Xbox forum - US X-Box in UK

Author

US X-Box in UK

Frank_aka_ACE

2004-12-02, 5:49 pm

Hi,

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I can't find it in recent posts.

I have a US X-Box I want to bring to the UK, and have run into 2 problems,
power and region constraints.

I believe I can solve the voltage issue by getting a UK to US (240V to
120V step-down) transformer from Maplin Electronics (www.maplin.co.uk).
The Maplin product number for that transformer is VR05F. The only catch
is that the frequency will remain at 50Hz. Is this an issue for the US
X-Box which is designed for 60Hz?

The second issue is more complicated and is two fold. The first is PAL vs
NTSC. I think I can solve that with a TV that supports both these
standards. The second is, if I understand correctly, that UK games will
not work on US boxes unless the game supports NTSC boxes, or unless the
box is hacked, the latter likely being illegal. So I'd have to import any
new games I wanted from the US right?

Thanks for your help,
Frank

Paul Smith

2004-12-04, 12:47 am

"Frank_aka_ACE" <EMAIL@PROTECTED> wrote in message
news:54b97a652f66a6f01c04b1d14c70ceca@localhost.talkaboutgaming.com...

quote:

> I believe I can solve the voltage issue by getting a UK to US (240V to
> 120V step-down) transformer from Maplin Electronics (www.maplin.co.uk).
> The Maplin product number for that transformer is VR05F. The only catch
> is that the frequency will remain at 50Hz. Is this an issue for the US
> X-Box which is designed for 60Hz?

Possibly. Might wanna do a bit more research on this one. In my experience
most (I've not played around with Xboxes in this fasion) electronic stuff
has a good tolerance however.

quote:

> The second issue is more complicated and is two fold. The first is PAL vs
> NTSC. I think I can solve that with a TV that supports both these
> standards. The second is, if I understand correctly, that UK games will
> not work on US boxes unless the game supports NTSC boxes, or unless the
> box is hacked, the latter likely being illegal. So I'd have to import any
> new games I wanted from the US right?

If your TV supports NTSC (any decent one within the last 10 years will) then
you're fine in that department. Games are generally region locked, a few
games are however region free. To be safe you'd have to import, which could
get expensive if customs catches up with you (to the point it could well be
cheaper just to buy a UK Xbox and games).

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
http://www.dasmirnov.net/
http://www.xbox2portal.com/

*Replace nospam with smirnov to reply by e-mail*

Mike C

2004-12-04, 5:48 pm

>> I believe I can solve the voltage issue by getting a UK to US (240V to

quote:

>
> Possibly. Might wanna do a bit more research on this one. In my
> experience most (I've not played around with Xboxes in this fasion)
> electronic stuff has a good tolerance however.
>

A US Xbox will work fine with a standard, simple step-down transformer. I've
got a US Xbox here in the UK myself and have never had a problem.

quote:

>
> If your TV supports NTSC (any decent one within the last 10 years will)
> then you're fine in that department. Games are generally region locked, a
> few games are however region free. To be safe you'd have to import, which
> could get expensive if customs catches up with you (to the point it could
> well be cheaper just to buy a UK Xbox and games).
>

Yup, a decent TV will mean you'll have no problems with display, but you
will have to import your games. Shop around and you'll get some pretty good
deals. A site I often use is www.dvdboxoffice.com, who for example have Halo
2 for £28. Even if you do get caught for import duty (which doesn't seem to
happen that often) it still makes it a decent price.

--
Mike C
-
If you don't say what you mean,
Then how can you ever mean what you say?

Frank_aka_ACE

2004-12-05, 12:46 am

Great! Thanks guys!

Frank