Dubbed

[jamesf]

What do they mean by Dubbed ( see Link ) ? Excuse me if this has been asked before .

[Dotpattern]

It means the BD contains language audio tracks other than English. So, for instance, if you wanted to listen to the movie dubbed in Spanish, you could select the Spanish track if that's what's available.

[steve_dave]

Actually, the more correct definition is when the original or intended language/audio track has been replaced in a film with another.

For example:

The Legend of Drunken Master's original audio is Cantonese but was redubbed into English for the US theatrical presentation. Both the US DVD and Blu-ray Disc do not offer the original Cantonese track rather just the English dub.

The Coffin's original audio is English and Thai but was completely dubbed in Thai for the Thai theatrical presentation. The Thai DVD includes both the original audio and the all Thai dubbed tracks.

Step Up's original audio is English but the newer Thai DVDs only offer the Thai dub only.

The original Asian release of The Eye from 2002 has an original language track comprised of Cantonese, Mandarin, Thai, and English. An all English only dub is available on the US DVD.

Dubs are not preferable for audio because they generally are created in a sound studio where the voice actor is not on set to properly act out or react to scenes. On my R3 HK DVD of Angel Eyes, the Mandarin dub is also missing sound filters. This means that in the film Jennifer Lopez is talking to Jim Caviezel in the car and you hear her voice echoing in the original English track but the Mandarin is missing this effect. It sound exactly like it was recorded in a studio.

The other issue is that sometimes the voices do not match the body. You can have a large tough guy walk in (Schwarzenegger or Stallone) and the voice actor has a weak or small voice so it sounds off.

There are even more issues, in Thailand the norm was to use one or two voice actors only to do the dubs for a film. Lethal Weapon 4 dubbed in Thai has the same man doing every male voice and the same woman doing every female voice. This save costs on the dub track. Some local distributors are getting better in Thailand and Project A (which is available only with a Thai dub soundtrack in Thailand) uses multiple voice actors and is properly mixed with sound filters, effects, and music for a dub. I'd say out of all the dubs I've listened to: Project A is the best effort.

Now, some actors are willing to do the dubs themselves. Jodie Foster will do a film with sync sound (meaning original audio) in English and then she will do the French dub or audio herself. This way her performance in the French language track is not hindered by a poor voice artists. You can hear her dual work on Flightplan and Panic Room.

[MOONPHASE]

Another example is Kurokami the Animation. It was made in Japan but the American version Blu-ray only includes the English audio even though the original audio is Japanese.