Aberdeen

Bill Griffith · 05-12-2003, 07:12 AM

Might be Moving from Houston, Tx to Aberdeen, Scotland.

Will my Home Theater components work over there. Will I be able to use a simple plug adapter for my Computer, 47" Panny TV, Reciever, Xbox, etc....

Just curiose If I need to think about selling this stuff or If I'll actually be able to use it ove there.

Thanks for the advice.

BrianB · 05-12-2003, 08:16 AM

You're an oil man then, Bill?

Been to Aberdeen before?

There's two things to be concerned about - electical standards & TV standards.

For your computer, it should just be a matter of switching the voltage on the power supply - look at the back of your computer near the powercord, there's usually a little switch. Switch it over and buy a new power cord when you arrive in the UK.

For your HT gear, you'll need adapters for all of it. If your gear is expensive & high powered, you may need to spend a little more on better quality adapters to be safe with the difference in voltage.

As for your TV, I'm guessing it's NTSC only... In which case you won't be able to watch UK broadcast TV (which is PAL) or UK bought DVDs. If you're planning on importing DVDs from abroad (which is common in the UK), then by all means take your TV. If you do decide to not take it with you, you'll have to get used to something smaller - TVs generally aren't anywhere near that size in the UK.

As for your Xbox, it won't play UK bought games - again they're PAL and also region coded to not play on US XBoxen. Your machine could be modded to play all regions. If you're happy to import games (which is not uncommon or hard to do), then feel free to take your US XBox with you - you'll need a power converter again, but no big deal.

Simple US to UK travel adaptor on Maplin - this would work for a Xbox.

Portable stepdown transformer from Maplin - this is a more "heavy duty" adaptor.

Yee-Ming · 05-12-2003, 09:48 AM

what Brian said.

FWIW, sounds to me it might be worthwhile to keep only the audio side of things for now, since these should work easily with the only issue being the voltage and AC cycle, which a transformer can take care of, whereas a new TV (PAL v. NTSC) and DVD player should be bought; I am not sure if the UK regularly sells multi-system TVs and players (multi-coded of course), like here in South East Asia -- if so, it seems like a good opportunity to get some gear that will enable you to play R2/4 stuff when you return to the US.

e.g., I often suggest to anyone travelling here to buy a DVD player, which will be multi-system and multi-code right out of the box.

BrianB · 05-12-2003, 10:08 AM

Quote:

I am not sure if the UK regularly sells multi-system TVs and players (multi-coded of course),

Yes. Most TVs sold in the UK now can easily handle PAL50/60 as well as NTSC. I'd say the majority of DVD players sold can either be modded or "hacked" to be region selectable - it's frequently a selling point even in mainstream stores.

Bill Griffith · 05-12-2003, 11:48 AM

Hmm Thanks for the Info guys.

knew about the regional DVD thing but didn't realize the Broadcasts would be different.

This might just be a good opertunity to upgrade soem of my system, New DVD Player and TV at the very least.

But I'm used to my 47", don't know If I'd want to scale down. I'll get with Panny to see if it will except PAL as well as NTSC. Its only about 1 year old. Got a guy lined up to buy it over here already just in case.

Than again I figured if I sold everything and Live like I did when in college, I would be able to pay off all my debt and start over Debt free (not included those damn student loans). That would be a nice feeling too.

**HTF Ads**

Bill Griffith · 05-12-2003, 11:48 AM

Hmm Thanks for the Info guys.

knew about the regional DVD thing but didn't realize the Broadcasts would be different.

This might just be a good opertunity to upgrade soem of my system, New DVD Player and TV at the very least.

But I'm used to my 47", don't know If I'd want to scale down. I'll get with Panny to see if it will except PAL as well as NTSC. Its only about 1 year old. Got a guy lined up to buy it over here already just in case.

Than again I figured if I sold everything and Live like I did when in college, I would be able to pay off all my debt and start over Debt free (not included those damn student loans). That would be a nice feeling too.

Lew Crippen · 05-12-2003, 12:11 PM

A couple of things to consider:

Converters for high end equipment that use a lot of power are somewhat expensive. I’d put your RPTV in that category. Your receiver might be, depending on how much power it draws.

Your assignment might be different, but in general you never know how long these things will last. I went to Australia for a month and left over five years later (this after spending over two years in Singapore instead of an expected six months). If you wind up in Scotland for a number of years, you will be far better off not taking or storing things like your TV.

Plus, you might wind up living in apartments that already have some electronic gear, such as a TV. True, it won’t be what you expect or want, but it won’t cost anything.

A lot of TV in the UK is 16:9. You did not mention, but if that 47” Panasonic is 4:3, it might not be optimal.

Have fun.

Bill Griffith · 05-12-2003, 12:16 PM

It was a 16:9, and I'm expecting the duration to be at least 2 years if not longer.

I definatly don't want to have to get another Computer (Just built it) or a reciever (I have a Onkyo 600)or speakers and such.

I could live with having to get another TV, as I would probably have to upgrade the RPTV in a couple of years anyway since it has no DVI connection.

Is there anything to worry with DD or DTS Decoding from alternate region discs? Basically if I do go with a new DVD without internal DD decoding can I still run the DVD audio signal into my Reciever or does this speak a different language as well?

Lew Crippen · 05-12-2003, 12:45 PM

Quote:

I definatly don't want to have to get another Computer (Just built it) or a reciever (I have a Onkyo 600)or speakers and such.

As already mentioned, your computer should not be a problem. Buy a hefty voltage converter for your receiver and you should be OK. All of your speakers will be fine, as they get their power from your receiver. What might be a problem is your subwoofer, assuming that it is not a passive sub. Almost for sure, the amplifier in your sub won’t have a dual-voltage power supply. So you will need another hefty (depending on how much power the sub amplifier draws) voltage converter for the subwoofer. (As an aside, if you plan on replacing or upgrading any of this equipment, it is very easy to find DVD players that are dual voltage, reasonably easy to find dual-voltage receivers and very hard to find dual-voltage powered, subwoofers.

Quote:

Is there anything to worry with DD or DTS Decoding from alternate region discs? Basically if I do go with a new DVD without internal DD decoding can I still run the DVD audio signal into my Reciever or does this speak a different language as well?

No, its just region-encoding on the DVD. DD and DTS are decoded in exactly the same manner. As long as your DVD player will accept the region code (play the DVD) you will be OK

It is not too hard to find DVD players that have dual-voltage power supplies, that are happy with both PAL and NTSC and are region free. There are some that will even convert PAL DVDs to NTSC, so you don’t have to worry about your NTSC TV (this won’t help for TV however).

You did not mention, but if you have a VCR, the chances that it will play a tape recorded in PAL satisfactorily is almost zero. VCRs are so cheap, that your best bet would be to buy one in the UK. I have a multi-power one that records and plays back PAL, NTSC and SECAM, but on balance I think that it cost more than its value.

Eric Kahn · 05-12-2003, 03:18 PM

I was on the UK sony site awhile back investigating multi region TV's, you can get RPTV's over there but be prepared for sticker shock, the prices were about twice what they are here

you need to check and see if your reciever can handle 50 cycle power, transformers will not change the cyclic rate of ac current.

it really would be out of the question to ship your Panasonic over to the UK since you would never be able to watch anything over there unless you brought all you NTSC stuff with you, In my search last year for multi region stuff, panasonic did not sell any here at all, the biggest thing I came up with was a 32 inch Hitachi analog set so you should go ahead and sell your TV before your friend buys another