kathie06

I'm new on this site - and going to Beijing and Shanghai for the first time next month. I've been reading the posts regarding DVD's and have some questions - firstly, are these DVD's current movies or old? What approximately is the going cost? And where is the best place to buy. I understand there are limitations, these would naturally be for my personal use. Thanks

BigJim

They have ALL kinds of DVD's!! Most places that you go to will have both current movies and old ones. We got some that aren't even out on DVD in the U.S. yet! We paid about Y10 - Y20 for our DVD's. The cheapest was Y6! If you buy them off the street, of course, they're going to give you some outrageous price. You just have to bargain with them. Depending on where you're staying in Beijing, you'll see many people on the streets selling them. You'll probably also be approached by many people selling them. The Silk Alley/Market has quite a few people around there selling them. The Ya Xui Market also has shops inside that sell them. This is where we found the best variety of DVD's.
In Shanghai, we found most of our DVD's at the Xiang Yang Market. There's also people out on the streets nearby selling them.

Good luck!

Patty

The going cost is about $1. Just be aware when buying newer releases that some are literally taped off of a theater screen with very poor picture/audio quality. Sometimes you get silhouttes of people walking across the screen or the movie starts halfway through the opening credits! The exception is the time of year when all of the movie studios send out their Academy screener DVD's, then they're copied from the screeners.

Older movies are usually fine although sometimes there are digital glitches. There usually isn't any bonus material regardless of what the outside jacket says. What I'm trying to say is just don't expect the same quality/content as legal DVD's.

Patty

BTW some vendors have a player and will let you test it before you buy.

BigJim

Patty - I know what you're talking about! We have a few DVD's that we bought here in the U.S. and it's literally just someone filming it inside a theatre. But "supposedly", the ones you get in China aren't like that. From what I understand, they're all downloaded movies, so the quality is pretty good. We bought about 30-40 of them and they're all perfect!! But I'm sure it's a chance you take with any of them that you buy in China. But even if they're bad quality, I'm only out a dollar or two!

jimdrew

Current as in coming to U.S. theaters next Friday. Audio quality on most of these DVDs is not spectacular. Last week I bought "Batman Begins" only to find out that it was dubbed in Russian. The English subtitles did not match what they were probably saying. Subtitles are questionable with many movies and it's not the first time I bought a movie with dubbed nonEnglish and no other options. I think it's worth the $1 gamble. And some copies are created by using a video camera in the theater and the quality is awful. I would guess that most movies are taken from "screeners" that the Academy of whatever film use to preview movies.

Besides the people that approach you, you will see shops that say "DVD VCD MTV CD, etc" on signs.

I just returned from China this afternoon with maybe 30 DVDs and no problems with customs.