Guest c4evap Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 =/\= VOYAGER COMPLETE SEASONS 1 - 7 DVD BOXED SET - CHINESE RELEASE =/\= OK. Finally opened those bad boys. Here's my review: PRICE: I can't really say for sure as I've only seen this release available on Ebay (where you bid on it). This set originally cost me US $243.00 (but has since become free) :D THE SET: 60 DVDs. Six disks in season one. Nine disks in seasons two through seven. Three episodes per disk (the last disk has the special features - not all are included) The color of the disks matches the individual season box color. CONCERNS: The boxes themselves are cheaply made. They have a magnatized flap to keep them closed. The disks come in small individual plastic bags and are looose inside the box (not good for shipping). Some of the disks (shiny playable side) appear to be a bit cloudy - but this does not appear to be a problem). PICTURE QUALITY: Very good. I was surprised. Thought they'd be crummy but the quality is very nice. CONCERNS: Of the 60 DVDs in the set I only noticed problems with 3. Minor things like an itty bitty section of the picture would look like a bad jpeg for a split second or two. Not bad at all. MENU SYSTEM: Not a great looking menu system but functional. Each EP has it's own sub menu - launch (play), communications (subtitles - sound setup) and chapter selection. Disks have background music for the menus. Some play a snippet (looped) of the voyager theme, others have various bits and pieces of music from the show. CONCERNS: The only subtitles listed are English (which puzzeled me a bit seeing how this set was supposed to be manufactured for the Chinese). However, I found the Chinese subtitles are available but only through the remote control. I also noticed they have some of the EP production numbers wrong (each EP is listed with it's production #). Not a problem but a bit annoying. SOUND QUALITY: Excellent. Dolby baby all the way. Since the American release can cost upwards of $800.00 - I'd have to recomment this set as a "cost alternative". Just be careful if you purchase it on Ebay (don't know where else it's available). If you know someone in China...ask them to pick it up for you. c4 B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFMF Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 ooooo - i always try to avoid things that are sold really cheaply on Ebay cause i think they're just a scam - but clearly that's not always the case Thanks for the info c4 :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest c4evap Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 You can get a ton of good things on Ebay. Just depends on who the seller is. I've been using Ebay to revamp my Star Trek collection and have gotten some great deals. As an example - I just picked up the Ken & Barbi Star Trek edition (mint condition) for under $20.00 - try finding it cheaper... c4 B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wahaha Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 Most of the VCD I watched in China were good quality. There was only 1 or 2 that were poor / distorted picture. And of course they are all illegal copies, that's why they're cheap. You can find them in department stores. One whole top floor was dedicated to pirate videos and music CDs. The English teacher had a collection close to 100 videos. I don't think I ever watched a DVD there since most people can't even afford a player. You should also know that the Chinese government edits out all the hanky panky scenes. I have a faye wong CD which has a cloudy spot on the bottom, and it makes some sections skip. As for the star trek stuff. You can buy it cheaply everywhere since they're not selling well. I recently sold 20+ figures all at once to one guy though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amnot Borg Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 If Chinese can't watch DVDs because of player price, how can they watch VCDs? Isn't it the same equipment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wahaha Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 VCD is about the same resolution as super VHS. Almost no one in China has a VCR. I can't remember what the prices were, but I did look at some in one of the stores. Just found out in the chatroom, a dvd player might cost 400rmb ($48). So a VCD would probably be $20. But even that much is a lot to pay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amnot Borg Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 So... they buy VCD players instead of DVD players? I was thinking they were basically the same machine but after rethinking it. I assume the VCD player has lower video requirements and is not able to read DVD disks. It sounds like a technology that should have hit here in the states but was overcome by better DVD standards so it just never took off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest c4evap Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 SNIPPET: As for the star trek stuff. You can buy it cheaply everywhere since they're not selling well. I recently sold 20+ figures all at once to one guy though. Where pray tell? Before I buy anything on Ebay I do an intensive search on the net for a better price. I've only found 1 Star Trek item on the web that was cheaper - the Federation Passport. It was selling for upwards of $15 on Ebay but I found two (the last the seller had in stock - and it's out of print) for $2.99 each. Most of the Star Trek collectibles are still going for high prices. Great deals can be had on Ebay (no, I don't work for them). Many people selling Star Trek items really aren't aware of the real value. Then there are the people who put the original USS Enterprise blueprints up for sale asking for $50 when they can be had for $3. You just have to sort through all the BS to find the gems! c4 B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bones2097 Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 So... they buy VCD players instead of DVD players? I was thinking they were basically the same machine but after rethinking it. I assume the VCD player has lower video requirements and is not able to read DVD disks. It sounds like a technology that should have hit here in the states but was overcome by better DVD standards so it just never took off. a hem.. vcd have been out for ages well befor dvds came out, the only reason it wouldn't have taken off here in the uk/us was that every one has good vhs player which have a better quality & are record-able.... vcd's on the other hand are read only cds, the only benifit with cds its durable.. plus you can only get 60-80 mins of video on it, per disc... so movies would have been over 2 discs.... i guess they thought it wouldn't have taken off here... ironic... whilst the west were still watching video on tapes the 3rd world were watching them on cd!!!! :stare: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebrae Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 On the bright side - if the disks do degrade, you'll never be wanting for a coaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest c4evap Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 True, but I could never sit my cold drink on Janeways face! Perish the thought! c4 :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exterus Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 True, but I could never sit my cold drink on Janeways face! Perish the thought! c4 :p Hmm, I see how that might be a problem. That would seem a little disrespectful. Although...I wouldn't mind Janeway sitting on my face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjnave Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 C4... the boxes in the picture you displayed are the same boxes the originals come in. Did you download that from a site, or is it the same that you got in the mail? Sounds like the menu system and everything else about the show itself is the same as the store bought. Looks like costco.com is selling all 7 seasons for $599.99. I ended up getting all my seasons of Voyager (the market product) off of Ebay for under $300. I basically weatched the site for over a month and swooped. The best deal i got was seasons 1 - 3 for a total of $60!!! They were sold as used but when i got them they might as well have been never used. Seasons 5 & 7 I got for about $50-$60 each with some packaging problems. The bottom of 7's box was sliced (presumablby while cutting off a tag from the packaging to get a rebate), but I just clear taped it and its fine... Season 5 was missing the bottom completely.. but I took a piece of clear plastic and taped it. The discs were all perfect and never been used. The only thing I dont like about the Star Trek DVD's (i own Voyager and DS9) is that their is no additional info.. like a booklet or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katerina Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 Sounds like a bootleg DVD to me! They do the same thing with SG1! also how were you able to get it for free? This is the sort of thing the MPAA should be looking into instead of crawling all over Niteshadow! I can almost gaurantee this box set isnt legit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manuxtreme Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 So... they buy VCD players instead of DVD players? I was thinking they were basically the same machine but after rethinking it. I assume the VCD player has lower video requirements and is not able to read DVD disks. It sounds like a technology that should have hit here in the states but was overcome by better DVD standards so it just never took off. a hem.. vcd have been out for ages well befor dvds came out, the only reason it wouldn't have taken off here in the uk/us was that every one has good vhs player which have a better quality & are record-able.... vcd's on the other hand are read only cds, the only benifit with cds its durable.. plus you can only get 60-80 mins of video on it, per disc... so movies would have been over 2 discs.... i guess they thought it wouldn't have taken off here... ironic... whilst the west were still watching video on tapes the 3rd world were watching them on cd!!!! :stare: VCD Players are a norm here, bloddy cheap. DVD players were very expensive when they came out so everyone had a VCD player instead. Now though even DVD player have become very cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wahaha Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 SNIPPET: As for the star trek stuff. You can buy it cheaply everywhere since they're not selling well. I recently sold 20+ figures all at once to one guy though. Where pray tell? Before I buy anything on Ebay I do an intensive search on the net for a better price. I haven't kept up on the other websites, and some I have seen a while ago were charging ridiculous prices. I asked them what the hell their problem is, and basically they're hoping for the one uninformed sucker in the universe to happen onto their site and buy it without caring. But it's easy to make a deal with most of these people. After all, why would someone sell them on ebay for such little money? Because they either don't have a website, or they can't sell it any other way. And that's just getting back what the original price was. Book value rarely holds up. And even for that to be true, it has to be one of the super rare figures, which I have 1 of. You'd think they'd be more valuable now that they have stopped making figures. VCD Players are a norm here' date=' bloddy cheap. DVD players were very expensive when they came out so everyone had a VCD player instead. Now though even DVD player have become very cheap.[/quote'] Not so cheap for a Chinese student, deciding between watching a movie or paying for their tuition. Even $40 is a lot for them to pay. That's why pirating is so rampant. It wouldn't get bought otherwise. $200 for windows XP in China? hohoho.. i don't think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrimmer Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 Oh how I wish i had bought some Star Trek coffee while it was being offered! I'm pretty sure the quality wasnt that great, but the bags were fun and would make for an interesting collectible. (Shame they never offered Star Trek themed earl gray though...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amnot Borg Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 Sounds like a bootleg DVD to me! They do the same thing with SG1! also how were you able to get it for free? This is the sort of thing the MPAA should be looking into instead of crawling all over Niteshadow! I can almost gaurantee this box set isnt legit. This thread actually started here. C4 purchased the DVDs on eBay and later cancelled the order. She emailed about return shipment and no one has complained about her keeping the disks so she waited and tried them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest c4evap Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 C4... the boxes in the picture you displayed are the same boxes the originals come in. Did you download that from a site, or is it the same that you got in the mail? Sounds like the menu system and everything else about the show itself is the same as the store bought. Actually I've seen several different packages for this particular boxed set on Ebay. The picture I attached matches my set. Might they be bootlegged? Could be. Maybe that's why the guy never bothered to contact me again about returning them. I don't know....but I'm loving them. I've never seen the American version up close so I can't compare them. EDIT: I believe the "boxes" the American version are packaged in are plastic. The Chinese version appears to be pressed (textured) cardboard with a magnetic flap to keep the box closed. The picture I attached might be a stock picture the seller used. However, the colors match the set I have. c4 B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TetsuoShima Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 hehe, one thing the real Chinese version should cause for you is that you either can't play it in your stand alone dvd-player or that you have to switch region codes on your computer to play it. Since China is in a different region. If it all plays fine on a stand alone and no region change occurs, then the chances of it being an illegal copy specifically produced for the US are quite large. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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