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ursus_rex

Joined: 20 Mar 2004
Location: Seoul, ROK

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 5:02 am Post subject:

Try this one: http://www.eo-video.com/ I think the 30 day registration period doesn't nag, at least mine doesn't... may have gotten my copy from Kazaa though.... don't remember.

wylde

Joined: 14 Apr 2003

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 5:05 am Post subject:

thanks very much. raid it is. i wasn't trying to burn a briefcase full of stuff.. just to understand the practice. it is under control now. i have more questions but feel greedy. so i'll ask as i need and if you answer... good for me. mr pink, i considered a dvd+r but, whilst they are good for their purpose, i want the stuff accessible so it wasn't for the reason of storage, just backup and sharing with my pals.

Joe Thanks

Joined: 01 Oct 2003
Location: Dudleyville

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 5:40 am Post subject:

Gord wrote:

Why do you burn things to CD? In terms of storage, it's cheaper to just buy hard drives, and more convenient too..

BAD idea unless you are going to back up files.

Hard drives in South Korea are mad expensive when compared to prices in Taiwan, Hong Kong and parts of Japan - even.

Anyway, Wylde you never pm'd.

PM and I'll coach you through it.

Joe

has spoken

Gord

Joined: 25 Feb 2003

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 6:18 am Post subject:

Joe Thanks wrote:

Hard drives in South Korea are mad expensive when compared to prices in Taiwan, Hong Kong and parts of Japan - even.

Zuh?

Last time I bought hard drives, I paid 150,000 Won for my 160s. On www.pricewatch.com, which is the cheapest place to price computer hardware in the known universe, the same drives were in the $110 range.

$110 plus conversation - 132,000 Won.

132,000 + 10% tax = 145,000 Won.

So a 5000 Won surcharge for paying at retail.

A quick search to Yahoo Japan shopping at this very moment for hard drives reveals... holy crap! 17,000 Yen and up... and this is three months later!

Joe Thanks

Joined: 01 Oct 2003
Location: Dudleyville

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 7:54 am Post subject:

Typical computer gear head - in Akihabara they go for as low as 12, 000 Yen. Gotta look and compare. Gotta BE there.

Not everything can be compared with online shopping -as I once proved here with another Gord net price search with an mp3/cd player.

Then there's the fact if you give a damn about your files you'll want to burn them outside of a HD "in case" of something (then there's the portability, loaning or giving a copy away, backup, etc. issues).

Joe

has spoken

Gord wrote:

Joe Thanks wrote:

Hard drives in South Korea are mad expensive when compared to prices in Taiwan, Hong Kong and parts of Japan - even.

Gord

Joined: 25 Feb 2003

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 8:37 am Post subject:

Joe Thanks wrote:

Typical computer gear head - in Akihabara they go for as low as 12, 000 Yen. Gotta look and compare. Gotta BE there.

So what you are saying is that Japan, the most expensive place in the universe, has the cheapest hard drives in the universe, but you just can't prove it.

Plus even at 12,000 Yen today for a 160 GB drive is 130,000 Won, which is above what I could buy a 160GB drive for today for 120,000. Well, technically yesterday. My friend picked one up on Saturday for that price.

Even then, it's not that big of a price difference that I would care. But it does go against your claims that Korea is the most expensive place around.

Joe Thanks

Joined: 01 Oct 2003
Location: Dudleyville

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 10:21 am Post subject:

[quote="Gord"]

Quote:

So what you are saying is that Japan, the most expensive place in the universe, has the cheapest hard drives in the universe, but you just can't prove it.

No, that's what you're saying, unintented insult deleted.

What I'm saying is that you can find them there. Like any kind of shopping that people who get out of their abodes do (on a daily basis) - you look and compare and hunt them (bragains) down. Saw it with my own eyes. Stated what I saw.

I know it's hard for someone who lives through the computer as a surrogate form of infomration to remember life before net shopping, but there are deals if you look: in-person, more so because of net commerce.

