I have managed to set up my American flat screen tv to work with our German DVD player, and that works just fine. Has anybody out there been successful hooking up to Swiss cable or is the consensus that this will not work? Thanks, K.
No luck with running Swiss cable into a US TV, I actually ended up just buying a Swiss television. You could however buy a converter for Swiss TV and run it through your computer and then run your computer to your TV. Not direct but it should work and they sell the stuff at Media Markt
It will work as long as the cable box has an SVideo output that you can connect to the TV. The Cablecom Mediabox Recorder will definitely work. I have one hooked up to a Magnavox LCD TV, and it's fine.
(This is not true of older CRT type American TVs, which can't display 625 line/50 Hz video.)
Foreseable anyhow, as stebot explained early in the thread. TV sets in the US are NTSC (showing 60 interlaced fields per second, in line with the power that is sent at 60 hertz), while Swiss (as most European countries) broadcast in PAL (showing 50 interlaced fields per second, also in line with the European eletricity frequency of 50 hertz). Additionally PAL has a bit more resolution than NTSC (625 lines versus 525 in NTSC).
Either way, when you get down to it, the difference is only some CHF 750.
This is no longer a big issue. Flat panel TV sets sold in the US do not (usually) have PAL tuners, but they do have flexible scan converters that can display 625 line/50 Hz video with no problems. As I said, it works as long as the cable box has an SVideo output.
Maybe the poster who had a problem was trying to use an RF or composite video (CVBS) connection, or an older US TV.
Just for the record -- it can be done. I hooked up my American flat screen tv to my German DVD recorder and hooked that up to our comcast outlet. The DVD recorder has an autoprogramming feature that lets you choose the country et voila. Also, the tv runs from 100-230 volt, so I didn't need the power-draining voltage converter either. Thanks again for your encouraging input, sfdavid!
Your TV will work fine if its a LCD or Plasma, dont listen to all the haters here as pretty much every modern TV is made in China anyway. The only thing your TV won't include is a PAL terrestrial tuner but that is 100% irrelevant.
I myself brought two LCD TVs (one is 6 years old) from the states and use em here just fine.
If yer going DVI, HDMI, or digital YCrCB, yer all set. Odds are you wont be having to deal with the outdated SCART or SVideo connector. They can be troublesome for US TVs as the wiring on SVideo is different slightly here leading to black/white images.
I think you are mixing up composite video/CVBS (RCA plug) with SVideo (4 pin mini-DIN plug). Composite video connections don't work right because the signal from the Swiss cable box has the color encoded in PAL format and the US TV can't decode it. SVideo works fine since the color difference signals are not encoded.
I'm trying to get my US tv to work here in Geneva and having all sorts of problems. I've now bought a transformer but it turns out that the cable wires from the tv to the box have different ends so I can't find a wire that works.
And I have a feeling that's just the start of my problems.
I'd really appreciate it if someone who's done this before can tell me what I need to do or get so that I can connect my US tv and get it to work with cable and my dvd player here.
The short story is that your US TV will NOT work here. I had US friends who ended up using the TV to watch dvds. I sometimes wish I had this type of information when I first moved here 8 years ago, all the US appliances brought here were useless and using the transformer was not worth the hassle. You are better off buying the appliances, there are lots of people moving out so you are likely to get some good bargains.
If you have a new tv it might be able to play PAL signals (for most of Europe), old/cheap US only versions are NTSC type. Check your booklet that came with TV or online with model number.
Then you only need to rewire the antenna cable. Connections for US tvs use satellite type end connectors. Just buy a normal antenna wire from here, cut off the end that goes in local TVs and replace it with satellite type connector (you will find it in local stores (coop, migros house and garden stores, Obi) for about 2 CHF. Adapters are also available that will make local antenna cable fit to your TV.
Another option is to use a digital box (from cable company), it will output to an HDMI / Svideo/RGB/Scart to your TV. Costs about 6 CHF/month (provided you already have active cable connection in house). Check whether digital box has support for NTSC.
I know of a multi system TV for sale, pick up in Lausanne. It was purchased in Japan. It is a SONY Trinitron KVXA 25. It works fine. Not free though. Asking price is 100 chf.
In Europe power is 240Volts. so you'll need a step down transformer. This will use more power, and even use power when the TV is 'off' (unless you turn the transformer off).
Tuner most likely won't work, plus connections are different.
TV format here is PAL. If the TV supports PAL then you could use a Siwss VCR as the tuner, plus input DVD players etc via the separate inputs.
The picture quality and functions are improving all the time, and prices are dropping. Not as cheap as teh US, but reasonable I think.
I'm a little confused by this statement (perhaps lack of understanding). My understsanding is that NTSC/PAL/SECAM are analog standards and so I don't see how they should come into play with a digital signal. It seems to me that if your cable box has an HDMI port and your TV does as well, then you should be good to go without any sort of conversion (as long as you are talking digital cable signal to digital compatible TV).
Of course, I'm guessing everyone also has their own digital TV standards.....
The problem you will have, is that even if you use HDMI, the programme content locally will most likely be PAL. Therefore unless your TV supports PAL then it won't work. You would have to convert the signal from PAL to NTSC.
Of course HD content should work as this is meant ot be a 'Global' format. But never tried this.
Most TV's in Europe have been capable of PAL/NTSC and SECAM for many years (my old Panasonic ca. 18years ago) could show NTSC Videos.
However this is the case in the US.
The circuitry for PAL is move complicated than NTSC therefore more expensive to make and therefore is ommited in most US TV's.
So it seems that my best bet would be to sell my electronics and buy new one's in Switzerland. Seems it would be easier (not cheaper) and avoid worrying if it will or won't work.
Not sure if in CA they have this store but before we moved to Switzerland we went around looking for PAL/NTSC and 110/220 volts and 6 ave actually had a Plasma tv that did both - we were gonna purchase it but instead went with the slingbox.