Blu-ray Dvd Movies Where To Buy?

[dekka007]

Anyone know a store that actually has stock of blu-ray movies in Bangkok. Don't really want to run the customs 30% hit on ordering from Amazon or Play-asia.com.

Must be somewhere selling them but damned if I can find where.

Cheers

[Florin]

Boomerang remains my favorite Thai DVD store, they also offer online shopping: http://www.boomerangshop.com/boomweb/Default.aspx

They just opened a new shop in Central World, they also have them in MBK, Fortune...good prices and nice selections.

//Edit: this post is off-topic. The OP asks about blu-ray disks, not DVD. -- Maestro

Edited December 26, 2007 by Maestro

[Maestro]

Signing off on predictions for 2007

James Hein looks back at the predictions he made at the start of the year to see how he fared

...

HD-DVD and Blu-ray made no inroads into the local market and it is difficult to find any machines available, let alone any discs to play in them. The expected flood of HD-DVD machines did not come from China as predicted but they are being prepared.

...

Bangkok Post, December 26, 2007

(note: Bangkok Post links go dead after a short time)

--

Maestro

[Firefoxx]

They are available, but not easy to find. I've seen many sold in Chinatown, right across the street from the Klong Tohm Plaza. I've also seen Boomerang at the local mall have some, but I'm not sure whether it was blu-ray or HD-DVD.

2007 wasn't the year for HD-DVD or blu-ray. However, 2008 should see some proliferation of both movies and players, since they've come down to the $200 level. DVD also took a couple of years to become popular, same as CDs.

[Florin]

Easy on the moderation, Maestro...I said "DVD store" because they mostly sell DVDs, but they definitely have both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD movies. Not a lot, but steadily increasing. The branch in Central World even has an excellent setup with a HD-DVD unit and a Blu-Ray one side by side for comparison purposes. ~1300 Baht / movie.

edit: the website I posted also shows what titles they have, so far 79 Blu-Ray and 54 HD-DVD.

Edited December 26, 2007 by Florin

[Maestro]

...so far 79 Blu-Ray...

That’s not a bad range, and I hope the OP can find something to his liking.

Isn’t there a game machine that can also play Blu-ray movies? Should this not boost the demand for Blu-ray? Or do gamers have no interest or time to watch movies?

So, thanks for the link, after all, Florin.

--

Maestro

[Florin]

The PS3 can do Blu-Ray and it does constitute a large chunk of Blu-Ray players sold to date. The Xbox360 can also play HD-DVD via a 129$ add-on USB drive.

[dekka007]

Took the BTS down to Chitlom on the way to Central World Boomerang shop. The DVD Station shop in the actual BTS station has a great collection of Blu-ray and will order any title u want and get it within a week (Avoiding the customs import charges). Got 300 and Vacancy blu ray for 2200 baht so cheaper there than Boomerang.

Also visited Boomerang good selection there also slightly more expensive. Guy in DVD Station claims Blu-Ray is out selling HD-DVD 3 to 1 - I am guessing largely due to to the PS3.

Thanks for the info. No more Amazon / Play-asia ordering for me.

[Florin]

The store in BTS Chitlom is indeed quite nice, I didn't realize they are cheaper for HD stuff, because their DVDs are usually somewhat pricier from what I saw. They have some cool special edition stuff in that store

[Firefoxx]

I'd guess that blu-ray discs would outsell hd-dvd discs here, mainly because it's so hard to find a reasonably priced HD-dvd player, and the PS3 does fairly well. I was at that shop (BTS DVD shop) just yesterday... didn't have time to actually peruse anything.

On a related note, 24" computer LCD screens with 1920x1200 resolution (great for HighDef viewing) have *finally* arrived in bulk. I saw some HP 24" monitors with HDMI ports (along with VGA and a USB hub) selling for around 16-17k at Fortune IT Mall. So far no other brand has imported monitors in this price range, even though Samsung has them selling in other countries for the same price (but not here). Same thing goes for Benq and Acer. They're all going to lose serious market share here if they don't get their acts together.

Edited December 26, 2007 by Firefoxx