Buying an American telly...

[Mike UK]

As of a couple of weeks ago, I'm living in the US for a couple of years, and I'm just setting up my apartment with cable, home entertainment system etc.

But. It seems that US tv's don't support PAL at all, not even international brands like Sony. And I'd like to invest in a nice telly in order to bring it back to the UK after my two year stint here.

So, does anyone have any advice? Been in the same situation? Seen a Pal to Ntsc convertor in action? Know who I may be able to ask or where I could get a 'multiregion' tv from?

Hopefully someone can save me some legwork here as I'm going round in a few circles at the moment!!

Cheers

Mike

[Kal_El]

Not sure if it's within your budget or not but Plasma screens support all video formats.

[fuzzybee]

Not sure if it's within your budget or not but Plasma screens support all video formats.

As far as i understand it pal60 was first implemented to allow ntsc video tapes to display in full colour on compatable pal vcr's, i beleive tu US has ntsc 4:43 to do the same thing with pal videotapes. so maybe ntsc 4:43 may be what your after ???
Pal60/Ntsc 4:43 are the same but in different countries(i think)
I suspect the biggest problem will be if and when he returns with his tv to the UK i doubt a tv bought in the states will have a pal tuner onboard.
He could always view UK broadcasts through a UK vcr's tuner but then the lack of a scart connection on his US tv would be a problem.
IMO it's not rearlly worth importing a US tv back over here, just buy a decent set while your in the states then sell it when you return to blighty.
Then with the cash you make buy a decent european set, thats what i would do anyway.

Good Luck

[bpshanks]

I recently checked out the future shop website and it seems that some of the lcd tvs boast compatability with both pal and ntsc systems and so might be something to consider. I think they come in sizes of 13, 15 and 17 inch. Remember that the aerial connector is totally different in the usa from the ones in europe.

Brian

[Mike UK]

Thanks for the suggestions there guys - yes the main issue is the lack of pal tuner in pretty much all US CRT TV's which are the ones primarily in my price range. If anyone has any experience of the PAL to NTSC signal convertors in action (such as this one http://www.gthelectronics.com/featurec.htm) I'd be interested to hear it? (Long shot I know!)