Electronics and entertainment shopping in Thailand

From Imakoopedia

Thailand is a good place to buy fairly cheap electronics, music, video and software. Locally manufactured music, movies and software are cheap to match the Thai income, as are local and imported electronics.

Table of contents
1 Electronics
2 Shops
3 Music
4 Video

4.1 VCDs
4.2 DVDs

5 Software
6 Links
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Electronics

Cheap asian copies of big name brand hardware (with names like somy, samsing, etc) are commonplace in Thailand can be a good way to pick up functional machines for a low price. Though they may lack the full range of features and build quality of their real brand counterparts, they more than make up for it in price. Stores such as Big C carry them, or they can be found in more specialist market areas in the major cities (such as MBK in Bangkok).

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Shops

CD Warehouse 
CD Warehouse is the largest and most common (at least in Bangkok), with a large variety of music avaiable. They carry a large selection of Music DVDs and a fair selection of Movies.
Mangpong (Scorpion) 
Mangpong are virtually everywhere! They only have a small selection of western music but have a large selection of movies. Note that stock often vary between shops so check around if there's something in particular you are looking for.
Big C 
Is a chain of large supermarkets, which often have an audio/video department with a selection of cheap VCD/DVDs and electronics available.
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Music

CD Warehouse and Mangpong are the major chains that sell western music. Most major label releases are available for about 400-500 BHT, approximately 5 GBP less than they would be in England for example. The selections are not great for the more obscure items, but most chart pop/rock is available. Jazz also has quite a large following, with a reasonable selection. Imports (eg. from Japan) are reasonably priced as well.

Music piracy is quite common in Thailand and copied CDs can often be found in the markets for 100 BHT, though I won't go into details of that here.

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Video

Video is where Thailand really shines for western visitors. DVDs and VCDs are extremely common in Thai shops (VHS are fairly hard to come by however), and are often exceptionally cheap.

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VCDs

Incase you haven't heard of VCDs, they are the pre-cursor to DVDs. They are usually 2 CDs and have just slightly better than VHS quality audio/video (though of course suffer no wear through repeat playings). Almost every DVD player can also play VCDs, so can be a quick (and cheap) way to pick up that film that you've fancied seeing, but can't justify the price of the DVD.

Price is where VCDs really stand out. They can be had for as little as 50 BHT, though range up to 400 BHT (which I would avoid, get the DVD instead). The price is normally set by who manufactures it and how old it is. There are a few major producers (and hundreds of smaller ones!).

APS 
Are the cheapest and can often be found in the "bargain bins" for about 50 BHT in shops like Big C, Tescos, or any of the other smaller stores around.
Mangpong  
(yes, the same as the shop) are good for recent blockbusters and horror films. They range for 59 to about 200 BHT for the latest releases and offer a good selection. Generally you will only find them in Mangpong shops, but since these are so common (there is literally at least 1 in every shopping center)are very easy to come by.
CVD 
are the most expensive but also the most comprehensive of the producers. They make all the other major movies that Mangpong do not cover, and have a very large selection. Prices range from 100 to 450 (!) BHT.
Pacific 
More blockbusters. Prices around 150 BHT.

One important thing to watch out for is the language, you don't want to pick up a movie dubbed in Thai by mistake. Mangpong and CVD are quite good at making this clear with "Thai Subtitle" clearly labeled on the front. There are occasions where this is not the case and so there are a couple of things to look out for. The following are good indicators :

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DVDs

Thailand still has a relatively small DVD market, though those that are available are often cheap and the number are constantly increasing. Prices range from 100 - 1000 BHT. Thailand is in Region 3, though Region 1 & 2 imports can also be found in the larger stores.

Like VCDs, DVDs can be primarily distinguished by who manufacturers them. Again CVD and Mangpong are the major producers, and again the prices for Mangpong are cheapest and CVD more expensive.

Mangpong is especially good for cheap DVDs, often the counterpart to the VCD can be had for about 100 BHT more (For example, the Lord of the Rings 2 DVD set can be had for 200 BHT). CVD are the more expensive, generally between 500 and 1000 BHT.

Subtitles are not an issue with DVDs as both the English and Thai dubbed tracks are on them.

Movie Seer (http://www.movieseer.com/Index.asp?Channel=2) and Amorn Movie (http://www.amornmovie.com/) are good sites for seeing upcoming and current DVD releases and prices.

Like music cds, pirate VCDs and DVDs can be found in Thai markets for 100-200 BHT, ranging in quality from TeleSyncs to straight Region 1 DVD rips.

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Software

To meet the demands of the Thai market, software is very reasonably priced. Official versions are surprisingly cheap, probably to compete with the excessive amount of software piracy present (pirate software appears to exceed the official versions in terms of distribution, prices are around 100-150 BHT per CD). Most recent PC games can be found for around 500-1000 BHT, a good deal cheaper than they are in England for example and for that extra you get a nice box and manual (from what I've found these are generally in both English and Thai, though this could have been a fluke!) and the feeling that you haven't cheated someone.

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Links

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