Do I need a dvd player?

If it won't play on your laptop, it's highly unlikely it'll play on a DVD player (unless your laptop is old and the drive may be faulty). The Vietnamese pirate DVDs have a high failure rate, I'd say one in three won't play for me, on DVD player or Mac. The Chinese ones are pricier, but generally better quality. Unless you're really keen to buy a DVD player, I'd recommend trying a few more - after all, they're only 50c.

Next time, bring your laptop along and try it first. No guarantee that it will play the entire movie though.
Otherwise, the place to go when it comes to electronics and household electrical items is
http://www.nguyenkim.com/

Not the cheapest, but the most reliable.

There are free high-speed DVD checking software available on the InterNet. You just s;ap the copy DVD in the laptop and wait a couple of minutes.

Most likely the source of the trouble is that the DVD was burned too fast.

The streets around the back side of the SunWah building on Nguyen Hue have better quality AND you can take defective ones back for exchange.

No, you don't need a dvd player.

I think this can help:
"All you need to do to fix this is download and install one of the many Windows Codec packs.  I installed one on my wife's netbook and videos and DVDs now run fine in Windows Media Player.  (There are other, maybe better, video players that will also work, but keeping things simple with as few additional applications as possible is best for my wife's computing.)  I think this is the pack I installed:
http://download.cnet.com/Windows-Essent … 62709.html"

To make it simple, you just need to download this and install. Then you can play your DVDs. 
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/


Thank you EB! I would come back to your great website when I were outside of Vietnam.

MatthiasB wrote:

The Chinese ones are pricier, but generally better quality.

Say what??!!!????

China and quality used in the same sentence....I really think the world is going to end in a few days!!

haha

dtcali wrote:

MatthiasB wrote:

The Chinese ones are pricier, but generally better quality.

Say what??!!!????

China and quality used in the same sentence....I really think the world is going to end in a few days!!

haha

I didn't say good quality, just better than a one-in-three failure rate :-)

I like the idea of swapping back the failures, might try Nguyen Hue. Thanks for the info, Jaitch.

It is not at the back side of the SunWah. It is on the side of Sunwah, specifically Nguyen Thuc Khang street.

Otherwise, you can find some inside the Tax Center nearby.

If you want to play your dvd. download VLC player from video land its free just google it. if your dvd doesn't play with that. chances are you got a bad one.

Anatta wrote:

It is not at the back side of the SunWah. It is on the side of Sunwah, specifically Nguyen Thuc Khang street.

Like cockroaches, the shops have spread around the block at the back.

I tale a friends son there to buy them every couple of months.

Jaitch

I walk pass that area on average 4 times/day, so know the area better than most.

At the very back, there is a Sacombank, a Safeway sandwich shop and a pizza shop.

If you are referring the electronic shops further away, they do not sell bootleg DVD movies (except maybe an odd one out). They sell electronics hardware: cameras, karaoke machines, headphones, TV, remote controls.. The ones on Ho Tung Mau sell also fans, fridges, rice cookers,...  The stores in Ho Tung Mau sell DVDs but specializing in games (XBOX, PS2). They do also modding XBOX to play those game DVDs.

However, the seven stores I mentioned earlier specialize in bootleg DVDs (and nothing else). They are located next to each others, all within an distance of less than 30 meters across.


For others: just a note about what is hot: Ho tung Mau is fast becoming a favorite hangout for expats. During a short 6months, I have seen nearly 10 restaurants, bars targeting mostly foreigners opening there, including a Japanese restaurant, a French bookstore, a beer house, a breakfast cafe, a restaurant advertising cooking "authentic Vietnamese food", another big restaurant just opened as late as last week,... I have yet to mention several bars existing from before which are open to as late as 5AM. One having the following tag line "Cool beer, Cool people, Crazy girls"!!!