Kiki DVD out-of-sync... (2 Viewers)

[Jeff Kleist]

The person I talked with confirmed the Spirted Away bug, and this thread has been referred to the people who can fix all the problems. I have also contacted Disney and Steve Alpert (Tokuma Shoten English Liason) on the issue

Mr. Alpert was responsible for clubbing Disney over the head and make them include the J track on Mononoke

 

[Artur Meinild]

I watched this DVD yesterday, and I did not notice that the dialogue was out of sync. Gladiator, for instance, is much worse...

 

[TheLongshot]

watched this DVD yesterday, and I did not notice that the dialogue was out of sync.

It isn't the dialog that is out of sync. It is the sound effects.

Jason

 

[David Lambert]

It isn't the dialog that is out of sync. It is the sound effects.

Wrong. Read my earlier post in this thread again. For many of us, it's both.

 

[TheLongshot]

Well, I wouldn't know really, since I have the R2s. I got the impression from this thread that the voices were fine, that it was the sound effects that were off.

Since Jeff is talking to someone at Disney, I would wonder if he would have them look into the subtitles on Castle In The Sky. The timing of the subtitles are horrible, and I'm pretty sure I'm looking at the right subs. There is some stuff where the subs appear too far before or after the dialog, and some stuff that just isn't subs for. Pretty poor.

Jason

 

[Sean Laughter]

The person I talked with confirmed the Spirted Away bug, and this thread has been referred to the people who can fix all the problems.

What "Spirited Away" bug would this be?

 

[Damin J Toell]

What "Spirited Away" bug would this be?

The film defaults to the English titles (on angle 2), even if you have the Japanese soundtrack selected. I've found that you can fix this bug if, as soon as the film starts, you press the menu button on the remote and then choose to the play the film again from the menu. The film will re-start in the same place, but will display the proper Japanese titles (on angle 1) where appropriate.

DJ

 

[EricW]

The film defaults to the English titles (on angle 2), even if you have the Japanese soundtrack selected.

is this player specific? mine shows titles matching audio by default.

 

[Damin J Toell]

is this player specific? mine shows titles matching audio by default.

It's not clear if it's player-specific or not, but it seems to be happening to a number of people, as reported in Ron's Spirited Away review thread. FWIW, I used a Sony DVP-S530D and it showed the incorrect titles.

DJ

 

[Aaron Cohen]

I viewed Kiki yesterday and noticed all of the sound effects and voice problems (taking off with the broom, falling on the hay in the train car then closing the door you could really tell that both were off) while watching the dubbed track. I haven't watched the Japanese track yet.

 

[SimonI]

It's not just the sync issue. it's also the way the DVD is presented (in your typical Disney fashion). You have to trip over those blue warnings, then navigate the menu button to get through repeated viewings of trailers, only then to be greeted with an unnecessary opening (or press another button). Heck, by the time you get to the film you're exhausted!

Glad I'm not the only one this drives up the wall - the typical Disney DVD experience, wearing out the chapter skip button!

The Japanese R2s are so lovely because they run straight into the film (bar a couple of non-skippable blue notices)...

 

[David Norman]

Different problem. Just opened my discs today and my box doesn't have an information sheet/chapter list in it like Spirited Away and Castle do. The $2 off coupon is there, but not the insert sheet.

Is this missing from all the DVD's?

 

[HowieG]

A chapter listing title card was included in my R1 "Kiki" set. So, yes it should be in all three R1 DVD offerings...

 

[David Norman]

Thanks, I guess I get to go back to Best Buy and exchange a couple discs.

I got a Dark Star with a broken case and 3 of the plastic spindles broken off and missing completely so I'm guessing it had been resealed.

 

[ShaunS]

I just picked up Spirited Away and found the edge enhancement to be ridiculous! Now I'm not one to complain about ee, in fact I rarely have ever noticed it. I always assumed those that did just had a much better ht then myself. But while watching Spirited Away I must admit I finally understood what all the fuss is about it. I found it extremely distracting.

Just to clear things up, I think the ee is highly visible during the scenes with the sky as the background (when Sen is climbing the outside wall, when Sen is flying on the dragon). There is a florescent halo clearly visible surrounding the characters. I even see similar halos throughout the Bonus Material ie. during the interviews of The Art of Spirited Away.

