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DVD campaign in Spain

J

jeoens

New member
Hi,

I guess many of you are not aware of it, but Warner HV Spain has finally decided to release the B5 DVDs in Spain (as of today, Germany is the only Eurozone country where the DVDs were released). They will begin next February with 'The Gathering' and then season one.

Some people from the spain-b5 list have started a campaign to ask for the translation of season 5, because only seasons 1 to 4 have been translated into Spanish. (Personally, I would like the inclusion of Catalan, but anyway...) The address of the website is

http://b5dvd.catodic.net

Now that some of you have received your season 1 dvds, do you have any suggestion? I mean, if there is something terribly wrong with the edition or something you feel it could be improved, we still have time to talk to WB Spain. They seem quite open to suggestions.

Oh... now I will have to wait until February. /forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif
 
My suggestions

* Translate the extras
* Distribute the DVD is the Spanish speaking parts of the USA.
* Correct the screen width of "The Sky Full of Stars"
* Replace the cardboard hinge with something stronger - DVD box sets are watched many times.

A more general comment, increase the buffering within DVD players so that the translation between DVD layers does not trigger a pause. The pause does not improve this show. Possibly by nagging the computer programmers and DVD player manufactures.
 
Hi,

I believe WB does not know yet what are they are going to do with the Spanish release. I am quite sure the extras will be subtitled in Spanish, but some people (myself included) would not like them dubbed.

As to the distribution in the USA, I believe R1 DVDs are in Spanish, aren't they? Anyway, the European Spanish (Castillian) edition would be quite different from Neutral Spanish, that is, the variant used in the USA. We can suggest WB the distribution in the USA, but it seems very unlikely that they will issue a 2nd. edition. Distribution in South America would be possible, though. In Neutral Spanish, that is.

The issue of the screen width of "The Sky Full of Stars" is definetely something worth mentioning. We will communicate it to WB as soon as possible. Moreover, we will see what can be done with the cover of the DVD.

Anyway, take into account that we expect to pay a price of 35€ per pack. If we ask for too many changes they will consider it a 'deluxe' edition and charge us 70€ instead!!

Cheers!
 
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
but some people (myself included) would not like them dubbed.

[/quote]

whats wrong with that? subtitles distract a lot, since you have to pay close attention if you dont get english too much.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Anyway, the European Spanish (Castillian) edition would be quite different from Neutral Spanish, that is,

[/quote]

exactly. theres a big difference between "real" spanish, and south american.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
If we ask for too many changes they will consider it a 'deluxe' edition and charge us 70€ instead!!

[/quote]

who said that?
 
Dubbing is evil. Evil I say! Crouhing Tiger, Hidden Dragon (for example) comes with a dubbed version. I shan't be listening to that!

On TV shows that are dubbed, it must be horrid because the voice actors change. Here in the UK, luckily we don't have foreign TV to worry about issues like this.
 
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Dubbing is evil. Evil I say! Crouhing Tiger, Hidden Dragon (for example) comes with a dubbed version. I shan't be listening to that!

[/quote]

LOL, come on, Antony. if every single good science fiction show wasnt in english, im quite sure you woudnt be saying the same thing /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif . the way i see it subtitles are really annoying, even if you understand the language and try not to pay attention to them, which is my case.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
On TV shows that are dubbed, it must be horrid because the voice actors change. Here in the UK, luckily we don't have foreign TV to worry about issues like this.

[/quote]

heh, depends. sometimes they find a voice which really suits the actor, sometimes they dont even try. they were very careful with the spanish version of b5, even kosh´s voice is fine. the only problem i have with the issue is that sometimes the stupid translators feel "creative" and decide to change numbers (like instead of, 500 narns dead, 1000, and things like that) to make it sound more dramatic or someting *sigh*
 
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
As to the distribution in the USA, I believe R1 DVDs are in Spanish, aren't they?

[/quote]

No. Spanish subtitles are available, but no Spanish language track. As I believe I noted above this is common for U.S. discs, despite the large Spanish-speaking population. If there is a second language track at all on R1 DVDs it is apt to be French - to appease the Canadians /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif - not Spanish, which far more Americans speak.

Regards,

Joe
 
Yes, must appease the Canucks. It makes sense, from a legal perspective. Everything in Canada MUST be printed in both Official languages (either in seperate editions, as in magazines, or on seperate halfs of a panel, with most packaged products) so either one makes a french language track for all R1 discs or crank out a seperate edition for the small Canuck market, which goes against the economic principle of diminishing marginal cost.
Why can they not have NA and SA one region and produce four language tracks ("English", "French", "Spanish" and "Portuguese")?
And if they can have three European Languages on the R2 set, Why can they not have 3 on the R1 set?

