Saucy DVDs

We moved into the new house on the weekend and are mostly settled now. I know I promised photos, but I haven't got any to show you yet. Will post some soon.

The move was pretty easy, and made easier by our friend Grant's ute, which took all our meagre possessions in one load.

Later that afternoon we ventured to the Morning Market (contradiction in terms, I know) in order to grab a few bits and pieces that we needed to make the house a little more livable.

While we were wandering around we happened on the electronics section where all manner of goodies from China and Thailand can be purchased. We had been pondering buying a DVD player since there was one of our former house mates had bought one and we'd gotten used to having it around, so we decided to stop and have a browse.

The enthusiastic sales person wanted to sell us a brand-free player initially, but since we're suckers for a label we decided we'd rather have something with a brand and a warranty. We initially thought we'd just be boring and buy the same model as the one in the old house, a Philips, but then saw a Sony that we were able to bargain down to US$20 less than the Philips.

Since a brand name is a brand name as far as we're concerned we decided on the Sony, only to find that it didn't come in a box (Alarm bells start ringing. They are ignored). Despite the lack of box, everything seemed to be in order, there was a remote and a manual, possibly with a warranty inside. We took the Sony home and plugged it in only to discover the friendly people at the market had sold us a SOYA in Sony's clothing.

For those of you unfamiliar with the amazing plethora of Chinese DVD and VCD players on the market here is a sample of the brands available: Soya, Family, Integrity, and too many others to mention.

Anyway, Soya is not Sony. Soya is, in fact, quite a lot cheaper than Sony. Soya does not come with a warranty. Soya was not what we had paid for.

Throwing caution to the wind we decided to make use of the Soya overnight, as the market was closed by this time, and take it back the next morning. That plan was to be thwarted by the fact that the Soya, true to its name, was a bit gooey and didn't' actually work.

"Ah, well, that's what you get for buying a cheap dodgy DVD player", we would have told ourselves if that's what we had actually done. Well, it was what we had done, but not what we intended to do, if you catch my drift.

Next day I took the Soya back to the market, heavies in tow, and told the saleswoman in my best dodgy Lao that not only was the DVD player a Soya not a Sony, it didn't in fact work. She looked a little sheepish, just enough to win me over, and offered a replacement.

We had decided that a replacement Soya wasn't what we were after and so I asked the sheepish saleswoman if we could swap it for the Philips we should have bought in the first place, paying the difference of course.

The Philips did come in a box and does have a warranty and we are enjoying watching the entire first series of the O.C on DVD, even if it is made by Rupert Murdoch.