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**Zagatto** · 08-27-2002, 06:45 PM

So why not spend the extra for the R1 releases which have great packaging and the best quality money can buy. Not to mention having a portion of your purchase price going back to the creators...

I'm going to say up front that I buy a lot of HK anime (just ask JunkieJoe) and I enjoy the wide variety available to me from FX, MI, MAC, AS, and the others out there.

Don't forget that what we're talking about here are stolen properties. We are accomplices to thieves. All those studios that put their time and money into making anime for us to watch are not getting anything back from us for their efforts beyond our admiration.

Arguing between FX and Mac is arguing between one thief and another. Neither of these companies own the rights for the videos they are selling so how can you say one is more right than the other.

Sorry about that... I'm getting preachy again.
There are lots of reasons why to buy HK DVDs even though we are taking money out of the pockets of the creators we love. I don't want to justify what we are all here about. I just want everyone to realize how hypocritical it is to say Mac is worse than FX because they rip FX's releases.

I for one like Mac releases because I can get them without having to pay duty when I buy them and they usually arrive within 48 hours of my ordering them. I thank FX for taking the time to put all the episodes on 3 or 4 discs (depending on which release you're looking at).

SideSwipe · 08-27-2002, 08:37 PM

I too, will continue to support FX. One thing MAC Gatefolds are generic :roll: . FX's are superior in that field. And who knows AS has been known to mess up rips, in fact they're the only company i've really recieved DVD's with bad glitches from. Not just my copy but overall :?. I defenitely don't want to see FX drop out of the HK scene Cry

.

**Zagatto** · 08-28-2002, 03:50 AM

OK... I like those reasons for choosing FX over Mac. Reputation for doing the job right is important. I do remember a few stories of messed up AS discs but haven't seen anything negative about the quality of FX discs.

I personally don't mind the generic gatefolds inside the slip covers. All my fansubs are in plain white boxes and it's less expensive for me to pick up a whole series on DVD than it is to order a fansubbed seiries

Steve_the_Talking_Pie · 08-28-2002, 07:08 PM

I won't get into the reasons on why to buy R1, because they are just obvious.

One thing I always state, is that if you buy an HK rip of an R1 DVD, then buy another series from that company. I bought the Bebop set so I'm buying Legit Gundam Wing tapes.

Treat a lot of HK DVDs like fan subs. Sets like Doreamon, Maison Ikkoku (partially), Saint Seiya, Mahromatic, and many hentai series simply won't make it over seas. Yes Saint Seiya will be coming soon from AD Vision but by the time they release all 114 episodes, my beard will be white. ^_^

Shinn Asuka · 08-28-2002, 09:46 PM

Why buy the Gundam Wing tapes? The whole series comes out at the end of this month on DVD in one single boxset (of course, I'll probably wait for the rip of it, because I'm poor now -_-)

Steve_the_Talking_Pie · 08-29-2002, 01:58 PM

Have you not heard my gripe? I own volumes 1-9 already including 11 and 13. I need 5 left. Instead of spending $200 for stuff I already own, I'd rather spend another $75 for the rest of the dub. I want to buy the YUA box set and that extra $125 would be nice. Plus I'm not the hugest Gundam Wing fan though I enjoy it immensely.

sharp896 · 08-31-2002, 08:58 AM

here is my justification for buying hk's instead of r1 releases:

i try as hard as i can to not spend more than $20 on a single dvd. if a movie costs more than that, i just wait. i cannot support a movie company that is blatently trying to rip the consumer off. charging $19.99 for a single movie is already pushing it, and i usually only get those if it's like a special edition 2-disc or something. now that's for an entire move. when you go to the store looking for a dvd that only has a few episodes of a large series, and they try to sell it for $25-$30, that just crosses the line. that's far too much to pay for a single dvd that is often just the episodes, and a few previews of other anime. they better start packing a whole lot of extras on those if they want the consumer to feel like they got their money's worth.

i bought 7 out of 10 of the gundam wing dvd series [r1 release], and that all cost me about $175. now, i like gundam wing, but i think it's on the bottom of the 'good' scale when it comes to gundam. i then found the entire series on ebay for under $50! and that's not all; it came in a sleak gatefold case! it didn't have english dub, but i never liked the dub anyway. so i sold my lot of 7 dvd's for about $70 on ebay, and used the money to get the ac release of gundam wing. since then i have only bought 2 r1 gundam releases [ms gundam volume 1, and 08th ms team volume 1].

i felt cheated paying so much for a bare-bones dvd, when i could get the entire series for 1/4 the price. when bandai decides to stop robbing us blind with their prices, maybe then i'll consider 'giving back'

**Zagatto** · 08-31-2002, 09:33 AM

I think that is the reason why so many of us are here buying HK DVDs. I was extremely pleased when Pioneer released metropolis with a bonus disc for Cn$26.99 and I jumped all over it.
However, I wistfully look at the Battle of the Planets releases sitting there for Cn$20 for two episodes thinking that I'd be out well over $100 if I wanted the whole series (which I do).
I do watch the R1 releases and try to encourage the companies to release DVDs more affordably buy buying the bargains when they do come out. Unfortunately, the companies are slow in getting the point. The prices are coming down but still not enough.

