvd (windows media player will most of the time says copyright problem, but PowerDVD should resolve it Big Smile

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:32 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Hm...I wonder if you tried both copies of Goong on your computer.

It tempts me to order it from Netflix and try...

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:34 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:38 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

quite interesting review. i don't know why the disc can't play in your PC. maybe because of the media player. try using power DVD.

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:43 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

After looking quickly on Netflix, I'm a little disappointed that the only drama I could find was Goong : \

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:44 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:47 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

@sabriyahm - I hate to put you on the spot, but since you're the "guinea pig", is there any chance you could add an image of relevant parts of the packaging so that people trying to buy this (apparently excellent) set don't wind up with one of the inferior sets?

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:49 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:52 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 11:36 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

As of right now, YesAsia has two different versions of Goong, both at $89.95

http://global.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/section-videos/code-k/pid-1004538998/

http://us.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/pid-1004508038/code-c/section-videos/

The first one is a Malaysian set.

The second one is apparently from YAE, but I don't know if it's the same version that sabriyahm reviewed. I see that they are from two different sites, global and us, which means that they are both available to U.S. customers, but only the Malay set is available outside of region 1.

Since the customer reviewers at YesAsia do not explicitly state which version they are writing about, the reviews there should be not be considered useful when making purchasing decisions.

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 11:50 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

My thoughts on this release pretty much match that of sabriyahm's, except that since I actually have a widescreen TV and computer, the lack of anamorphic WS is a lot more annoying, and so I'd rate this a B+ overall. IIRC, someone e-mailed Tom Larsen to find out what the deal was, and apparently MBC was supposed to send an anamorphic transfer but somehow sent the wrong one instead:
http://www.soompi.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1875&st=320 (relevant post is #327)

...I would have preferred if they just delayed the release until the correct transfer was sent. Cussing

Oddly enough, I seem to remember the Goong 1.5 special on the extras disc being anamorphic. There are a few other extras, including some brief cast interviews, a short on-set documentary, and a video of the poster shoot session (that last one is a real snoozer...). Not a bad batch of extras, actually, although no NGs were included (unless you count the ones that were shown as part of Goong 1.5).

As for the translation; it's pretty good in terms of readability, though I don't know enough Korean to judge the accuracy. Unlike what some fansubbing groups do, they don't preserve terms like 'oppa', or all those Korean royalty titles (instead you get "Queen Mother", "Highness", "Crown Prince", etc.). While some people may prefer to keep the original terms as-is, it's probably too confusing for a general audience, so I can't blame the translator for going that route, even if there's some loss of information.

Oh, and I wish they'd either sub the credits, or provide a still image with cast/crew information. Sometimes I wonder "who directed this show?" or "who played that minor character that looks like that bit character in some other show?" It's not a big deal to me, but it would be a nice thing to have...

Regarding the reviews at yesasia, although the reviews for all editions usually get lumped together, there's usually a note indicating if the review corresponds to a different version. For example:
- This customer review refers to Princess Hours (Ep.13-24) (End) (Hong Kong Version)
- This customer review refers to Palace aka: Princess Hours (MBC TV Series)
Of course the system only works if the reviewer remembered to click on the right version before posting his/her review.

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 12:05 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 3:21 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

ALLRIGHT! I think we have done it! At this point, people can buy a set of Goong that will be satisfactory unless they insist on anamorphic widescreen.

Folks who own widescreen digital TV's might consider the grade of A- slightly generous. Those with analog 4:3 TV's should be comfortable with sabriyahm's grade of A-.