LOVERS IN PRAGUE R1 YA Entertainment

[sabriyahm]

LOVERS IN PRAGUE FROM YA ENTERTAINMENT
Wiki:http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Lovers_in_Prague



Region Code: 1
Picture Format: NTSC
Cast: Jeon Do-Youn, Kim Joo-Hyuk,
Kim Min-Joon, Yoon Se-Ah
Release Date: January 2, 2007
Language: Korean
Subtitles: English
Publisher: YA Entertainment
Number of Episodes: 18
Number of Discs: 6
SRP: $99.99
UPC#: 880604000411


This is a 6 DVD box set with 3 episodes per disc. 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. Written letters, notes, signs on buildings and news headlines are also translated fully. (I don't speak Korean so accuracy I can not judge)

Music Subtitles = No subs for any songs. Not even the opening and closing.

Video Display = The picture is 4:3. I think this was how it was originally displayed on TV and this is EXACTLY like it was shown on TV (see below).

Video Quality = The picture quality was excellent. However it sort of looks like a TV rip down to the sponsors displayed on the bottom at the end of episodes which seems odd in a DVD to me. I'm not saying the picture was bad just not clean. The episode previews weren't even consistantly shown (just like when it aired). I don't know if they just did not have clean masters or what but even though this occurs for all of ten seconds when the show ends it irked me. (This may be common in other DVD's from YA and I just never noticed)

Audio = Audio quality was excellent and consistant (if a little low).

Extras = Absolutely nothing, not even a preview of other shows.

Overall this is a good quality release. However with no music subs, no extras and not even clean masters, there is very little incentive to buy it. I give this version a B+ because my main concerns are always picture and subtitle quality, and this version does that well. I will be keeping my copy as I really liked the show (never saw it before I bought it) but for those of you who have TV rip versions this is just a priceier version of that.

[pokute]

NOTE: In the following paragraph I refer to the KBS America release of Dae Jang Geum. That is of course an error, it was released by YAE. My apologies to KBS America. Comments referring to rapid staff turnover at KBS America are correct, and refer to KBS America.

Since you mentioned the sponsor bugs on this, and since Dae Jang Geum (KBS America release) has the same thing (and the station i.d.!), I wonder just what the raws are for the dvd's... The picture quality is obviously beyond the possibility of a TV rip, but the content certainly looks like what you'd see on TV (except, sadly, that the dvd's never seem to be widescreen). It makes me suspect that the Korean dvd distribution in the U.S. is all occuring within a sort of gray area legally. The continuous staff changes at KBS America support my suspicions as well... It's probably very easy to point at a recent dismissal when any questions are asked.

[sabriyahm]

Since you mentioned the sponsor bugs on this, and since Dae Jang Geum (KBS America release) has the same thing (and the station i.d.!), I wonder just what the raws are for the dvd's... The picture quality is obviously beyond the possibility of a TV rip, but the content certainly looks like what you'd see on TV (except, sadly, that the dvd's never seem to be widescreen). It makes me suspect that the Korean dvd distribution in the U.S. is all occuring within a sort of gray area legally. The continuous staff changes at KBS America support my suspicions as well... It's probably very easy to point at a recent dismissal when any questions are asked.

Oh what an awful thought. I hope everything is on the up and up with YA entertainment. They really need to get there QC in gear. No clean masters. The case said episodes 10-16 even though it's 18 episodes. I am ok with paying for K drama's when they are legally available but I expect quality releases. So far they have been very spotty. I understand they have licensed full house. I am praying it's a good release.

[pokute]

Yeah... I'm in for ~$600 since Ruro appointed me Korean dvd czar, and I have yet to see any dvd's that I'm 100% happy with. Sigh.

You can sue somebody for $60,000,000 for losing your pants, but you can't sue any media outlet without getting slapped with a countersuit accusing you of piracy. God bless us for having the foresight to make viewing an out-of-region dvd a felony.

