Electrical appliances
 

Okay I was wondering if anyone could help me (again) despite my girlfriend trying to get me to sell my playstation before I moved, my brother begging me to just let him have it. I stubbornly held on to it and brought it here (I also need something that will play my collection of English DVD's). However getting some sort of English to American socket adapter that would let me plug it in seems to be very hard, has anyone else had this problem. perhaps they couldn't bear to part with their favourite hairdryer or something, if so what did you do?. Would you need to buy some sort of appliance that adjusts voltage or whatnot.

also, has anyone noticed that American pints are smaller than English ones? :beer:

Re: Electrical appliances
 

I bought over some UK to US adaptors with me. They worked really well on my GHD's (chick hair thing) for a couple of months then they just gave up the ghost. I know I really shouldn't but I have a couple of lamps I brought over from Spain. I use a Spanish to English plug adaptor wassit then a English to US adaptor. It works just fine but will probably blow the house up eventually.

For DVD's I run them off my computer via a lead into my telly. Can't tell you what sort of lead as the nice man at Radioshack just told me what to do. It works well enough but I'll probably fork out the $100 or so for a multi region DVD player. Saw one down at the local mall but again can't remember the make or anything.

Not sure about the size of pints over here but I've been very impressed by the range of coozies (sp?) on offer.

Helpful? I think not! :D

Re: Electrical appliances
 

very helpful, what are coozies by the way?

Re: Electrical appliances
 

They're the little things you put your cans or bottles of beer in to keep them cold while you're drinking them.

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I've never seen them, though I must say I do like gadgets and they sound cool (bad pun unintended)

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Here's a random selection for you. Admittedly you won't find them in the finer fast food eateries, but they do keep the old beer cold while you're waiting for the hunk of meat to grill on the man fire.

Re: Electrical appliances
 

Yes, try DVD Overseas.com. They sell power transformers and also something they call a "voltage converter with stabilizer", which is what I'd recommend for anything that you value. I use one for the hifi I brought from the UK and it works just fine. Also, buy one with plenty of surplus capacity for anyhting with an amplifier in it (hifi, TV, etc), I'd recommend taking the maximum power of the appliances you intend to run on it, and double it to get the power of the transformer you should buy.

Yes, but then so are American gallons, which are eight American pints. An American pint is only 16 fluid ounces compared to twenty in an Imperial pint, but the fluid ounce isn't the same size - the American one is actually about 5% large than the Imperial one. The Charlotte Observer, our local rag, actually screwed up a story when they failed to realize that difference - reporting that gas in the UK was selling at about $6.70 a gallon, when the real price for a US gallon in the UK (based on the prices shown in a photo of a gas station) was really "only" $5.65.

Also, while we're discussing screwy American measures, an American ton (also known as a "short ton") is smaller than an Imperial one, it is only 2,000lbs compared to 2,240lbs in an Imperial one.

Re: Electrical appliances
 

Hope you also brought an English TV over, cos your PS2 won't work with an American TV, unless you buy a PAL-NTSC converter which can be expensive.

Also your English PS2 won't be able to play American PS2 games unless you get it modified (chipped) - Maybe you can find a mod chip that will allow it to output in NTSC and solve both problems...

Re: Electrical appliances
 

...and on that note: "chipping" or "modding" of games machines, DVD players etc. to make them multi-region is a grey area of the law in Europe, but it is STRICTLY ILLEGAL in the US, and web sites/stores that offer chipping services are regularly prosecuted and shut down over here. In Europe it's a grey area, with it being legal to sell mod chips. This doesn't mean that you'll end up breaking the law... because it's damned near impossible to find multi-region chipping/modding in the US now anyway. Bummer eh?

Re: Electrical appliances
 

If you need to convert voltage you can use these transformers

http://www.newmarket-transformers.co.uk/

Re: Electrical appliances
 

they kick ass!

Re: Electrical appliances
 

Fry's electronics sell the plug adapters for UK to USA for about $4. They also sell the transformers/converters and are comparable to the online sites.

Here is a link for the multi region DVD players etc.

http://www.dvdoverseas.com/store/ind...atalog6_0.html

Although they did have them in Best buys for about $60 about 6 months ago.

As far as the playstation... You can purchase a multi region one now, but I think it is just for the movies not the games... You can buy the software to convert it to multi region for movies in the UK for about $20... But you still have the problem of a TV to play them on.....
Heartbreaking but.... you could put them away and start fresh with the USA playstation and new games..... OR... Take your girlfriends advice and forget it... LOL...... Our 4 kids lost their playstation and games when we moved back this year.... (couldn't find anything allowing USA to play in Uk) :o

Now... There may be a computer whizz out there that knows how to convert and copy the games to play on the other region.... That would be interesting.
I know it is possible with Movies to convert them to the other format and make a copy...... Not sure if there is any software available for PS games.....

Hope some of that was helpful..... :)

Re: Electrical appliances
 

One Computer whizz at your service.

Yes... chips are illegal EVERYWHERE (recent law passed in europe too) HOWEVER they are still available as the law is still filtering through. My Advice to you would be to wait until the next time you go to the UK and get it chipped at a small town games shop.. there are LOTS .. if you pick up a local adds rag you'll see many. You could also post it back to the shop and have them chip it and post back? or sell it and buy a pre-chipped unit from said shop ?

Here... I retro fitted my XBOX with the required power supple and ran a DVD which altered the BIOS (bottom level control chip) to make the unit output NTSC for ALL games (Downloaded the dvd).

I will look into the options for PS2. AFAIK the same options exist but not so simply.

regarding the DVD's... go into fry's or best buy, purchase a CHEAP no name DVD player. When you get home google for "DVD region hack XXX" inserting the DVD player you bought. You could do some investigation and find out what DVD players do what beforehand if you're unsure.. BUT.. the only DVD players I've found that DO NOT have a remote accessible hack are SONY... and the chip for those only costs about $10. I use a CyberHome player for my DVD's which are from ALL over the world.

hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you need more info.

Andy
<Computer Games Programmer>

Re: Electrical appliances
 

See I knew a puter whizz would come along shortly...
A very nice one as it happens...... Good to see you again.... :D

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Oh.. and regarding the power convertor/voltage changers.. you will find that they get VERY VERY hot and often supply slightly more voltage that you require. Unless you opt for a very expensive one that is. I would recommend replacing anything you have with its US counterpart as soon as possible. Its cheap anyway.

Andy
Computer Games Programmer