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PopSecret
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Buying software and various media was by far the most annoying interaction of my trip. As a result, I have a few comments on this topic.
silentbob,
I seem to recall Stickman's most recent update stating that the software scene at PP is down and out for the moment. I haven't yet come across any confirmation of this however.
Maxxy,
I would agree with this logic, but you still have to be careful that the guy you're buying from is not selling you crap, regardless of when you buy it. Be very specific in your request, and maybe take a laptop or something so you can check out the goods while you're still there. Also, some very recent movies are full quality rips of screener DVD's that look every bit as good as the final masters IMO.
Mr Pink & Sliderman,
Yeah, that's a great site. It's now called http://www.dvdrhelp.com/ Been going there for over a year myself. However, you can usually play quality bootlegs on most players without having to crack them. SONY players just happen to be among the most restricted players out there. I have yet to get a single bootleg to work on one, regardless of the media, burn method, or any other variable I have control over.
Well, gentlemen, thanks for reading my comments and I hope you're able to still buy some quality shit the next time you're in LOS.
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 12:11 am on May 23, 2003
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Lofty
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Even when buying DVD's I ask to see them before purchase to judge the quality but then I am looking to buy 20 or so at a time.
Guy on Suk just round the corner of Soi 7 (near BTS Stairs) just pulled out the playstation connected to tv and I just sampled the movies.
Still did pick up a couple of duds obviously not copied correctly end of movie film just halts.
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Bangkok Women : Meet Sensual Bangkok Women
Posted on: 5:54 am on May 23, 2003
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DongJuan
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Appears to be varied recommendations on where to buy DVD's etc. , going back to earlier this year. What's the current status at PP, Fortune Plaza, and MBK? Have the Thai's cracked down or is it still business as usual? Also, which of the three are the best places to shop (e.g. quality, range, "uncoded" vice PAL formats etc.)? Reason I ask is because I'll only be in LOS a few days and don't want to dick around from one shopping plaza to the next (when time could be better spent on other things  ) Also, noted a few of the brothers bought a portable DVD player while in LOS? What's the cost range? Are they cheaper than the U.S. (I suspect they'll be cheaper than in some parts of Northern Asia - Japan, Korea, HK). Thanks.
Peace.
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 9:50 pm on July 25, 2003
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PureMeat
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This morning I was in the Pantip, oh heavens, what a difference to last year or even the beginning of this year.
Of course, still some traders for DVDs, but only a few big ones. Not the same huge number as in the past. 3rd floor and higher nearly dried out... never seen so empty corridors.
After some looking around I bought 2x DVD9 and 2x DVD5 (one film copy, one downsampled copy). Suddenly a mobile rang - all dealers paniced and started packing everything away, closing down the few shops.
Because I had paid already I had to wait nearly 40 minutes before they restarted handing out the copies. But still with shops closed. Some guys on the corridor started asking again but you have to go behind the curtains to select from the catalog.
A girl from the shop told me that the policemen arrive nearly every day around 12-1pm to check the shops.
So if you know PP from early half of 2003 or before it's quite disappointing. But still worth a look.
Some point about the quality: every DVD9 I bought so far was always very good quality. For the DVD5 you have to ask the guy, but of course you have to think by yourself: a DVD5 of Terminator 3 at _this_ time will normally never be copy... it's normally a camera. Ask the guy directly and he will confirm. If they have a real copy of a very new movie they will always tell you (for example the Die another day from the first half of 2003 was such example - it was a copy of a press release DVD).
Never had problems and I bought about 30-40 DVDs since May 2002. Wait, Spiderman was bad quality, but I forgot to ask. Was a bad movie anyway. 
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Sexy Bangkok Girls
Posted on: 4:49 am on July 28, 2003
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DongJuan
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Brother Pure Meat,
What a great update!  And thanks for sharing. Will save me a helluva lot of time aimlessly hitting places which, as you point out, are not in 'business as usual mode'. Nice to know that since I am currently here for only a few days. Thanks again.
