Bringing burned DVDs into China

[neonoodle]

I have a very extensive DVD collection that I would like to take with me to China, but I don't want to take the originals for fear of something happening to them. I was wondering if I'd have any problems taking a couple folders of burned copies instead. Also if I'd be able to take copies back to the states whenever I do return?

[muyongshi]

Not one itty bitty problem at all...end of story. Bring em.

[roddy]

If you are coming in via a major point of entry - Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong the chances of being stopped and searched on the way in are minimal. Even if they do I doubt they'd care about your DVDs. On the way out, same again, but you may want to think about what you're going to say if you get spotted at US customs on the way in.

But - why bother. Plenty of cheap pirate DVDs here which will probably cost you similar to what a blank disk costs you in the US. Buy anything you want to watch, save on luggage space.

[BrandeX]

its about 50 cents a movie here for mostly "real looking" DVD's complete with cases. You may not want to bother unless its an old or hard to find title.

[cdn_in_bj]

Be aware that if you're planning to watch your movies on a TV set (versus a computer), you will have a hard time playing NTSC-encoded DVDs using Chinese DVD players and TVs which are usually compatible only with the PAL standard. Some of the newer LCD TV's are dual-standard, but these are not that common here yet. And I'm not sure if there are DVD players that will convert from NTSC to PAL.

If you're planning to watch them on your laptop, instead of copying the discs why not just encode them to MPEG4 and store them on a portable hard drive?

If you prefer to watch them on a TV, an easier way might be to encode to MPEG4 and burn to DVD - a lot of DVD players now support DivX-encoded discs. And you'll also use up less discs this way too.

[imron]

I like the "buy them here" idea. It also saves on all the time spent encoding/burning, which if you have a large selection of movies you want to bring across could be a considerable amount of time.

[roddy]

Actually a portable hard drive full of movies + DVD player with a USB port might be a nice solution.

I can see why a film buff might want their movies with them - after all the ones you pick up here aren't always the best of quality, may lack extras, etc.

[BrandeX]

Also, region restrictions, and PAL/NTSC aren't an issue if like mentioned you play the movie on your PC... which you can then connect to your TV via the S-Video out jack on the computer.

[neonoodle]

They're mostly series & not movies, but whenever I buy DVDs, I copy them and put the originals safely in my rack. So I already have the copies. The problem is if I can't bring the copies back, then I'll have to copy them all again from the originals, which takes a while because of all the protections. I thought about a portable hard drive, but it would take a lot of time to encode all the ones I want to bring. I guess either way it's going to take a lot time.

Well thanks for all the advice. I really appreciate it

[nomad]

Neon, just brought this up or probaby I missed it in this thread. Anyone have any problems taking DVDs in their checked or carry on luggage when leaving China to the States?

[roddy]

Again, you can buy TV shows on DVD here just as easily - at one point I had quite the HBO addiction. Not sure what everyone else is paying at the moment but the store downstairs for me charges RMB 6 per disc, so that's under a dollar. You won't get the quality / extras of your US bought versions, but as a stopgap it might work.

[nomad]

I'm talking about bringing DVDs BOUGHT IN CHINA and then taken them to the US. Has anyone had their DVDs taken away from them at an airport IN China on their way home?

[imron]

Yes and I imagine roddy was replying to neonoodle's post and not yours, so no need to SHOUT (sh). Anyway, in answer to your question, did you try the search function?