Radio Shack, Parts, DVD Portable Report

[daveh]

I completed my investigation of portable DVD's, Radio Shack Stores and places for electronic parts.

 

Just 2 Radio Shack stores in BKK. They are small scale versions of what we find in U.S. They have some new items but mostly a mix of older things. The name they go by is A+T Hut. Main store at Chitlom in Sogo complex 2F. Closed on Monday. 2nd store located at Chanispra Tower 2 Ngi Petburi Rd, closed Sunday.

 

I found better places for buying electronic parts. Chinatown is the place. Old Siam, a building near Banmoh Road has a fine assortment of parts on the 2nd floor. There is also a store that sells defective runs of car radios, flat panel screens etc; and numerous repair shops. Outside Old Siam, you can walk toward Banmoh Rd., and find numerous small shops and vendors selling more parts and audio equipment, on the small sois. I found a shop selling PCB ink resist pens and etchant. Be advised airlines don't like etchant. Many stores and shops seem to be closed on Sunday in Chinatown. An interesting shopping area within walking distance is called Klong Thom. Has assorted small shops with everything from 19 Baht Vcd's to automotive gadgets and stereo/video equipment. Also many outside booth vendors off Yawrawat Rd. If you want to get to this area cheap from Nana area, take 3.5 Baht #48 bus which runs down Sukumvit Rd. Other buses include #40, 25. When in Chinatown, you can visit the police boxes to find where to get the bus back to Nana. If not too busy, can always take taxi of course.

 

I was disappointed in my search results for DVD portables. In spite of plenty DVD software, both original and pirated available everywhere, could not find any pirated DVD portables. Lots of pirated portable VCD players without screens though. They are about 1800 Baht now. Also you can get in dash auto AM-FM-CD-MP3-VCD players from about 3600 Baht. There are DVD portables available. Orbitz brand seems popular but at 21,000 Baht no good deal. Best deals appear to still be via Online store Ebay. Be advised to read users comments before purchase as newer models technology gets better ie; lighter in weight, longer battery life. Some DVD players may not play VCD's or MP3's. Read the smallprint. Also zone free models are preferable so that you can avoid regional encoded disc hassles. None of the DVD portables seem to be Karaoke friendly; cannot turn down left or right channel volume independently in unit or select audio. Most VCD portable players have this feature, however.

Also when selecting a DVD or VCD portable player, I find units having several screen zoom functions is handy for filling the screen on standard 4.3 tv. If using widescreen DVD's, you can cuttoff the Thai titles if placed on the bottom of the screen, using the zoom feature. Daveh.

 

 

[Sarisin]

Thanks for the great report, Dave. I knew you wouldn't forget.

 

It does seem strange that the market for DVDs is burgeoning, but you cannot find decent portable. Plenty of the console units dirtcheap, but I was looking for a portable that runs under 220v.

 

Ok, looks like it is best to buy in the USA at a Walmart, Best Buy, or Circuit City.

 

Thanks again.

[daveh]

I'm sure some cheaper dvd portables will eventually make their way into Thailand. I did see a rather heavy portable VCD player with screen at Old Siam at a low price---maybe 5000 Baht. Would be interesting to see what's available in HongKong since the knockoffs likely made in China. U.S. $500+ for a player seems overpriced to me. Getting too close to laptop pricing. Too bad I didn't have a portable to test some of the pirated movies I bought. Had 2 vcd's that were defective and was too much hassle to return them. Once I got a dvd movie that turned out to be different than labeled. Always better to buy from a vendor with a player and tv so you can check the movie but many vendors conveniently don't have one. After my trip in Thailand I went to Philippines, which has cheaper movie prices (Dvd's from 65 Baht, vcd from 33 Baht) without Thai subtitles of course, but again no good deals on portable dvd players.

[Sarisin]

Yes, I was in AC for a few weeks and bought a selection of, um, VCD and DVD masterpieces too.

 

However, I have found the quality to be piss poor compared to the ones I usually buy in Panthip.

 

The subtitles are annoying sometimes, but not when you have a Thai honey watching with you.

 

Again, thanks for your report.

[daveh]

AC is usually not a good place to buy movies. Service related items like custom made leather 1200 Peso shoes (Shoe House near Dirty Duck Bar), clothes makers, etc. seems to be a good deal though.

