Pirate Dvds In Thailand

[2008bangkok]

You gotta love it just the mear fact that if i want to listen to music i just download via torrent..if i cant get torrent i pay 100 baht..its just easy..hear i am downloading the latest lost there is no way i can watch it legally for the next donkeys years..so i download it and me and mrs will be chompin on banna cake later watchin our favouirte programs

[HagenvonTronje]

Deputy Commerce Minister ensures fairness to all sides in Patpong clash

BANGKOK, 7 May 2009 (NNT) - Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot ensures fairness for all following a clash between a piracy suppression team and vendors in the Patpong area last night.

11 piracy suppression staff members were wounded during the clash with one of them severely injured and the vendors were also wounded. The deputy commerce minister said he would investigate the incident to give fairness to all sides. Mr.Alongkorn was reported that the staff's operation last night had been lawful but the vendors had surrounded them and tried to grasp their seized products back. However, the vendors said that the staff had used force unnecessarily.

The deputy minister stated that if the affected vendors did not sell pirated products, they would be taken care of. He added that the ministry would dispatch piracy suppression teams to arrest and seize pirated goods again in the next two days and requested for cooperation from vendors.

-- NNT 7 May 2009

article here

[churchill]

Government takes tough stand on pirate goods

By: Bangkokpost.com

Published: 7/05/2009 at 06:11 PM The current crackdown on intellectual property violations will continue, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Thursday, echoing the tough stance of Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot who vowed earlier in the day to conduct raids on sellers of pirate goods every two days.

Mr Alongkorn also pledged to make sure ministry officials display identification before commencing arrests and confiscating goods.

The government's hardening of its stance follows a raid on vendors in Patpong on Wednesday night and a clash which led to 11 people being injured.

Vendors filed a series of police complaints against commerce officials, accusing them of assault, damaging property and abuse of authority.

Mr Alongkorn said the public must view Wednesday night’s incident fairly as officials on the raid also suffered serious injuries.

Mr Abhisit said he would be going over reports of the incident to determine if officials acted inappropriately, which might prompt a revision of raid procedure.

Venders clashed violently with ministry officials in Bangkok’s tourist centre of Patpong. There were reports of gunshots being fired into the air to scare off the officials.

About 200 vendors and 50 commerce officials were involved in the conflict, which erupted after officials raided sellers’ booths to arrest them for intellectual property violations and confiscated their goods.

Officials arrested four sellers and made off with four vans loaded with confiscated counterfeit goods, mostly pirate copies of bags and clothes.

The arrested vendors were taken to Bang Rak police station. They were given bail on Thursday morning. Another vendor under charge was being treated for his wounds at hospital.

Other vendors shortly afterwards marched to Bang Rak police station to file charges against the commerce officials. They accused them of assault and causing damage to property.

Some sellers, covered in blood smears, told reporters they were assaulted by the raiding party. Market vendors continued to file charges with police throughout Thursday.

National police chief Gen Patcharawat Wongsuwan said he instructed the chief of Bangkok police to closely supervise all issues relating to the incident.

Pol Gen Patcharawat said he would examine reports that Central Investigation Bureau police took part in the raid.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/1426...on-pirate-goods

[ozzieman05]

The real question is

ARE They Now serious

Or is this just another show

[Birdman]

The real question is

ARE They Now serious

Or is this just another show

Are the Hollywood movies it worth to buy them even for 100 THB?

[dragonfly94]

Now I don't buy them because they are bloody awful quality, but I can see there's going to be a tea-money bonanza down Sukhumvit in the near future.

Check again buddy, if you have an honest vendor and you request it he will only sell you perfect quality DVD's. I buy from the same vendor all the time and only get good DVD's.

surely there is no such thing as a GOOD copy DVD and honest vendors sell genuine ones, not fakes which bring millions for organised crime from the mean and shortsighted buyer. The subtitles are almost always appalling. Funny thing is if you go to a shop like CAP at Seacon many genuine films are less than 100 and some 49 baht. Don't be a sucker buy the genuine article, I always think fakes say so much about a person

[OriginalPoster]

Now I don't buy them because they are bloody awful quality, but I can see there's going to be a tea-money bonanza down Sukhumvit in the near future.

