Some more questions, re housing, and VCRs
 

Hi everyone,
Can anyone with some experience of finding a rental apartment having come directly from the UK advise me as to what sort of references, background checks etc will be required for us to be able to rent a place? Will one of us need to be employed?
Also, can anyone tell me if I can get VCRs in the US which will play both US and UK VHS tapes, and if so what sort of cost I should expect to pay?
Many thanks for any advice offered,
Kiera

Re: Some more questions, re housing, and VCRs
 

Part Two: Most modern VCR's play both formats now - you would be extremly unlucky to buy a brand new vcr and it only play 1 format. The cost should be the same as any normal priced vcr (anywhere between $40 and $300). The likelyhood of it saying on the box or the assistant knowing is probably very slim so take your "best of pop idol" cassette with you and get them to try it before you buy.

Anyone taking their DVD player over be aware though, my DVD player is multi region and can use either 110 or 240 volts but certain studios now produce RCE (Region Code Enhanced) DVD's that will not play on multiregion DVD players bought in Europe.

Re: Some more questions, re housing, and VCRs
 

I just did a quick search (I have no life) and found the cheapest vcr that openly said it played both NTSC and PAL formats at $124, there where cheaper (from $50) vcrs on the page but they did not specifically say they played both formats.

Re: Some more questions, re housing, and VCRs
 

Thanks Patrick, that's a big help.
Now if I cam just find out about apartment rentals, I'll be able to think up some more unrelated questions!
BTW, what does your signature line mean? Guess I'm not as clever as I thought cos it totally confused me!
Kiera

Re: Some more questions, re housing, and VCRs
 

Hi Kiera,

It means "wheres there's smoke there's fire", a canadian friend of mine sent it to me once - I thought it was funny (pretentious but funny).

Patrick

Re: Some more questions, re housing, and VCRs
 

"Patrick" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    > Part Two: Most modern VCR's play both formats now - you would be extremly unlucky
    > to buy a brand new vcr and it only play 1 format. The cost should be the same as
    > any normal priced vcr (anywhere between $40 and $300). The likelyhood of it saying
    > on the box or the assistant knowing is probably very slim so take your "best of pop
    > idol" cassette with you and get them to try it before you buy.

Be careful. Yes, almost all VCRs bought in Europe (or at least in the UK) will play
PAL and NTSC tapes (but output in PAL) but almost all VCRs bought in the US will only
play NTSC tapes. So, if you bring a VCR from the UK you'll only be see your tapes if
you bring a PAL TV too - and then you wouldn't be able to record shows in the UK.

    > Anyone taking their DVD player over be aware though, my DVD player is multi
    > region and can use either 110 or 240 volts but certain studios now produce RCE
    > (Region Code Enhanced) DVD's that will not play on multiregion DVD players bought
    > in Europe.

Some (many?) multi-region DVD players can get around this too. The RCE DVDs just have
code that reads the region from the DVD player and compares that to the DVD; some
multi-region DVD players allow you to set what region the DVD expects to be in so
that the comparison succeeds. Again, most will output in PAL so you would need a TV
that can display PAL.

Andy.

--
I'm not really here - it's just your warped imagination.

Re: Some more questions, re housing, and VCRs
 

What signature line? Only sig line in Patrick's messages says, "Posted via
http://britishexpats.com"

That means "where there's smoke there's fire"? Go figure.

--
Jonathan_ATC "Patrick" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    > Originally posted by carjen:
    > > Thanks Patrick, that's a big help. Now if I cam just find out about apartment
    > > rentals, I'll be able to think up some more unrelated questions! BTW, what does
    > > your signature line mean? Guess I'm not as clever as I thought cos it totally
    > > confused me! Kiera
    > Hi Kiera,
    > It means "wheres there's smoke there's fire", a canadian friend of mine sent it to
    > me once - I thought it was funny (pretentious but funny).
    > Patrick
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

I brought my multiregion dvd player over from the UK along with my PAL tv which was nearly new so I did'nt want to leave it.

My wife has a Samsung DV3000 multi region VCR which will convert signal on both tapes and tv either to PAL/NTSC or vice versa(handy for copying the NTSC wedding videos to PAL)

We watch US tv on my PAL tv by running the cable box through the VCR as a signal converter...it works really well,the only pain is it takes 20 seconds of pushing buttons when you initially turn on for the day.

We also got hold of a voltage converter for my UK dvd player and tv.

All in all it was a good solution without having to buy loads of new electronics.

Re: Some more questions, re housing, and VCRs
 

Not everyone's experience will be the same but when I first came to the US I had to
pay a security deposit because I had no credit history and that was that. I did have
a latter from my US employer though - they will want to know you can pay the rent!!!
One thing to be careful of if you pay security deposits is getting them to sign off
that you've been a good boy/girl before you leave. I made sure I was there at the
inspection and the guy signed the sheet to say there was no damage. When they still
tried to claim a month later that there had been damage and they had deducted it from
the deposit I (went mad, but then) faxed them the sheet they had signed off on and
they reluctantly paid up in full!

Andy.

