If I move to New Zealand from the US, how will that affect my DVD and Game life? (1 Viewer)

I may accept a job out there in New Zealand for a couple years or so, and I was just wondering how that would affect things.
Questions going through my head:
1. Would I have to buy a different TV (PAL vs NTSC format issues)?
2. Are they in a different DVD region there?
3. Do they have common DVD rental chains like Blockbuster?
4. Do they get game releases at the same time as the US?
Extra Question:
5. Anyone know if it's nice to live there?
Thanks for any input.

...NZ is a Region 4 / PAL country...

. . .

Well, they use a different voltage as well, so unless you own multi-voltage equipment or fancy risking your kit by running everything through converters you'd need all new electronics anyway (excepting things that use DC adapters, natch).

Should be PAL-land there, so yeah, a new TV would be in order; fortunately most PAL TVs nowadays auto-detect NTSC. DVD region is 4. Hopefully you can get SCART-enabled TV/DVD which makes for cool video (assuming RGB support for both) and negates the need for a DVD player which converts NTSC to PAL.

That's it for my knowledge. Leaving the US is always a good thing: I did it myself and have few complaints.

But don't New Zealand make is easy to purchase multi-region players over there? Or is that just a legal ruling in Australia?

Either way, like Europe you should have no difficulty purchasing a true multi-region PAL/NTSC player and as stated all new TVs can display NTSC as well as PAL. So your DVD collection is safe!

You may want to buy a new television anyway as transporting must cost some money and you should be able to get a decent widescreen set for a reasonable cost.

As for games - released the same time as the US? Don't make me laugh! Still, like DVDs there is a large import culture for games down under (and in Europe) - I would recommend taking your existing console and running it through a mains adaptor and importing American games.

Any games purchased in New Zealand are to be PAL format and will not play on your console (and vice versa) even if some region protection can be bypassed.

If you buy a PAL TV or rent one for the duration of the visit I'd guess you'd have more problems with your PAL DVD's when you return to the US than the opposite

It looks like Dvds were not created for travellers...
Last year I was living in Paris (zone 2 Pal) and Buenos Aires (Zone 4 NTSC), and now in San Francisco (Zone 1).
Therefore, my dvd collection has different formats...
Lucky, outside US, is it easy to find Dvd players Multiregion, Multinorm and even multivoltage. The same for the TVs, VHS recorders, etc.
When I moved to US from South America, i took my Dvd Player, VHS recoder with me, and here in US I bought a projector that allows all the norms (Pal B, Pal N, Pal M and NTSC). Therefore, when I move from country to country, you can carry the projector that is not big (To carry a TV is unthinkable) and your dvd collections.

Hi,
I live in Australia.
Pretty much all the dvd players are multizoned (though the dvd sold in oz are zone 4). TV's are PAL, but all dvd players I have play NTSC and TV works as well as well as VCR.
You can order everything from USA/Canada pretty cheap, though the dvd's are very cheap here. www.ezydvd.com.au is one of the main sites I use, but dvd's are cheaper in retail stores like Kmart etc.
Blockbuster is the main video outlet here. U can get all the ps2 games etc as well.
Visited NZ, very beautiful esp the south island. But too much rain he he and cold. I live in melbourne Australia
Email me if any questions. But if you have heaps of US$ you will be able to buy stuff dirt cheap in nz...

1. Would I have to buy a different TV (PAL vs NTSC format issues)?
Yes. New Zealand is a PAL territory so your current TV won't play off-air broadcast material; we also use 240v. Nearly all TVs sold here do accept NTSC though, so you will be able to use them to play your current DVDs.
2. Are they in a different DVD region there?
New Zealand is Region 4, although Region 1 DVDs can also be purchased in shops here and of course shipped from the US. Most DVD players are sold as multi-region out of the box, including brands such as Sony, Panasonic etc.
3. Do they have common DVD rental chains like Blockbuster?
Yes, we have Blockbuster and many other large rental chains that rent games, videos and DVDs.
4. Do they get game releases at the same time as the US?
No. Like the rest of the world there is often a release delay, although like DVDs they can be imported directly from the US.
5. Anyone know if it's nice to live there?
Yes, it's a very nice place to live.
Adam

Adam,

BTW, whats the best online NZ dvd outlet, since if I bought from Australia I can claim off the GST charge.

Flyingpig.co.nz used to be one but it seems to have changed, what is the cheapest one at the moment there?

PS - Shops selling zone 1 in NZ would be technically illegal, i know of some shops in Australia that do it but apparently it breaches copywrite laws since zone 1 discs can only be sold from a shop in Nth America...

Antony, I don't really use New Zealand DVD etailers, but www.dvdvideoplanet.com and www.tracsnz.com seem to have fairly good reputations. www.dvdshopnz.co.nz sell R1 and R4; parallel imports are legal here hence the R1 sales.
Adam

Hiya Adam,
Checked out those 2 sites, but they seem a bit expensive the NZ ones. I guess they have to ship it from USA then to you..
Http://www.dvdsoon.com you will get more for your $NZ from canada.
But one of my favorite search engines is
http://www.happyhunter.com