Using a Canadian TV in the UK?

[world_champ59]

Hi,

Don't know if I’ve posted in the correct section or if anyone will be able to help.

My brother is living in Canada at the moment but he is moving back to the UK. He wants to know if it will be possible to use his TV’s in the UK. I presume it will be possible to use a power inverter to gain the correct voltage but not sure if there will be any issues with the Ariel input.

Any help would be much appreciated!!

Thanks

[hech54]

I wouldn't bring(send) them overseas. Canada is NTSC and UK is PAL. They are going to get mucked up in transit and it is most likely they will be useless in a PAL environment.

[world_champ59]

Thanks hech54 for the reply,

My brother is keen to use the tv's in the UK as he has two rear projection tv's that he doesn't really want to replace as well as a few other smaller tv's.

Do you, or anyone else know if it would be possible to adapt ntsc to pal?

Thanks again.

[hech54]

The tuners will be the problem mainly. I have an NTSC Region 1 Philips DVD Recorder here in PAL Land. It still is able to record through any input EXCEPT the anteanna. The connections are also NOT the same. To get the same connection here in Germany you need to use their satelite connections and adapt them....but the NTSC tuner would still prevent me from watching(or recording) TV on the PAL output from the cable.
I'm a Yank now living in Germany.

[Lexus]

Firstly, your brother needs to check if his TVs will display PAL properly. Send your brother a Region 2 (ie PAL) DVD and if it plays ok on his TV's then they will probably be ok for use in the UK as long as he uses composite/SVHS/component inputs here. These input signals are available (variously) from UK DVD players, video recorders and Sky or Freeview boxes. The TVs' onboard NTSC tuners will not work here and it would be very difficult if not impossible to have them converted. A £50 Freeview box is a much better solution. Also note that US and Canadian TVs do not have scart or RGB support.

If the R2 DVD doesn't play on his TVs it may be the DVD player(s) and not the TVs that are the problem. In that case, he'll have to try more than one DVD player. (I've just returned from holiday in Canada and my R2 DVDs played fine on the hotel room's DVD player and TV.)

I can undestand why he might want to bring his rear projection TVs back; I noticed that 60" Sony widescreens out there cost less than half what we pay!

Lastly, as you say, there is an issue with the voltage and he'll have to use a step down transformer (not an inverter). However, the switch-on current for a large TV is probably quite high so he'll need to get ones that are suitably rated.

[world_champ59]

Thanks hech54 and lexus for your replies,

I will try sending a R2 dvd to him, i guess it's got to be worth a try.

Cheers

Luke.