Question about video recorders!
 

Hello again.

I have a long list of inane questions that need answering before I go, but rather than go for it all at once, I'll just keep trickling them through! :D

Here's one:

Here in the UK I have a VCR that is a PAL (European) machine, but has the ability to play NTSC cassettes.

In Canada, which of course uses NTSC format, will I be able to buy a VCR that is PAL compatible? I have dozens of tapes that I'd hate to get shut of. :confused:

Likewise, how easy is it to get hold of multi-region DVD players so I can play my Region 2 DVDs? I "fixed" my current player to be multi-region - I'm presuming this is possible in Canada too?

Any comments/advice would be much appreciated. :)

TV licenses in Canada?
 

and does Canada tax (oops I mean license) TV viewing like UK??

Multi region DVD players are easy to come by but more expensive than the conventional ones.

If you have a VCR that plays NTSC and PAL then you should be able to play all your vids.

Re: TV licenses in Canada?
 

There is no TV license, but my cable bill is ~$40 per month (~45 chanels, still nothing worth watching, 50 if you count the French ones!)

If you dont have cable / satellite, Antenna will pick up local CBC, CTV broadcasts for free, and maybe some from the states as well, depending where you are. Most people I know pay for cable, starting at ~$25 per month for basic bundle, plus the obligatory taxes.

Dual system VCRs are available, but start at $700+ (plus tax of course, add another 15%). Multiregion DVD players are a lot cheaper, I think nearly all players have a cheatcode to turn off the regionallity (Sp? Is that even a word?) you just need to find out what it is.

Due to additional expense of the equipment it is probably better to convert tapes to NTSC (less than $20 each for sure) or even transfer to DVD if they are very important to you. Movies etc might be cheaper to just buy the NTSC version. I think a DVD created in the UK as a "no region" format, should be OK on a North American player, but I dont know anyone that has tried this.

I suspect a british dual system VCR would have a PAL output, so would not work with a regular NTSC TV here, even if you get past the 240 / 120V issue? If you bring your PAL tv, it would only be OK for watching old PAL videos. Probabaly better to cut your losses, convert the tapes you really need, replace those you can, and save money by getting NTSC only equipment when you get here (To give an idea, Walmart or Zellers VCR, <$100, RadioShack has DVD recorders now ~$700, I saw a 42" plasma panel TV in Walmart for $4k, regular 27"TV is approx $500))). Having said that it depends how much stuff you need to convert.

With this huge country to explore, who has time to watch TV anyway (with the exception of Saturday morning Footy...I have to keep in touch with my roots after all!)


Good Luck, hope some of this is usefull info!

Iain

Thanks Iain, plus next question...
 

Cheers Iain

You're dead right - I fully intend to get off my fat arse and see some of the country instead of sitting watching telly all the time.

BUT, of course a good way to spend those cold nights in is to watch classic sitcoms - which are the tapes I'm most concerned about.

I couldn't bear the prospect of not being able to watch Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, Father Ted, Red Dwarf etc etc when I want. That's chiefly why I asked.

My partner's brother in law moved to Guelph from London (UK)about 4 years ago and when I asked him what he missed the most, his first answer was "decent British comedy"! :D (although yes, yes, I know Father Ted's Irish!)

It looks like, now I know they are available, I might just have to bite the bullet and get a PAL capable machine. I always thought that electronic goods were cheaper in Canada than here, and $4k for a 42" plasma tv is pretty good (still about £3-4k here), but an NTSC capable VCR here will only set you back £100 nowadays.

Also, Iain, you've gone part way to answering my next question.

FOOTBALL...

Just how often can I expect to see a Premiership match over there...more specifically (without intending to turn this into a football thread with flaming potential) how often can I expect to see a televised United game?

Hey, we're moving to Guelph in January!

I'm not taking VCRs or DVD players, as they contain motors. Any motor designed for 240V will be very dodgy in North America. Best not to take the chance and buy the new goods there.

As we're expecting people to tape Brit stuff for us and mail it over, converting to NTSC will be too expensive, so we'll be getting a PAL compatible VCR. Also, we'll be getting a multi-region DVD player, as UK DVDs are region 2 and won't play on North American DVD players without fiddling - so we'll be getting a multi region.

Graham

> I'm not taking VCRs or DVD players, as they contain motors.

they will be just fine. They have low-voltage DC motors in them.

In fact, most dvd players have a multi-voltage power supply. Just look on the label on the backof the player.

Britcoms and Socc...FOOTBALL
 

Dont get too carried away by the prices quoted, coming to canada you will have to get used to A: Adding 15% tax to almost every price you see, and B: getting paid in Dollars, not pounds (it took me a couple of years to curb the temptation to convert $ to pounds, and justify every purchase as a bargain!).

All the excellent comedies mentioned have been seen on various cable networks here (mainly the Comedy chanel) in recent years, but I will admit that tracking them down through the schedules is a random and frustrating affair, and do you really want to watch Blackadder at 1pm on Saturdays when the Footy is on Sportsnet, so bringing them with you would work. There is also plenty of other british TV, mainly on PBS, especially detective type shows, and bizarrely "Are you being served". Plenty of other good canadian shows that should go the other way but dont, "Red Green" is especially ideal for british TV I think.

Sportsnet show two prem games on most saturdays, 10am and 12.30pm, although they (and everyone else here) refers to it as something called "Soccer". Nearly every week seems to be either Arsenal or ManU, or both, and recently Chelski, which I guess is fair enough as they are the contenders. Unfortunately I am a Liverpool supporter, and due to their inability to challenge for the prem, I dont get to see them a lot. They show most other teams over the year a few times, relegation battles, contractual obligations etc. If the game is midweek or sunday, basically you miss it. If the united you mentioned is the white kind, you will probable get to see them a lot at the end of the season as they go down! If its the red kind you get to see them almost every bloody week! (sorry, my LFC frustration is spilling over, better get a mop!)

