DVD player.

In November, I plan on buying a DVD player for my leased apartment. I have heard, some say, to stay away from the small places at Tuk.com and the like. Deal only with the big boys like Big C or Carrefour, because they are more apt to stand behind their product, if there is a problem. Also heard that the Chinese-made players are junk and that you should stay away from them. I thought most of the components are Chinese-made? Any useful information, one can share will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I would purchase this one as it seems to do everything you would want it to do. You can't beat the price for all the value it gives you. Check into Big C for purchase and Enjoy!! This is not a cheap Chinese product that you want to stay away from and will give you years of great performance.



Sale Price
$389.99
Pioneer DVR-640H-S

DVD Recorder With 160 GB Hard Drive

Get entertainment your way with the DVR640HS DVD recorder. It features a 160GB hard disk drive for up to 340 hours of recording. So you can record your favorite show, and then decide later if you want to burn it to DVD. And advanced disc navigator and HELP button make your entertainment life a little easier.

Okay you can pay a few hundred bucks for a dvd player and get a years guarantee. Why not try TUKCOM, in the basement they have a little electrical shop selling vcd and dvd players. I suggest you avoid the ultra cheap player which just plays vcd's and opt for the oh so expensive one which plays dvd/vcd/cd/mp3 and costs a whopping 1500 baht (approx $40.00). All the usual features, skip, menu, zoom, slowmo etc etc etc. They get your chosen player out of the box for testing before you take away to make sure you are satisfied and I assume they operate a returns policy - however, for $40.00 if it breaks down after a year why not just buy another one at that price.

[wowpow]

I think that the supermarkets have dvd players from about 2500 baht. They generally seem to have lower prices than the small shops - unless you bargain very hard plus you have some form of guarentee/redress if it goes wrong.

You have to decide what facilities you want and have some idea of what quality. I bough for my bedroom an LG which plays DVD - all regions, VCD - CD - MP3 - VCR and has surround sound and Dolby. It records on tape only and is an excellent small machine and cost me 4500 baht from Tesco Lotus.. For main viewing, for on's permanent home you might want a machine that records onto hard drive and can burn DVDs.

[bing]

It seems you live in Pattaya, lucky you. I am not overly Tech Savvy, but be sensitive to the Zone Number. Many very nice DVD players in USA play only DVDs made in USA or Europe. Seems the Orient or Zone 3 will not play on many machines. I have a very nice Samsung which will play VHS and or record DVDs, but it will not accept Zone 3 DVDs.
I had to go to BEST BUY store and get a small 35 dollar player that accepts all zones. So if you have tapes or DVDs from USA or Europe be sure to check at store if the player will accept them. I brought the tapes in question with me to the store. The manager hooked up the small DVD player to a TV and played my Zone 3 DVD for a minute or so, I bought the player and hooked it up the the fancy Samsung and now can play all DVDs.

If in Bkk try pantip plaza? (sp)

I bought my DVD plyer at Carrefour - it was very inexpensive - something in the neighborhood of 4000 baht with surround sound speakers. The sales person at Caffefour told me they would program the DVD player to accept all region codes - which they did. They also delivered the DVD player and hooked it up to my TV. It plays all formats MP3, CVD, DVD, and whatever else is out there.

I bought my LCD TV and DVD player at Carrefour about a year ago. The guys in that department were very knowledgable and they rode their motorbike down to Jomtien to my condo to help set things up. They brought two different types of video cables to show me the difference in quality. When the TV went kaput after about two weeks, they were right over there again to see if they could fix it. Turns out they couldn't, but I give them an A+ for effort and for great customer service and support! (I ended up taking the TV back to Carrefour for an exchange.)

The brand of my TV & DVD player are both "New Zen". Apparently they are a Thai brand from a factory that produces one of the Japanese brands, using the same technology. The DVD player, zone 0, was about B3500, as I recall?

I wish I had the names of the guys that helped me, but I never got them. However, last time I was in Carrefour, I saw the one guy was still working there, and he remembered me, too.

Thanks guys for all the good information. Carrefour or Big C seem to be the choice, but I will also check-out the basement of Tuk.com. I appreciate the help.

[TrongpaiExpat]

I did some comparitive shopping and found a DVD player and LCD TV that I wanted at the Sony Outlet on Silom cheaper than the big chains, Big C and Tesco. I would have thought the outlet would have been more expensive. The outlet also knocked another 3% of the sale price.

After the deal was struck, I got to talking to the salesman and he said that they have to move old stock out quicker at the outlets and make room for the latest models and if your timing is right, you get a good deal. Big C does not worry about the stocking the latest models. He told me if they can't move the old stuff out, they sell it to Big C.

I don't know maybe he was just feeding me a line of BS, but I do know that I saved about 10% over the big chain prices for the same model.

Panthup is also a good option if your looking for non-name brands, thou the places is more computer oriented. There is one TV/DVD store, top floor, but what I looked at was priced higher than the Sony outlet.