Using my US TV in the UK?

[jonott]

Hi all,

Recently moved back from the States. All our worldly belongings are currently in a shipping container somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic, including our US-bought TV. Thankfully it was seriously well-packaged by the international removals company, way better than a certain well-known blue and white UK removals firm did for stuff we moved the other way. Just hoping it survives the journey!

Assuming it does, and eventually turns up (the shipment left Long Beach, California over two months ago)… being dual voltage, I’m hoping it will be just a case of plug and play?

But do I need a certain type of US to UK plug adapter? Or will one of my travel plugs do the job?

Took a picture before it shipped and this is what it showed on the back.



The last thing I want to happen is for my TV to go bang!

Any advice appreciated!

Thanks

[dhutch]

Not and expert, but like you I would expect it to be fine. Dual voltage and frequency, just need a physical adapter to make the plug fit.

[Arnold Cunningham]

TV will be fine. If it were me I’d cut then end off and put a UK plug on it too.

[Tony1963]

Arnold Cunningham said:

TV will be fine. If it were me I’d cut then end off and put a UK plug on it too.

Yep, that’s exactly what I’d do. U.K. plugs are a delight, no point keeping that scary US spec monstrosity in the line

[megaphone]

You may find it will not tune into UK/European TV channels, no 'Freeview' via the aerial. USA runs on the 'NTSC' standard, we use the 'PAL' standard. That being said, most TVs are multi standrd these days. Should be fine with an external source like a Firestick or Sky box.

[Funk]

Arnold Cunningham said:

TV will be fine. If it were me I’d cut then end off and put a UK plug on it too.

Don't most TVs these days all use either a kettle lead connector either direct into the TV or external power brick? Very rare to have a hard-wires cable these days. Would be easier to just swap the cable if so.

[Mr Pointy]

megaphone said:

You may find it will not tune into UK/European TV channels, no 'Freeview' via the aerial. USA runs on the 'NTSC' standard, we use the 'PAL' standard. That being said, most TVs are multi standrd these days. Should be fine with an external source like a Firestick or Sky box.

There's no PAL since the analogue network got turned off years ago, but I'd agree that the tuner may not be compatible with our transmission frequencies & standards. As you say an external device (stick or Humax type recorder) would almost certainly do the trick.

[SS2.]

Funk said:

Don't most TVs these days all use either a kettle lead connector either direct into the TV or external power brick?

Not this one, it seems.

Looks like it's a case of either fitting a UK 3 pin mains plug to the existing flex (simplest) or, if the OP wants to keep the US cable intact, getting hold of a compatible plug which connects to the internal PCB and installing a new flex.

[jonott]

Thanks to all for the advice.

I’ll post back here about how it all works once it finally turns up!

Cheers.

[Funk]

SS2. said:

Funk said:

Don't most TVs these days all use either a kettle lead connector either direct into the TV or external power brick?

Not this one, it seems.

Looks like it's a case of either fitting a UK 3 pin mains plug to the existing flex (simplest) or, if the OP wants to keep the US cable intact, getting hold of a compatible plug which connects to the internal PCB and installing a new flex.

Weird. Agreed then, best to swap the plug to a UK 3-pin although I'd want an earth which presumably the US 2-pin cable doesn't have..?

[illmonkey]

I wired my Sony TV to the wall and had to use the cable you mention ("hard wired") to the back of the TV, so I bought a spare knowing I could leave that one in the wall.

Looks the same as yours, but may be different. But this company will have it.

https://www.youritdelivered.com/sony-fx0053112-pow...

[dhutch]

Funk said:

Weird. Agreed then, best to swap the plug to a UK 3-pin although I'd want an earth which presumably the US 2-pin cable doesn't have..?

Not uncommon. Cheaper.

No earth, as double insulated. Don't think ive ever seen an LCD flat screen TV with an earth. A few big plasmas maybe.

[Funk]

dhutch said:

Funk said:

Weird. Agreed then, best to swap the plug to a UK 3-pin although I'd want an earth which presumably the US 2-pin cable doesn't have..?

Not uncommon. Cheaper.

No earth, as double insulated. Don't think ive ever seen an LCD flat screen TV with an earth. A few big plasmas maybe.

Interesting; I just assumed that all electrical devices in the UK were eathed.

[Mr Pointy]

Funk said:

dhutch said:

Funk said:

Weird. Agreed then, best to swap the plug to a UK 3-pin although I'd want an earth which presumably the US 2-pin cable doesn't have..?

Not uncommon. Cheaper.

No earth, as double insulated. Don't think ive ever seen an LCD flat screen TV with an earth. A few big plasmas maybe.

Interesting; I just assumed that all electrical devices in the UK were eathed.

No, plenty of them don't - even many power tools are double insulated.

[dhutch]

I would say it it's almost more common now that they are not.

Plenty of plastic earth pins, and some metal ones that aren't connected. Lamps, phone chargers etc.

What do you earth on a plastic device anyway? On a power drill it makes sense to run an earth up the lead and then basically just terminate it, as it will aid tripping of the RCD is the cable is damaged, but the body is typically all plastic still!

Laptop chargers tend to have an earth to the powersupply, hence clover type power lead, but lots of two core oval cables on devices.

[Lucid_AV]

For power you'll be fine. I'd go along with others here about changing the plug end that goes in the wall socket. Just fit a standard UK 3 pin mains plug. The TV - in fact nearly all TVs - are now double insulated, so they only have connections to the Live and Neutral pins in the UK plug.

Where you will have some compatibility issues is the TV tuner. It has been common to find that US sets don't feature a UK compatible tuner. The US over-the-air TV system is ATSC. This replaced NTSC much in the same way that the UK's DVB-T system replaced PAL. In both cases a digital TV broadcast system replaced analogue.

ATSC and DVB-T (and T2 for HD) are not compatible. Someone taking a TV from the UK to the US would face a similar issue. UK TVs do not come with ATSC tuners.

The solution is simple, and you may have already been doing something similar in the US if you were a cable or satellite TV subscriber. The answer is to use an external set-top box for UK TV reception. A Freeview or Freesat PVR will get you access to the UK's national broadcast TV services. A PVR also has the advantage of live TV pause and recording.

The only question is how the set will cope with 50Hz signals in both interlaced and progressive formats.

Interlaced is used for broadcast TV in SD and HD formats (576i, 1080i) and progressive is available from certain STBs, consoles, physical media, and other video sources. I suspect you'll be fine with progressive since it's common to find media files in all sorts of resolutions and refresh rates. Interlaced at 50Hz could be a little trickier, but fingers crossed that the Japanese set is universal in this respect. The US manuals aren't much help though as they're heavily US-centric. This will be a suck-it-and-see thing, and I'd be interested to know the outcome.

Nice TV though.