Asia is inactive in the blu scene. - Blu-ray Forum

richieb1971 · 03-27-2009, 11:16 PM

Whats going on in Asia these days? If you go to amazon.com and search blu ray you get 1000's of titles. You search in Europe and you get 1000's of American titles and alot of European titles as well. You search in the Asian market and although you get everything we get everywhere else, there is only a mild sniff of Asian titles. In fact I would go as far as to say that there is more Asian content released elsewhere than there is in Asia.

Asia is a dormant volcano just awaiting to erupt. Where are Asian studios and why are they not releasing blu?

Red cliff 2 stays at the top of the Asian tree and its been there for a considerable amount of time.

I want BEAT, Hero and Drunken master 2 at least. Some Bruce Lee would be nice, some Chow yun fat, Bullet in the head. There is a zombie in the woods flick that I want , can't remember the name of it though.

Well, anyway there is quite alot of titles they could bring out. Its quite depressing actually.

HD 335 · 03-27-2009, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richieb1971

Whats going on in Asia these days? If you go to amazon.com and search blu ray you get 1000's of titles. You search in Europe and you get 1000's of American titles and alot of European titles as well. You search in the Asian market and although you get everything we get everywhere else, there is only a mild sniff of Asian titles. In fact I would go as far as to say that there is more Asian content released elsewhere than there is in Asia.

Asia is a dormant volcano just awaiting to erupt. Where are Asian studios and why are they not releasing blu?

Red cliff 2 stays at the top of the Asian tree and its been there for a considerable amount of time.

I want BEAT, Hero and Drunken master 2 at least. Some Bruce Lee would be nice, some Chow yun fat, Bullet in the head. There is a zombie in the woods flick that I want , can't remember the name of it though.

Well, anyway there is quite alot of titles they could bring out. Its quite depressing actually.

You should consider the economic status of Asia and Hong Kong. I believe the average wage in HK is about $14,500/year while the average urban worker in China earns about $3,700/year with computer related and financial workers earning an average of $6,600/year. Blu-rays typically cost about $28 there with major stores like HMV charging upwards of $35. Compare that cost with paying just $2 for SD DVDs, they consider Blu-ray a luxury item. Each time when friends and family bought me Bu-rays from there, usually in batches of 4, they tell me the store owners are very surprised to even sell that many at one time.

Eventually more Blu-rays will come out for more titles, but for now they'll wait until manufacturing processes become cheaper along with dirt cheap hardware.

steve_dave · 03-28-2009, 01:14 AM

Yep, Blu-ray is a luxury or high dollar item in Southeast Asia and China. Hong Kong has been releasing a slow (very slow, about 1 to 2 titles every two months) stream of Blu-ray Discs while the DVDs and VCDs are being regularly released every week. Thailand has begun releasing locaized BDs with Catalyst creating Thai artwork for Universal BDs but Thailand's BD market is a majority of US, European, and Hong Kong imports. South Korea also has been extremely slow at relasing BDs.

Adding to the slow penetration of Blu-ray Disc is that the fact that Southeast Asia and China do not just have a DVD market. The VideoCD format has a healthy life in these areas due to the low cost compared to DVD. In fact, many Joy Sales Hong Kong reissues are on VideoCD only with just the "big" titles appearing on DVD. Many Blu-ray Disc players, including the Playstation 3, do not play VideoCDs. For many of these potential Blu-ray customers, this is a big issue since they have a large library of VCDs they enjoy. In the US & Europe, many folks have converted to DVD with very few VHS only households left. BD players can also play DVDs and upconverts them to near HD so the change over is easy for Westerners.

Add to that the price issue mentioned in the post above...

When I was in Thailand last August, the lowest price for BD was $32 US! I bought DVDs for as low as $1.50 US. VideoCDs were as low as $0.50 US.

The machines sell for around $400 to $1000 US and televisions capable of HD still sell for well above $1000 US. Its true that there are bargain brands but even then, the average household income for these areas just can not afford these expenses. In Thailand, the bargain bin 16x9 TVs are 480p only and these sell for at least $750 US.

Blu-ray would have to usurp two formats in order to become a viable medium in these areas while in the US and Europe, BD has to just unseat DVD. Hardware prices would also have to be within financial grasp of average households in order to keep pushing BD.

