Buying Korean dramas, the right way

Darius Chang | May 01, 2008

It never rain but pours. Having been cut off from human contact with a combination of chicken pox, throat infection, gastric and tooth nerve pain, I can categorically say that pain is now my best friend. It lets me know that death is not as frightening as intense suffering, but I digress.

There is only so much one can surf, and free-to-air channels gets boring after the, oh, first day. Fortunately, before my illness, I had bought a trio of Korean drama DVDs for my girlfriend which turned out to be my only solace during this recuperative period. From this experience, I found that buying drama DVDs is not as easy as choosing your favorite titles and putting down cash. A single title may have multiple box sets coming in from Taiwan, China, etc., and the quality of the image and dubbing differs greatly. Here are some tips on buying quality Korean DVDs (though it may also be applicable to other foreign language shows).

Tip 1: In general, some of the Mandarin terms used in China dubs will be unfamiliar with those used to simplified Mandarin. The Taiwanese translation tends to be easier to understand.

Tip 2: If you prefer to read English subtitles while listening to the native track, make sure you sit through at least half an episode to ensure that the subtitles actually make sense. Some versions have translations which are so obviously wrong, it's actually painfully funny.

Tip 3: Check the number of episodes per disc. One of the shows, Couple in Trouble, has about six episodes per DVD and gives acceptable picture quality. The other, My Lovely Sam Soon, throws in eight per disc and there are very obvious artifacts in the image. This is just a rough gauge and you should, if possible, check the quality before you buy.

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