My Korea rant: Bluray's crazy player prices - Blu-ray Forum

baccusboy · 04-05-2007, 05:42 AM

As I've mentioned before, I am living in Seoul, South Korea (I'm American though). I am now the owner of a PS3, but as all PS3s here, they are grey imports from Japan. I can get some BR titles at Technomart in Seoul, and maybe a few from online stores, which is great. I can get more from www.auction.co.kr (but these were brought in from outside). I don't seem much HDDVD out there in terms of titles -- almost nothing.

The thing that makes me angry about Korea are the prices, and general lack of availability of BR players in general around here. Sure, you can get a Samsung BD1000 player for about $1,300 US if you know where to look, but those prices are just insane. You can probably find an LG player for the same price if you go to an LG Electronics store.

We have NO sub-$1000 players here. None. None from Sony. None from Phillips. Only Korean brands, and they're priced sky-high. You have to buy them as illegal imports from www.auction.co.kr , or a similar place.

What makes this worse is that Korea is a country with perhaps the highest penetration of LCD/PDP screens in the world (assuming Japan might have a few more per capita).

The only other options are crazy-priced laptops with a BR or HDDVD disc system inside.

We can't even get a Korean PS3 until just before Christmas 2007!

What is going on here? Are they afraid to release the products en-mass locally? It makes me wonder if they're really interested in BR success?

One of my friends thinks that they are not interested in marketing their Samsung product to the wide public, due to known errors and problems with players. I think that's a little off, but I would tend to believe they are more interested in charging outrageous prices for the premium quality, and making a huge profit.

Yes, we're talking about the same BR player you can buy in the USA for like $400. You pay $1,300 for it here! Look at the price, and remember that due to the exchange rate, this unit costs more than it looks: http://www.enuri.com/view/List.jsp?c...cate_keyword=Y

If Samsung is supposed to be one of the major backers of BR, then why aren't they making it readily available to their own people?

If you work for Sony, maybe you should be asking Samsung this question?

WriteSimply · 04-05-2007, 05:56 AM

Fly to Singapore and get a PS3 there. Or HK. At least you get DVD R3 playback in PAL and NTSC, and Region A BD playback. Then get the discs off Amazon or Yes-Asia.

No official PS3 launch in Malaysia.

Grrr.

fuad

baccusboy · 04-05-2007, 06:10 AM

I got my PS3 for a price similar to the USA, but again, it was an illegal import from Japan (sold at Technomart, though). I have virtually no Korean support of my PS3 if it breaks, etc.... I'm screwed.

But the kicker is that we CAN get the XBOX360 HDDVD add-on here, as of this month. No PS3, but the 360 is selling fast, and has been for a long time.

And then Samsung releases what? A computer with an HDDVD drive in it...

To get BR in a computer, you have to buy a Sony computer, which is highly overpriced due to import duties.

Just how "interested" is Samsung in BluRay? They're one of the major player manufacturers, but they can't seem to put out a BR player that's not full of bugs??

As for LG, they are even more difficult to find, and priced just as high.

Helicon · 04-05-2007, 06:55 AM

Well it is not the only place where it is expensive, I live in Denmark (Europe):

Samsung BD-P1000 $2.200 has droped to $909 now, which I have just purchased.
Panasonic DMP-BD10 $1.818
PS3 $945
LG Combo $2.200

Blu-ray movies cost around $60

baccusboy · 04-05-2007, 07:09 AM

It's expensive for you, too... but the Samsung and LG players are MADE here! They are shipped to the USA and sold for $400 now. More than three times less than in Korea (where they are originally made).

HDJK · 04-05-2007, 07:58 AM

That is really strange. My Korean relatives mentioned really high import taxes for anything technical (and cars), but since they're made in Korea...

baccusboy · 04-05-2007, 08:07 AM

Yeah, I think they want to "milk" as much money as possible out of the market here on these players before they allow them to go cheap.

I also think that's why they won't release the PS3 here yet. If they did, it would seriously undercut their locally-made players in price.

It is also entirely possible that they want to wait it out before they allow the public to buy into a format that may disappear. It's hard to guess, but when involving Korea, the answer usually lies in extreme protectionism and attempts to control anything and everything happening here.

