areaseven Posted January 27, 2005 Posted January 27, 2005 Yahoo! HK Article (Babelfish translated) Quote
rowen Posted January 27, 2005 Posted January 27, 2005 Good to hear; although even translated that article makes absolutely no sense Quote
HWR MKII Posted January 27, 2005 Posted January 27, 2005 Question. Will they follow the sales trails? Piracy is getting really hot lately. Quote
mikeszekely Posted January 27, 2005 Posted January 27, 2005 Well, that's what happens when you're in an illegal business... I guess... or at least that the PC answer. Truth is, that rather sucks. I got my Macross 7 from FX, and I heard the FX version of DYRL was one of the better ones. Quote
Gaijin Posted January 27, 2005 Posted January 27, 2005 That article's translation was just like FX's recent translations!! Quote
yellowlightman Posted January 27, 2005 Posted January 27, 2005 Someone will pop up to replace them in no timem so it almost borders on irrelevant. China has long wanted to crack down on piracy in HK, but it doesn't seem to be doing much good because I still see just as much pirated stuff as I've always did. Would be interesting to hear from one of the guys on here living in HK right now. Quote
Mechamaniac Posted January 27, 2005 Posted January 27, 2005 NOOOO, not FX!! They made the best quality stuff. *sigh* Quote
UN Spacy Posted January 27, 2005 Posted January 27, 2005 NOOOO, not FX!! They made the best quality stuff. *sigh* Exactly. If they nab MI then it's all over. Quote
Anubis Posted January 27, 2005 Posted January 27, 2005 That kinda sucks. Good thing I bought M7 already. All I had from them is M7 and DYRL, the only bootlegs I have so far. Bought Voltes V on ebay for the GF. Someday I want to get Mazinger Z and possibly Yamato. Other than that it's all downloaded fansubs for me. Quote
Kin Posted January 27, 2005 Posted January 27, 2005 I always wonder why those little shops in plaza's could get away by selling those cheap bootlegs. They're just displaying it on the in and outside of the store... aren't they asking for trouble? Quote
GRAND CANNON Posted January 27, 2005 Posted January 27, 2005 Damn. FX did make some well received sets. I have the M7 and Escaflowne sets and have heard good things about some of their Gundam sets, too. Now I just have to stop procrastinating on the DYRL DVD!! Yikes!! Quote
Panon Posted January 28, 2005 Posted January 28, 2005 I hope they get hard time in prison. I know some people try to justify giving these criminals money by saying that they get 'rare' or hard to obtain anime like Mazinger, but these parasites almost exclusively pirated Region 1 dvds. Good riddance. Hopefully action against the other companies will follow. Quote
BoBe-Patt Posted January 28, 2005 Posted January 28, 2005 So I guess now we have to either download the new anime or wait till it's official release. Quote
Graham Posted January 28, 2005 Posted January 28, 2005 Don't worry guys, this sort of thing happens every couple of months here in HK. HK Police & HK Customs will raid a warehouse, confiscate a load of discs, arrest a few people and for about a week, supplies will be low. Then the operation sets up again somewhere else and it's business as usual until the next raid. This has been going on for years, it's nothing to panic about. Graham Quote
Jolly Rogers Posted January 28, 2005 Posted January 28, 2005 (edited) China has long wanted to crack down on piracy in HK Considering the sale of pirated movies and software is the norm in mainland China, I think the irony of what you just said is enough to choke a whale. Edited January 28, 2005 by Jolly Rogers Quote
Sebastian Posted January 28, 2005 Posted January 28, 2005 Here in Shanghai is VERY rare to find a shop selling original stuff. Not only anime, but also movies. In fact If I want to buy a DVD I can only buy pirates. Here the business of piracy is HUGE, no way it will stop anytime soon. Quote
Graham Posted January 28, 2005 Posted January 28, 2005 I should amend the thread title, as that is 'Hong Kong Customs', NOT 'China Customs'. Graham Quote
JELEINEN Posted January 28, 2005 Posted January 28, 2005 I should amend the thread title, as that is 'Hong Kong Customs', NOT 'China Customs'.Graham This may be going beyond the scope of the thread (or even board), but out of curiosity, how much separation is there between the two these days? Quote
Graham Posted January 28, 2005 Posted January 28, 2005 I should amend the thread title, as that is 'Hong Kong Customs', NOT 'China Customs'.Graham This may be going beyond the scope of the thread (or even board), but out of curiosity, how much separation is there between the two these days? A lot. Hong Kong has its only law enforcement agencies, which are completely separate from those in mainland China. HK's laws are also still mostly based on British commn law as well. Graham Quote
