AboutAl Slagle Expertise I can answer questions about the following places: Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Hue, Hanoi, and Halong Bay. I can answer questions about accommodations, transportation, food, and sightseeing spots.
Experience I traveled from Cambodia into Vietnam and then made my way up the coast of Vietnam from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi by train and bus.
Expert: Al Slagle Date: 2/23/2008 Subject: bringing dvd to vietnam
Question hi, nice to meet you !
i am a vietnamese, i have lived in U.S for 20 years...
this will be the first time i visit motherland vietnam
i want to bring some dvd movie for my nephew (as gift)(over 12 titles)(my nephew likes to collect hollywood dvd movies).
is there any problems ?
please let me know, thank you !
Answer Dear Huy,
All (official) DVDs are programmed with a region code. Unfortunately, the region code for American DVDs is 1 while the region code for Vietnam is 3. That obviously means that if your nephew has a DVD player (or PC) that was made in/for Vietnam, he would not be able to play American DVDs.
Now, of course, there are ways around this. You mentioned that your nephew likes to collect Hollywood movies which sounds like he has some already. If you can find that out first, you should be clear. Assuming he cannot play them, there are programs which you can download on your PC that will allow you to "rip" the DVDs to your PC hard drive. If your nephew doesn't mind going through this extra step, he would be able to watch the DVDs on his PC. Now if this sounds too troublesome or complicated, you could always just buy a "region-free" DVD player. They're pretty reasonable these days.
The only other thing I can think of is any possible duty tax you might have to pay for bringing in gifts. I don't have the exact number for Vietnam but I believe the limit is around US$400 for Japan so if you can keep the total value of the gifts under that, there should be no problems. Check their website for more details.
Well, I hope I've answered your question. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me anytime. More importantly, have a great trip! You're going to love it!