Blue · 04-05-2007, 01:23 PM

It's a good thing you don't live in Australia. There are 2 players available. The Panasonic = 5 weeks pay packets for the "average" aussie. Take out living expenses and it would take over a year for them to save up! It's swings and roundabouts, many things are better in the US and many things aren't.

DavePS3 · 04-05-2007, 03:24 PM

Prices will drop eventually... they always do - although that's not always the case for the software.

DavePS3 · 04-05-2007, 03:40 PM

By the way... Korean Hapkido frickin' ROCKS!!! Okay, back to the topic - ahem.

Ascended_Saiyan · 04-05-2007, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baccusboy

Yeah, I think they want to "milk" as much money as possible out of the market here on these players before they allow them to go cheap.

I also think that's why they won't release the PS3 here yet. If they did, it would seriously undercut their locally-made players in price.

It is also entirely possible that they want to wait it out before they allow the public to buy into a format that may disappear. It's hard to guess, but when involving Korea, the answer usually lies in extreme protectionism and attempts to control anything and everything happening here.

But, if that's the case, why allow the 360 add-on drive to be sold?

halmo20 · 04-06-2007, 06:03 AM

I feel your pain. Here is some insight.

First off, you may already noticed. Most Korean people have insanely fast internet widely available pretty much anywhere in the country. A friend of mine for example, has 100Mbps fiber connection at home that runs at real life speed of about 98Mbps!!!

Koreans in general are so used to downloading their movies off the net illegally or legally.. doesn't really matter.

It's not only HD media... Their DVD market is in devastation due to illegal downloads... Sure, handful of AV mania will get DVD/BD/HD-DVD copies... But vast majority of people just download their movies..

Even the number of movie rental shops is shrinking every year... I've seen some shops renting movies at 50cents or less!!! Even then nobody wants to rent... why would they when they can just download...??

Samsung or LG is not interested in selling DVD players or HD-DVD/BD players because they know they won't sell...

Sure PDPs and LCD tvs are widely available but most people use it just to watch OTA/Satellite HD contents...

baccusboy · 04-06-2007, 10:02 AM

Halmo, it's more than just downloading....

I can buy duplicated DVDs in the subway (Seoul's subway system is the largest in the world, I think) for $2 each -- including a box. Movies older than a few months are DVD dubs. Movies in the theaters currently are usually either DVDShrink copies of demos provided to theaters (warnings flashing on the screen: "Property of MGM...") or worse, they set a home video camera up in the movie theater (you can see people getting popcorn sometimes). People add the Korean subs over the picture if they're not already there.

I'll post some photos of the illegal sellers (which the police don't care about at all) and give locations, later.

Hundreds of titles. Books full of them at the Youngsan Electronics Market.

I once saw a CNN special on how the USA didn't want Russia to join in some kind of free trade group because of illegal copying of DVDs. Korea is already a part of that group, and they copy ten times more than the Russians do! I laughed my butt off.

HD-Greek · 04-06-2007, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helicon

Well it is not the only place where it is expensive, I live in Denmark (Europe):

Samsung BD-P1000 $2.200 has droped to $909 now, which I have just purchased.
Panasonic DMP-BD10 $1.818
PS3 $945
LG Combo $2.200

Blu-ray movies cost around $60

In Greece (Europe) the same too....................

Samsung BD-P1000=899E=1170$
Panasonic DMP-BD10=1300E=1690$
PS3=659E=856.7$
Toshiba HD-E1=500E=650$
Toshiba HD-XE1=900E=1170$

USA prices

Samsung BD-P1000=470$
Panasonic DMP-BD10=1050$
PS3=599$
Toshiba HD-A2=350$
Toshiba HD-XA2=600$

And of course the Pioneer,Sony and Philips players haven't released yet in Europe.....i think they only care about US........they just screw the other countries.....

jorg · 04-06-2007, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baccusboy

As I've mentioned before, I am living in Seoul, South Korea (I'm American though). I am now the owner of a PS3, but as all PS3s here, they are grey imports from Japan. I can get some BR titles at Technomart in Seoul, and maybe a few from online stores, which is great. I can get more from www.auction.co.kr (but these were brought in from outside). I don't seem much HDDVD out there in terms of titles -- almost nothing.