 

I buy movies in Manila over at Quiapo, in the area opposite side of the big street from the church. Area is 2 blocks, to the right, past the big street. I take "Quiapo" FX aircon jeep (10 Peso) along Mabini Street, since I stay in Ermita area near LA cafe, the freelancer place. In Quiapo must be over a hundred different shops and vendors just selling vcd's, cd's, dvd's and some mp3's. They package them here for distribution. Some of the shops have players to see the quality of what you buy. Still its best if you bring along a portable player and test yourself. Have been happy with quality with most movies here. They seem to have 3 price ranges for dvd's from 80-250 Pesos. The 80 Peso ones have been ok, so far. Many of the dvd's are listing if full screen or widescreen versions. Most are widescreen versions. Vcd's, cd's are 30-40 Peso.

[Sarisin]

Interesting post, dave.

 

I didn't buy much in AC (other than beer and ladies ), but I did get one good deal, I think.

 

I bought some of those sports replica jerseys in AC.

 

I got a great Donovan McNabb Philadelphia Eagles jersy for 500 pesos. $50.00 + in the US and I challenge anyone to identify the differences.

 

Also bought two Allen Iverson Sixers jerseys for 700 pesos.

 

Sorry to stray from the topic.

[daveh]

The jersy store is near the shoe store. Funny, I was going to mention that shop. In town there is also a custom airplane model shop and pool stick shop that seem to do alot of business.

I'll throw in some DVD portable player content in keeping with the original thread; My further research so far finds the two best places for good pricing is ebay.com and ubid.com. Basically I want a cheap player. Cheapest seems to be 4 inch screen "Initial" brand, going for bid about U.S. $200. The seller currently doesn't want to sell then under $200 and keeps withdrawing them. Quick sale $230. Next one up, 6 inch screen, about $250-300. RCA has a 6 inch model around same price. If you need bigger screen I saw Initial 8 inch about $300=350. Its also thinner but wider. Be advised these players are not region free, but all pirated movies seem to work fine in my home dvd player which is region 1. Although not always stated, it appears these players will play vcd movies in addition to cd and mp3. Not sure if any use multi-power supply; probably for U.S. market 120 Volt. If so, may need small adaptor, 220 to 120 volt. Also may not output in Pal, but this no longer seems to be an issue with newer tv sets in Thailand as they automatically switch between Pal/Ntsc standards.

[Sarisin]

Thanks for your on-topic suggestions, dave.

 

The problems I have with eBay, and especially uBid is shipping. It is very difficult to get them to ship to an international address, and then there are the risks associated with actually receiving the item.

 

However, in the past, I have often had the item sent to a family member in the US to be picked up later during my annual visit to the States.

 

So, thanks for the suggestion and I will be checking out the auctions on both these sites.

 

PS. I have also had some problems with receiving damaged items or not receiving at all from uBid. You can imagine the nightmare that sets into motion for me!

[daveh]

Yes it is kind of a problem when living overseas to get stuff. In the U.S. I've been lucky as I haven't had any shipping damaged items from internet ordering but can see how it could happen, especially from non professional packers, who might just throw things in a box. I always thought there might be a business in resending merchandise ordered outside U.S. to overseas destinations. This would help reduce need for "care" packages sent by relatives. But I couldn't run such a business as I like to be overseas myself!

 

Some DVD player content; An interesting site is http://www.nerd-out.com/forum

Has discussions on cheap dvd players and which play best for dvd's, svcd's made on home computers. Some of the players can be reset to be region and Macrovision free. I bought a BestBuy table model player progressive scan Cyberhome DVD-500. Currently $69 and has a $20 rebate. I don't care for its zoom feature though; only 2x available. Otherwise good machine. I might try to find a Norcent DP300 which doesn't have the pscan feature but has multi-zoom. I like a 1.5 zoom as this should fill a regular tv screen, without cutting off too much of the picture like the 2x Cyberhome does when playing widescreen movies. Available at some Walmarts. Also at Walmart is the cheapest portable DVD player; Initial 4 inch screen DVD-9510 at $197. Perhaps these will get even cheaper later on.

[Sarisin]

Stopped by Power Buy at the Emporium yesterday to have a look at their stock of portable DVD players. I wasn't too thrilled with what I saw.

 

They had two Panasonic models both with screens (one looked to be large at about 9" and the other smaller at about 6") The prices were 62,990 B and 44,900 B respectively. They also had a Pioneer with a 7" Screen for 65,000 B.

 

Too pricey for me buying a portable here with a screen.