supergirly

Will our uk t.vs work in canada?

Tangram

If they are NTSC and PAL, with a voltage converter - yes.

BristolUK

If you have lots of VHS recordings and you will be shipping other stuff anyway, you might want to consider bringing a VCR and TV (or even a TV/VCR combo) to play and watch them. Voltage converter/plug adaptors will enable that.

If not many VHS, consider transferring them to disc before coming.

Steve_P

In addition to what you've been told above here is a link to the BE Wiki on the compatibility of goods.

Should make for some interesting reading for you.

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Compatability_of_Goods

supergirly

Thanks for all your replies

Supergirly xxxx

skyturner

I have looked into this as I have a treasured 42" plasma HD ready bla blah tv (i am a male). However, after a lot of careful consideration...and checking out canadian prices, I have decided to sell my tv dvd surrounf]d sound and vhs recorder here and just buy new in Canada.

XCMTBer

just resigned my 2 1/2 year old (£1000) 32 in LCD for bedroom viewing after picking up a 46in LCD 1080p for $999, its amazing what has happened recently.

One thing to remember, the voltage converters are ugly so if you value the aesthetics of your living area another thing to consider.

The4BellsLondon

ok - so where would one pick up said power adapter thingy in Vancouver for a UK Sony tv ?

SambaDeAmigo

I don't think they're worth bringing over. I sold my 32" LCD HDTV before I moved and this week I'm getting a 55" LED TV
I love the spacious Canadian houses

1chumly

I got mine from

http://www.voltageconverters.com/index.html

MikeUK

Well I'll add my thoughts in

If you're prepared to put up with a voltage converter (I put mine in the basement and ran a cable up stairs)
Our UK TV gave us about 4 years of being able to watch DVD’s/tapes in either NTSC or Pal/secam, now I say four years it’s still going strong, but I now use a media centre and convert my DVDs’ to avi’s and watch via the media centre so I can give up on the requirement for PAL
With LCD’s still falling in price I see no point in dumping it yet, and if OLCD is just around the corner I can afford to wait

skyturner

Hi Mike, sorry but I have a few questions if you dont mind trying to answer them.
1/ I presume you run your stuff all plugged into a uk 5-6 gang extention in turn plugged into the convertor?

2/ what size convertor are you using?

3/ Is it likely that a uk tv will recieve canadian broadcasts?

4?If i left my stuff in the UK and bought new (DVD player, TV, VHS ) can I play my uk VHS tapes, downloaded videos onto dvd etc?

5/ I am about to transfer my vhs tapes onto DVD would it be advisable to convert them to (secam/NTSC??)

cheers

MikeUK

Yep and simple 4 gang supplied pluged into the converter currently has just the DVD player and the TV plugged in, remember this won’t be “approved for use” if you’re not sure what I mean read the Wiki on importing electrical goods

1000watt I tend to used at least twice nearly three times the consumption of the TV, because any tube TV de-magnetizes itself when switched on and for that split second consumes a huge amount of power, this isn’t an issue for plasma or lcd

Yes… via the composite video input via the satellite box, the same would apply for a cable box, you won’t be able to use the aerial input here (if this is your only input then leave the set behind)

No because they’d still be in pal format, but if you convert them to something like mp4 or avi format you can then convert them back to an NTSC DVD, you might get a DVD player in the UK that can read pal and output in NTSC and be dual voltage/hz too

Yes, virtually nothing here can decode PAL/Secam unless you pay a stiff premium for an international TV and even then it might not be “approved for use in Canada”

Steve_P

Just a little addition to Mikes comments.

If you convert your stuff into mp4 or avi format there is no need to further convert to NTSC DVD.

Buy a DVD player capable of DivX and burn the mp4 or avi files to a CD or DVD and you will be able to watch them.

Or even better the latest device Western Digital WD TV available at Best Buy for $117 right now (Edit: My mistake this is a U.S. price NOT Canadian). I purchased mine at Memory Express in Calgary for $119.99 which was at the time a price match with Tiger Direct.ca. Tiger Direct is currently out of stock.

Copy almost any video file format to a USB2 portable hard drive or USB2 flash drive and it will play it. Composite output or HDMI output 1080p.

I bought one last week so far I'm very impressed, I've used it to watch UK TV shows downloaded from the internet.

skyturner

Thanks \mike, very useful info....just really confused me more now.... should I take or leave??

I see a 1000w convertor is currently (no pun) $59, that sounds very reasonable, i might just get two, one for TV stuff and one for all my PC stuff (I know the pc can be dual voltage but its all my other stuff which is fairly new).

Like yourself, it will make do for a few years and then I can adapt to canadian equipment as and when.

As for the swopping DVD's to different files my brother in Law in Canada is a puter geek and I can use him to do the swopping, (never again will I mock him )