The thing that makes me angry about Korea are the prices, and general lack of availability of BR players in general around here. Sure, you can get a Samsung BD1000 player for about $1,300 US if you know where to look, but those prices are just insane. You can probably find an LG player for the same price if you go to an LG Electronics store.

We have NO sub-$1000 players here. None. None from Sony. None from Phillips. Only Korean brands, and they're priced sky-high. You have to buy them as illegal imports from www.auction.co.kr , or a similar place.

What makes this worse is that Korea is a country with perhaps the highest penetration of LCD/PDP screens in the world (assuming Japan might have a few more per capita).

The only other options are crazy-priced laptops with a BR or HDDVD disc system inside.

We can't even get a Korean PS3 until just before Christmas 2007!

What is going on here? Are they afraid to release the products en-mass locally? It makes me wonder if they're really interested in BR success?

One of my friends thinks that they are not interested in marketing their Samsung product to the wide public, due to known errors and problems with players. I think that's a little off, but I would tend to believe they are more interested in charging outrageous prices for the premium quality, and making a huge profit.

Yes, we're talking about the same BR player you can buy in the USA for like $400. You pay $1,300 for it here! Look at the price, and remember that due to the exchange rate, this unit costs more than it looks: http://www.enuri.com/view/List.jsp?c...cate_keyword=Y

If Samsung is supposed to be one of the major backers of BR, then why aren't they making it readily available to their own people?

If you work for Sony, maybe you should be asking Samsung this question?

well it iz not so much the electronic stores but the goverment whics has its pros and cons but i would just give up because it is like cell phones north america is the biggest technology consumer in the world why don`t we get the phones u get at the same time we have more people to buy them and such. they both have there arguments but you will just have to do what most people do in your spot do get to know people that will smuggle it in j/k a lot of people do that but just put trust in the company's and be happy u got your ps3 lmao

jorg · 04-06-2007, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ascended_Saiyan

But, if that's the case, why allow the 360 add-on drive to be sold?

well it just might be that some ones money fell out of there poket and into some ones els high up that swayed them to the 360

jorg · 04-06-2007, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HD-Greek

In Greece (Europe) the same too....................

Samsung BD-P1000=899E=1170$
Panasonic DMP-BD10=1300E=1690$
PS3=659E=856.7$
Toshiba HD-E1=500E=650$
Toshiba HD-XE1=900E=1170$

USA prices

Samsung BD-P1000=470$
Panasonic DMP-BD10=1050$
PS3=599$
Toshiba HD-A2=350$
Toshiba HD-XA2=600$

And of course the Pioneer,Sony and Philips players haven't released yet in Europe.....i think they only care about US........they just screw the other countries.....

are you converting euros to dollers? because its already mentioned converting currency like that is stupid

HD-Greek · 04-06-2007, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jorg

are you converting euros to dollers? because its already mentioned converting currency like that is stupid

why is it stupid?..........................and ok................let's say 1 euro is 1 dollar............the prices are still 50%-100% bigger than the US(except the PS3 of course)...................

halmo20 · 04-07-2007, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baccusboy

Halmo, it's more than just downloading....

I can buy duplicated DVDs in the subway (Seoul's subway system is the largest in the world, I think) for $2 each -- including a box. Movies older than a few months are DVD dubs. Movies in the theaters currently are usually either DVDShrink copies of demos provided to theaters (warnings flashing on the screen: "Property of MGM...") or worse, they set a home video camera up in the movie theater (you can see people getting popcorn sometimes). People add the Korean subs over the picture if they're not already there.

I'll post some photos of the illegal sellers (which the police don't care about at all) and give locations, later.

Hundreds of titles. Books full of them at the Youngsan Electronics Market.

I once saw a CNN special on how the USA didn't want Russia to join in some kind of free trade group because of illegal copying of DVDs. Korea is already a part of that group, and they copy ten times more than the Russians do! I laughed my butt off.

You are absolutely right.. I saw those illegal vendors myself!!
It just sucks. Korea's music/CD industry is in ruins, DVD market never even took off. All due to illegal downloads/copies.. And it seems that their government doesn't even care....

