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.

Re: Electrical appliances
 

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

Re: Electrical appliances
 

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

Re: Electrical appliances
 

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

Re: Electrical appliances
 

.... which is why I said, above, get one that has about twice the power handling capacity that you'll ever need. The one I run my hifi from only ever gets a little warm.
It depends what you mean by "expensive", DVD Overseas will sell you a 2KW voltage stabilizing transformer for $110 plus shipping, which is a bargain compared to a good hifi, and 500W one for $45, but I'd agree it's probably not worth buying a transformer for it for a garden-variety gaming machine.

Re: Electrical appliances
 

http://www.threedoubleyou.com/converters.htm

That to convert the video signal, power should be fine, get a plug adaptor...
as for pints, yeah, annoying that ain't it, and US imperial is smaller, so the pint is a lot small than the pint is anyway...

Re: Electrical appliances
 

Well it is an imperial measurement, just not the same sized measurement in blighty is it...
anyway, just give me a litre anyday, that doesn't change... :)

Re: Electrical appliances
 

what I meant by this was... unless you get a voltage convertor that ACTUALLY handles the rate at which the power is delivered then what you actually get is roughly 20% more voltage than was intended.

so... a power supply that outputs 12V on a UK power source (240V @ 50Hz) would be getting 240V @ 60Hz here thus outputting 13.2V, I have tried 5 different units here (all the ones below $100) and they ALL do this. For most applications its not a problem... for my laptop.. it was :(

Re: Electrical appliances
 

Thank's for all yer help everyone, If I had known it was going to be so complicated and expensive I'd have sold me PS2 back in blighty, oh well it gives me the excuse I need to get a gamecube, and I do need to play the new mariokart...

Re: Electrical appliances
 

Simple question - I am moving from UK to US. Will my TV and video work in US? i can use adaptors for power but was wondering about reception of channels ?

Re: Electrical appliances
 

to Receive the american TV signals from a cable or satelite box all that is required normally is a component input into the TV, HOWEVER the tv must also handle NTSC ( most UK Tv's do ). Your video however is VERY unlikely to handle NTSC. My Advice would be, unless you REALLY need it (large video collection) then don't bother, sell it in the UK. Buy one 10x bigger here from the proceeds.

Re: Electrical appliances
 

Most European electronics are rated for 220-240V and 50-60Hz. I'm surprised that a laptop (something you'd expect to take abroad) had a problem with it.

Re: Electrical appliances
 

I checked the output voltage from the power supply, it was supposed to output 19.4V (strange I know) but WAS actually outputting more like 23V. First off I thought my meter was wrong. but nope.. Verified it with other power supplies all giving off the correct values.

the laptop basically overheated in a matter of minutes

Re: Electrical appliances
 

Wait till the summer and get the new ps3 or xbox2 :)

Re: Electrical appliances
 

Plus the weight makes it silly...

Re: Electrical appliances
 

For your laptop problem try here http://ebay.xppassport.com/ look in clearence at the Juice 70 what make of laptop are you having issues with?

Re: Electrical appliances
 

When I get to NC for the last time (yehaa!) next month I will be taking two Sunpower ("power you can trust") 100VA stepup transformers for my wonderful HP printer/scanner /copier and a small appliance or two. I have Sunpower's USA-UK transformer here in Bristol and have been using it for yonks with no problems at all. The transformers are £29.99 each from Maplins but my son works there so I got them 1/2 price (smug!). I have a DELL 1100 laptop I bought in the USA and the power supply is an automatic transformer so to run it in the UK all I needed was a plug/socket adapter. Again no problem even tho the Dell transformer gets quite warm.

Re: Electrical appliances
 

I aint' the one having issues :)

Re: Electrical appliances
 

Is all that coming out so soon? I've only just moved here to be with my girlfriend, I guess she won't be seeing so much of me next year.... :)

Re: Electrical appliances
 

LMAO - man you need to re read those rumour sites.

I can confirm that neither Xbox2 nor PS3 will be out next summer, trust me on this.. I have an XBOX 2 devkit on my desk right now... the production unit is supposed to be out by next xmas BUT its not confirmed by any means... PS3 .. thats WAYYYYYYY off in the future mid to late 2006 is the current estimation.

Think of it this way, a game takes 18months to 2 years to write when you KNOW what you're doing. When you don't... LONGER still... no one has Ps3 devkits yet, and trust me I'm at one of those companies who WILL get them first, so from here you're looking at 2 years.

A

Re: Electrical appliances
 

Balls, that's ruined the dream for me

Re: Electrical appliances
 

I said xbox next summer...
as for ps3, it might happen if the xbox is on time, small chance i know...
and I know how long games take to make too...been there and had mine shelved *l*

Re: Electrical appliances
 

Thanks for the info sibsie. I've ben using them, I love them too! Nothing like the last bit of your can staying cold! And now I know what they're called!

Have a karma!

Re: Electrical appliances
 

You were a game designer? How come it got shelved, that sucks.

Re: Electrical appliances
 

naaa...artist, and the game gold shelved cos the greedy bastards had a deal lined up with Microsoft, but started talking to Virgin for a better deal, when they both heard the other was in talks, they both said bug off...
shame cos was in the works for 18 months, another 6 would have finished it, not that it was a great game,but nice roll play to it

Re: Electrical appliances
 

I'd sell the playstation or give it to your brother and buy one of the new slim-line PS2s.

http://www.us.playstation.com/Conten...delProfile.jpg

Re: Electrical appliances
 

Yeah, those new one's are pretty sweet :)
Not badly prices either..

Re: Electrical appliances
 

You could allways donate it to the Honeymommy's kids got no playstation home...... :D They pay the postage.... LOL


Cheeky or what..... :D

Re: Electrical appliances
 

ahh you never get anything for free if you don't ask HM.