bunnett

Having to move back to the UK and was now wondering if we can take our TV's and DVD players with us. Anyone got advice?


Sharon

chazcanning

Hi Sharon

I'm an electrician in vancouver The answer is no unless they are dual voltage the voltage here is 120v
60Hz in the uk it's 240v 50Hz check the info on the back of tv/ dvd i know my pc has a switch on the back . hope this helps regards chaz

Oakvillian

That's a different twist on an old topic....

You'll need a step-down voltage converter if the power supplies to your TV and DVD aren't dual-voltage. Unlike driving UK devices in Canada, there shouldn't be an issue with power consumption, as the power drawn by a step-down transformer is about half the rated power consumption of the device at nominal voltage.

Your TV won't receive broadcast signals in the UK unless it is dual NTSC-PAL (highly unlikely if bought on this side of the Atlantic) but may be useful for playing Canadian DVDs or plugging in Canadian video games.

Analogue broadcast (the NTSC/PAL thing) is a bit less of an issue now anyway - the UK isn't too far away from switching off the analogue signal, so you'd be OK with a HD satellite or DVB set-top box. in a wholly-digital system.

Neither is broadcast system compatibility an issue for newer games consoles of Blu-Ray systems, because they are digital signals and don't use the analogue encoding of either NTSC or PAL. However, there are two standards of connector for the HDMI interconnect system - you'll need to make sure you have the right ends on your interconnect cables.

A good AV store either here or in the UK should be able to advise.

PaulandNikki

Alternatively, you could buy UK ones from people about to head the other way. I just happen to know someone with some electricals they are selling.....

Canada2006

If in doubt contact the supplier of the article in CA and the UK and ask. Some will be able to confirm if it will work or not with a step-down transformer. The biggest issue could be the frequency of the AC - it's not feasible to convert this from 50hz to 60hz.

Oakvillian

but this isn't an issue with electronics, it's only relevant for items that use AC motors. Electronic components typically use between 5 and 12V DC; the power supply is effectively a transformer and a rectifier circuit to provide a smooth steady DC supply. Sure, there are some implications of a 20% difference in alternating frequency, but nothing a consumer would notice in the functioning of the equipment.

dbd33

I noticed it on my record player. When I played the records at the wrong speed the devil spoke to me, backwards. Since it's belt driven a new capstan sorted it out, not sure what you do if it's a direct drive model.

Oakvillian

I'm not sure one could describe a record player as "electronics" though... thoroughly analogue and with an AC motor spinning the turntable. The motors in CD and DVD players are normally low-voltage DC jobs.

Interesting that the devil should sound just like the normal music but around a minor third sharp...

Kerryaway

In Vancouver, Canada, there's a company that specializes in creating converters specifically for electrical items (UK-CDN or reverse). I didn't ask about TVs and DVDs, I just wanted to get my mother's beloved mixmaster converted but they told me to just give them the whole list of all the electricals with the watts and volts of the things I wanted to take and they would tell me how many converters I'd need, how much it would cost and then I can decide what's worth taking.Maybe there are others who do this too, I don't know. So not that this helps you much but if anyone coming over wants the company name & address - let me know. I have no idea yet if they're any good - I was only referred to them by the overseas movers we're going to use.