This ties back into the MP3/cd player thread. You told me I was lying when I said I found one for $40 in the sthates (at a Walmart- of all places) that kicks arse and does its job. It's not igh end but mid-range and is still working, has been to three countries, across the eastern Seaboard of the U. S., and from Ulsan to Kwangju to Ulsan to Pohang to Ulsan to Seoul and back so far - and it's not treated with care (much to my carelesness) - and it works as good as when I bought it - so, that blew away your claim of it being impossible or shoddily made, though as a gear head you might be incapable of realizing that some no-name brands of things could actually stand on their own. Maybe you can? I doesn't matter anyway though a I'm veering off topic.

Anyway, point being you live through the net but doubt those who SEE these things with our own EYES and do so by EXPERIENCING LIFE - as having no "proof," well that's your choice.

SEEING is believing, and you're not going to see every bargain on the net.

Regardless, onto your other point.

Quote:

Plus even at 12,000 Yen today for a 160 GB drive is 130,000 Won, which is above what I could buy a 160GB drive for today for 120,000. Well, technically yesterday. My friend picked one up on Saturday for that price.

That's great. Now, where did they find it? Maybe folks would like to get in on some of that.

Quote:

Even then, it's not that big of a price difference that I would care. But it does go against your claims that Korea is the most expensive place around.

No, it doesn't but it does show what I mentioend above - if you go out and look for things you might be surprised at what you find.

IN the 3+ years since I last lived in Korea a lot of electronics have dropped in price. Cellphones are asseninely - INSANELY overpriced and I think that will be one thing that will NEVER change here. The local brands also suck too. Anyway, DVD players are almost at human levels, but once in a blue moon you'll find a local steal for like 88 thousand won. It' not much but it can do the job for somoene who wants a player to last for their time here (assuming that they aren't a lifer). That IS a big difference than what used ot be available (between 200-500 won in 1999, though most were mid-range to high end products).

Have you lived in Taiwan or Hong Kong or Japan and been able to compare?

Regarding your potential answer: the net deosn't count. Experience does.

Taiwan was tops. I won't guess about other things in your life, but for tech gear - and deals to be hd - you'd feel like you had died and gone to heaven. Hong Kong is comparable to the US when it comes to video (though software is much cheaper), but for computers it's closer to Korea these days - with limited exeptions (notebooks are generally cheaper in Hong Kong). Japan is hit or miss and one really needs to pound the pavement and compare, but bargains can be found if you're in resonable-sized cities. Korea still demands the highest prices across the board, when compared to places where I have some experience shopping around.

That being said, the Land of the Morning Computer's electronics pricing has come a long way in 5 years, when a toaster was 30-50 thousand won (now they cas be had for as low as 14 thousand).

I hope the trend continues.

Joe

has spoken

Gord

Joined: 25 Feb 2003

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 2:41 pm Post subject:

Joe Thanks wrote:

This ties back into the MP3/cd player thread. You told me I was lying when I said I found one for $40 in the sthates (at a Walmart- of all places) that kicks arse and does its job. It's not igh end but mid-range and is still working, has been to three countries, across the eastern Seaboard of the U. S., and from Ulsan to Kwangju to Ulsan to Pohang to Ulsan to Seoul and back so far - and it's not treated with care (much to my carelesness) - and it works as good as when I bought it - so, that blew away your claim of it being impossible or shoddily made, though as a gear head you might be incapable of realizing that some no-name brands of things could actually stand on their own. Maybe you can? I doesn't matter anyway though a I'm veering off topic.

While we are stepping back into the past, I would like to point out that the unit was a discontinued product and not something that was regularly sold which was the subject matter.

Quote:

That's great. Now, where did they find it? Maybe folks would like to get in on some of that.

You can go to pretty much any store and get it. It was a regular price, not the result of a crazy discount or discontinued product.

Quote:

IN the 3+ years since I last lived in Korea a lot of electronics have dropped in price. Cellphones are asseninely - INSANELY overpriced and I think that will be one thing that will NEVER change here.

Apples and oranges. The Korean government ruled that giving away free or heavily discounted phones and tying that person to a contract was anti-competative.

Phones in Korea are no more expensive than non-contract phones bought elsewhere, there simply isn't an option to jump into a contract for a discount. Plus the actual use of phones is cheaper than that of pretty much everywhere and at the end of the month, the cost to own and use the phone is lower.