Jeff Kleist · 03-28-2009, 01:17 AM

Domestic productions, even in Japan where penetration is higher are just starting to move in the kind of numbers that would make it profitable

HK films are selling more on export than they are domestically

mugupo · 03-28-2009, 03:17 AM

Most part of Asian is poor, only real country that actually buying Blu-ray are Japan and Hong Kong. China and other place depend too heavy on bootleg and torrent, they don't had the budget for HDTV, PS3 etc.. Most earn 10 times less than what typical American earn.

richieb1971 · 03-28-2009, 05:16 AM

OMG! Well with that information on board I think I will crawl into the hole I came out of.

So for most movies, its the Western equivalents that will likely see a release first then. I wonder though as many do, how titles are selected for blu ray in Asia? Perhaps, its the ones that need the least restoration, hence the cheapest cost to port over.

steve_dave · 03-28-2009, 05:39 AM

When it comes to the local Hong Kong companies like Media Asia, Universe Laser & Video, and Edko Video, they are being very selective when it comes to titles. These distributors know they need to choose quality titles so they generally pick Hong Kong box office hits like Initial D, Infernal Affairs, Mad Detective, Fearless (2006), and Perhaps Love.

With US companies in Hong Kong, the localized Blu-ray releases are a better selection of catalog titles like Peter Pan (2003), Almost Famous, and Walk the Line. New to HK video films like Seven Pounds, Mamma Mia!, and Kung Fu Panda can be found on BD, DVD, and VCD.

In Thailand, its completely different. Catalyst Alliance has worked with Universal Studios Thailand to create Thai localized BDs for their newest BDs starting with Hellboy II. Other than that, no other Thai distributor is producing Blu-ray Discs in Thailand. They are all imports from other countries.

steve_dave · 03-28-2009, 05:47 AM

By the way, Bullet In The Head is distributed by Joy Sales in Hong Kong and Joy Sales will release Connected as their first Blu-ray Disc. Bullet In The Head was recently remastered in high-definition for its new DVD release so hopefully sales for Connected will be strong enough for Joy Sales to release catalog titles on BD.

I would not expect Jackie Chan's Twin Dragons though since the new DVD was not remastered in high-definition. It was given a new 16x9 transfer but nothing was done to improve the picture quality.

OrlandoEastwood · 03-28-2009, 09:15 PM

Granted that DVDs and VCDs are cheap as hell in Asia, I doubt many of the older films will not be released well into the 2010's. Granted here in the United States most of the older films are not on Blu-Ray either. Here in the US, we've barely skimmed the surface of films on Blu-Ray and the muerto HD-DVD. But all I am saying is that even though Blu has been out since 2006, it's still a new format.

Sky_Captain · 03-29-2009, 10:22 PM

Having been to Hong Kong recently, I would say be grateful for any BD releases at all. What I saw, was a country that had shunned its movie heritage and people the were more than happy with VCD quality releases. Only HMV carried a decent range of classic titles, it was plain saddening. Gorgeous place to visit, though.

Kyo28 · 03-30-2009, 04:43 AM

Even though they're slower in the uptake than the US, I would say that Japan is at least releasing as many BD's now as Europe does and I suspect the rythm will increase over the next 2-3 years, as players become cheaper, thus creating a bigger install base.

steve_dave · 03-30-2009, 05:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyo28

Even though they're slower in the uptake than the US, I would say that Japan is at least releasing as many BD's now as Europe does and I suspect the rythm will increase over the next 2-3 years, as players become cheaper, thus creating a bigger install base.

Japan is not a problem. All of the previous posters, myself included, focused on Southeast Asia (Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar, and Cambodia) and China.

The Japanese have no problem adopting a new format and running with it. They even tried to stretch out Laserdiscs' life with Squeeze LDs. Squeeze LDS were formatted to be viewed exclusively on 16x9 displays.

Japan really gave all HD formats (DVHS included) equal push. Gaga Communications provided the same Dolby TrueHD tracks on their BD and HD DVDs. Toshiba Entertainment released Biozhazard (Resident Evil) on HD DVD with all the extras. The Resident Evil Blu-ray box set features Dolby TrueHD and AVC encodes for all the films plus all the extras.

For Japan, its a no brainer to have some disposable income. Look at the lavish deluxe edition DVDs that are released regularly.

For Southeaast Asia and China, its going to take more than 2-3 years for BDs to be a viable format. Like I, and another poster said, VideoCDs are still selling extremely well in Hong Kong, China, and Thailand. DVDs have been avaialble for over 3 years in these areas and it still has not replaced VCD as the format of choice.

kndy · 04-02-2009, 04:44 PM

I think it's a different situation for several countries in Asia. I know Jeff has told me about his experience for his research in Japan.

