Hello,
Hope someone out there can help.  I have a US television (32" Sony
Trinton) and I am moving to London.   I was planning on buying a new
TV that would work with the UK's PAL system, but then I found on the
internet several video conversion boxes.  I think the following are
the best ones:

1) DVC-1660 from Universal (?) 
(US$ 239.00) http://www.barrel-of-monkeys.com/graphics/prod/videcon/1660/1660.shtml
2) DVC-1200M (or CMD-1200) from ComWorld
http://www.barrel-of-monkeys.com/graphics/prod/videcon/dvc1200M.shtml
(US$ 310.00) http://www.firebird-systems.com/graphics/vidcon/cmd1200.shtml
(US$ 279.00) http://www.world-import.com/cmd1200.htm

They all seem to use the same schematic:
http://www.firebird-systems.com/graphics/vidcon/cmd1200-install.jpg

My questions are :
1) do they work?
2) which one is best?
3) Any opinions on why are they not discussed more on the major
electronic sites?  Stated another way... what problems might they
cause?
4) I plan to use it with standard tv signals in London and/or UK
satellite and/or UK cable TV.  Will these boxes cause any signal/sound
quality issues?
5) Should I be able to use my US code free DVD player with these boxes?
 
Many thanks,
The Wandering Texan

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Clarification of Question by wandering_texan1-ga on 15 Jan 2005 09:36 PST

I found one more to be considered :
3) Manufacturer Unknown
(US$ 289.00) http://www.videos2dvd.com/paltontscrecorder.html

Additional Question:
Is there anything better than the ones I found?

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Clarification of Question by wandering_texan1-ga on 15 Jan 2005 10:53 PST

In addition, I realize that I will need to convert the voltage in the
UK for a US machine.  I found this 50va USA Type Transformer which
seems (per the picture) to be well designed.  If you have any opinions
on whether this would work,it would be greatly appreciated.

(US$ 14.95) http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/SC5474.html

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Clarification of Question by wandering_texan1-ga on 16 Jan 2005 12:46 PST

Based upon initial advice, I have done a some extra research.  If I am
NOT going to buy a PAL-NTSC conversion box, then it seems best to me
to sell my current TV and buy a multisystem one here in the US.  US
prices seem much lower than UK prices for roughly equivilant TVs.  I
have looked at some Sony's.  Does anyone have an oppinion  on :

1) Are TVs cheaper in the US
2) Do Multisystems have disadvantages (eg, extra problems)
3) Which is worth the money, which is best :
(US$ 2,199) KV-DR34M69 http://www.planetomni.com/MSTV_SONY_kv-dr34m69_DTL.shtml
(US$ 2,799) KV-ES34M61 http://www.planetomni.com/MSTV_SONY_kv-es34m61_DTL.shtml
(US$ 1,399) KV-XR34M61 http://www.planetomni.com/MSTV_SONY_kv-xr34m61_DTL.shtml
Other???

TVs need to work in UK, US, and ideally Brazil.

With the shipping and cost of the convertors wouldn't it be easier and
cheaper just to buy a TV when you arrive in the uk.  Most UK TVs and
DVD/video players will play both PAL and NTSC format.  And I hate to
say this but PAL is the BETTER format.  Remember if you bring any dvd
films with you to make sure you get a multiregional dvd player.

I tend to agree with ?enigmaga?. For all the hassle, it just isn?t
really worth it though this (or similar) question has cropped up
several times over the last few months. And I love to say this but PAL
is the BETTER format :-)

One point I would add is that many DVD players can be re-programmed to
multiregion. All you do is find a ?fix? for your model on the web,
download onto a disk, then play the disk on the player. This *is* a
hack, but as far as I know perfectly legal, which is more than can be
said for the regionalisation itself. Jury is still out on that.

Best

Hi,

American TV's are inflexible, in the sence that they have a refresh
rate of 60Hz. To make your tv work in a PAL area it has to have a
refresh rate of 50Hz. There are many ways to bring this about and
GADGET 1 on this page is the cheapest. It does the same conversion as
machines costing 6 times as much.

http://www.threedoubleyou.com/converters2.htm

This will provide a new tuner and convert the signal to NTSC and the
price is amazing.

Fuzzybruce