So while my friend in Japan gets a new phone every year for free, his average phone bill is more than 10,000 Yen and that's with minimal use. I use my phone upwards of an hour a day and I spend 70,000 a month. I could just as easily buy myself a new phone every year and still have used it more than my friend in Japan while still having more money in my pocket at the end of the day.

Quote:

The local brands also suck too. Anyway, DVD players are almost at human levels, but once in a blue moon you'll find a local steal for like 88 thousand won. It' not much but it can do the job for somoene who wants a player to last for their time here (assuming that they aren't a lifer). That IS a big difference than what used ot be available (between 200-500 won in 1999, though most were mid-range to high end products).

In 1999, I was the first store in my region to rent DVDs. There were no cheap DVD players available anywhere at the time and most units were in the $350US and up range. The first mass-market, cheap DVD player was the PS2 which managed to double the DVD player installed base in North America within three months of coming out.

Why is it you are quoting DVD player prices then to today as a way of showing how things were overpriced here? DVD players were expensive five years ago in Korea? Well, they were expensive everywhere. Even the pirate Chinese units were expensive.

Quote:

Regarding your potential answer: the net deosn't count. Experience does.

When shopping in person for discontinued or overstocked products, deals may be found, I agree. But that isn't a reliable way to judge a market, particularly on something like hard drives were are commodities as there are very few manufacturers making very few models.

Joe Thanks

Joined: 01 Oct 2003
Location: Dudleyville

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 8:52 pm Post subject:

Gord wrote:

While we are stepping back into the past, I would like to point out that the unit was a discontinued product and not something that was regularly sold which was the subject matter.

No, that wasn't it at all. It WAS regularly sold, on the shelf. It may still be, but I can't walk to an Americna Walmart to see.

LOTS of shops (big and small) have UNADVERTIZED bargains. Again - my point: net doesn't ammount to much when youcna go in first, and see what's there yourself.

Quote:

You can go to pretty much any store and get it. It was a regular price, not the result of a crazy discount or discontinued product.

Western Digital? That's all Joe, personally, trusts.

Quote:

Apples and oranges. The Korean government ruled that giving away free or heavily discounted phones and tying that person to a contract was anti-competative.

Not apples and organges.

Glad i didn't have to buy one, thoguh the one I was given rather sucks.

Quote:

Phones in Korea are no more expensive than non-contract phones bought elsewhere, there simply isn't an option to jump into a contract for a discount. Plus the actual use of phones is cheaper than that of pretty much everywhere and at the end of the month, the cost to own and use the phone is lower.

Again - you are speaking out of that tech head information gathering than based on EXPERIENCE.

Taiwan, in comparisson - cheaper with or without contract. Hong Kong is the same. Japan - the same - agian, go to Akihabara.

The USE - won't argue that. Obtaining a new one and comparing like-product abroad: SK is the scam capital, no doubt.

Quote:

So while my friend in Japan gets a new phone every year for free, his average phone bill is more than 10,000 Yen and that's with minimal use. I use my phone upwards of an hour a day and I spend 70,000 a month. I could just as easily buy myself a new phone every year and still have used it more than my friend in Japan while still having more money in my pocket at the end of the day.

That's not the issue. Issue was for hte cost of the phone. If i use the phone once a week here I still apid an ungodly sum for it, wheras a similar model purchased in Taiwan, Hong Kong or Japan was cheaper.

Quote:

WRONG again. My first player was 1997. A sony 3000. $500 bucks. By mid 1998 they were going as low as $200 for SONY models like the 550. PS2s were not introduced then. When I was back briefly - before hte PS 2 made it to the states but had been released in Japan - players were available for $150.

Quote:

Why is it you are quoting DVD player prices then to today as a way of showing how things were overpriced here? DVD players were expensive five years ago in Korea? Well, they were expensive everywhere. Even the pirate Chinese units were expensive.

The point is that things HAVE changed in certain regards here, but not everything.

Stop being an appologist and start being a realist.

Quote:

I disagree. I find that if I look hard enough I generally find better deals OFF the net than ON the net. If anything, gaging the net is good for having a feel of what the prices CAN be, but not how they generall "ARE"; meaning I can have dough ready to pay for something, but in regards to most electronics I get them cheaper in person.

