P18PPS

Hi there, we are moving to NZ later this year and are not sure whether we should take all our electrical goods - we're filling a whole container and have the room to take tvs, fridges, washing machines etc, but can anyone advise whether UK fittings are compatible? Many thanks

nivlem

Hello there! Welcome to the forum! According to our information pack that arrived with our ITA this morning, (yeeehaaa!!!!!!) "New Zealand's power system is 240 volts and 50 cycles per second, and plugs have two or three narrow pins." According to my OH this means that we should be ok if we change the plugs when we get there!
Videos don't work anyway though, don't know why !!!!
Hic........ooops sorry...just celebratin'

ps... how much IS a full container??

Cathy xxxxx

Sega Mad

Hi

If you look through the really useful thread you may find info about Electrical stuff. About the only thing that will be incompatible will be the telly (and VCR tuner) Apparently NZ plugs are quite pricey so it is well worth taking as many uk plugboards over to minimise the number of nz plugs to buy at first. Then transition to NZ plugs gradually as you go. You may find more info by using the 'Search forum' button on the toolbar above and entering the keyword Electrical. (or something along those lines)

Regards

sunshine_and_rain

You can bring your TV - it won't work if directly plugges into aerial socket but it will if you run it through either an NZ VCR or if you get Sky TV!! We bought ours with us and its connected to sky and its just fine. Need to make sure you have a SCART on the back of the TV and put it through the AV channel. Everything else will work fine here too - just need to buy a job lot of NZ plugs when you get here and change them all. UK VCRS's don't work here for recording off the TV - but we bought ours and kids have it for watching vids on in their playroom. Also DVD's are different regional code here - so if your DVD player is not chipped for multi-region it may not play many of the DVD's here.

pompeymike

I'll second all of that. We bought over our UK panasonic Widescreen TV and it works fine with a Sky decoder or anything that you plug into the scart sockets. It's only terrestrial tv that won't work, you get picture but no sound (a bit like what I get from my missus when I'm not in favour ). We also brought our UK VCR - same problem tuner doesn't work but you can record SKY tv through the scart socket, it's still worth bringing because it's still good as a vhs player for all your old tapes. Our DVD player being region 2 for Europe wouldn't play any region 4 dvd's but I did a quick search on the internet and found one or two sites that give you codes to type in on the remote control that de-regionalise your DVD, so it now plays everything.

Mike

SteveDK

So: you can hook up a European DVD player to a NZ TV and it will work fine? Do NZ TVs have SCART connections?
Do UK videos play OK on NZ video machines? If not my video collection is history...

sunshine_and_rain

UK Videos play just fine on NZ Recorders. Yes NZ TV's have Scart connections. You can hook up a European DVD player to a NZ TV and it will work - but will only play European DVD's unless its been chipped/Multi-Regional. HTH.

SteveDK

Great news! Thanks for the promt reply!

Most DVD players in DK are region free, I would have thought that to be the case in NZ too for a pretty small country. The choice of R4 stuff must be much smaller than either R1 & R2.

sunshine_and_rain

Just asked OH, he says not particularly. Cheaper DVD Players here tend to be Region Free. Some of the R4 DVD's do play on R2 Players. We have 2 players - 1 chipped and one not - 1 not (R2) plays some R4 Discs. All the new releases are released as R4 and also you can import from USA just as you can in the UK. If you're a big Movie fan - as are we, then check out this website - www.DVDunlimited.co.nz. One monthly fee and then can rent movies on a monthly basis. No late return fees, and lots of choice. I know you have similar at home as well. Hope all this helps.

P18PPS

Ok chaps - you are all techies!!.... to complicate matters further (or not) if we bring our sky box over with us is there any value in doing so or is this something that is in no way compatible?

pompeymike

I'm pretty certain that this has been asked before and the answer is no, it won't work, sky over here is not the same as bskyb in the UK.

Mike

kiwijetpilot

Just a few things...

NZ TV's and Videos DO NOT NECESSARILY come standard with SCART sockets. SCART (aka Peritel) is a European standard. Some may have it if they are multi-market products, but the majority use RCA plugs and sockets. Best thing is to get some SCART-RCA adaptors (Maplin sell them). NZ TV's and videos tend to be Japanese standard rather than European standard.

Second, NZ plugs aren't that bad if you avoid the domestic stores. I get mine from Powerbase and I seem to recall they were $1.95 each.

Third, be careful about using UK plugs in NZ. It has been known for people to be refused insurance payouts where a house fire has resulted from an electrical fault involving a non-NZ approved plug or socket. Having said that, I still use UK stuff, but you need to make sure your insurance company doesn't have an issue with it.

Fourth, don't forget that you won't be able to get spares for many UK-sourced appliances. We can't even get vacuum cleaner bags for our Panasonic vacuum, as it was never sold here. Bring consumables with you. If it breaks, expect a lengthy delay to get it fixed.

sunshine_and_rain

I concur!! Apparently No they don't work here. Sorry. Actually Sky TV is no-where near as good here as it is at home either - but still better than terrestial TV - Hope you've ben warned at how 'different' TV is here - I don't like to be negative but it also is not that great - but - thats OK - as we spend most of our time out anywy these days - or in here on the pC - LOL!!!!