DVD rental in Budapest, used DVD player?

We're from the US and as I posted in the "Introduce yourself" forum topic, we'll be visiting scholars at the Central Europen University till June 2015.  I had a Netflix account in the US, and was hoping to pick up on my Netwflix watching in Budapest, but I was unpleasantly surprised to find that Netflix won't stream shows here.  Our only option is to rent DVDs of US shows.  Is there a place where we can rent them in Budapest? 

The apartment we live in has a TV but doesn't have a DVD player.  We're looking for cheap used DVD player.  Is there a place where we can find such things?  Thanks.

Chandra

If you are ever on the north-west part of Lake Balaton, you can have our DVD player. We gave away our TV years ago and have no need for the DVD player either.

You could subscribe to a US based VPN service and keep using netflix.

DVD rental places should exist, they are probably called "videokölcsönző" or "videotéka".
You are probably best off getting the cheapest Chinese knockoff DVD player from the closest electronics store: They either work or they don't, in which case you should be able to return it and get another one.
When they do work, they tend to ignore region coding and let you skip commercials.

And then there's bittorrent of course.

Kisallee, your offer is very sweet, thanks.  We were actually in Lake Balaton a month or so ago -- we had rented a car on our way to a 42-day long trip around the Adriatic -- Croatia, Montenegro, crossing the Adriatic from Bar to Bari, then Puglia, Matera, Urbino, Ravenna, Venice and back.  A marvelous trip indeed.  However, right now, overall it would be more cost-effective just to go and buy a DVD player.  Thanks again.

szocske, thanks for your suggestion.  I do have a VPN service via my university in the US, and I tried Netflix, but it was very slow.  I don't know if different VPN services differ in speed.  Do you think I should try out a different VPN service?  Do you have a recommendation? I have never used bittorrent, though I have heard about it.  I'll check it out.

I'm still open to hearing about places in Budapest where we can rent DVDs f US shows.

bchandrasekaran wrote:

verall it would be more cost-effective just to go and buy a DVD player.


Agreed. Not worth it unless you otherwise are out in my area.

HI,
Just saw your post.
I use http://www.primewire.ag/
It is a FREE streaming site that shows all the USA TV shows and movies.
I keep up to date on all my TV shows from North America and the UK.
All the shows are available the day after they are shown in the States.

Thank you the lead.  How does it work?  How do they handle copyright issues?  (I'm wondering if I need to worry about anything not quite legit.)

ildi wrote:

http://www.primewire.ag/


Be careful. Nothing in this world is really for free.

There have been thousands of copyright removal requests from the copyright holders against this site, and you may be held liable for downloading copyrighted material in some jurisdictions:

https://www.google.com/transparencyrepo … hl=en_US#!

And this site was possibly hacked in the past (may be again) and used to monitor user use and private information by hackers.

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/inde … 416AAfcWkf

Just go to the site and click on the movie or TV that is shown on the top. You will see all the latest. if you do not see what you want to watch just plug it in the
'search title'  box. The show will  list many sites to watch. I usually watch through
vidzi.TV or beststreams.net. You can check others in the list also but I find they load the fastest.
I have been using this for years. Sometimes the site is down then I just google what I want to watch as a 'free download'. The site usually comes back online quickly.
If there is a problem with copyright they take it off the list so you do not see it .
I have had no legal problems with this.
Contact me if you cant get on it .

I use AVAST and it catches all the ads and viruses before allowing you to watch.

When there is a copyright infringement. They will not let you download it and a message comes on that the download on this site is forbidden due to a copyright infringement.
I go then to another site that showing that same show but might be from another country that allows that through.
I am not a lawyer but this is a site watched by many people all over the world, especially where we can not get any other way of watching our shows.

ildi wrote:

I have been using this for years.


Not possible. primewire.ag was only registered as a domain name in 2013 by a company with a Turks and Caicos Islands address (Caribbean).

So called "free sites" may hide nefarious back ends (either intentionally, or unintentionally if the site was hacked). Just because you can use a site does not mean a site is safe. And offering content like "free" movies and TV shows is perfect bait (and makes a site a tempting target by hackers). You will never know you are a victim if a site is hacked.

ildi wrote:

If there is a problem with copyright they take it off the list so you do not see it .


Everything is copyrighted when created by default. That is defined in the Bern Convention on copyrights. Not all countries are signatories of this convention, but both the US and Hungary are. So any US TV shows or movies not explicitly posted by the copyright holder for such use, or placed in the public domain (which occurs only when the copyright holder places it into such as category or the copyright end period has been reached (which is pretty much only movies from the 1950's or earlier)) should not be listed as content options.



Public domain movies and TV can be found at http://archive.org

ildi wrote:

I use AVAST and it catches all the ads and viruses before allowing you to watch.


Won't catch man in the middle attacks. Those happen as the server level. Not at your computer or browser.

ildi wrote:

When there is a copyright infringement. They will not let you download it and a message comes on that the download on this site is forbidden due to a copyright infringement.
I go then to another site that showing that same show but might be from another country that allows that through.
I am not a lawyer but this is a site watched by many people all over the world, especially where we can not get any other way of watching our shows.