Peace,
DJ
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 11:11 pm on July 28, 2003
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Future Park
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From The Bangkok Post 23/07/03
Business as usual at Pantip Plaza
Martin Petty
A large crowd gathers at a shopping mall in Bangkok as police swoop on a stallholder peddling pirated DVDs and computer software.
Scores of counterfeit discs are bundled into boxes and taken away. The stallholder's desperate pleas fall on deaf ears.
Word quickly gets around to the other traders. Bags of discs are stashed under tables and accomplices dash for the doors with sacks of DVDs. The stalls are cleared in a matter of seconds.
This is a daily event at Pantip Plaza, a hotspot for pirated DVDs and software and the face of an illicit industry playing cat and mouse with the authorities amid claimes that it is robbing Thailand's economy of millions of dollars every year.
Under fire from record labels and software empires across the world, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has declared war on intellectual piracy in Thailand, but as the crackdown enters its third month, it's hard to tell who's winning.
``I'm not worried,'' says Prachai, a stallholder at Pantip Plaza, peering towards the entrance of the five-storey shopping centre.
``I have two guys outside on the lookout for police and by the time they get here all the stock has been moved away. We're used to working like this. We just have to be careful and make sure we don't get caught.''
But owners of intellectual property like computer software, music, and DVDs say the problem goes far beyond the small-time traders peddling copied discs from tables on Bangkok's streets.
``It's no longer a mom and pop shop system of piracy anymore,'' said Mark Ellis of the US-based Motion Picture Association (MPA).
``Thailand dealt very well with video piracy in the 1990s but what we're seeing now is far more sophisticated.
ORGANISED CRIME
``Now we're talking about organised crime groups involved at the very top end. They're very smart people with accountants and lawyers helping them funnel money inside and outside Thailand. Money laundering is part and parcel of what they do.''
MPA has voiced its concern about the number of factories producing DVDs in Thailand. They say the figure has risen from 20 in 1999 to 51 at the end of last year, although the kingdom only has domestic demand to satisfy two or three factories.
``So what's happening to the rest of the DVDs? We've an escalating problem in Thailand and we're very worried,'' Ellis added.
But when piracy is so lucrative to the consumer, public support for combating illicit traders could prove difficult to harness. The average Thai earns one-sixteenth the income of an average American and Prachai says original DVDs, CDs and software are far beyond his means.
He believes he is providing a service to Thai consumers. He sells copied music CDs for 100 baht when originals are 500 baht and illegal DVD movies are a 10th of the price of a genuine DVD. Microsoft Windows fetches 9,000 baht at a shop around the corner, but Prachai's bootleg version costs just 130 baht.
``Thai people can't afford to buy originals,'' he says. ``They have no choice. They can buy a pirated copy or nothing. That's why so many people come here.''
But it's not just the wealthy multinational companies who suffer. MPA, Microsoft and the European Commission are among a number of organisations that have warned Thailand of the economic consequences it faces when harbouring pirates.
``It's a loss to the whole Thai economy,'' Ellis said. ``It's hurting our industry but it's hurting the local industry as well. Shops and movie rental shops are going out of business, cinemas are cutting their staff and they aren't foreigners, they're local people.
``Millions of dollars worth of discs are being created in Thailand but they're dollars the government doesn't see through taxation.''
His words were echoed by the European Commission's Soren Schonberg on a recent visit to the country.
``Rampant piracy leads to a loss of reputation, a loss of investment and a loss of jobs. At the end of the day it is Thailand which suffers the most and Thailand which has the most to gain by putting the pirates to the sword,'' he said.
But keen to rid itself of a reputation of being a pirate's paradise, Thailand insists it is tackling the bootleg traders.
Following a meeting with Microsoft's Asia-Pacific president, the country's Deputy Commerce Minister Wattana Muangsook hailed the war on piracy as a success and vowed to tackle the problem by October's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bangkok.
``We will continue our crackdown,'' Wattana said.
But even he admits it's a tall order to topple Thailand's tenacious pirates. ``We would like to make this business as low as possible but it's just impossible to wipe them out.''
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Bangkok Women : Meet Beautiful Thai Girls
Posted on: 7:01 am on July 29, 2003
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