Is it any problem to buy let's say 20 CD's/DVD's in Tachilek and bring them over the border to Mae Sai or can I expect a rigid and ruthless inspection ?

I have bought about 10 cd albums some containing more than 1 cd and passed through customs without a problem. It seems Thai immig is more strict with Thais crossing into Tachilek. Do not make the mistake of purchasing porno.

Is it any problem to buy let's say 20 CD's/DVD's in Tachilek and bring them over the border to Mae Sai or can I expect a rigid and ruthless inspection ?

On the other hand, if you tell the venders on the Burmese side that want to buy porn, they'll be glad to sell you blank CD's for about 100 baht each, and you won't get in trouble!!

On the other hand, if you tell the venders on the Burmese side that want to buy porn, they'll be glad to sell you blank CD's for about 100 baht each, and you won't get in trouble!!

It's been several years since I bought VCD/DVD's in Burma or Thailand for that matter because of the poor quality. Cannot tell you how many movies had no ending. Although the porn DVD is still working fine. Able to get movies now in China where the quality is very good and the price is about 6-8 RMB or about 35Baht/per.

Right; we bought first-run VCD's of current hit movies, on the street in Shanghai, last year for 5 yuan, 25 baht; good quality. Must have been unpirated originals, of course.

Of course, if you go to the little market just to the left of the border (on the Thai side) and go to the DVD shop there, you can get all the same DVD titles for a little bit more - and you don't have to worry about anything...

Is it any problem to buy let's say 20 CD's/DVD's in Tachilek and bring them over the border to Mae Sai or can I expect a rigid and ruthless inspection ?

Was there a couple of weeks back...

It used to be 10 cd/dvd's that you could bring back into Thailand.. Now the limit has gone up to 30 !

Is it any problem to buy let's say 20 CD's/DVD's in Tachilek and bring them over the border to Mae Sai or can I expect a rigid and ruthless inspection ?

I've done 20 with no problems. Now if the 20 were all the same, then it might be considered for resale and probably a problem.

I have bought a few and to be honest I wasnt that impressed with the prices. Even if you buy them on this side for say 80 baht the selction of movies was not all that great.

If you do cross you have 500 baht plus plus and that deters me. I usually buy mine when I go to Chiang Mai on a food run. Even at the night market I have had them down to 60 baht each when buying more than 15.

What I learnt to get the best pices and quality, is regardless of where you are are 2 things. Get your price before you start looking. Tell him/her you are going to buy 15 and get a price. This way you havent wasted 20 minutes looking for 15 movies and then not buy them over price. He knows you have all the movies you want in your hand and 9 times out 10 people couldnt be bothered looking some place else.

The 2nd one is to tell him/her that you are going to buy 15 (or however many) regardless, this way he doesnt think you will by 1 less and sell you a bad quality flick and will be happy to tell you if the quality is no good and you can swap it for another.

cheers

ITR

I have bought a few and to be honest I wasnt that impressed with the prices. Even if you buy them on this side for say 80 baht the selction of movies was not all that great.

If you do cross you have 500 baht plus plus and that deters me. I usually buy mine when I go to Chiang Mai on a food run. Even at the night market I have had them down to 60 baht each when buying more than 15.

What I learnt to get the best pices and quality, is regardless of where you are are 2 things. Get your price before you start looking. Tell him/her you are going to buy 15 and get a price. This way you havent wasted 20 minutes looking for 15 movies and then not buy them over price. He knows you have all the movies you want in your hand and 9 times out 10 people couldnt be bothered looking some place else.

The 2nd one is to tell him/her that you are going to buy 15 (or however many) regardless, this way he doesnt think you will by 1 less and sell you a bad quality flick and will be happy to tell you if the quality is no good and you can swap it for another.

cheers

ITR

You may be right - but at Mae Sai I like to buy the boxed sets of TV shows - you get a lot more viewing for your money and the quality there is much higher than Chiang Mai.

I have bought a few and to be honest I wasnt that impressed with the prices. Even if you buy them on this side for say 80 baht the selction of movies was not all that great.

If you do cross you have 500 baht plus plus and that deters me. I usually buy mine when I go to Chiang Mai on a food run. Even at the night market I have had them down to 60 baht each when buying more than 15.

What I learnt to get the best pices and quality, is regardless of where you are are 2 things. Get your price before you start looking. Tell him/her you are going to buy 15 and get a price. This way you havent wasted 20 minutes looking for 15 movies and then not buy them over price. He knows you have all the movies you want in your hand and 9 times out 10 people couldnt be bothered looking some place else.

