KD Media Korean releases

[kannisto]

I noticed that I can track the package by using the registered mail code that they provided on the order status information on their page. Korea Postal Service has also a tracking service for registered international packages.

Generic page for tracking service:
http://www.koreapost.go.kr/eng/service/service02_06.jsp

Seems like my package is not going to arrive at least before Monday though. I wish it was here already

[kannisto]

I received Taegukgi (Brotherhood) and Welcome to Dongmakgol today.

They both seem to be region free, based on what AnyDVD HD says:

Taegukgi (Brotherhood):

Media is a Blu-Ray disc.
Total size: 12069344 sectors (23572 MBytes)
Video Blu-ray label: BROTHERHOOD
Media is AACS protected!
Removed AACS copy protection!
Blu-ray disc is region free!

Disc: SL: 23572 MBytes
Video: MPEG4/AVC (Target bitrate shown as 35999 Mbps by WinDVD9)
Audio: Korean DTS-HD or DTS-HD MA 5.1 (not sure which) and DD at 640 kbps
Subtitles: optional Korean, English, Japanese
Menu: English (with some Korean sub-text in a couple of locations)
Extras: SD Trailer + some commentary audio tracks in Korean + a track for visually impaired

Video bitrate is quite variable, high peaks at 36 Mbps+ but most of the time runs at much lower figures.

Case pics:


Welcome to Dongmakgol:
Media is a Blu-Ray disc.
Total size: 11522176 sectors (22504 MBytes)
Video Blu-ray label: WELCOME_TO_DONGMAKGOL
Media is AACS protected!
Removed AACS copy protection!
Blu-ray disc is region free!

Disc: SL: 22504 MBytes
Video: VC1 (Target bitrate shown as 32999 Mbps by WinDVD9)
Audio: Korean DTS-HD or DTS-HD MA 5.1 (not sure which) and DD 5.1 at 640 kbps and DD 2.0 at 192 kbps
Subtitles: optional Korean, English, Japanese
Menu: English + Korean bi-lingual
Extras: Lots of SD extras in Korean without subtitles + some commentary audio tracks in Korean + a track for visually impaired

Again video bitrate is quite variable with high peaks.

Case pics:


I haven't watched them yet so I will provide more impressions when I have. Both look very nice based on a quick check. good level of sharpness and detail and good colors.

It's interesting that the distributor has used AVC on Brotherhood and VC1 on Welcome to Dongmakgol.

[Clueless_Monkey]

Thanks a lot, kannisto!

[kannisto]

Some quick screencaps of Taegukgi / Brotherhood:





These were taken with Nero player and pasted / saved using Windows Paint. JPEG compression applied.

Imageshack is not working very well today so some of them might not show up (same with the case pics earlier). There are supposed to be 9 screencaps.

[kannisto]

I watched Taegukgi (Brotherhood) yesterday. I'd say the PQ was 4 out of 5 and AQ (based on DTS core alone) was 5 out of 5. The PQ was solid, stable and with medium-good level of sharpness / detail. The colors were slightly muted as gritty, as is typical for war movies. There was no noticeable grain even in the darker scenes though which made me feel there may have been some grain removal processing involved. I wouldn't be able to say for sure though as I haven't seen this movie in a theatre, I just have a Korean DVD of it somewhere and I last watched it several years ago. It looked pretty eye-pleasing and nice all through, without any noticeable artifacts. The level of detail / sharpness was not as great as with some "reference quality" discs, the picture never looked extremely sharp to the point of making a special impression, but it was pretty decent and fully met my expectations.

The AQ felt excellent, lots of effective use of surrounds especially in the battle scenes. Even in my limited optical setup the DTS core sound was pretty much perfect.

The movie itself was of course 5 out of 5 again I really like this one, even though it gets a bit over the top (but in a good way).

[Cadrian]

Originally Posted by kannisto

The AQ felt excellent, lots of effective use of surrounds especially in the battle scenes. Even in my limited optical setup the DTS core sound was pretty much perfect.

