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HD in HK

post #1 of 14
7/4/07 at 7:17pm
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it 's a sad state of affairs for HD optical media here in hong kong. as we start reaching the plateau of dvd sales and life cycle in N. America, people here in HK are still hung up on VCD!!!

i tell you, it's the strangest thing. i'm working here in HK for the summer and when i go into electronics/multimedia shops they still have at least 1/3 of their optical disc section dedicated to VCD.

a friend i'm staying with (who lives in a multi-million dollar flat) buys VCDs and watches them on his plasma. his cousin plays the ps3 on his SDTV. it's madness over here.

and the real kicker is that there are almost no retail rental places like blockbuster here. they just don't survive as you can buy brand new releases on VCD for around $2 USD here.

it seems they mainly just purchase HDTVs for it's space saving size, rather than video quality as space here is quite limited. but yeah...VCDs are still huge in HK. No way HD is making any headroom here. people here are mainly motivated by price and could care less how it looks...which could explain why piracy is so rampant here.

though i did see them for sale at some stores for arounf $40-50 USD for new titles and $30 USD for catalogue HD DVD and Blu-Ray.
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post #2 of 14
7/4/07 at 8:20pm
I hear Infernal Affairs is out on BD in HK. In fact, I am stopping by there in a couple of weeks and would drop by a video store in kowloon tong mall to hunt for one.
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post #3 of 14
7/4/07 at 9:31pm
Does anyone know what region that would be encoded for?
Is it just 1 or 2 aswell?

I don't suppose there is much asian cinema in HD is there? is there a list anywhere?
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post #4 of 14
7/4/07 at 10:58pm
hong kong is region A as far as blu-ray is concerned. for dvd's i believe most of their discs are not coded even if some say they are. if it is coded it is region 3.
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post #5 of 14
7/4/07 at 11:16pm
The Blu Ray of "Infernal Affairs" will be coded A/B/C:

http://www.asiandvdguide.com/

Halfway down the page!
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post #6 of 14
7/5/07 at 5:09am
Thanks guys, much appreciated
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post #7 of 14
7/5/07 at 9:45am
i was in taiwan recently and was able to buy a 4-pack of dvd movies for about $6US. they werent bootleg or anything, either. i've noticed VCD is still very popular in most of asia, too. most of the tv shows that go to the home are on VCD's
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post #8 of 14
7/5/07 at 11:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by vassili View Post

it 's a sad state of affairs for HD optical media here in hong kong. as we start reaching the plateau of dvd sales and life cycle in N. America, people here in HK are still hung up on VCD!!!

i tell you, it's the strangest thing. ... at least 1/3 of their optical disc section dedicated to VCD.

a friend i'm staying with (who lives in a multi-million dollar flat) buys VCDs and watches them on his plasma. his cousin plays the ps3 on his SDTV. it's madness over here.

...

Watching movies at home is only a hobby. It's a different culture out there with different set of values (they'd rather spend the spare cash on good food and gadgets) and constraints (such as living space). It appears only strange from a western AV enthusiast's perspective.

What you haven't said is that (as far as I hear) there isn't even any HD terrestrial broadcast yet. Plans for HD terrestrial broadcast over the next few years were only announced last month (or two months ago) and it would adopt mainland China's HD broadcasting standards. When horse racing comes on HD maybe people would start taking notice of HD.

With VCDs, yes PQ and AQ are poor, but at least it is easy to operate: nobody needs to worry about region codes, copy protection, different codecs, aspect ratios etc.

I'm interested to know what dedicated HD disc players are available.
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post #9 of 14
7/5/07 at 11:52pm
Indeed, home theater is a hobby and I think that's true anywhere in the world. I don't think every J6P in the US are buying blu-ray/HD-DVD either! In fact I think many if not most are still watching VHS. And I'd go as far as IF there is <$5 VCD everywhere in the US with every movie title available the J6P will buy VCD instead of DVD at >$10! It will be just like Hong Kong if not worse!

But all hope is not lose! If you want to see a decent big screen setup in Hong Kong give me a PM. I have everything from VCD, laserdisc to the best quality broadcast HDTV and blu-ray!

regards,

Li On
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post #10 of 14
7/6/07 at 10:45am
Hong Kong already has gigabit broadband available to a good portion of HK island and Kowloon. When you factor in that consumers overall prefer low price over PQ and AQ it seems to me that a HD streaming solution is probably the most likely to succeed.

That said I love HK movies and would love to see more of them in HD.
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post #11 of 14
7/6/07 at 11:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Li On View Post

I have everything from VCD, laserdisc to the best quality broadcast HDTV and blu-ray!

Once you get HD DVD, then you'll have everything!
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post #12 of 14
7/7/07 at 1:41pm
the lack of HD broadcast is definitely a valid point.
on the other hand, I am not sure if having a flood of VCD is really hindering the HD crowd.
These are simply opposite spectrums of the market.

A few more factors need to consider:

-lack of stand alone BD and HD-DVD players in asia, including Japan.

-relative lack of "HK-oriented" HD content
a) HD-cams still not a common commodity in majority of Asian TV production
b) the proliferative HK film industry in general have not quite entered the HD age,
although they do have much better film re-mastering in the last few years
c) many of the import BD and HD-DVD movies lack Asian subtitles
d) Japanses BS content is also a hit/miss due to language, hardware and protection.
e) believe it or not, I think VCD is MORE Karaoke oriented than DVD/BD/HD-DVD!

-emergence of mainland Chinese HD player and Net piracy
without going in details, there are a number of HDD or DVD-rom based players
made to play hd content in various formats with varying success.
It is an attempt to replace HTPC at the same time avoid costly liscencing fee / process.
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post #13 of 14
7/8/07 at 9:29pm
Its not alot but its a start, and it means i can pick up a cheap 2nd hand PS3 for Bluray playback without haveing to buy the titles

Hong Kong BR rentals HKVDO - Cinema on Demand
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post #14 of 14
7/8/07 at 9:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by vassili View Post

it 's a sad state of affairs for HD optical media here in hong kong. as we start reaching the plateau of dvd sales and life cycle in N. America, people here in HK are still hung up on VCD!!!

i tell you, it's the strangest thing. i'm working here in HK for the summer and when i go into electronics/multimedia shops they still have at least 1/3 of their optical disc section dedicated to VCD.

a friend i'm staying with (who lives in a multi-million dollar flat) buys VCDs and watches them on his plasma. his cousin plays the ps3 on his SDTV. it's madness over here.

and the real kicker is that there are almost no retail rental places like blockbuster here. they just don't survive as you can buy brand new releases on VCD for around $2 USD here.

it seems they mainly just purchase HDTVs for it's space saving size, rather than video quality as space here is quite limited. but yeah...VCDs are still huge in HK. No way HD is making any headroom here. people here are mainly motivated by price and could care less how it looks...which could explain why piracy is so rampant here.

though i did see them for sale at some stores for arounf $40-50 USD for new titles and $30 USD for catalogue HD DVD and Blu-Ray.

You need to go to 'Mong Kok' for HD DVD & BR if shopping for cheap prices although i recommend Amazon.
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