Why not just import a European SCART/RGB TV?

[xportz]

I'm just starting on a retro gaming setup, and I've been reading through all of these threads today trying to determine the best course to follow for a killer setup.  I see lots of users spending hundreds of dollars on sophisticated SCART -> RGB cables and conversion methods.  Why not just import a SCART/RGB capable TV from Europe and skip all the trouble?  I realize cost is a major factor, but in light of all the time and expenses involved with this custom gear, and the headaches involved, just buying an SCART/RGB capable TV off of eBay.co.uk along with the gaming manufacturer's original SCART cables seems so much simpler.  Am I missing something?  Of course I'm not sure how much it'll cost to ship a 150lb TV from Europe to Canada, but I can't imagine it'd be more than say $300, which is less than what some of this fancy gear seems to cost.  Has anyone actually done this?

Your input would be appreciated!

[xportz]

Looking into this idea a little further, it looks like UPS can ship a 125lb TV from London, England to Toronto, Canada for about $200.  Any advice on if this is a good way to go for a non-techie?

[ken_cinder]

Looking into this idea a little further, it looks like UPS can ship a 125lb TV from London, England to Toronto, Canada for about $200.  Any advice on if this is a good way to go for a non-techie?

Yeah, plus the $100 in brokerage fees they don't tell you about until it gets here. Careful........UPS are a bunch of crooks.

[Endymion]

You are definitely missing something, a few things actually, like the big huge pain in the ass that it will be just to find a UK/European retailer that is even willing to deal with you for starters. Assuming that you can knock that one down, do you realise what the market is like over there? Electronics in general are way more expensive, big TVs? I can't imagine, even if you have large pockets, that the basic price for the set that you would want would turn out to be anything at all like a price you would want to pay. The fees for the shipping, and the insurance would be huge as well, and then you have an even bigger pain in the ass on your hands if your item arrives to you broken, or if (more likely) it is broken somewhere over the Atlantic.

Believe me, you aren't the first person to have this wonderful idea of importing a TV. Nobody I've known of yet has run very far with the notion. If you are really planning to blow that much cash, you might as well get something worth your while. I don't know how you've searched or researched on new items here, but I might as well go ahead and plug Panasonic's HDTV monitor lines again. Just go to their website and look at their business line of professional plasma screens. Every last one of them does VGA (31KHz) and RGB (15KHz) and they are the most versatile screens I have worked with. They will handle sync on green, composite sync, composite video, and they will even operate Y-Pb-Pr, RGB, or VGA over almost any input that the damn thing has. If you want RGB over BNC/RCA, you've got it, rather have VGA there? Same deal. Want to put Y-Pb-Pr over the 15 pin D-sub? It's in there. Yeah, there is no SCART input on this screen, but that hardly matters when it does every other thing under the sun, mod one box and you are pretty much set for life.

And that's only if you are really willing to drop the kind of $$$ you are talking about of course. If not, you got to realise how plentiful the monitors are, any city with a TV studio has them around, so while their uses outside of such places are obscure they really aren't that difficult to locate. Hell, if you can make it to Miami I'll GIVE you two 25" CRTs for nothing more than the price of moving it out of my pad.

[antron]

because I have an arcade monitor.

I've even built them with old US TVs and a chassis from 8liners

[Eggy]

it's a good idea, but the shipping, as already mentioned, is pretty complicated and expensive. another thing you should know is that you will need an ac adaptor: we europeans use 230v, you americans only 110. and another thing: if you have bad luck, you will get a tv that isn't 60hz compatible. most tvs support 60 hz, but if you have bad luck, it only supports 50 hz. and if you have REALLY bad luck, the tv won't even support rgb at all: it then has a scart plug, but no rgb. then you're screwed.

[viletim]

If there arn't already enough reasons no to do this... You'll loose your manufacturer's warrenty. Also, if it breaks down, a repair shop wouldn't want to touch it because they can't get service info or spare parts for an overseas model.