You know what tho?? Maybe Samsung/LG will drop prices on their BD players when those street vendors start selling BD knock offs for 3bucks!!! Then they'll figure, oh people will now buy more players too!!! hhh

baccusboy · 04-08-2007, 02:21 PM

jorg, the Korean companies would LOVE to sell high-tech phones to the USA. The problem is that USA carriers don't want to invest what it takes to upgrade the infrastructure.

Korea's infrastructure is much easier to upgrade, given that the entire country is about the same size as the US State of Indiana.

04-05-2007, 05:42 AM	#1
baccusboy Banned Member since:Feb 2007 Location:South Korea Blu-ray reviews:3	My Korea rant: Bluray's crazy player prices As I've mentioned before, I am living in Seoul, South Korea (I'm American though). I am now the owner of a PS3, but as all PS3s here, they are grey imports from Japan. I can get some BR titles at Technomart in Seoul, and maybe a few from online stores, which is great. I can get more from www.auction.co.kr (but these were brought in from outside). I don't seem much HDDVD out there in terms of titles -- almost nothing. The thing that makes me angry about Korea are the prices, and general lack of availability of BR players in general around here. Sure, you can get a Samsung BD1000 player for about $1,300 US if you know where to look, but those prices are just insane. You can probably find an LG player for the same price if you go to an LG Electronics store. We have NO sub-$1000 players here. None. None from Sony. None from Phillips. Only Korean brands, and they're priced sky-high. You have to buy them as illegal imports from www.auction.co.kr , or a similar place. What makes this worse is that Korea is a country with perhaps the highest penetration of LCD/PDP screens in the world (assuming Japan might have a few more per capita). The only other options are crazy-priced laptops with a BR or HDDVD disc system inside. We can't even get a Korean PS3 until just before Christmas 2007! What is going on here? Are they afraid to release the products en-mass locally? It makes me wonder if they're really interested in BR success? One of my friends thinks that they are not interested in marketing their Samsung product to the wide public, due to known errors and problems with players. I think that's a little off, but I would tend to believe they are more interested in charging outrageous prices for the premium quality, and making a huge profit. Yes, we're talking about the same BR player you can buy in the USA for like $400. You pay $1,300 for it here! Look at the price, and remember that due to the exchange rate, this unit costs more than it looks: http://www.enuri.com/view/List.jsp?c...cate_keyword=Y If Samsung is supposed to be one of the major backers of BR, then why aren't they making it readily available to their own people? If you work for Sony, maybe you should be asking Samsung this question? Last edited by baccusboy; 04-05-2007 at 05:55 AM.

04-05-2007, 08:07 AM	#7
baccusboy Banned Member since:Feb 2007 Location:South Korea Blu-ray reviews:3	Yeah, I think they want to "milk" as much money as possible out of the market here on these players before they allow them to go cheap. I also think that's why they won't release the PS3 here yet. If they did, it would seriously undercut their locally-made players in price. It is also entirely possible that they want to wait it out before they allow the public to buy into a format that may disappear. It's hard to guess, but when involving Korea, the answer usually lies in extreme protectionism and attempts to control anything and everything happening here. Last edited by baccusboy; 04-05-2007 at 08:11 AM.

04-06-2007, 10:02 AM	#13
baccusboy Banned Member since:Feb 2007 Location:South Korea Blu-ray reviews:3	Halmo, it's more than just downloading.... I can buy duplicated DVDs in the subway (Seoul's subway system is the largest in the world, I think) for $2 each -- including a box. Movies older than a few months are DVD dubs. Movies in the theaters currently are usually either DVDShrink copies of demos provided to theaters (warnings flashing on the screen: "Property of MGM...") or worse, they set a home video camera up in the movie theater (you can see people getting popcorn sometimes). People add the Korean subs over the picture if they're not already there. I'll post some photos of the illegal sellers (which the police don't care about at all) and give locations, later. Hundreds of titles. Books full of them at the Youngsan Electronics Market. I once saw a CNN special on how the USA didn't want Russia to join in some kind of free trade group because of illegal copying of DVDs. Korea is already a part of that group, and they copy ten times more than the Russians do! I laughed my butt off. Last edited by baccusboy; 04-06-2007 at 10:04 AM.

