A Multisystem Home Theater (1 Viewer)

[Milton Berger]

Dear all,

I am a Brazilian, currently living in Holland as an expatriate for a period of about 3 years.

I have very recently decided to install a home theater. Off course, whatever equipment I buy here would need to work Ok also when I go back to Brazil.

As you may know, the color system in Brazil is PAL-M, different from all others, whereas the color system in Holland is PAL.

I was wondering: Which of the home theater devices are subject to color system?

I have the following pieces of a puzzle that I need to combine while designing my home theater:

1) A DVD that outputs at PAL-M and NTSC
2) A Camcorder that outputs at NTSC
3) A Nintendo Video Cube, purchased in Brazil that must ouput at PAL-M, but has also a digital (component) output
4) A VCR that outputs at PAL-M or NTSC
5) A TV set (that I may just use as a back-up as I want to buy a front projector) that is able to reproduce PAL-M or NTSC
6) I need to be able to watch Dutch TV from cable
7) I need to be able to watch Brazilian TV from cable
8) I want to avoid expending a lot of money in buying stuff here in Holand that will not work when I get back to Brazil

So, my question is: What should I pay atention at while projecting my home theater with respect to the color system? Which equipments are affected by this factor?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Milton if there are compatibility issues, you would be better off to purchase some kinds of equipment twice. For example I have a VHS deck that both records and plays back PAL and NTSC (and handles both voltages). But really for the price I paid, I could have bought two VHS decks—one when I was an expat and one when I returned. To make matters worse, I did this twice, buying a dual system deck in Singapore, wearing it out and buying another one in Australia.

 

[Milton Berger]

Lew,

Thanks for your response but buying equipment twice as you say would depend on which equipment we are talking about. Does it apply for instance to the front projector? It doesn't seem to me that it make to much sense to buy this twice.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Milton, of course not. My brief reply was only intended to convey the idea that paying extra for devices to be used to display multiple systems needs to be examined. I should have stated that this consideration should be on a case-by-case basis.