Check again buddy, if you have an honest vendor and you request it he will only sell you perfect quality DVD's. I buy from the same vendor all the time and only get good DVD's.

That's "honest" as in the Bob Dylan lyric "to live outside the law you must be honest", right?

[BigSnake]

I can say I see my fair share of Pirate Dvds, Cds, Vcds, you name them openly displays on a daily basic almost every I go. However I know if I would go so far as to say Thailand is the worse country in the world.

[dragonfly94]

Seems we must go to different Cinemas

as I to have never seen one with more than 15 people it

And tio me thats packed

I hope you are not paying the asked for price, those Cinemas are a rip of i expect you get a mate to let you in via the exit door after the anthem has played, after all why pay when you cheat your way, at other people cost of course.

[MarkyM3]

I have bought plenty of stuff from Pantip in the past but the quality doesn't stand up to a proper UK copy in my experience e.g. packaging, extras are missing, picture quality (I've got a new Panasonic multi-region DVD recorder so hardware isn't the issue).

Also taking into account factors like the current GBP/THB exchange rate, plummeting prices of new DVD's in the UK etc. there isn't really a massive incentive for me to buy them anymore.

As other posters alluded to, head for the pirate bay if you want to download stuff.

Cheers,

Mark

Edited May 7, 2009 by MarkyM3

[Digitalman]

If its a straight digital copy and no formating into a different codec than the quality is the same as the original. A lot of the screeners are horrible though.

I don't like the streaming on line.. Sometimes you can find a decent xvid copy but the rest aren't as good. I also like having the option to watch a movie in dolby or DTS.

Edited May 7, 2009 by Digitalman

[chris2dv8]

3 things here I'd point out

1. Piracy in thailand, most countries don't like but until thailand has an actual system in places that improves the quality of education, jobs, infrastructure, actual wages or basically when corruption is gone, then piracy might go away

2. Buying DVD pirated copy vs DVD Actual copy, I've done both, to be fair though if its a movie Im wanting to see though I go to the movie threature though as the size of the screen and sound can't replace the experience you get from it

3. Pirated software, thats one thing I dont go into, every software I've found was either on www.download.com or I got for free as in free speech using linux. why pay for a windows xp pirated copy when I can use linux, why use pirated adobe photoshop when I can use gimp

On your second point:

You say you have done both, But not in Thailand you haven't because ALL DVD's are fake here, in fact 90% are fakes in asia. So be warned

Mind you I buy them all the time and I also D/L other stuff

[balo]

Who cares about pirat DVDs when you can download better quality for free ?

Well you just need a fast internet line......

[Jungian]

What choice do you have really? If you buy legal copies from Amazon or where ever they charge you more for the shipping than for the DVD.

[mostcurious]

On my previous trips to Thailand, Ive bought pirated DVDs from street venders and shopping centers and they have all been mediocre in quality. For top quality DVD's its better to purchase the real thing.

[churchill]

Alongkorn told to cool it after ruckus in Patpong

By: MANOP THIP-OSOD

The Democrat Party has put the brakes on Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot's crackdown on retailers of pirated goods and has asked him to target the producers instead.

Alongkorn: Asked to target producers

The move was announced yesterday by Democrat spokesman Buranaj Samuttaraks, after some 200 traders from the Patpong area gathered at the party's headquarters.

The vendors complained that Commerce Ministry officials had over-reacted with their Wednesday-night crackdown on intellectual property violations on Patpong Road.

"We will treat each side fairly," Dr Buranaj told the traders.

The crackdown should be aimed at producers of pirated goods as they were the root cause of the problem, and it should be made sure that any action taken would not hurt tourism in anyway, said the spokesman.

The Democrats will meet to discuss the matter again next Tuesday, in a bid to find softer ways to deal with traders selling pirated goods in Bangkok.

Wednesday night's operation ended in a brawl when traders clashed with officials who confiscated the illegal goods, mostly counterfeit bags and clothes, and loaded them into four vans.

