Hello again,

I'd like to clarify the tuner situation:

For the AUDIO FM tuner, Europe uses 50uS de-emphasis, while the USA
uses 75uS. A european tuner in the US will sound bright, or a US tuner
will sound dull in Europe. In Europe AM has 9KHz steps, and the USA
uses 10KHz steps. Some A/V receivers will have either software
switches, rear panel switches or internal methods of changing these.
So, if you look carefully before you buy, you should be able to buy a
115/230V receiver that is easy for the owner to change. I'd also try to
make sure that the model is sold in both countries so you can get it
serviced if you ever need to. These receivers should also be able to
have their video displays switched between PAL and NTSC.

For the VIDEO tuner a european PAL tuner will do you no good in the
USA, and an American NTSC will be useless in Europe, so a
'multistandard' machine is the only way to go.

As to buying a DVD player in the USA, I've seen them advertised on sale
for as low as $19.95US. HOWEVER these are going to be region 1
machines, and will refuse to play region 2 discs that you bring over
from Europe. It is possible to find a multi region machine, where the
coding has been 'hacked' so that they will play any disc, but I don't
get involved with those.

Regards,
Tim Schwartz
Bristol Electronics


wrote:

Hi,

I am looking to buy an inkjet printer, DVD recorder with hard disk, and
home theater system. The problem is that I am living in Italy
(220V/50Hz) and may move to the U.S. (110V/60Hz) in the future. I
would the option to use these electronics in both countries.

I have the option of buying the products in the U.S., but would prefer
to buy them here in Italy. From a technical standpoint, is it better
to step down from 220/50 to 110/60 or step up?

I would like to avoid purchasing a voltage transformer/converter. Is
it feasible to have these products rewired by an electrician to handle
both voltages and frequencies?

I assume there is some form of a motor in all of these products. Is
this a problem as far as the frequency is concerned?

Thanks in advance for the help!