Copyright infringement is a civil crime in most countries. That is, the copyright holder can legally bring action against both those distributing as well as those downloading in civil court. Simply because the copyright holder does not do this in all cases does not make it any less a willful illegal act to search out sites that dismiss legal copyrights of the copyright holder to control the distribution of their property.

Breaking the law is still breaking the law. And just because a lot of people break the law does not change that. In fact, the more that break the law makes it more likely that the copyright holder has a fiscal incentive to start civil proceedings against individuals.

I know that people think this is a "victimless" crime. But as a copyright holder myself I can tell you it is not. What someone creates takes time and effort (especially something highly artistic or technical). And income for such effort is lost by disregarding copyrights. So when someone violates my copyright, they are literally taking bread from my table. But I am also not a moron. I know most people violate copyright simply because it is easy to do so, not out of evil intent.

There are a number of Facebook groups for Budapest
Used stuff for sale in Budapest! https://www.facebook.com/groups/usedstu … nbudapest/
Budapest Buy and Sell https://www.facebook.com/groups/505203309588135/
Budapest ExPat Classifieds

As far as I know according to the hungarian law you can download any movies or shows legally as long as it is for personal use and not you nor any third party makes money off it. I have never heard of anyone who got punished for downloading. Softwares are another story, but movies and shows are a free-to-go.

Here are two articles on the matter, both hungarians, use google translate on them.
http://itcafe.hu/hir/torrent_uj_btk.htmlhttp://index.hu/tech/2013/09/08/mostant … a_torrent/

We used to pay less then $10. a month for a VPN.
now we use Hola to see netflix, we have a US netflix account.
I needs me Netflix!!

Just Steve wrote:

As far as I know according to the hungarian law you can download any movies or shows legally as long as it is for personal use and not you nor any third party makes money off it.


At the link you provided, the lawyer's official review did state that if the uploader did not get permission to do the upload (a third party), the failure to pay royalties to the copyright holder may still indeed be considered income for the uploader, thus making any such upload (and maybe the download) legally problematic. In effect, that is where article states "the dog is buried" in this law. In effect, you should not be able to do any downloading at all, as the uploaded content is there illegally and actually should not be there to be downloaded. :blink:.

As the lawyer alluded, it is a poorly written law.

Used to use a DVD player 10 years ago here in Hungary, still have it but not sure it works or not.
Found the DVD's we brought from the US could only be played in the HU player a few times before they would no longer work in a US DVD player, I am a ditz with electronics but there is a logical explanation for this, was explained to me years ago but in one ear and out the other...
I have many DVD's in our loft storage, plan on doing a bootsale next fall here when I return to Hungary.( all legal ones)
I'll have to post on here if anyone is interested by then in some funky books in English and old legal DVD's.
Used to be when the old Novak bootsale was on, here near the Keliti station , just behind it, all gone now, sadly, that they sold "bootleg" DVD's for super cheap. It was crazy , young men wearing overcoats in the summer and standing just outside the sale are. They would open up their overcoats and show DVD's tied all over their bodies, just like the old wrist watches you could see sold on street corners in old Black and White films. Super funny.
The police would come by once in awhile and they would all scram.
Our neighbor loaned us a few DVD's back then and they were bootleg. really horrible stuff, either the sound was off or you would get a great view of the back of someones head.
Oh, the good ol'days, don't see those around anymore.
My husband has found allot of good shows and movies on U tube, some are fairly new.
I over the years brought over old yoga video's from the US so I could work out at home, this was many years ago.
We had brought over a nice Sony dual system tv set in 1986 from the US as a gift to my Hu in-laws. It worked good with a US model of a video machine, we did have a guy in the neighborhood rewire the machine for the HU current.
I have tried many different things to entertain myself here over the years, still have the video machine as well. Might just resale that too if we move away from HU for good.Old 80's and 90's yoga tapes and a machine... Not exactly on anyone's, hot list for Christmas I suppose.
Check out a VPN and you can pick up Netflix from either the UK or US. Again my husband set us up with Hola and it is working pretty good most times.
The cable tv here does offer some stations in English, you have to get a box they provide to switch the sound from HU to Eng. Had that for a couple of years but got tired of the shows, just have basic tv here now all in HU and my husband is the only one watching it.

Just remembered 12 years ago while we were stuck out in Erd one long cold winter we joined a Hungarian DVD club.
You got online and ordered DVD's for a couple of bucks each, they would delivery them to your home for a slight fee or you could go in and pick them up.
Was a life saver all those dark winter nights.
Not sure if there is still such a service in Hungary or not..
I also noticed they have companies that will send you a box to receive real time tv from the US, totally different then the Hungarians cable box.
I found it on line, forgot the name but easy enough to search around for. Was way, way too much every month and my husband said no way. Basic was like $60 a month up to over $120 a month for the box and signal.
I know in the US they sell something called a" Sling box" ,sold at electronic stores for less then $100. It works somehow if you have someone in the US set it up for you and send out the signal to your computer. Thought about it with my bro but seemed like a hassle.
like I said we've considered many things but VPN or hola is easier.