But BD is definitely a luxury item in Asia, even for anime fans who buy up a lot of the BD releases, you can read reviews on Amazon.co.jp and see how people are so ticked off about the pricing over there. Even wealthy friends in Asia, I don't think I know one who has gone towards Blu-ray.

Even with my friends throughout Asia, they put more interest in what they can watch or download on their cell phones or computer.

Heck, when I go visit quite a few them, they have their computers (connected to their TV's) streaming out videos from online sites with the latest movies and for them that's good enough.

Jeff Kleist · 04-02-2009, 08:08 PM

Let's face it, I put Hulu on full screen on a 40" TV and it's still better than VCD

Mobe1969 · 04-02-2009, 08:38 PM

Yeah, but even looking at Sony's home country, Japan, they aren't releasing much of anything.

hanami · 04-09-2009, 03:55 PM

Most people just download torrents instead.
Intellectual Property is neglected here.
Why spend hard-earned money when you can get it on the net for free?
I even heard comment such as it's a hassle to switch discs between movies, so just download 720P/1080P movies and store them on the HDD and with a remote control, it's easy to cruise movie selections with a finger-click.
So hard drives and HTPC devices are selling really well here.

bfellow · 04-15-2009, 05:47 PM

I'm not surprised when you can easily buy $1 DVDs and people having terabytes of 720p rips of movies over there.

actyper · 04-27-2009, 05:16 PM

I think China is going to move forward with the CBHDs. Blus are crazy expensive in Asia in general. CBHDs should retail in the $10 equivalent range.

Azyiu · 05-03-2009, 01:53 AM

@ Steve_Dave

Sorry for going slightly off topic, but as far as HK localized BDs goes; are their quality just as good as the US version? I mean, I simply would not buy HK version (region 3) dvds, and I am not sure if I should give HK version BDs a try. The sad truth is, HK versions cost up to 20% less than US versions in some cases.

steve_dave · 05-03-2009, 05:47 AM

I don't know why you would not buy Hong Kong BDs or even DVDs for that matter.

Many reputable companies release BDs and DVDs that rival the US market.

Several examples:

Twin Dragons - Dimension Films US version is non-anamorphic widescreen with just an English dub track and its cut. The Joy Sales HK DVD is the original Hong Kong version and is 16x9 with DD 2.0 Cantonese.

Infernal Affairs - Dragon Dynasty US version has poor subtitles despite being anamorphic widscreen with Cantonese 5.1 sound. The Mega Star HK BD offers PCM Cantonese 5.1 sound, good 1080p widescreen presentaiton, and more extras.

In the case of Hollywood films, the Hong Kong localized BDs for films like The Punisher offer Dolby TrueHD audio and all the extras. There are even exclusive releases like Almost Famous, Peter Pan, and Erin Brockovich.

03-27-2009, 11:16 PM	#1
richieb1971 Blu-ray Samurai Top contributor Member since:Aug 2007 4K collection:89 Blu-ray collection:706 Trading Score:16	Asia is inactive in the blu scene. Whats going on in Asia these days? If you go to amazon.com and search blu ray you get 1000's of titles. You search in Europe and you get 1000's of American titles and alot of European titles as well. You search in the Asian market and although you get everything we get everywhere else, there is only a mild sniff of Asian titles. In fact I would go as far as to say that there is more Asian content released elsewhere than there is in Asia. Asia is a dormant volcano just awaiting to erupt. Where are Asian studios and why are they not releasing blu? Red cliff 2 stays at the top of the Asian tree and its been there for a considerable amount of time. I want BEAT, Hero and Drunken master 2 at least. Some Bruce Lee would be nice, some Chow yun fat, Bullet in the head. There is a zombie in the woods flick that I want , can't remember the name of it though. Well, anyway there is quite alot of titles they could bring out. Its quite depressing actually.

04-09-2009, 03:55 PM	#16
hanami Junior Member Member since:Mar 2009 Location:Taiwan Blu-ray reviews:1	Most people just download torrents instead. Intellectual Property is neglected here. Why spend hard-earned money when you can get it on the net for free? I even heard comment such as it's a hassle to switch discs between movies, so just download 720P/1080P movies and store them on the HDD and with a remote control, it's easy to cruise movie selections with a finger-click. So hard drives and HTPC devices are selling really well here. Last edited by hanami; 04-09-2009 at 04:04 PM.

