Improve Quality of Subtitles and Video Quality

We represent a group of people who enjoy Japanese and Korean entertainment. We are also regular buyers of videos that are largely distributed by Alfa Equity and PMP Entertainment at retail outlets across the nation.

Many of us are less than satisfied with the Malay subtitles in these videos. Time after time, we have had to make do with bad subtitles and are often disappointed with our purchase. We feel that these videos are not worth the price that we are made to pay and that there is no quality control whatsoever when it comes to producing and releasing them. More importantly, as buyers, we do not feel appreciated. Currently, the local television stations (TV2, NTV7 and 8TV) are producing very good subtitles for the Japanese and Korean drama series that they are showing. Having said that, why cant the subtitles from the videos that we buy be just as good?

First of all, the grammar relating to the subtitles is very bad. The person translating seems to have an extremely poor grasp of the Malay language. At times it seems obvious that the sentences are a result of direct translation and that often leads the viewer to misunderstand the meaning of the actual phrase. As for the quality control, is it possible to get someone to check the translations before the videos are released? At times, the Malay subtitles are actually Romanized Chinese wordings. There are also many spelling errors.

Furthermore, sometimes the sentences are left hanging and incomplete while the viewer is forced to guess what the characters are actually trying to say. It doesn't help at all when it comes to understanding and appreciating the storyline and plot. There also doesnt seem to be consistent punctuation in the sentences. For example, capital letters and commas are often absent, making the video look very childish and cheap.

Next, in the Malay subtitles for most Korean dramas and movies, why must the names of the characters be a Chinese version of the real name? Young Mi is changed to Ying Mei, Woo Jin becomes You Zhen, Kyung Min is converted to Qing Min and so on. We would like to appeal to PMP Entertainment to stop these changes and leave the original names of the characters in the subtitles.

In addition to that, while many of us appreciate the nice packaging of the videos, it still doesnt smooth over the bumps created when watching the shows. The price for good packaging shouldn't mean that the quality of the substance inside has to be compromised. Sadly, it seems like it does. It would be better if more effort was spent on the substance inside the nicely packaged box than on the nicely packaged box itself. If that really cannot be done, then we would like to request PMP Entertainment to reconsider (lowering) their retail selling price so that we would feel like, at least getting our moneys worth.

As for the image quality, the quality of the video itself is very bad for some of the videos. Sometimes the video looks like something produced around 10 years ago with very faded colour. At other times, the colour is so bright and the contrast is terrible. May I stress that this is unacceptable for the price we pay to purchase these videos, especially the more expensive Korean drama box-sets. And as most of us are devoted fans of the Japanese and Korean entertainment scene, we refuse to buy but the original item.

For our viewing pleasure and purchasing satisfaction, we would like our local video distributors to not make light of this matter and act on it. If you are reading this and are in agreement with the statements made above, and would like to lend us your support to this petition, please add your signature to the list.