Joe

has spoken

sparkx

Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: thekimchipot.com

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 11:51 pm Post subject:

Avi_Mpg_Splitter ( http://www.boilsoft.com/ )... Very user friendly...

Gord

Joined: 25 Feb 2003

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 7:12 am Post subject:

Joe Thanks wrote:

No, that wasn't it at all. It WAS regularly sold, on the shelf. It may still be, but I can't walk to an Americna Walmart to see.

I can buy brand new N64s on the shelf for $39. That doesn't mean they in fact didn't stop making them four years ago, or that they were priced at $39 through their market life, or that $39 is the price I would pay should Nintendo re-enter the market to sell more should the supply on the market cease to be.

Quote:

Western Digital? That's all Joe, personally, trusts.

"Back in the day" Western Digital was the mark of Satan. Now it's reliable. Seagate used to be Swiss for indestructable, now it's French for dangerous.

Right now, I've got drives from everyone except Fujitsu in my apartment, but that's because I'm in the middle of suing them for the crap drive fiasco on 2001. So far, all are working fine.

Quote:

Not apples and organges.

Glad i didn't have to buy one, thoguh the one I was given rather sucks.

Then let's choose a couple models sold in both countries and compare them. Though you might not want to choose Motorolla models as much of their buget line starts at a suggest retail price of 30,000 Yen, with the high end ones costing more than 60,000.

The MS250 sells for a street price 421,000 Won in the most expensive place I could find it, while the same unit sells in Japan for 54,500 Yen at the cheapest place I could find it. I chose this unit by random, but we can repeat the exercise if you wish with any model.

Quote:

You cite going to one magical place in search of stores that sell things below their cost, and then you cite this as being normal when comparing it to any number of stores elsewhere.

Quote:

As was noted above with the Motorola example, this does not appear to be true.

Quote:

Oh really? Let's see what the DVD industry was saying:

Quote:

INTELECT ASW research shows that the average purchase price of a DVD player has gone from $591 at the end of 1997 to $422 in 1998. For January 1999, the price stabilized at $426. Seventy-six percent of the models sold in January 1999 were under $500, compared to 68% sold for under $500 during the 1998 holiday season and 25% in 1997.

http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_9903233.htm

We have your individual anecdotal claims which may or may not accurate, verses what the industry says happened as a whole with tracked numbers. So, in 1999 when I started renting out DVDs, DVD players were NOT cheap as a general rule.

Quote:

The point is that things HAVE changed in certain regards here, but not everything.

Stop being an appologist and start being a realist.

How is quoting the price a person can expect to pay without resorting to spending lots of money and time travelling around hoping to find a product being liquidated, and then claiming that the liquidation price is supportive of what the regular market price of an item was possibly not fall under being a realist?

Example: Your CD player you got for cheap. It was a discontinued product dumped onto Walmart to liquidate because that is what Walmart does with amazing efficiency. For most of the player's life, and even it's suggested retail was in line with that I had said. But you picked it up after it was discontinued and priced for liquidation, you proclaim that such a price is an everyday affair.

I picked up a game last week for $5, therefore now I will proclaim that all games sold on the market are $5? Of course not.

Quote:

Basically you are gambling a store is willing to eat a loss or no profit in order to appease you as a customer in the hopes you will return in the future. Great. Some stores do that, some don't. Because I have worked retail, I don't mind paying the prices asked. But in exchange, I expect support. When something goes wrong, I just walk back and exchange it with no questions asked instead of jumping around a field of suspicious looks because they know I am a good customer.

When I quote prices, it's a price a person can expect to pay. I don't sugar coat it with "find a retailer with a return that needs to be liquidated for less than cost" or other such tale to "defeat the system".

Last edited by Gord on Mon Mar 22, 2004 3:55 pm; edited 1 time in total

wylde

Joined: 14 Apr 2003

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 7:25 am Post subject:

sparkx - that software is cool, it wont let me use the serial i have for it so its not gunna last.. just 10 days. joe, gord.... i can split files now, thanks.

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