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03-28-2009, 01:14 AM	#3
steve_dave Blu-ray Duke Member since:Nov 2008 Trading Score:21	Yep, Blu-ray is a luxury or high dollar item in Southeast Asia and China. Hong Kong has been releasing a slow (very slow, about 1 to 2 titles every two months) stream of Blu-ray Discs while the DVDs and VCDs are being regularly released every week. Thailand has begun releasing locaized BDs with Catalyst creating Thai artwork for Universal BDs but Thailand's BD market is a majority of US, European, and Hong Kong imports. South Korea also has been extremely slow at relasing BDs. Adding to the slow penetration of Blu-ray Disc is that the fact that Southeast Asia and China do not just have a DVD market. The VideoCD format has a healthy life in these areas due to the low cost compared to DVD. In fact, many Joy Sales Hong Kong reissues are on VideoCD only with just the "big" titles appearing on DVD. Many Blu-ray Disc players, including the Playstation 3, do not play VideoCDs. For many of these potential Blu-ray customers, this is a big issue since they have a large library of VCDs they enjoy. In the US & Europe, many folks have converted to DVD with very few VHS only households left. BD players can also play DVDs and upconverts them to near HD so the change over is easy for Westerners. Add to that the price issue mentioned in the post above... When I was in Thailand last August, the lowest price for BD was $32 US! I bought DVDs for as low as $1.50 US. VideoCDs were as low as $0.50 US. The machines sell for around $400 to $1000 US and televisions capable of HD still sell for well above $1000 US. Its true that there are bargain brands but even then, the average household income for these areas just can not afford these expenses. In Thailand, the bargain bin 16x9 TVs are 480p only and these sell for at least $750 US. Blu-ray would have to usurp two formats in order to become a viable medium in these areas while in the US and Europe, BD has to just unseat DVD. Hardware prices would also have to be within financial grasp of average households in order to keep pushing BD.

03-28-2009, 01:17 AM	#4
Jeff Kleist The Digital Bits Member since:Jul 2008 Trading Score:1	Domestic productions, even in Japan where penetration is higher are just starting to move in the kind of numbers that would make it profitable HK films are selling more on export than they are domestically

03-28-2009, 03:17 AM	#5
mugupo Special Member Member since:Aug 2007 Home Theater Gallery:76 Blu-ray collection:50 Blu-ray reviews: 226 Trading Score:4	Most part of Asian is poor, only real country that actually buying Blu-ray are Japan and Hong Kong. China and other place depend too heavy on bootleg and torrent, they don't had the budget for HDTV, PS3 etc.. Most earn 10 times less than what typical American earn.

03-28-2009, 05:16 AM	#6
richieb1971 Blu-ray Samurai Top contributor Member since:Aug 2007 4K collection:89 Blu-ray collection:706 Trading Score:16	OMG! Well with that information on board I think I will crawl into the hole I came out of. So for most movies, its the Western equivalents that will likely see a release first then. I wonder though as many do, how titles are selected for blu ray in Asia? Perhaps, its the ones that need the least restoration, hence the cheapest cost to port over.

03-28-2009, 05:39 AM	#7
steve_dave Blu-ray Duke Member since:Nov 2008 Trading Score:21	When it comes to the local Hong Kong companies like Media Asia, Universe Laser & Video, and Edko Video, they are being very selective when it comes to titles. These distributors know they need to choose quality titles so they generally pick Hong Kong box office hits like Initial D, Infernal Affairs, Mad Detective, Fearless (2006), and Perhaps Love. With US companies in Hong Kong, the localized Blu-ray releases are a better selection of catalog titles like Peter Pan (2003), Almost Famous, and Walk the Line. New to HK video films like Seven Pounds, Mamma Mia!, and Kung Fu Panda can be found on BD, DVD, and VCD. In Thailand, its completely different. Catalyst Alliance has worked with Universal Studios Thailand to create Thai localized BDs for their newest BDs starting with Hellboy II. Other than that, no other Thai distributor is producing Blu-ray Discs in Thailand. They are all imports from other countries.

03-28-2009, 05:47 AM	#8
steve_dave Blu-ray Duke Member since:Nov 2008 Trading Score:21	By the way, Bullet In The Head is distributed by Joy Sales in Hong Kong and Joy Sales will release Connected as their first Blu-ray Disc. Bullet In The Head was recently remastered in high-definition for its new DVD release so hopefully sales for Connected will be strong enough for Joy Sales to release catalog titles on BD. I would not expect Jackie Chan's Twin Dragons though since the new DVD was not remastered in high-definition. It was given a new 16x9 transfer but nothing was done to improve the picture quality.