fansubs2000 Posted January 28, 2005 Posted January 28, 2005 Get your FX Macross DVD's while you can! Quote
Fortress_Maximus Posted February 1, 2005 Posted February 1, 2005 I always wonder why those little shops in plaza's could get away by selling those cheap bootlegs. They're just displaying it on the in and outside of the store... aren't they asking for trouble? Most of those booths are protected b/c they are on triad turf. Raids are commonplace and the stores, booth operators and people in the area get tipped off. Even if and when places get busted the merchandise is still out there b/c the production is a)fast and b)easy to recirculate mainly due to demand. All the cracking down doesn't matter in HK or China until they can change the average customers mentality that is ok to support unlicensed copies. Personally IMO companies releasing the licensed region specific versions need to get more compititive (sp) and reconsider the MSRP. Consumers want deals and that is what they are going to go for. Afterall the average person buying counterfeit dvds regardless of type: anime, porn, US movies etc, wants a bargain. If they can get the entire set of Kenshin or Fist of the North Star for about $40 why would they ever pay over 40 for just a part of the series? IMO until this changes, people will keep on buying the counterfeit versions which really do not support the anime industry at all, but hey that is consumerism, people have the right to vote with their wallets. Quote
mikeszekely Posted February 1, 2005 Posted February 1, 2005 I always wonder why those little shops in plaza's could get away by selling those cheap bootlegs. They're just displaying it on the in and outside of the store... aren't they asking for trouble? Most of those booths are protected b/c they are on triad turf. Raids are commonplace and the stores, booth operators and people in the area get tipped off. Even if and when places get busted the merchandise is still out there b/c the production is a)fast and b)easy to recirculate mainly due to demand. All the cracking down doesn't matter in HK or China until they can change the average customers mentality that is ok to support unlicensed copies. Personally IMO companies releasing the licensed region specific versions need to get more compititive (sp) and reconsider the MSRP. Consumers want deals and that is what they are going to go for. Afterall the average person buying counterfeit dvds regardless of type: anime, porn, US movies etc, wants a bargain. If they can get the entire set of Kenshin or Fist of the North Star for about $40 why would they ever pay over 40 for just a part of the series? IMO until this changes, people will keep on buying the counterfeit versions which really do not support the anime industry at all, but hey that is consumerism, people have the right to vote with their wallets. Not just in Hong Kong... here too. Think about it... I've bought each season of South Park for around $30. Each season has about 13 episodes. Family Guy goes for about $40 for each set, with 28 and 21 episodes for volume one and volume two, respectively. That's somewhere between $1.43-$2.30 per episode. Anime, on the other hand, seems to average around three or four episodes on one $25 DVD. Going with 4, that's $6.25 per episode. Even if I allow that the DVD was only $20, you're still talking $5 an episode... double the cost that most American TV shows on DVD are going for. Looking at it another way, most Hollywood movies come out in "Special Edition" 2-disc DVDs, brand new at around $15, maybe $20 if it's not on sale or if you happened to pick a more expensive store like Suncoast. A lot of movies in single-disc packages can easily be had for $10 a pop. Fact is, most 25-35 episode animes could be sold in a single $50 box set and still make plenty of money. A 50+ episode series could be sold in one big $75 box or two 25 episode $50 box. In either case, the number of discs could be cut down by putting six or so episodes on a dual layer DVD (I haven't bought much domestically released anime, but I know for certain that the Animeigo Macross DVDs and Bandai's MS Gundam DVDs are on single-layer DVDs, and in the case of Macross, not even copy-protected). But domestic distributers have been gouging fans since the VHS days, and anyways a lot of the anime fans I've seen act like the stuff is crack, and would likely pay $50 a DVD. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them. I never watched that much anime, and most of what I did watch was fansubbed. Quote
