Pricey Prices Of "pantip" Dvd Moves...

[jonniebkk]

What's the deal with DVD "mis"-pricing in Thailand. I am finding in more and more cases, especially when buy complete season sets of TV shows, that the price of copies (especially the Chinese imported sets with the nice box packaging) is more expensive than a legit set. My Chinese friends tell me that a good quality copy of any movie sells for US$ 1.00 a disk in Shanghai. Here, they try to sell the same thing for B 120-180 or around $ 4+. Are the Thai coppers more venal than their Chinese counterparts of just more tourists who pay these inflated prices.

As an example, there was a complete set of seasons 1-5 of the HBO series Six Feet Under, something like 26 disks in nice packaging. I was quoted a price of B 5600 (US$ 175) -and this is at a shop where I visit regularly so they know me and that I live in Thailand. She wouldn't go lower and thought it was a good price. Good price HAH I said to the friend who was with me. The price is ridiculous as a genuine complete special gift set box of the series sells for $ 154 on Amazon.

Another example is that Mangpong is running a bunch of specials on CSI boxed sets. I bought a legit copy of the Special Edition CSI:New York Season One (6 disks) for B 999. Upstairs (Tuk Com Pattaya) they of course have copies available for B 120 per disk or B 720 for the 6 disk set. For an extra $ 10, I'll go with the quality of the legit DVD...where I get superior picture quality, all the disks will actually play, and the special features are also included.

PS: The original list price on the CSI set was B 1,999.

Edited May 3, 2008 by jonniebkk

[disgruntled]

Manpong now sells many series such as CSI and Weeds. Don't know how much you get in a DVD but they're listed at around 500-600baht a DVD.

[jeffer]

Malaysian copies are normally what you find in Pantip, not Chinese. In plastic sleeve not boxed sell for 80-100 baht per disk. In Jakarta you pay only 5-6000IR per disk for tv series but they may have 5 or 6 shows on one disk compared to only 3 on the Malaysian version of the same show however the quality is still good unless you intend to play on a high end tv.

[realmadrid25]

teh copy price is overpriced too.

[dave111223]

Mangpong often has good deals on older or less popular movies, i've picked up several good DVDs there for 100 each).

But a lot of the movies are like 500-600 baht each...which makes the 100baht pirate copies seem quite attractive.

P.S. 120baht per disc; your getting ripped, especially as your buying a series...the more discs you buy the more you should be able to reduce the price.

Even at MBK you can get 6 discs for 500 (without any bargaining)

[LivinLOS]

WOW I have finally found something Phuket is cheaper for..

60 baht per disk with a no haggle return exchange system here. Thats on 10+ at once.. Even one at a time is 80 tops.

[jonniebkk]

Mangpong often has good deals on older or less popular movies, i've picked up several good DVDs there for 100 each).

But a lot of the movies are like 500-600 baht each...which makes the 100baht pirate copies seem quite attractive.

P.S. 120baht per disc; your getting ripped, especially as your buying a series...the more discs you buy the more you should be able to reduce the price.

Even at MBK you can get 6 discs for 500 (without any bargaining)

I know that...usually buy 5 the 6th is free. Agree with others that i@ 400-600 baht, the copies are attractive, but expeically on sets or close-outs, Mangpong has some great deals. Just have to check-in with them every 2-3 weeks.

[jonniebkk]

WOW I have finally found something Phuket is cheaper for..

60 baht per disk with a no haggle return exchange system here. Thats on 10+ at once.. Even one at a time is 80 tops.

I have had terrible luck with the DVDs they sell along Patong Beach. Anyway, I have plasma home theatre system so more concerned with quality than price. Just wanted to point out in my op how some of the prices are silly at the copy shops.

[realmadrid25]

100 baht is a lot for a dvd, imho. the free market price should probably be around 50 baht for one but there is no competition for obvious reasons so they can set the price higher.

[toptuan]

In answer to the OP, if you looked at a 42B/$1 exchange rate, the price would be about right--equivalent to current US (or Amazon) prices.

When the dollar/baht exchange went south, Thailand never adjusted their prices accordingly. I notice this little twist on most imported products from the USA.

Nice little windfall for the importers, distributors, and retailers...

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

Since I have a bit of a hearing problem I usually buy DVD's for the subtitles, without them I don't know what is going on unless it is a no brainer with all action and no talk.