03-28-2009, 09:15 PM	#9
OrlandoEastwood Blu-ray Champion Top contributor Member since:Jun 2008 Location:R-Point Blu-ray reviews:86 Trading Score:24	Granted that DVDs and VCDs are cheap as hell in Asia, I doubt many of the older films will not be released well into the 2010's. Granted here in the United States most of the older films are not on Blu-Ray either. Here in the US, we've barely skimmed the surface of films on Blu-Ray and the muerto HD-DVD. But all I am saying is that even though Blu has been out since 2006, it's still a new format.

03-29-2009, 10:22 PM	#10
Sky_Captain Blu-ray Duke Top contributor Member since:Jan 2008 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:- Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:17	Having been to Hong Kong recently, I would say be grateful for any BD releases at all. What I saw, was a country that had shunned its movie heritage and people the were more than happy with VCD quality releases. Only HMV carried a decent range of classic titles, it was plain saddening. Gorgeous place to visit, though.

03-30-2009, 04:43 AM	#11
Kyo28 Power Member Member since:Jun 2008 Blu-ray collection:446 Blu-ray reviews:12	Even though they're slower in the uptake than the US, I would say that Japan is at least releasing as many BD's now as Europe does and I suspect the rythm will increase over the next 2-3 years, as players become cheaper, thus creating a bigger install base.

04-02-2009, 04:44 PM	#13
kndy Blu-ray Guru Member since:Dec 2008 Location:Urban Haute Bourgeoisie Home Theater Gallery:136 Blu-ray collection:1903 Blu-ray reviews: 41 Trading Score:17	I think it's a different situation for several countries in Asia. I know Jeff has told me about his experience for his research in Japan. But BD is definitely a luxury item in Asia, even for anime fans who buy up a lot of the BD releases, you can read reviews on Amazon.co.jp and see how people are so ticked off about the pricing over there. Even wealthy friends in Asia, I don't think I know one who has gone towards Blu-ray. Even with my friends throughout Asia, they put more interest in what they can watch or download on their cell phones or computer. Heck, when I go visit quite a few them, they have their computers (connected to their TV's) streaming out videos from online sites with the latest movies and for them that's good enough.

04-02-2009, 08:08 PM	#14
Jeff Kleist The Digital Bits Member since:Jul 2008 Trading Score:1	Let's face it, I put Hulu on full screen on a 40" TV and it's still better than VCD

04-02-2009, 08:38 PM	#15
Mobe1969 Blu-ray Knight Top contributor Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Brisbane, Australia 4K collection:980 Blu-ray collection:1610	Yeah, but even looking at Sony's home country, Japan, they aren't releasing much of anything.

04-15-2009, 05:47 PM	#17
bfellow Active Member Member since:Oct 2008 Blu-ray collection:139 Blu-ray reviews:12 Trading Score:1	I'm not surprised when you can easily buy $1 DVDs and people having terabytes of 720p rips of movies over there.

04-27-2009, 05:16 PM	#18
actyper Senior Member Member since:Aug 2008 Location:Toronto, Canada Trading Score:44	I think China is going to move forward with the CBHDs. Blus are crazy expensive in Asia in general. CBHDs should retail in the $10 equivalent range.

05-03-2009, 01:53 AM	#19
Azyiu Blu-ray Champion Top contributor Member since:May 2008 Location:The Center of Smoked Bacon Research 4K collection:7 Blu-ray collection:369 DVD collection:54 Blu-ray reviews: 14	@ Steve_Dave Sorry for going slightly off topic, but as far as HK localized BDs goes; are their quality just as good as the US version? I mean, I simply would not buy HK version (region 3) dvds, and I am not sure if I should give HK version BDs a try. The sad truth is, HK versions cost up to 20% less than US versions in some cases.

05-03-2009, 05:47 AM	#20
steve_dave Blu-ray Duke Member since:Nov 2008 Trading Score:21	I don't know why you would not buy Hong Kong BDs or even DVDs for that matter. Many reputable companies release BDs and DVDs that rival the US market. Several examples: Twin Dragons - Dimension Films US version is non-anamorphic widescreen with just an English dub track and its cut. The Joy Sales HK DVD is the original Hong Kong version and is 16x9 with DD 2.0 Cantonese. Infernal Affairs - Dragon Dynasty US version has poor subtitles despite being anamorphic widscreen with Cantonese 5.1 sound. The Mega Star HK BD offers PCM Cantonese 5.1 sound, good 1080p widescreen presentaiton, and more extras. In the case of Hollywood films, the Hong Kong localized BDs for films like The Punisher offer Dolby TrueHD audio and all the extras. There are even exclusive releases like Almost Famous, Peter Pan, and Erin Brockovich.

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