--
I'm not really here - it's just your warped imagination. "carjen"
<[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    > Hi everyone, Can anyone with some experience of finding a rental apartment having
    > come directly from the UK advise me as to what sort of references, background
    > checks etc will be required for us to be able to rent a place? Will one of us need
    > to be employed? Also, can anyone tell me if I can get VCRs in the US which will
    > play both US and UK VHS tapes, and if so what sort of cost I should expect to pay?
    > Many thanks for any advice offered, Kiera
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

I was in Fry's Electronics here in Phoenix at the weekend and they had a VCR player that handled both NTSC (never the same colour) and PAL both tapes and output. As to DVD's my multi region player from the UK outputs both to PAL and NTSC all I had to do was get a transformer to convert 110v to 240v.

As to apartment rental it will vary from management company to company. The lot we initially rented from wanted things like the last two pay slips from your american employer, or in my case a statement from the bank showing that I had sufficent funds. Also they will want references from previous landlords to show your renter's history. If you can get a copy of your credit report this may also be useful but you will have build a new here in the US.

Re: Some more questions, re housing, and VCRs
 

    > Hi everyone, Can anyone with some experience of finding a rental apartment having
    > come directly from the UK advise me as to what sort of references, background
    > checks etc will be required for us to be able to rent a place? Will one of us need
    > to be employed?

One of you will most likely have to be employed, or have the ability to pay 3 months
rent in advance or so. Also, for a lot of places (not all) a good credit history is
required.... again, if you do not expect to pay a few months rent in advance. You
most likely have to pay a hefty deposit too.

    > Also, can anyone tell me if I can get VCRs in the US which will play both US and UK
    > VHS tapes, and if so what sort of cost I should expect to pay?

Where in Europe most VCRs play NTSC tapes, the VCRs here do not play PAL tapes. The
United States does not care much for the outside world technologywise (see mobile
phone system as the biggest example) and since pretty much everything is supplied on
NTSC tapes there is no need for it. However, there is an Indian shop around the
corner in my town that does PAL to NTSC converting as in India the video format is
PAL (just like in Europe).

VCRs that play PAL are available but hard to find. Most stores don't sell em. Also,
where in Europe I can buy a "region free" DVD player to play European DVDs, the
chances of finding one here in stores is very very slim.... You'd have to
special-order one from the Internet at prices starting around $350 instead of the
$150 you would pay for a DVD player in the store. You might have to special-order the
VCR as well from the Internet. They are available, but expect to pay for it.

If your movies are not really important I would sell em, and re-buy the ones you
really liked on DVD in the U.S. and get a DVD player :)

Maarten

Re: Some more questions, re housing, and VCRs
 

Andy,

Had the same problem with our landlord in Calgary. He lived above us, and we had the
rent paid until the end of march. Gave him sufficient notice (3 weeks, originally he
only wanted 2 weeks) that we were moving, etc. Well, it came down to crunch time, and
he STILL wasn't available to do an inspection. As much as I was pissed about the
possibility of losing the 550 bucks security deposit, I was more worried about being
packed in time, and crossing the border between AB in Canada and MT in the US (which
failed miserably, hence why we're caught in the K-3 route now). My father noted that
I should have either: A) rented a video recorder for the day once everything was
packed and the apartment cleaned, or B) just buy a disposable camera and take
pictures of it.

Well, stubborn me, I didn't listen. 2 months later I get a check in the mail for only
300 bucks. He deducted for cleaning the walls, floors, and almost a 100 bucks for
"steam" cleaning the carpets and professionally deodorizing the blinds, etc to get
rid of (exact quote) "nasty ferret odour". The carpets were already stained, he noted
this on the initial (pre) inspection when he walked us through stuff that needed to
be fixed, etc. I fought for a bit, but without legal support, would have been
useless...would have more than likely cost more than the 250 dollars I was fighting
for. Oh well, live and let learn! Next time, I will most definately take my father's
advice, heh. I don't believe I'll be using him as a reference when I move to the US.
I think I'll use my wife's references instead ;-)

-Ev

Re: Some more questions, re housing, and VCRs
 

Thanks everyone for your input.
On the subject of apartments, it seems like it's catch 22- we can't get bank accounts without an address, we can't get an apartment without bank statements! How do you do one without the other? If neither of us finds a job immediately, we still want to have an apartment to live in, and our money in a bank. I have a SSN, so presumably that will be enough to open a bank account?
Would they accept my very well-off parents as guarantor on an apartment, plus 3 months rent in advance? I would expect to pay a deposit, have done so in every single place I've ever rented previously.
Good idea to take pictures when we arrive, and pictures when we leave, and get a signature to say no damage. Thanks for that tip.
About the VCRS, it seems to be people have had different experiences. I'm fairly certain from the responses to this question that I can get the kind of VCR I want. We have way too many videos of all sorts of stuff to replace them all on DVD.
Thanks for all the info,
Kiera

Re: Some more questions, re housing, and VCRs
 

Patrick wrote:
    > Part Two: Most modern VCR's play both formats now - you would be extremly unlucky
    > to buy a brand new vcr and it only play 1 format. T

Not in the US... Are you suggesting that a standard VCR bought in the US today will
be able to play NTSC and PAL tapes and output them to a NTSC TV?

Re: Some more questions, re housing, and VCRs
 

Can I jump on the VCR/DVD/TV thing here:

I'm bringing over to the U.S my VCR (which plays PAL & NTSC)
but not my TV (too big and old)
Can I get a TV that will be ok with a PAL signal VCR ?