Limitations On Brand's Dvd ?

[Pattaya46]

Hi everybody.

I was about to buy a small "home theatre systems" today at Big C Pattaya Tai

when the seller dissuaded me to buy the one I wanted : a SAMSUNG HT-Z210

He explained to me that Samsung, Philips, Sony, ... DVD players in Thailand have big limitations :

- it can not play DVD coming from Europe, USA, ... only those from Asia area

- it will refuse to read many of the "Copy" DVD that I found in Pattaya

To avoid that he proposed me DVD players from other manufacturers

that do not have these limitations and are a lot cheaper. (but brands unknown from me)

Nearly all DVD of my small collection are from "the 100 baht collection " at Tukcom. (Copied DVD)

So I do need a player that can read them !

I am not at all a specialist in Audio/Video and thought that this area protection was a thing of the past ??

In France (and Europe ?) all DVD players are now "multi-zone". Is it not the same here ?

Could someone confirm that a Brand DVD player is not a good option in this case ? (I doubt)

What would be a good choice/brand in this case ?

Thank

Pattaya46

[ajarnmark]

Well, I dont know about Samsung, but I have tried Philips and LG and both of them can read "copy" dvds. Just look for DVD-R logo on the player.

[Pattaya46]

...Just look for DVD-R logo on the player.

Very funny

Seriously, I could understand Big Companies (Sony,Philips, Samsung,LG,...)

to be more "severe" about their firmware against "copy" DVD.

As I did not hear about that before I preferred ask for info here.

If you tell me that there is no difference

and that Brand DVD Reader will read all these DVD with no problem,

then it's perfect. Just what I want be sure before buying.

Thanks

[rgs2001uk]

The salesman may be on a better commission by advising you to choose another player.

Take 3 of your dvds with you to the shop and tell the salesman to put them in the player you want to buy.

[LivinLOS]

What he may be pointing out is that the player you liked may not be multi region / region free and locked to Asia region 4..

Hence any legit UK / US DVD you give it fails.

Many of them can be unlocked with a code but a buddy purchased a full HT in a box setup, that looked all flash, with exactly this limitation. Went to play a real DVD and got 'this region is not supported' message.. Expensive mistake.

[kamalabob2]

The three previous replies are ALL accurate. There is a difference in the quality of the DVD players sold in Thailand. Look at the "fit and finish" as well as simple mechanical operations of the tray coming out and going in. The "off brand" DVD players might not last as long as you would expect. Ajarnmark is correct on what logo will tip you off to the ability to play the 80 baht dvd's. It has been the legit USA region DVD's that will NOT play in our LG or Samsung hdmi players until we do the multi-region code changes as listed in the manual or on the internet. One player I have been very happy with that is sold in Thailand, has service in Thailand (as of yet not needed in 2 years) and is now on closeout at legit dealers is the OPPO 981 HD multi-region, HDMI upscaling player. However it is NOT a Karaoke player so in most rooms in our house this is not an acceptable player. Bring the dvd's, both from another region and from Pantip to the store and attempt to play them before you had over baht at any store. I do often wonder if store employees get "spiffs" for selling certain brands the way employees of Pacific Stereo, Good Guys, Cal HiFi, all did in the 1970's and 1980's. How do you think Monster Cable became such a huge brand? Here is an old article, but it sure seems like BigC today:

Salesmen's attitudes toward spiffing vary. Most like it for the obvious reason. "I think it's great. I mean, it's a way for me to make money," says salesman R. F. of [a chain store}. On the other hand, "It gives the salesman extra incentive to sell a product, and it's an incentive he shouldn't have," according to S.S. of [a Beverly Hills store]. He goes on, "If you get paid well enough to do your job, you don't need spiffs." ... "I feel in my bones that it's fundamentally unethical," says salesman B. O. of [a Los Angeles dealer].... As one store owner says of spiffing, "How it affects the industry is very simple: Buyer beware." What does this mean to you? That when there are two units at the same price, and the salesman recommends one over the other, you can not assume that he really thinks it's better. Yes, the sales commission will be the same; but the spiffs may not.

The chart of dealers [Not included yet.—JB] presents estimates of the role that spiffing plays in salemen's incomes at each store, based on interviews with salesmen, management and manufacturers' representatives, among others. It is difficult to be precise about it. Probably the most useful thing for you to know is that as a group the "high end" dealers, who sell more expensive equipment, clearly have much less spiffing than the mass merchandisers, because the makers of the equipment offer spiffs infrequently and because the owners themselves use it less within the stores. Some of them have no spiffs at all. But at stores such as [two chains which no longer exist], spiffing plays a significant role in the incomes of many salesmen.

When in doubt, assume that the salesmen's advice is being affected by this kind of economic interest. Even if it's not, the advice will not be very useful. For as a group, salesmen are very ignorant of audio. I gave each one interviewed a short technical quiz with questions designed to deal with issues that come up all the time in people's buying decisions. For instance, receivers and amplifiers are sold on the basis of their power ratings, yet these ratings are virtually meaningless. (I'll explain why in a moment.) So one of the three questions probed the salesman's understanding of the ratings. Another dealt with tone-arm and cartridge interaction, and related topics. The third dealt with the comparison of specifications arrived at by differing measurement methods. The point of the quiz was to tell who had basic technical knowledge. Not that technical knowledge is important to you; it's not, and you don't need to worry about it. But these people snow you with their supposed expertise, and if they really knew about technical things, a perfect score, 8 out of 8, would have been routine. In fact, the average score was 3.8. (The range was from 0 to 8.) Even within any given store, the range was considerable. Moreover, the salesman identified by management as being the most knowledgeable technically—I always interviewed this one among others—was by no means always the highest scorer. So you cannot go to the owner and say, "Tell me which salesman knows the most," because the owner doesn't know.

[astral]

Look on the machine for the DVD-R or RW symbols.

Fairly standard these days

Most DVD players can be set to be region free, some are even sold that way.

A few disks of your own to check these features are a good thing to have in hand.

Also to assess picture quality.

Not all DVD players are the same.

[Pattaya46]

Take 3 of your dvds with you to the shop and tell the salesman to put them in the player you want to buy.

Hi rgs2001uk,

It's exactly what I made this mornig.

I took 3, one of them of very bad copy-quality that does not play in all player.

No pbm to read these 3 DVD : I bought this Samsung Home Theater . They will deliver it tomorrow morning.

I do not have any DVD coming from outside Pattaya, so no Area pbm.

The salesman may be on a better commission by advising you to choose another player.

I suppose something like that, yes, because he *really* insist a lot for this "unknown manaufacturer" DVD player...

Thank's to all for your comments.