UMC or other dual voltage receiver

[freehighway]

Hi,

I am considering to upgrade my home theater. Currently located in the USA I will move to France in about 1.5 year.

I looked at AV receivers or separates (processor+amp). Only Emotiva is rating their equipment as dual voltage 110V/60Hz-220V/50Hz. All other competitors simply decline to answer the question.

I checked on samstores and world-import but most are either old models or ones I am not leaning towards.

Do you know any other dual voltage receiver (<$1500)?

Would a simple, right sized, step-down converter work by converting only the voltage?

I already have TV and DVD player (all 110V/60hz) I would like to avoid throwing everythings away.

(Note I am not converced about the broadcast standards NTSC, PAL, SECAM).

Thanks

[dave123]

A friend has a bluray player from the USA witch he runs with a converter 240 to 110 volts with no problems.I live in Australia.
Dave

[Stevens]

Freehighway -check these out. Ample power, inexpensive, and they can convert both ways:

www.voltageconverters.com/voltage_converters.html

Edit: your USA (NTSC-based) TV and DVD-player will not do you any good in PAL-based Europe or SECAM-based France, however, unless they are spec'ed to handle both formats.

[freehighway]

Thanks Dave and Stevens,

I indeed invested in a voltage converter (step up and down) when I moved from France to the US for some basic gears.

Now that I want to invest a bit more $$, I want to make sure that the receiver gets its 110V from the converter but does not 'complain' with the 50Hz from the wall outlet when I am back in France.

[dave123]

Here in Australia we are 50 hz and my friend has no problem.
Dave

[Stevens]

I would guess most AV equipment would be fine with either 50 or 60Hz as long as the voltage is correct. If the equipment contains an electric motor it might however give some problems (e.g. I'm not sure how your DVD-player would do).

Since both your DVD and TV most likely will likely be caught in the PAL-SECAM-NTSC trap, you might as well sell these before you head back home. The receiver on the other hand will probably travel well, and could represent a significant saving vs. buying in Europe.

See this page: link

Cycles - 50 Hz vs. 60 Hz
North American 110-120 volt electricity is generated at 60 Hz. (Cycles) Alternating Current. Most foreign 220-240 volt electricity is generated at 50 Hz. (Cycles) Alternating Current. This cycle difference will cause analog clocks and timing circuits that use Alternating Current as a timing base to keep incorrect time. Most modern electronic equipment including battery chargers, computers, printers, stereos, tape and CD players, VCR/DVD players, CRT, Plasma, or LCD TVs and Monitors, etc. will not be affected by the difference in cycles.

IMPORTANT: Voltage converters and transformers do not convert cycles. Most items are not effected by cycles.

[freehighway]

Hi,

Indeed TV and DVD players might not be worth travelling. Only the DVDs themselves.

The Audio equipment in turn is definitely representing a great saving while allowing to enjoy it right now while I am still in the US.

Why are the manufacturers reducing on the 'apparent' specifications, pure marketing/sales controls? Or is there a true fall back.

I was leaning towards a Pionner VSX21/23 or SC25. Their customer service declined to comment my question and simply replied 110V/60Hz... Too bad, they would simply loose a customer if that is indeed able to operate perfectly at 110V/50Hz.

Anyone else with similar experience?

[freehighway]

Also...

When I look at the following converter:
www.atlona.com/Atlona-Pal-HDMI-to-NTSC-HDMI-Converter-1080p-p-17375.html
For around $240
It claims to convert form PAL to NTSC simply using the scaler conversion from 50Hz to 60Hz.

It is the same for the Emotiva UMC which has the ability to convert from 50hz to 60hz.

So would this be an issue to use a source (satellite box that is SECAM) and use the upscale conversion of the UMC-1 to convert it to 60Hz frame-rate and be correctly displayed on the US LCD TV (that is NTSC only)... Or am I making wrong assumptions here?

[Stevens]

Well, I don't really know, but since the PAL/SECAM/NTSC formats are analogue formats, these wouldn't necessarily apply to digital signals via HDMI . I guess with digital signals, it would be more a matter of finding equipment that could handle both American ATSC-signals and European DVB signals. Wikipedia has a lot more info on all of these formats.

[freehighway]

I contacted the company Altnoa and got their reply to my question:

Based on their answer 'it will'. That would mean they confirm that having a HDMI input SECAM 50Hz to their product would enable to connect on the output a HDMI NTSC LCD TV 60Hz...

So is the scaler that includes changing from 50hz to 60Hz the video signal the final bridge/solution to using equipment from around the world?

I am not technical to judge, but the person that answered from Atlona was straight and direct ("it will")

[freehighway]

Hi,

I also contacted Emotiva's support and they confirmed what Altona was confirming already.

Using the scaling functionality of the UMC-1, the following would work:

When I am back in France, lets say I use:
• Source = Satellite receiver (SECAM) output in HDMI
• Process = UMC-1
• TV = Samsung LCD TV bought in USA only NTSC capable

=> Video signal input HDMI SECAM 50Hz to HDMI output 60Hz on my NTSC only TV? This is not a problem.

So it sounds like I have a solution to my situation.

Just need to figure out if anyone already tried to connet a US LCD TV (as well as receiver/processor) rated 110V/60Hz to a 220V/50hz using of course a step down converter 220V-110V...

I read in several forums that most recent electronics devices would be fine, live Dave mentioning the DVD player. Still cannot find act.