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04-05-2007, 05:56 AM	#2
WriteSimply Blu-ray Ninja Member since:Sep 2006 Location:Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Fly to Singapore and get a PS3 there. Or HK. At least you get DVD R3 playback in PAL and NTSC, and Region A BD playback. Then get the discs off Amazon or Yes-Asia. No official PS3 launch in Malaysia. Grrr. fuad

04-05-2007, 06:10 AM	#3
baccusboy Banned Member since:Feb 2007 Location:South Korea Blu-ray reviews:3	I got my PS3 for a price similar to the USA, but again, it was an illegal import from Japan (sold at Technomart, though). I have virtually no Korean support of my PS3 if it breaks, etc.... I'm screwed. But the kicker is that we CAN get the XBOX360 HDDVD add-on here, as of this month. No PS3, but the 360 is selling fast, and has been for a long time. And then Samsung releases what? A computer with an HDDVD drive in it... To get BR in a computer, you have to buy a Sony computer, which is highly overpriced due to import duties. Just how "interested" is Samsung in BluRay? They're one of the major player manufacturers, but they can't seem to put out a BR player that's not full of bugs?? As for LG, they are even more difficult to find, and priced just as high.

04-05-2007, 06:55 AM	#4
Helicon Active Member Member since:Jan 2007 Location:Denmark	Well it is not the only place where it is expensive, I live in Denmark (Europe): Samsung BD-P1000 $2.200 has droped to $909 now, which I have just purchased. Panasonic DMP-BD10 $1.818 PS3 $945 LG Combo $2.200 Blu-ray movies cost around $60

04-05-2007, 07:09 AM	#5
baccusboy Banned Member since:Feb 2007 Location:South Korea Blu-ray reviews:3	It's expensive for you, too... but the Samsung and LG players are MADE here! They are shipped to the USA and sold for $400 now. More than three times less than in Korea (where they are originally made).

04-05-2007, 07:58 AM	#6
HDJK Blu-ray Guru Member since:Oct 2006 Location:Switzerland Trading Score:2	That is really strange. My Korean relatives mentioned really high import taxes for anything technical (and cars), but since they're made in Korea...

04-05-2007, 01:23 PM	#8
Blue Super Moderator Top contributor Member since:Jan 2005 Location:Melbourne Australia Blu-ray collection:206	It's a good thing you don't live in Australia. There are 2 players available. The Panasonic = 5 weeks pay packets for the "average" aussie. Take out living expenses and it would take over a year for them to save up! It's swings and roundabouts, many things are better in the US and many things aren't.

04-05-2007, 03:24 PM	#9
DavePS3 Blu-ray Guru Member since:Jan 2007 Location:Toronto Home Theater Gallery:56 Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:1	Prices will drop eventually... they always do - although that's not always the case for the software.

04-05-2007, 03:40 PM	#10
DavePS3 Blu-ray Guru Member since:Jan 2007 Location:Toronto Home Theater Gallery:56 Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:1	By the way... Korean Hapkido frickin' ROCKS!!! Okay, back to the topic - ahem.

04-06-2007, 06:03 AM	#12
halmo20 Member Member since:Mar 2007	I feel your pain. Here is some insight. First off, you may already noticed. Most Korean people have insanely fast internet widely available pretty much anywhere in the country. A friend of mine for example, has 100Mbps fiber connection at home that runs at real life speed of about 98Mbps!!! Koreans in general are so used to downloading their movies off the net illegally or legally.. doesn't really matter. It's not only HD media... Their DVD market is in devastation due to illegal downloads... Sure, handful of AV mania will get DVD/BD/HD-DVD copies... But vast majority of people just download their movies.. Even the number of movie rental shops is shrinking every year... I've seen some shops renting movies at 50cents or less!!! Even then nobody wants to rent... why would they when they can just download...?? Samsung or LG is not interested in selling DVD players or HD-DVD/BD players because they know they won't sell... Sure PDPs and LCD tvs are widely available but most people use it just to watch OTA/Satellite HD contents...

04-08-2007, 02:21 PM	#20
baccusboy Banned Member since:Feb 2007 Location:South Korea Blu-ray reviews:3	jorg, the Korean companies would LOVE to sell high-tech phones to the USA. The problem is that USA carriers don't want to invest what it takes to upgrade the infrastructure. Korea's infrastructure is much easier to upgrade, given that the entire country is about the same size as the US State of Indiana.

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