Can someone help me get this DVD to work with my setup? (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Kleist]

No, China and Hong Kong both broadcast their TV in PAL
And since the series was made for TV, it's PAL.

All signs point to legit at this point

Louie, many bootleggers like SM Records have catalog numbers, and they'll even send you a catalog! I would love to hear a review of the set when you get a chance. The guy at AZN said it was like a Japanese Samurai drama with a lower costume budget, but wonderful location shooting. Would you say that's accurate?

 

[LouieT]

I'm going to have to check my set against theirs. Their store is about 15 minutes from me so I'll have to drop by one of these days. This is getting very interesting.

Jeff, thanks for the info. About the review . . . first off, I'm Hispanic so I don't know a whole lot about Chinese history and stuff like that, so following the story and the characters were a little difficult at first. But I've been hooked on Romance since playing the Koei strategy games so when I saw the set up in San Francisco, it sparked my interest. Other than that, I knew nothing about the Romance stories, etc. Some other folks who know the story will definitely love it. I love the series even though I knew nothing about the story.

The series is pretty good. The characters are played very well by the actors. It's obvious that Koei used this TV series as a major influence in their games. All the characters look EXACTLY like the ones from their games. I've had the set for almost a month and I still did not get to finish it yet - probably about 75% done though. The first part drags out a little bit as the series sets the characters up. Once the armies are in place, the story gets a lot more interesting. The battles are done pretty well for a TV series, but there are only a few one on one fights. Most of them are huge battalion type of fights. I would agree with what Azn said because the costumes look cheesy, but the backdrops are nice and are done with real landscapes. I haven't seen any other TV series so I can't compare them. What I like most about the series so far is the military strategy that is involved. It's interesting to see how they plot and plan takeovers and stuff like that. The girl who played Diao Chan is a hotty and you even get to see some skin! Overall, I really like the series, but I haven't seen any other ones so my review might be biased. You guys have any other recommendations? Preferably with English subs because I can't understand Chinese.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I'm betting some of your local stations probably show subtitled Korean or Japanese historical dramas. We only get Korean here, but there's a few that are pretty good. I saw a few Samurai dramas in Japan that I would have liked to see subtitled, but I didn't know what the show was called

 

[JamesH]

Well, I finally found someone to buy it from. Checking on ebay, there was someone who lived in the same city as me. I emailed them and worked out a deal, I'm going to pick it up directly from them next weekend and pay $70.
I don't know if the Koei games influenced the TV series or if it was the other way around. I'm not sure when the series aired, but they're already working on ROTK 8 and those games have been around for a long time. In fact, I actually got interested in all this stuff from the Koei games. I started out with Dynasty Warriors 2, then when Dynasty Warriors 3 came out, I was hooked. You can read the novel for free at www.threekingdoms.com and it's extremely well written. It has great prose, a lot of military strategy, and hilarious characters. You've gotta love Zhang Fei the drunk, or Cao Cao:"Let me ask someone to devise a battle plan and then after they tell me, I'll say 'That's exactly what I was thinking' "

 

[LouieT]

According to Aznfilms' site, the TV series was made in 1995. Dynasty Warriors 1 didn't get released until about 97 I think. I have all of the regular Romance of the Three Kingdoms strategy games and the characters didn't look anything like the movie. Even Dynasty Warriors I's characters didn't look like the film so I that's why I thought Dynasty Warriors II and III were crafted after the series.

As for other shows, I only have regular cable and my local channel (Channel 8) has a few International shows, but are not subtitled so I'm out of luck. I heard good things about Yongzheng Dynasty though. Can anyone give a review about it?

 

[Mark_Wilson]

I'm sure all of these are based on the Chinese books of the same name.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Any way that guy might be willing to do the $70 deal for more people?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

?

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

I second Jeff's question. I would definitely have some interest at that price point.

 

[JamesH]

I emailed her tonight to see if she wants to do any more sales at that price. I'm picking it up on Saturday and if all goes well and she is interested in more business, I'll put you guys in contact.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Great, thanks!

 

[JamesH]

Hey, I checked with her and she says she still has a few more. I don't want to be rude and just post her email in a forum, but if you guys who were interested can get your email addresses to me, I'll put you in contact.

 

[Mark_Wilson]

Let me clarify, thats $70 for the "A Romance of Three Kingdoms Boxset 14 DVD" set? What would shipping be? That $60 set on Ebay wants $30 to ship.

I'd be game.

 

[JamesH]

I'm not sure, you'll have to ask her, I picked mine up myself. Anyways, I got it and I'm pretty happy with it. The actual content itself is great, although I imagine it would be confusing and not very meaningful to someone who hasn't read the book. The set itself comes in a large box with a magnetic flap, and inside there are 4 DVD cases. I should also note that the ones I got are indeed NTSC, and all region. I don't know if they're legit or not, I have no knowledge at all of foreign made DVDs. There are a few misspellings on the back of the box and in the subs, but the actual translation as far as grammar/vocab is pretty good.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

James, check back in the thread for the known details on the legit version

I'm not expecting too many boots of this set simply because it's owned by the Chinese government, and if you bootleg it you're getting sent to Chinese Siberia equiv

 

[JamesH]

Whoever emailed me, your hotmail box is full.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

James, that was probably me. Try again.