I quit buying the Thai DVD's. If you want a good laugh use the subtitle feature in the Thai DVD it does not relate to anything and the person doing the sub-titles does not usually understand english.

Also find the quality of the picture and the sound pretty bad, certainly not worth 100B.

[joinme2leave]

those subtitles on thai-copy CD/DVD are english? really? u must be joking. i thought that language is Suaheli or something alike

[jeffer]

On the Indonesian ones it's not only the English subtitles that are silly, the thai ones don't make any sense either. If you buy the mangpong versions then the english subs aren't too bad most of the time.

[LivinLOS]

WOW I have finally found something Phuket is cheaper for..

60 baht per disk with a no haggle return exchange system here. Thats on 10+ at once.. Even one at a time is 80 tops.

I have had terrible luck with the DVDs they sell along Patong Beach. Anyway, I have plasma home theatre system so more concerned with quality than price. Just wanted to point out in my op how some of the prices are silly at the copy shops.

120 inch projection HT so also vital the DVD's are as good as possible. Also then run them via an HTPC for all digital upscaling.

Dont buy on beach Rd.. A few sellers are fine and tell you if 100% or not.. To be honest I havent had a non DVD9 anamorphic widescreen one in ages. Does my head in when a mate lends me a movie and its a cam rip or some awful recompression letterboxed effort. How they watch it is beyond me.

Agree tho quality of far more important than a small saving.. I just dont see 60 baht v normal 10 - 15 USD as being more expensive. Add in shipping and import duty too !!

[nonthaburial]

On the subject of DVD's, any one know where in Bangkok I can get a copy of Neil diamonds "The Jazz Singer"

[65Craig]

Wow!!! While I don't buy in Thailand, I go to Burma on my Visa Runs from Chiang Mai (3 hours away) and always stock up on DVD's. Anyway, I get them for about 25 Baht (sometimes cheaper) per DVD for box sets. Over the years I've bought 6 Feet Under, The Wire, Sopranos, Dexter, X-Files, Entourage, CSI, LOST, Seinfeld, Friends, etc.. I have never bought a bad quality DVD from the places I shop in Burma. That cannot be said about my experience with buying DVD's in Thailand. I've bought a few over the years, and most have been such poor quality (Video Camera shooting a Moving Screen with heads popping up every once in awhile), that I will never buy a DVD here again. Anyway, 120-180 Baht seems pretty outrageous, especially for something that is most likely pirated.

[ozsamurai]

I also got a bit of a sticker shock when returning from the Phils. I was used to getting 3 DVD's for 200 at the local markets, say a 1 in 10 failure rate though. But the same ones in the Phils are 3 for 100 pesos, and thats tourist prices!! hmmmm

[MrSnrang]

Pantip isn't the place to go.

The saladaeng BTS station at night at 80 baht a disk is good with no defect discs so far. Seacon has a few shops that sell at 100 for a disk and will take returns with no trouble at all.

[joinme2leave]

this discussion made me think (great! finally i'm thinking) and i decided not to buy those kinda cds/vcds/dvds from suspicious places any longer.

went to Bangkapi Mall today.

Bought VCD (angkrit/thai) of "I am Legend" and viewed some hours later.

Perfect quality, no Suaheli subtitles and the price was......159 Baht.

no further comment necessary i guess

[jonniebkk]

The point of my op was not to find the cheapest place to find pirated DVDs and I wouldn't go to the trouble of hanging around BTS stations at nite to save a few baht buying them. The point was just to point out that in some cases, the legit DVDs of some movies and TV series can be cheaper or not much more expensive than their fake equivalents. Many people are so accustomed and conditioned to think that these knock-off MUST be much cheaper than a real one that they never bother to even check the stores (and online) for prices of originals.

I have often had bad experiences with pirated DVDs so don't buy too many of them anymore, especially multi-disk sets or complete sets as it is impossible to check-out all the discs completely. It invariably happens that some of the disks start skipping or just crash completely. For individual movies, I sometimes do buy the fake as the capital risk is minimal.

[realmadrid25]

perfect quality vcd lol

[rewket]

why whine

get on the internet. everything that was named can be found in dvd quality easly

[bangon04]

why whine

get on the internet. everything that was named can be found in dvd quality easly

On ebay, they are throwing away new or nearly new DVDs at 99p or so (plus postage of course), so unless you need Thai language or subtitles, why bother with ripoffs any more?