Radd Posted February 1, 2005 Posted February 1, 2005 My understanding is the rising bidding wars over popular titles is driving prices up, but it's also what's fueling the anime industry in Japan, wich makes more money licensing anime to countries like the United States than they make domestically. Quote
Akilae Posted February 1, 2005 Posted February 1, 2005 Which is why my DVD collection sees far more anime movies than series. Dollar for dollar, Ultra Platinum Special Edition movie releases are worth what I'm paying for. 'sides, movies are best enjoyed with a projector and DTS surround. Series... eh... haven't seen a series that warranted that kind of treatment, the artwork usually suffers too much to be enjoyable on a big screen. I'd kill for a high profile anime DVD release with director's commentaries... granted it'll be in Japanese, but most of us watch it subbed anyway Some obscure series would probably never see the light of an official release (or rerelease for that matter). That seems to be changing in Asia though... I was surprised with a rerelease of Giant Robo last month. Seriously though, weren't we talking a few months ago about how anime was an industry that was losing money fast? I'd snap up my fav series if nothing more than to support the studios. Now if only Naruto would hurry up and end so I could buy the entire set at once... Quote
HWR MKII Posted February 1, 2005 Posted February 1, 2005 Projector and DTS here.(drools over macross 0 DVDs). Quote
Stamen0083 Posted February 1, 2005 Posted February 1, 2005 ...haven't seen a series that warranted that kind of treatment... If I have that set up, I would watch Azumanga Daioh on it. I would love to hear Osaka on surround sound. Quote
Radd Posted February 1, 2005 Posted February 1, 2005 I have watched Azumanga Daioh on that kinda setup! And Macross Zero, and GitS:SAC, and Last Exile, and... It's nice to have friends with cushy, University programmer jobs. Quote
HWR MKII Posted February 1, 2005 Posted February 1, 2005 Nothing like a 10ft x 5ft screen and DTS sound to watch bootlegged anime or even non bootlegged anime on huh. now where did i put AC5 Quote
Jemstone Posted February 1, 2005 Posted February 1, 2005 I have watched Azumanga Daioh on that kinda setup! And Macross Zero, and GitS:SAC, and Last Exile, and... It's nice to have friends with cushy, University programmer jobs. I knwo you're an animation student but aren't you a full time student? I'm asking because most worthwhile schools these days give student services enough budgets for these things. The anime club here ha sthats et up every Sat. They were currently watching Gokusen, Mezzo DSA and Champloo on that set up (film clubs have the same). I should think anynody wth the resources (especially on a University campus) should utilize the most of these oppertunities. Quote
hellohikaru Posted February 1, 2005 Posted February 1, 2005 Graham Is your title "Minmay's Panties" attainable or is it a custom one ? Quote
Fortress_Maximus Posted February 1, 2005 Posted February 1, 2005 Yup price gouging that is exactly what this boils down to for the consumers of anime dvds. Some people who are 100% anti-unlicensed dvds commented on animenewsnetwork, that there are considerable costs involved in obtaining the licensing for the popular titles and these costs are passed to the consumers. The average fan probably does not care about this aspect of the business, they just want to get the series they are interested in: quickly, with nice cover art & inserts, in the format they want (mainly dub over subs, sorry I am a sub purist but dubs sell better), and most importantly priced at what they consider reasonable enough to purchase. My own collection mainly consists of OVA sets and movies as well, since they are best value IMO. Really wished companies would wise up and become more competitive with their pricing b/c bootleggers will drive them under in a protracted selling period. Quote
Akilae Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 Just came over from slashdot, they're running something about fansubbers (here). Somebody brought up a pretty good point. Japan gets regular anime releases on TV, ie you can sample before you buy. We, OTH, get to splurge on DVDs since most of the time we can't get it on TV (or, at least that was back in the day when I still bought DV... err.. was in the states ). Granted bootleggers are far from sampling, but at least your wallet hurts a lot less... Quote
MicronianDevil Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 I have FX's DYRL. Great picture and sound! If you havent picked one up. Do so quickly! Quote
Graham Posted February 2, 2005 Posted February 2, 2005 GrahamIs your title "Minmay's Panties" attainable or is it a custom one ? It's custom. Graham Quote
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