In defense of the Bandai, Pioneer, and any other companies producing R1 releases, they do have to pay someone to negotiate the deal, pay the company that originally produced the anime, pay a team of people to master the DVD, pay someone to translate the story, pay someone to time it, pay voice actors for dubbed copies, pay someone for box art, pay someone to handle production, pay someone to handle distribution, pay the distributors, and pay the clerk at the store. That's a lot of people to pay with my $20 purchase.
We get the benefit of streamlining this process. HK company rips someone elses DVD, maybe does some translation (I use this term lightly with some of the HK releases), produces the DVD with some slapped together or copied artwork, ships to our distributors here, and we buy straight from the distributor. There are a lot less people that we have to worry about paying with the HK process.
I guess I'll be happy when I can buy a 26 episode series on DVD for $100 or so. Then I'll feel like it's worth it to swear off the HK releases (except for the ones I can't wait for the R1 release of... but that's another rant).
It would be nice if the Japanese companies could just release the DVDs here without all the middle men along the way.

Batz Kage · 09-01-2002, 09:24 PM

I hate reading post like this. It makes me feel bad for buy HK Cry

But, I'm just a young minor who has to cut back on what he eats at lunch to save up money for anime. So, I have to depend upon HK to actuly get anime at all.

***JunkieJoe*** · 09-02-2002, 05:08 AM

dont feel bad Batz.... all those DVD and CD companies deserve what they get.... have u heard the bullshit that CD companies do now... i mean not to mention the stuff like trying to charge 1 dollar PER blank CD tax for "the poor singer fund" but how they claim they loose 150million dollars a year to downloaders on the net... and funny thing is how they estimate it too... they find 10 people that download some sounds... they them multiply that by 300million US population (maybe throw in 30million canadian population) and come up with their numbers.... total bullshit... if I wanted to buy an Album I would (and I have done so) if i dont like it I wont.... i might download an mp3 for 1 song i might like... listen to it 4 times and them let it sit on my HD until it crashes... and they want us to buy CDs for the purpose of paying them money and us collection dust on the shelf... screw that ;p

PS. do u people know that its illegal to record music when its played on a radio station... aswell as record movies from the TV? Oh! do u know that its illegal to EVEN TALK about baseball games that u see on TV without consent (and a hefty payment) by NBL, that I call bullshit.

I agree about artists getting their share... that I support... but alot of artists will tell u how bad they get screwed by the label companies... alot of artists came out during the mp3 scare last year and said... we are not loosing money to those people, its the label companies rip us off.... i think the artists make about 5cents of every dollar thats sold of their CDs.... so if 100,000 dollars worth is sold, they get 5,000 dollars... u have to realize that theirs only so many Ivrils and Britneys other there... most artists take years to get $100,000 in sales etc....

My 2 Cents worth

**Zagatto** · 09-02-2002, 06:25 AM

I didn't want to bring music into this mix but JJ did it for me.
I will strongly agree that the labels screw the artists and that the prices of CDs are grossly inflated.

That being said, the city I grew up in used to have three record stores that did a thriving business. Now only one of them is still in business and even with the other two being gone his sales are down. Speaking with Dave (the owner of the record shop I grew up hanging out in) he says there are a lot of variables that have cut down on the sales of music. Number one on his list is CD burners, followed by online stores, and the huge mega stores that have opened just outside of town.

I don't know about other cities with independant music stores but it seems that I have more and more trouble finding quirky little music shops and my only options are cookie cutter stores in the malls, big box stores, online stores, or downloading and burning.

Now... we're talking about anime on this board. I'm going to put forth a hypothesis derived from music sales relating to anime sales. First, thanks to the internet, we know about a wider selection and can discuss more anime than ever before. DVD companies still screw the artists but at least the artists do get paid (try comparing 4 guys in a band to all those peoples names you see in the closing credits of a show)...

You know what... I've lost my train of thought here. It all seemed so crystal clear to me when I started typing now my head is all muddied.
I'm still going to continue buying HK DVDs until more anime distributors get the idea that charging too much is just going to alienate buyers.
Can you believe it costs Cn$40/episode to buy Blue Submarine No.6?
The same series with reasonable subs on a singel HK DVD only costs Cn$16... we're talking 1/10th the price.
On the other hand, Pioneer was able to release Metropolis for Cn$27 with an extra disc of goodies while the HK release is still Cn$15. I urge people to respect Pioneer's choice to release this at a reasonable price and support them with your money.

No offence to JunkieJoe but I wish there wasn't a need for people like him. Untill all the companies get more reasonably priced with their releases, I'm still going to buy the HK rips even though I'm torn about supporting the artists.

***JunkieJoe*** · 09-02-2002, 06:59 AM

LOL, no offense taken.... (wish there was no need for people like me huh? ;p **reminds himself to put a stale donut with next Zagatto's order!** hehe j/k

**Zagatto** · 09-02-2002, 07:05 AM

Wouldn't you rather be selling R1 releases for just a bit more than you sell your HK copies for?
It's a nice dream but I'm afraid it's just a dream.

***JunkieJoe*** · 09-02-2002, 07:08 AM

hehe u are right... but I am realistic... i know that I can not resell R1 anime dvds to make a profit... I mean even if i buy wholesale the prices are just outragous... and I cant compete with the big online stores since they sell alot of volume to make more money while selling cheaper...

My dream is to open my own store in my city and RENT anime dvds... when i say rent because its the only way that people here would do it... because like u said... paying 45CAD dollars for a single dvd with a couple of episodes is just nuts!.... u get get yourself playstation for that much and enjoy it way more than that

Batz Kage · 09-03-2002, 03:00 PM

I would agree with everything you guys said, but the bands I listen to aren't main stream trash (no offence to anyone who likes mainstream music, it's just not for me), so if someone downloads there music they do suffer. I'm not saying they're going to be missinng out on their drugs (now we all know they don't do that) or anything, but still they'll suffer some.

Americana Pop music=my cat's litter box :twisted: !!!!!!

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