Coverage is by Fox sports and ESPN, so the commentary is inane, to say the least. Hard to believe but I pine for Motty (but the drugs are helping!)

One or two champions league games shown wednesday by TSN in the small hours or in the afternoon, but no gaurantee of english involvment. Worldcup and Euro champs get covered, but your VCR will be working overtime.

I miss England games and the FA cup, no coverage, or maybe digital pay per view if you are lucky. Didnt see a single game in LFCs treble cup season<snif>.

I think in the states more games are shown, so it might be possible to get a US satelite system for ESPN etc and use it in canada, but I'm not sure of the legality of this.

Will a british NTSC capable video output a NTSC signal that will work with an NTSC TV, or are you bringing the TV too, in which case will it work with an NTSC cable or satelite box? Has anyone out there in "forumworld" tried this and got it to work?

Iain

Re: Britcoms and Socc...FOOTBALL
 

Greetings,

Some British "NTSC capable" videos will play NTSC videos on an NTSC TV. They will usually have two output options: "NTSC on PAL TV", or "NTSC on NTSC TV".

But... almost all don't have a "PAL on NTSC TV" option.

However, you can buy a converter to give you this option.

if you plug your UK video into your NTSC TV, play a PAL tape, and get a stable black & white picture, this £39.99 converter will probably work:
www.threedoubleyou.com/converters.htm
search for: "ANALOGUE PALTO NTSC CONVERTER"

If you do not get a stable black & white picture, you will have to buy an expensive DIGITAL converter.

You asked:

"Will a british NTSC capable video output a NTSC signal that will work with an NTSC TV, or are you bringing the TV too, in which case will it work with an NTSC cable or satelite box? Has anyone out there in "forumworld" tried this and got it to work?"

All new SONY TVs handle NTSC signals
 

It's not advertized for some reason but you can take a SONY to North America as mine has a side panel with S-video and phono jack sockets..I hooked up an NTSC signal from my NTSC digital video camera output and it actually worked, and cable now goes through phono leads not coax so you could take a TV...of course I will need a Voltage TRANSFORMER (not converter) as its going to need 220-240V but they can be picked up for a couple of hundred, so then I can take my VCR, DVD, hi-fi system and run them all.

You could also get your V.C.R. tapes adjusted to the NTSC foremat at a video store for about $5 each.
I have had tapes sent from the U.K. and have done this.

Iain - there is only one United ;)

So at least I can look forward to seeing my beloved team more than I can manage at home then!! (Seriously - even though I've got membership, tickets are almost impossible to get!)

As for my DVD player, I'll have to check the back to see the voltage range. The TV will probably stay and get sold, but if I can save a bit by bringing over my AV stuff, it would be great.

Say my DVD player will run on Canadian voltage - is it just a case of ripping off my three pin plug and sticking on a two pin replacement?

And these transformers elenadee - can you run several items off one, or is it a case of getting one for my amp, one for my video, etc.?

This is proving to be a very informative thread for me - thanks guys!

transformers
 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Mr Lee
Iain - there is only one United ;)

So at least I can look forward to seeing my beloved team more than I can manage at home then!! (Seriously - even though I've got membership, tickets are almost impossible to get!)

As for my DVD player, I'll have to check the back to see the voltage range. The TV will probably stay and get sold, but if I can save a bit by bringing over my AV stuff, it would be great.

Say my DVD player will run on Canadian voltage - is it just a case of ripping off my three pin plug and sticking on a two pin replacement?

And these transformers elenadee - can you run several items off one, or is it a case of getting one for my amp, one for my video, etc.?

Yes, you can find them on the net, just look for voltage tranformers, they come in several Amperage ranges, so the higher the Amp load the more expensive they get, but I found some from a company in Utah USA for about $200 or so that could handle a TV/DVD/Video/HiFi set up all at one time with them plugged in a multi-socket extension of course.

Re: transformers
 

Don’t suppose there is much chance of Nationwide League then

Re: transformers
 

As far as bringing your own DVD player, I'd recommend buying a fairly cheap North American model that can be "hacked" to play DVD's from anywhere. By all means do bring your fave DVD's themselves though.

As a practicing Anglophile and footy fan, I'd like to point out a couple of things:

1. Soccer was a word invented by the BRITISH to differentiate between association football and rugby football.

2. There is more live footy on telly here than in the UK. Reason? They show the traditional Saturday 1500 GMT games here that are unaccountably "blacked out" in the UK. Sportsnet (regular cable) shows the first game live at 1500, immediately followed by another (tape delay) at 1730 GMT. In addition, if you have digital cable or satellite (you're going to want to) you can catch Sunday and midweek Premiership games on Fox Sports Canada. Another poster also mentioned that TSN shows live Champions League matches. In addition there are Pay-Per-View options for England internationals and the FA Cup final for about $20 Canadian.

3. You'll also want digital cable/satellite so you can access BBC Canada, a true lifeline for expats. The Office, Royle Family, Only Fools and Horses, League of Gentlemen, TLC, loads of others, plus of course EastEnders. Coronation Street is on 3 times per week on the (free) CBC, with an omnibus edition Sunday morning. Also for the young 'uns there's BBC Kids (Red Dwarf, Basil Brush, Top of the Pops).

4. Some footy clubs (my faves, Celtic for example) are moving towards Pay per View live matches on your home computer. The technology is finally catching up with demand, but you'll want a fast computer AND broadband (Rogers or Shaw) internet access, which is easy to get here compared to the UK.

I love this forum :)

Phil, Victoria, BC