When we moved to Paris in 2002, we brought everything from the States (TV, DVD, transformers, etc) so we'd be able to watch our DVDs. Until now we haven't bothered with cable tv, but the new house gets cable for free so I'd like to hook it up.

My first attempt made me suspicious that the differences were more than just the cables. Can anyone tell me what the differences are between US and France/European cable TV? Is there some hardware converter that I need or do I just get a new TV. My TV takes a coax cable input and the house seems to be wired with something that looks like a cross between an RCA and coax connector.

Merci!

France doesn't use the American format called NTSC, but uses PAL instead (or maybe they still use SECAM, I am not 100% sure). Either way, you will need a new TV and DVD player.

http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/users/noemi/ci490_VideoClass/webpages/world_television_standards.html

In some higher end DVD players there is an option for NTSC or PAL output. The same is true for High end TV's. There are also converters out there but most are either expensive or very buggy. If you were to buy a new televison and the possibility of moving back existed be sure to purchase the model that will allow you to select the input.

Ok then time for an upgrade! Thanks for the info.

Yes we'll be moving back in a few years. I'll take your advice on the dual system. I'd also like to find a dual voltage system. Any idea if they make such a beast?

Even if you find a dual voltage TV and DVD you are likely to end up compromising on some other features.

Are you sure your current TV only does NTSC ? Most TVs sold in Europe recently do NTSC and PAL even if their owners don't realise it. Do know if the situation is similar in the US ?

I am pretty sure the TV doesn't. I've been through the menus and switches (none).

Typically US manufacturers strip down any extras to remain competitive. PAL support would be the first to go.

I take it you are aware of the DVD region issue ?


You probably know this already, but just in case: DVDs from the US are region 1, disks in Europe are region 2. By default DVD players will only play one region, but many DVD players can easily be hacked to play any region.

So make sure you check ahead of time that any DVD player you buy is easily hackable (some are hackable by burning something to a CDR and playing it in the DVD, others are hackable via pressing buttons on the remote and most of the rest are hackable via a hardware hack).

Alternatively you can buy a player that has been pre-hacked from someone like http://www.codefree.com/ (the people that I bought my DVD from years ago). You pay a premium this way, but get peace of mind because they waranty the player and their hack (hacking a player will likely invalidate the warranty).

...and what do you know, top of their front page is a player that does multi region and multi voltage...

http://www.codefree.com/dvd_codefreed8500.htm

Looking at their comparsion chart http://www.codefree.com/dvd_comparison.htm only their own brand players do 110v and 220v.

You do pay for the privelege though, they want 299 Euro for their multi region, multi voltage player. You could buy a 40 GBP player in most supermarkets in the UK that could be hacked to multi region via a CDR, but they wouldn't be multi voltage.

I found out the hard way about region free DVD players. My player is zone 1 but I was able to hack my computer without problem. I watch any zone 2 dvds that I have on my computer.

Given the price of DVD players, I'm struggling with paying for the flexibility vs having 2 dvd players.

Especially as some of the cheaper ones have more features (or can be given more features with a firmware change) than the players from the "big" names of Sony, Toshiba, Philips etc

If you are going to replace your tv with a multistandard one, seriously look at panasonic. They have produced ntsc/pal systems for years, and they work very well. So well, in fact, that it can be disconcerting - anything you plug in seems to immediately produce a good picture, to the point that you might not even realise it's ntsc playing on pal until you plug it into something else I'm not sure about secam compatibility, since I don't have anything that uses it.

pca

Thanks for the recommendation Patrick. I pick up the Panasonic TV on Monday. It supports 110-240V and NTSC/PAL/SECAM and has a great picture.