Question about DVD's

[Vash]

What the heck is the difference between an FX dvd and an Import with dub's and subs.  I ask this cause I was about to buy 140 dollars worth of anime.

[Captain Southbird (EHOL Creator)]

What's an "FX" DVD?  Is that a pirate company or something?

And, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't imported DVDs usually not have dubs or even subtitles?  My general experience with Japan (assuming for anime, of course) imports is that they only contain the Japanese original audio.  (After all, what else would they really need?  It'd be like an American movie being released with a Japanese audio track in Region 1.  It could happen, it'd just be odd and kind of wasteful... a Spanish and possibly French dub are the only ones that make sense for US/Canada distribution.)

Of course, "import" might mean from Hong Kong, which suddenly makes the picture very clear.

[Jojo]

FX is a pirate company that I have purchased a few of my dvd's from. I regreted to have bought El-Hazard from them because the video is terribly interlaced. You can see lines when watching it on a home dvd player and if you want to watch it on a computer you'll hate it. But I also purchased Love Hina from them which was excellent quality. So it just depends. I have the real El-Hazzy dvd's now and there is a great difference.

(Rob I sent you another PM by the way)

[Captain Southbird (EHOL Creator)]

Yeah, got it, Jojo.  I have a feeling that I won't be answering my PMs until Spring Break or the end of the semester, though...

[Jojo]

Alright, it was just about getting the site up and fully running so its just why i wrote you the message so this site can look more pretty!

[Saucer]

And, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't imported DVDs usually not have dubs or even subtitles?  

Usually not. But lately, I've been seeing some Japanese anime DVDs that come with english subtitles as a way of helping Japanese learn english (I believe all of the Studio Ghibli region 2 DVDs have english subs, but they're also released by Buena Vista so.... ). Sort of like Kodansha's Bilingual Manga line which features english dialogue (and usually better translations than their american-published counterparts) right along the original Japanese.

[tuffy]

Usually not. But lately, I've been seeing some Japanese anime DVDs that come with english subtitles as a way of helping Japanese learn english (I believe all of the Studio Ghibli region 2 DVDs have english subs, but they're also released by Buena Vista so.... ).

All of the Ghibli titles have english subs and some even contain english dubs if they were available at the time.  But the sure way to check for pirate DVDs are ones listed as "R0" or "region-free" along with Chinese subtitles.

[nirvana]

Buy the distro DVD boxsets people! They're about to fade away into the obsurity of the Geneon/Pioneer old school anime vault...T_T