CR
 
I have to agree with Antony - dubbing is *evil*.

And mind you, I'm saying it from the point of view of someone for whom 95% of all shows & movies on TV she has ever watched have been in a foreign language, and subtitled. Not just that, but I have spent most of my life watching stuff in a foreign language (English, German, French etc but mostly English) with subtitles in another foreign language (Finnish) - as a result, both my English and Finnish skills improved a lot when I was growing up. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Dubbing is just... bleh. Once one is old enough to read, and doesn't have major eyesight and/or dyslexia problems, one should never be forced to watch anything dubbed, IMHO. It takes so much away from the show, so much more than subtitles (which may be annoying, I suppose, if you aren't used to them) - the original actors' voices are - to me anyway - an integral part of the movie or show, their tone inflections, little murmurs, whatever.

No matter how good an actor is dubbing the show, you'll lose a huge part of that.
 
I must echo the sentiment. Dubbing *is* evil. I always prefer subtitles. Being an English-primary, I'm lucky. As a dual US/UK citizen, I get 99% of the viewing available on the planet in my native tongue... as well as understanding the vernacular.

(I've always hoped the term Narnacular would become a part of the English vernacular, but never mind. <sroq!>)

A movie I think many people on this list have enjoyed - and if you haven't seen it, rent it - is Lola Rennt or Run Lola Run. I've never watched the US English version, I've only ever watched it in German. Its awesome, no matter what language you watch it in... Franke Potente speaks excellent English, but the film *must* be watched in the native German.

The same is true for many of the early Kung Fu films I am a fan of. Best example: The New Legend of Shaolin. Its a very early Jet Li film, and you can pretty much picture a Chinese gentleman in a room with a Chinese to English dictionary doing the subtitles. However, the Chinese is so beautifully spoken, and the story is so strong, it doesn't matter. You get the point through the weak translation, but you get the actor's emotion through the inflections and natural language. A horrible translation, but a great film.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone where you don't speak a single language between? I have. I once had a friend in France who didn't speak English or French - he spoke German and Russian - yet, we met every night, not able to communicate through strict "language", but able to communicate for 3 days through beer, emotion, and hand signals. We introduced friends, but never once directly understood through language what we were saying. This was in Nice... a very multi-lingual city, and something I'll never forget.

Anyway, enough babbling, bottom line: watch the subtitles and listen to the emotion of the voice... eh, je ne sais pas. <grin>

-Tim
 
And I don't actually find subtitles annoying... after a while, I sort of forget I'm reading them!
 
Dubbing is completely and utterly EVIL. God only knows why they still do it so much in Germany. It completely RUINS shows! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
 
I totally agree with Kribu and Sigma et al , subtitles are way better than dubbing a movie! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Am very glad that we have a long tradition here in Norway of subtitling ( and not dubbing ) foreign movies! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Why can they not have NA and SA one region and produce four language tracks ("English", "French", "Spanish" and "Portuguese")?


[/quote]

The USA, Canada and Japan use a form of TV called NTSC. Europe and South America use PAL DVD (and TV) format. Under US copyright law, players for DVD and VHS cassettes sold in the high street are banned from playing PAL format. In Europe they play both formats.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />

And if they can have three European Languages on the R2 set, Why can they not have 3 on the R1 set?


[/quote]

This may be a genuine technical problem. PAL DVDs are 25 frames per second where as NTSC are 30 frames per second. The extra 5 frames per second (20%) may take up the space the Region 2 DVDs use for the third language.

Alternatively, the smaller number of lines used by NTSC may make the video files the same size as for PAL. In which case the cause is just discrimination. They do not want the wetback version being sold in Spain and Latin America.
 
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Under US copyright law, players for DVD and VHS cassettes sold in the high street are banned from playing PAL format.

[/quote]

As far as I know the lack of PAL support on U.S. (and Canadian) TVs, VHS recorders and DVD players has nothing whatever to do with U.S. Copyright law and everything to do with the fact that the market for imported PAL home video in any format is so miniscule as to not be worth the effort. (You have to realize that the big problem is the display device, not the playback device. I can play PAL videos all day long on my VHS deck - but my TV can't display them properly. Any DVD, VHS or laserdisc player would have to have additional circuitry to convert the PAL signal into something the TV could recognize.)

The lack of Spanish subtitles language tracks may have something to do with protecting video distributors in Mexico, particularly, and Central and South America more generally. Much like the region-coding system that was put in place largely to protect European video distributors from U.S. competition.

Regards,

Joe
 
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