If I buy a DVD Recorder from Great Britian, can I use it in Canada?

[MeekloBraca]

If I buy a DVD Recorder from Great Britian, can I use it in Canada?

[Richard_G]

Depends what you intend recording from as it will be PAL. It will have a PAL tuner section and will only accept PAL inputs. About the only thing you could use it for would be recording from a camcorder (assuming the camcorder is also bought in the UK and is PAL too).

[MeekloBraca]

Im actually more concerned about plugging it into the wall and such. Isnt a GB power connection much different than in North America?

[Richard_G]

230-240 volts, 50 Hz in the UK. Many modern peices of electronics have switched mode power supplies that can cope with anything from 100-250 volts. If your chosen recorder has one of these, it should work, otherwise it won't.

[edDV]

If not you will need one of these.
http://www.dvdoverseas.com/voltage_converters.htm

Don't forget the PAL capable TV.

Unless you have already bought PAL equipment, you should rethink this plan.

[Seeker47]

230-240 volts, 50 Hz in the UK. Many modern peices of electronics have switched mode power supplies that can cope with anything from 100-250 volts. If your chosen recorder has one of these, it should work, otherwise it won't.

Isn't there another issue, wrt anything that has a motor and runs at specific speeds ? Bushings (?)

[JohnnyMalaria]

Isn't there another issue, wrt anything that has a motor and runs at specific speeds ? Bushings (?)

Not really considering what the equipment is. The DVD drive itself will be purely DC driven. Fans in the main chassis *may* be AC driven but that's unlikely, too. Nearly all modern electronic devices run everything off DC. In part, this makes it easier to make one unit to fit all markets.

Some very cheap devices are affected by 50Hz vs 60Hz - notably radio alarm clocks which estimate timing via the AC cycle. In fact, when I moved from the UK to the US, I bought a lot of electronic equipment with me - only the alarm clock was a problem. A good excuse for oversleeping! Everything else either worked as-is (with a two-prong plug of course) or through a 115-230V transformer.

[hech54]

Im actually more concerned about plugging it into the wall and such. Isnt a GB power connection much different than in North America?

Like RichardG said....it will come with a PAL format tuner and you will
not be able to record television with it.
And since not many DVD recorders these days can record both
PAL and NTSC even through cinch/RCA connections...you may be buying
a 220 volt paperweight that you can't even plug it to the wall.

[ntscuser]

If I buy a DVD Recorder from Great Britian, can I use it in Canada?

If you told us what you intend to use it for, that would be a great help? There may be other ways to achieve the same result.