[myrmidon]

Since you mentioned the sponsor bugs on this, and since Dae Jang Geum (KBS America release) has the same thing (and the station i.d.!), I wonder just what the raws are for the dvd's... The picture quality is obviously beyond the possibility of a TV rip, but the content certainly looks like what you'd see on TV (except, sadly, that the dvd's never seem to be widescreen). It makes me suspect that the Korean dvd distribution in the U.S. is all occuring within a sort of gray area legally. The continuous staff changes at KBS America support my suspicions as well... It's probably very easy to point at a recent dismissal when any questions are asked.

Actually, I think you mis-typed above, because Dae Jang Geum (aka Jewel in the Palace) is a YA Entertainment release (KBS America wouldn't be releasing it, since it's an MBC show).

As for the issues with picture quality, I doubt there's anything shady about how YAE or KBS America acquire the rights to these shows. KBS America was actually set up by KBS itself: link. Basically KBS America was set up by KBS to distribute their shows in the U.S. (which is why YAE hasn't released any KBS shows on DVD up to now). As for KBS America's staff changes, I wouldn't know, though I wouldn't doubt it has to do with general incompetence there. I'm not so keen on their current marketing strategy, which seems to involve dropping the production of new R1 DVDs altogether and switching over to a 'video on demand' format (at a rather pricey $6 per episode...).

In fairness, the lack of clean prints could also be due to the folks on the Korean side just sending whatever transfers they feel like. We're still a very small niche market, and thus they may not deem us worthy of their time bothering about getting pristine anamorphic transfers. Though it does seem like YAE is putting more effort into get better source material to work with (about half of their 2007 DVD releases so far are anamorphic WS... in 2006 none of their DVDs were anamorphic).

I'm slightly annoyed that neither YAE or KBS America still can't be bothered to sub at least the opening and closing songs. I mean, surely it can't be THAT hard to do. The quality of k-drama releases do seem to be going up, but they're still quite a ways from being perfect. They really should look at how the major R1 anime licensors handle their releases. Of course those releases have gotten quite good now due to the constant nitpicking of anime fans over the years, so there's something to be said for complaining about stuff you don't like.

[sabriyahm]

In fairness, the lack of clean prints could also be due to the folks on the Korean side just sending whatever transfers they feel like. We're still a very small niche market, and thus they may not deem us worthy of their time bothering about getting pristine anamorphic transfers. Though it does seem like YAE is putting more effort into get better source material to work with (about half of their 2007 DVD releases so far are anamorphic WS... in 2006 none of their DVDs were anamorphic).

It could be that the Koreans are sending over crappy source material. I don't know who to blame for the TV rip look. But whoever it is needs to fix it if they expect people to spend money on these DVD's. And the Koreans have just as much incentive for that to happen as YAE. Small niche market or not we are still a market and they both sides have a vested interest in making it grow.

I'm slightly annoyed that neither YAE or KBS America still can't be bothered to sub at least the opening and closing songs. I mean, surely it can't be THAT hard to do. The quality of k-drama releases do seem to be going up, but they're still quite a ways from being perfect. They really should look at how the major R1 anime licensors handle their releases. Of course those releases have gotten quite good now due to the constant nitpicking of anime fans over the years, so there's something to be said for complaining about stuff you don't like

Yeah music subs are the perfect example of a very simple thing they always fail too do. How hard is it to sub opening and closing songs. Ruler of your own world subbed insert songs sporadically (not opening and closings) but that is the only title I can think of that has.

[pokute]

DOH!!!

I'm an idiot... Of course, I meant YAE. I bought so much recently I'm loopy. Dae Jang Geum is a YAE release, and was originally aired by MBC.

As for us being a small, niche market; Well, niche marketing is the new paradigm. In an age when material can be distributed at will via the internet, or dvd's can be burned "on demand" at retailers, niche markets are, or will soon be, the bread-and-butter of media distributors. Among others, there is a huge untapped market among educators for Asian media... There are thousands of college professors in the U.S. who would gladly subscribe to a service providing them with new material as it is available.