A friend of my gal just got an awesome 9 picture in picture TV set from her son now in Japan.

I hooked up the television to a step down converter that was 1000 watts @ 50-60 hertz.

The tv works but has wavy lines Indicating the power source is probably incorrect. After figuring out the controls I found 2 pages in English & the second to last line was "this television is for use in Japan only & will not work in any other country'

Seems like a deadend. Does anyone know if there is a backdoor to alter the power supply or to make it function or is she dead in the water on this one? The converter she has is made in France & seems to be putting out the correct sine wave.

Thanks for any info........

you should maybe check with a multimeter if your stepdown converter is really outputing 110v(standard japanese voltage).

normally the frequency is not a trouble, i used to have a lot of import consoles running on stepdown converter and never had any trouble about 50-60hz difference.

Check the rating plate of your TV, just in case it has a universal power supply (100-240V) which would remove the requirement for the converter with its associated issues.

Wavy lines are the video equivalent of mains-hum.

If your TV has a ground pin, make sure it's actually grounded.

Try reversing the plug in the output of the converter, then try reversing the input plug (if they're not 3 pin obviously).

Try grounding the outer of your video cable.

My Pioneer DVD changer says 'for use only in Japan' (I bought it in Malaysia) works very nicely (has a universal PSU).

Edited August 26, 200817 yr by Crossy

Thanks guys I will try when I go by her house again. I am sure it s useable once the power rating situation is resolved.

Hi Beardog,

Sadly your girls friend is out of luck, notwithstanding the voltage issues Japan uses the 'NTSC-M' television system as does the USA whereas Thailand uses the 'PAL-B&M' systems which are more like the system used in the United Kingdom, Germany and others (but not France). Additionally different countries use a variety of frequencies to transmit the actual signal. For more information look here.

Regards

Andrew (A mechanical engineer not a television engineer, but interested in such things)

Edited September 13, 200817 yr by RetroGTAndrew

Andrew could be right - but most TVs these days are multi-system capable - so somewhere in the manual you will need to check if the TV is multi-system or not - if it's not then it definitely won't work.

If it's single system it will still be usable with satellite/cable TV and DVD players.

If it's single system it will still be usable with satellite/cable TV and DVD players.

If you are going the satellite route make sure it's not UBC. I had "free" UBC installed in my house but their cable box will only work with PAL system. Unless there's a new/different cable box I would avoid UBC.

On the other hand, I had a "no name" satellite dished installed and their box supports both PAL (Thai) and NTSC (USA).

So now I have 2 satellite dishes at the house......

Ski.....