The 2nd one is to tell him/her that you are going to buy 15 (or however many) regardless, this way he doesnt think you will by 1 less and sell you a bad quality flick and will be happy to tell you if the quality is no good and you can swap it for another.

cheers

ITR

You may be right - but at Mae Sai I like to buy the boxed sets of TV shows - you get a lot more viewing for your money and the quality there is much higher than Chiang Mai.

I agree with you 100% about the series box sets (seinfeld stc) they are magic and the selction is great in that shop you are talking about. Movies on the other hand I do in CM

ITR

I gave on buying movies - I get what I need on Limewire - don't tell anyone!

On the other hand, if you tell the venders on the Burmese side that want to buy porn, they'll be glad to sell you blank CD's for about 100 baht each, and you won't get in trouble!!

It's been several years since I bought VCD/DVD's in Burma or Thailand for that matter because of the poor quality. Cannot tell you how many movies had no ending. Although the porn DVD is still working fine. Able to get movies now in China where the quality is very good and the price is about 6-8 RMB or about 35Baht/per.

I've found that the DVDs from the better Tachilek shops are identical in packaging to what I bought in Kunming last year, albeit 3 times the price.

On the other hand, if you tell the venders on the Burmese side that want to buy porn, they'll be glad to sell you blank CD's for about 100 baht each, and you won't get in trouble!!

It's been several years since I bought VCD/DVD's in Burma or Thailand for that matter because of the poor quality. Cannot tell you how many movies had no ending. Although the porn DVD is still working fine. Able to get movies now in China where the quality is very good and the price is about 6-8 RMB or about 35Baht/per.

I've found that the DVDs from the better Tachilek shops are identical in packaging to what I bought in Kunming last year, albeit 3 times the price.

Packaging is the same but check the subtitles. Most DVD's in China are director cut (DVD-9 exc quality) and for some reason originate from the Soviet Union. Usuallly they have French, Russian, (Chinese of course) subtitles. Very seldom have Thai subtitles. The DVD's in LOS and Burma come from Malaysia and many are recorded from television or shot in the theatre. Thats why you hear "pass the popcorn ocasionally". I'm a DVD junkie and have talked with dealers here in China and in LOS about where they get their DVD's from.

On the other hand, if you tell the venders on the Burmese side that want to buy porn, they'll be glad to sell you blank CD's for about 100 baht each, and you won't get in trouble!!

It's been several years since I bought VCD/DVD's in Burma or Thailand for that matter because of the poor quality. Cannot tell you how many movies had no ending. Although the porn DVD is still working fine. Able to get movies now in China where the quality is very good and the price is about 6-8 RMB or about 35Baht/per.

I've found that the DVDs from the better Tachilek shops are identical in packaging to what I bought in Kunming last year, albeit 3 times the price.

Packaging is the same but check the subtitles. Most DVD's in China are director cut (DVD-9 exc quality) and for some reason originate from the Soviet Union. Usuallly they have French, Russian, (Chinese of course) subtitles. Very seldom have Thai subtitles. The DVD's in LOS and Burma come from Malaysia and many are recorded from television or shot in the theatre. Thats why you hear "pass the popcorn ocasionally". I'm a DVD junkie and have talked with dealers here in China and in LOS about where they get their DVD's from.

I've bought them in Denpassar and Angeles City and a lot of places in between and still occasionally get caught with a "pass the popcorn" one. Without exception they have been late release; but I generally search for classics, last month in Vientiane I got "The Desert Rats" and "Mr Roberts".

My ambition is the full set of the "Rumpole of the Bailey" TV series.

I always think the subtitles are generally crap. I bought scrubs and I have no idea who made the subtitles - but they are amusing on their own.

I bought two double albums recently in Tachilek. Only one of the four CD's was what it claimed to be. The Chinese chumps who make the copies are good at copying labels, but they don't know one type of music from another, or else they got their filing systems screwed up. In particular, I bought a 2-CD "Hawaiian" mix, and not one of the 3 dozen tunes was remotely Hawaiian. On a 'Los Lobos' 2-CD set (by the way they are the BEST R&R band, period.) one of the two was Santana, which was Ok, except I prefer Los Lobos, and that's who was pictured on the label.

You might try opening each package and playing a bried sampling at the store. The vendors are nice. They've told me that if there are any quality problems with any CD's or DVD's to bring them back for refund/exchange.

As you may already know: any electronic stuff you buy in Tachilek will PROBABLY be very low quality, regardless of whether it says Sony or Panasonic or whatever. That's because, the lower quality reproductions out of China wind up in places like Tachilek. They're even too low-quality for the low-quality tolerant Chinese. Tachilek is the backwater of backwaters. I like it though, as I'm a rather 'backwater' kind of guy myself.

I have bought MANY CDs and DVDs in Tachilek over the years and 99% of them were perfect.

Considering the price, why nitpick about a mistake every now and then?