Is ee prevalent through Kiki and Castle (which I have yet to get)? Not that it would stop me, it's just a shame that these dvds are not PERFECT, which is what each deserves.

ShaunS

 

[Ted Lee]

i finally watched my copy and the audio does seem to be off. the broomslap part definitely sounded off, but the rest wasn't too bad...but it did seem to be there.

luckily i was able to get used to it pretty quickly.

if disney offers a fix, i'll probably be on it though.

 

[kevin_y]

Jeff Adkins wrote in post #23:

I checked the Region 3 version released by Buena Vista Taiwan. I checked the English dub track and ended up watching 30 minutes of it and I couldn't find a single instance of anything being out of sync. I guess this is still the best version out there. I was hoping the R1 would surpass it but unless they recall it I will not replace my Taiwan version.

Japan R2-Has dubtitles instead of subtitles
Hong Kong R3-Has dubtitles instead of subtitles
USA R1-audio out of sync
Taiwan R3-audio in sync, true subtitles

According to Nausicaa.net, the Taiwan R3 DVD also has dubtitles made from the Streamline/JAL English dub, same as the Hong Kong R3 DVD. These dubtitles are supposedly close to the original Japanese dialog.

 

[ShaunS]

I picked the Kiki disc up second hand the other day. I had been debating whether to get it or not after following this thread, but figured for a used price I'd risk it. For what it's worth, I actually noticed no problems with the sync. I've noticied excessive edge enhancement in all three discs (Kiki, Spirit, and Castle). I've noticed problems with the subtitles syncing in Castle. But found no problems with Kiki. I have a Pioneer DV-333. Not sure if this could just be dependent on the player. Of course I could have just missed it as the story swept me away from the opening scene to the last (and don't make the mistake of not watching through to the end of the credits!).

Even with all of the problems these discs have, I have no regrets in my buying them. In my humble opinion, any of the three put to shame even the best that Disney has released in terms of animated features. I eagerly await next years (hopefully) batch of Miyazaki films. Until then I'm sure these discs will get much use.

ShaunS

 

[David Lambert]

Gee, here is a subject that's been forgotten about!

Or has it? I called 800-72-DISNEY the other day and spoke to a technician, following up on my original report from April 17th!

It seems that the issue never went anywhere, and that there wasn't even a confirmation that the problem was duplicated.

The guy I spoke with got off the horn, duplicated the problem with both my player's model and with other models, and called back to tell me that this had happened. He said he would pass the info to the authoring people and see what they would do with it, if anything.

I asked what the chances were of a correction being issued, and he replied that it honestly wasn't a good chance unless there were others besides myself who complained.

So, if you are interested in getting this problem fixed, then make sure you call 800-72-DISNEY and let them know you have seen this problem and would like it corrected.

Please be polite, and (even though I was told they monitor the HTF, and have even seen this thread) it is probably best if you simply represent yourself as a consumer with a complain and not someone who's calling because a post on the internet suggested you should call. Don't mention the HTF. Just tell Disney that you don't like the glitch.

The tech and I discussed possibly causes, and though he didn't say one way or the other, I feel that the issue is correctable, and probably easily so. We just have to get them to understand the demand for the fix is out there, or they won't bother to spend the money.

Cheers,

 

[BruceKimmel]

What I find most amusing having perused this thread is that people who profess to "love" Kiki's have even watched it with the English dub, which totally ruins the lovely film Mr. Miyazaki made. It's crass and typical and Phil Hartman's wisecracking Jiji is awful and has nothing whatsoever to do with the way that character is in the original version. They, in fact, add dialogue to many places where Jiji isn't even talking. Add to that the addition of a ton of music "adapted" by Paul Chihara, that is added to scenes which play silently in the original (and beautifully, I may add), and add to THAT something that no one, not one of you that is mentioning purported SFX issues has mentioned - that there is DUPE footage used every time they insert English into the film (this happens quite a few times - see the door sign in the shop) and this dupe footage is so ugly and fuzzy it's not even funny. How come we're not mentioning THAT? Add to that the awful English song that replaces the wonderful Japanese song and I just don't see how anyone can prefer the English dub and/or even think they know the film without having at least WATCHED the ORIGINAL version.

And, to bring this on topic, I have the Disney version and I have the official Ghibli Japanese disc and I see no synch issues whatsoever (other than the fact that these films are animated first and then post-synched with the voices).