Buying an American telly...

M

Mike UK

Guest
As of a couple of weeks ago, I'm living in the US for a couple of years, and I'm just setting up my apartment with cable, home entertainment system etc.

But. It seems that US tv's don't support PAL at all (ie don't have PAL tuners), not even international brands like Sony. And I'd like to invest in a nice telly whilst they are cheap in order to bring it back to the UK after my two year stint here.

My budget's about $2k, so a really nice CRT, but not quite enough for a plasma or LCD of decent size.

So, does anyone have any advice? Been in the same situation? Seen a Pal to Ntsc convertor in action? Know who I may be able to ask or where I could get a 'multiregion' tv from? Have done a search but wouldn't mind advice from someone who's done it already.

Hopefully someone can save me some legwork here as I'm going round in a few circles at the moment!!

Cheers

Mike
 
PAL > NTSC standards conversion, unless you want to spend thousands on studio quality equipment (eg from Snell & Willcox) is really not an option to take. Domestic (read...cheap) converters seriously degrade the image. A PAL and NTSC capable TV is the only way to go. Perversely, you may need to source it over here......
 
Hi,

Buy a US video magazine and look at the ads.

Some US dealers (mainly in New Jersey... but probably some in NY as well.) can supply multistandard tvs.

Brian
 
Originally posted by Mike UK

.....I'd like to invest in a nice telly whilst they are cheap in order to bring it back to the UK after my two year stint here.....
Aren’t you forgetting one small point, Voltage, the USA uses 110 volt (60 Hz) whereas over here in the UK we use 240 volt (50 Hz)

I suppose you could run the set from a yellow110-volt transformer (the type used on building sites etc) when you get back, but that’s going to look nice sitting in your front room :eek:

Or am I missing something here?

Tb
 
Mike UK,

I was in the same position a couple of years ago. The only things I could find in Manhattan shops capable of displaying a PAL picture were Plasmas, at 10k a pop. It was a similar story finding anything 16:9 too.

I'm sure bxd is right and there are specialist places if you know where to look. I also know now there are some e-tailers doing dual standard stuff, like Planet 3000. Remember too that you won't be charged sales tax over the net, unless the firm has a physical presence in your state.

One thing to bear in mind could be the cost of getting a 50 kg widesreen CRT home at the end of your posting, if your employer's not footing the bill. You won't be charged UK import duty though as you'll have owned it abroad for over six months.

I a bought a small W/S LCD myself, and it came back as hand luggage. NTSC only but I feed it PAL TV through a Samsung SV-5000W, which has a built in standards converter. It's also dual voltage but I could have used a quality step-down transformer if it wasn't (I do on a 110v CD receiver). If I was doing it again now though, I'd be tempted to pick up a projector instead - small, easily transportable and multi-standard, you can feed them telly from a DTVA or VCR. And I believe the saving would be quite healthy, too.

Hope this helped,
Elfer
 
Thanks everyone for the help (esp. Elfer) - it's really appreciated. I will try the av mag route and check the ads for potential multistandards tv's, but it seems like what I really need to do is convince the gf that a projector is the way to go... :)

I'll post back with details of my eventual purchase in the next week or so..
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom