kennykill

Folks,

I've thrawlled through several forums and threads and found alot of useful information. However, I'm trying to get a little more specific information on my television.

It's a 46" Sony Bravia HD LCD tv from the UK. I understand that some applicances work in Canada but I'm wondering if anybody has this specific tv and how they went about using it. It wouldn't cost too much to ship over with the rest of my stuff but I'm wondering if it's worth it when I get there given that I might have to buy more bits of kit to get it to work on 110v.

Has anybody been in the same situation? I looked on some shopping sites and I know TV's are relatively cheap in North America but seems a waste to double up. I've also a blu-ray player, desktop computer, laptop, etc all 220v. Is it just possible to by North American cables or is it more complicated than that?

Thanks

Tangram

www.voltageconverters.com

kennykill

Thanks for that Tangram!

Seems a little complicated for my simple mind though! What size would I be looking for if I were to run most of my electronics? I presume my electricity bill would be significantly higher than just Canadian appliances?

Tangram

Add up all the items you are going to run off it ( wattage consumption from the back of the units ) and get one which is slightly more wattage value than your total. Simple really.

allycat231

I brought over my UK TV. I have a 1000 watt voltage converter, never had a problem with it!!!

kennykill

Great! That's the kind of thing I like to hear!! How is it on electricity bills, good/bad?

allycat231

Depends on what you use for heating, wood, oil, Gas. If you are going to use electric its going to be expensive. Wood is the best option, unless you are going to live in downtown Toronto!!!! I pay around $1200 a year and I am on oil heating.

kennykill

Not bad at all really.

You wouldn't have any idea on what the UK TV is consuming? For some reason it's in my head that because it's double the power (220 compared to 110) of Canadian appliances it's using double the electricity? Or am I way off the mark!!

Tangram

What's wood got to do with how much more electricity a voltage converter would consume compared to using a Canadian electrical good ?

allycat231

Check you manual, or look at the back of the TV you want to see total wattage consumption. Then will need to get a converter that will take slightly more, you wont go wrong with a 1000 watt converter. Dont worry about 110 to 220 all converters step up and down. Cookers and Tumble Dryers in Canada all use 220v

allycat231

Yeah i misread that one, just though it was a question on electric bills all round!!!

Tangram

No sweat. We all do it.

JonboyE

There are two issues. Power has been discussed above. The other is signal. North America uses a different TV signal to Europe. NTSC rather than PAL. Many newer TVs will display both but if it doesn't then your UK TV will only be good for playing back UK devices.

Alan2005

The NTSC/PAL thing doesn't really matter any more. I don't use it in my house - it's either HDMI or VGA that goes into my TV.

delsol79

Hey - you don't need to worry about converters for your TV, just get an American style plug for it or a plug converter. Same for laptop and desktop. The only one I would not be sure of is the blue-ray player but again I think fine, all my DVD players work fine. Just check it says 110~240v on it.

No idea why people are telling you to get converters. All the devices you listed are variable voltage!

Second the NTSC/PAL thing - not been relevant for many years now unless your TV is from the 90s which yours is clearly not.