US xbox 360 on French TV?

[tekkie]

I have read a ton of info on the internet about this and some people say most new tv's in EU will work via HDMI even though the xbox is ntsc. Can anyone confirm that? I already purchased the EU power adapter for it because it won't work without that.

Other people say that you need an ntsc-secam convertor so I don't know which one is right

[_Sarah_]

Originally Posted by tekkie

I have read a ton of info on the internet about this and some people say most new tv's in EU will work via HDMI even though the xbox is ntsc. Can anyone confirm that? I already purchased the EU power adapter for it because it won't work without that.

Other people say that you need an ntsc-secam convertor so I don't know which one is right

You can use hdmi on French TVs, and I can confirm that your xbox will work, however, you will only be able to play NTSC games - so you can't buy games in France because they're in PAL format.

[tekkie]

Awesome thank you, some games are region free and will work but for the most part yeah i will need to get them shipped over which shouldnt be a problem

[_Sarah_]

Originally Posted by tekkie

Awesome thank you, some games are region free and will work but for the most part yeah i will need to get them shipped over which shouldnt be a problem

Exactly, and games and sometimes cheaper online anyway

[MichaelS]

Originally Posted by _Sarah_

You can use hdmi on French TVs, and I can confirm that your xbox will work, however, you will only be able to play NTSC games - so you can't buy games in France because they're in PAL format.

That is not entirely true. The screen format of the game is not important when output in HD. I have a US xbox and French and UK (PAL) versions of some Xbox games and they work fine.

What prevents your games from working is Region Locking. Microsoft does not enforce region locking, but unfortunately they do not forbid it either, so it totally depends on the game publisher. This will not be marked on the box, so the only way to really know if it will work is to have someone verify it for you. PlayAsia is a good site for this. For example, here are all the versions of Left 4 Dead (Buy Video Games for Consoles and PC - From Japan, Korea and other Regions - Play-Asia.com) which as you can see on that site is not region locked for any version.

Of course US versions are usually cheaper than the French version, even with additional shipping costs, but if you did want to buy some Euro versions, or borrow some games or whatever, you probably have about a 40% chance that it will work on your US xbox :-/