I havent seen it in years either... I just remeber the first shot you hear is this artillery shot that happens in the rear surrounds. Always amazed me because the movie takes an hour to get to a war scene, then after that its all out brutal. I wanna hold off on this one, considering there will probally be a US edition soon enough. With a long movie like this... My Friends enjoy a dubb.

[kannisto]

Originally Posted by Cadrian

I havent seen it in years either... I just remeber the first shot you hear is this artillery shot that happens in the rear surrounds. Always amazed me because the movie takes an hour to get to a war scene, then after that its all out brutal. I wanna hold off on this one, considering there will probally be a US edition soon enough. With a long movie like this... My Friends enjoy a dubb.

Yeah, the first time I saw this I was very surprised with how over the top the story went towards the end with the switching of sides etc., but I found it to be very memorable movie with great character development, lots of effective battle scenes and drama. It was just as good this 2nd time around, years later

[kannisto]

I watched "Welcome to Dongmakgol" last night.

The picture quality on this one was extremely detailed and sharp. I'm not sure if this movie was shot with high quality digital HD cameras or on film, but it has a kind of digital HD look, very "3D". Especially in the darker scenes there was also a fair amount of grain (digital or not). The level of detail was pretty consistently great. I'd give it about 5 out of 5 for PQ assuming this kind of digital look is the original theatrical look of the film as well (I had never seen it before).

With regards to audio, there wasn't that much going on in the audio side most of the time, mostly dialogue and some music + a couple explosions. The audio track was fully adequate but nothing especially impressive. 4 out of 5 for AQ.

I enjoyed the film pretty much, it has good pacing and interesting characters and a meaningful and memorable story. The few American characters have some pretty wooden lines / acting but otherwise the acting was excellent. As a movie I'd give it 4.5 out of 5.

[ahsoka]

Thanks kannisto for the info on Taegukgi and Welcome to Dongmakgol. Nice to hear they've got good PQ/AQ.
Looking forward to recieve these two discs and I actually ordered The Host and D-War as well.

[kannisto]

Originally Posted by ahsoka

Thanks kannisto for the info on Taegukgi and Welcome to Dongmakgol. Nice to hear they've got good PQ/AQ.
Looking forward to recieve these two discs and I actually ordered The Host and D-War as well.

I skipped The Host because I already have Magnolia's release of that one and D-War didn't seem too interesting based on IMDB. I'm looking forward to the Korean release of "Lust, Caution" to come out next (different distributor but anyway). Hopefully KD Media's next wave of releases is not too far ahead either

Anyway, DVDfromKorea worked out well for me so I'll buy from them again.

[me-uk]

Received my copy of Taegukgi today and can also confirm that the film/extras (only a trailer) play on a UK PS3.

[ZenAmako]

Does anyone know if the Korean Lust, Caution BD was released on time? I ordered from DVDAsian but they haven't received their stock yet.

Edit: I see the release date is now 7/20.

[kannisto]

Originally Posted by ZenAmako

Does anyone know if the Korean Lust, Caution BD was released on time? I ordered from DVDAsian but they haven't received their stock yet.

Edit: I see the release date is now 7/20.

Now the release date is 7/30 and finally this became available for pre-order at www.dvdfromkorea.com. I had registered for a notice e-mail from them as soon as it becomes available for pre-order and today I received that notice. I already pre-ordered one. I hope it comes out on that date.

[Josh Z]

Kannisto, are the English subtitles on Taegukgi in the letterbox bar or in the movie image?

On the American DVD, subtitles actually appear in both the upper and lower bars, which is impossible to watch on a 2.35:1 screen.

[Ben]

Originally Posted by kannisto

Now the release date is 7/30 and finally this became available for pre-order at www.dvdfromkorea.com..... I already pre-ordered one. I hope it comes out on that date.

Reference to Lust, Caution BD. I really don't like Asian movies
much, but I do like that one. Thanks for the information. I too
pre-ordered it. Nice that they have PayPal also.