About 10 officials were injured in the melee.

The traders were aware of their wrongdoing, but said they want the government to adopt a more peaceful approach.

Mr Alongkorn, who heads the state's anti-piracy campaign, previously said the ministry would deal harshly with intellectual property violators by launching raids every two days. The Patpong shopping area would not be spared.

The deputy minister, who is visiting South Africa, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Meanwhile, the police have set up an inquiry panel to question Bang Rak police chief Pol Col Ekachai Bunwisut, as Patpong falls under his jurisdiction.

He has been heavily criticised for turning a blind eye to piracy in his district, said Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Worapong Chewpreecha.

But no senior officers have been transferred from Bang Rak district so far, deputy city police chief Wiboon Bangtamai said.

Preventing the sale of pirated goods is a police officer's duty, but the force deals with the matter in a different manner from commerce officials, Pol Maj Gen Wiboon said.

Officers usually begin their action once they receive complaints from manufacturers and then raid the production sites or warehouses of the pirates.

"Arresting small street sellers would face resistance," he said.

Despite attempts to negotiate and warn the retailers, Pol Maj Gen Wiboon said that sometimes the arrests also led to unexpected injuries and deaths.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/1637...ckus-in-patpong

[robbiecia]

This is nothing more than a song and dance by everybody involved

Things will return to normalcy within a couple of weeks.

If you want good quality DVD copies, avoid most of the touristy areas.

When a movie is first released, all copies will be poor quality, however by waiting a few months, the later copies will be much better

Most good quality copies should only cost max 100 baht for DVD5 and max 150 for DVD9

If copy DVDs are not your thing, you can usually by a genuine copy for 200-300 at most stores

[ozzieman05]

I see

so stealing is not stealing if done by poor people on the street

Only the people who steal and the on sell are stealing

so pirate goods is not stealing if done by poor people on the street

Only the people who steal and the on sell are stealing

What about the 4 guys who sit in Panthrip Plaza and copy dvds from HDrives onto dvds when you order

Are they not the suppliers

My opinion is what will happen is the grape vine will improve

Pantrip is a great example

All dvd seller know 10 seconds after the police enter the building

[Heng]

Considering who owns the building, that's not surprising.

[johncitizen]

I just hope that it all continues as normal at least until a good copy of Star Trek comes out on DVD

[Longduckdong]

Seems we must go to different Cinemas

as I to have never seen one with more than 15 people it

And tio me thats packed

It's either your choice of movies do not appeal to most Thais.

It was on English Soundtrack.

Or, you really have bad taste.......

So go ahead and buy crappy, pirated DVD's and play it on your 150,000 baht home theatre system with 6.1 channels and while you are at it, try checking out the subtitles to see if they make any sense.

[JohnGotti]

In Australia we pat any where up to $36 for 1 dvd, while the cost to print is approx $1.85

Not a bad mark up, but how do they justify this price

This is a load of BS. You are just rationalizing your theft. (Fwiw, I download and buy pirate stuff)

Do you own a restaurant? I might decide that your profit margin is too high... Like if I come up with the number that you profit in a month is more than my salary I might just start running out on every other check, you know, to keep things even.

Its called capitalism, there is no National Government Price Fixing DVD Agency. Its not your god given right to buy cheap dvds.

If you want to buy pirate stuff, knock yourself out, but its stealing anyway you look at it.

Btw, like all other "copy" products, you are getting terrible quality. Those dvds you are buying are lousy quality. You can get the same thing for free with an internet connection.

Edited May 11, 2009 by JohnGotti

[JohnGotti]

If its a straight digital copy and no formating into a different codec than the quality is the same as the original. A lot of the screeners are horrible though.

Nah. You are always going to lose quality during the conversion. Then when it is burned quality is reduced further. All those little pauses. I just download any movie I want to see and if I think I actually want to watch it several times more I will buy the real dvd.

[ozzieman05]

There seem to be many people on this posting that say they can down load for free

Sorry

But I though you had to pay for internet connections

so in fact you still; have to pay

and the time it takes is also in fact costing you lesuire time