[belzene]

Hi,

I am going to be relocating to Jo'berg in August from USA. I understand that there are two issues with taking a TV from the US.

1) Different electricity
2) Different signal type

I have heard there are converters for both (power & television signal)

Can only recommend websites on where to buy / learn more about the avaialbe options and converters?

Thanks,
Brendan

 

[martinaloeb]

To be honest, with the cost of transporting the TV over, and then the issues and costs regarding converters, you may be better off selling your TV there and using the proceeds buying a TV from here.

It is good to have a local warranty too as lightning strikes a lot here and TV's tend to get fried! (absurd to think about isn't it, but a strange reality too!)

Good luck with your move

 

[susieusa]

You can buy converters here. Search internet for electrical converters. You will want a heavy duty step up/step down converter with regulator. Most sites will give recommendations on size of converter you need. They will last forever. SA is the lightening capital of the world so a word to the wise: unplug tv, computer, cd players, etc when not in use. You should also look at buying a generator when you get there. Eskom has a lot of black outs. Good luck and have fun.

 

[susieusa]

I have the opposite situation. I brought my SA tv to the US - am in process of buying converters now. Maybe we should just swap tv's.

 

[WhenweB]

I should think that once you see what the South African TV stations are like and the drivel that they show you will be wondering why you bothered bringing your TV with you. Ditch it and buy another in SA and invest in cable TV.

 

[martinaloeb]

I should think that once you see what the South African TV stations are like and the drivel that they show you will be wondering why you bothered bringing your TV with you. Ditch it and buy another in SA and invest in cable TV.

This is very true. We started off with the DSTV compact package at R250 a month, it was so rubbish we upgraded to the full, which is around R650 a month. I don't know how they justify the cost for utter rubbish - there are only a few channels that we watch, so I am now cancelling DSTV and relying on DVD's from the local rental store. So 1990! haha

 

[chrisc2615]

Most new LCD TVs are ok from 100 to 220 volts, Given that you can buy a brand new TV for about R 3500 and the programming is atrocious, leave it behind

 

[caldoria]

If you come from the US especially (but also in other cases), a useful and inexpensive solution to the problem of insufficient quality TV in South Africa exists in the form of US-based entertainment providers like Netflix and Hulu. While Netflix and Hulu specifically do not provide these offerings in South Africa, using a service like UnoTelly allows you to receive them if you have a decent broadband connection (I get away with 1 Mbps actually). If you get Netflix at about USD8pm and UnoTelly at USD5pm or so, then you pay a fifth of what DSTv costs and get a huge selection of great TV. I've been doing it for months and I love it!

 

[lavidarachel]

I agree with the above - we use Netflix through Unotelly now in the UK, to get American Netflix (and UK and lots of other channels!) it costs us about £8 a month, and is an excellent service. It's going to be my saviour when we move to JHB and I'm a bored housewife

Sent from my iPhone using ExpatForum

 

[MissGlobal]

I'd like to throw in there - if you are moving from US and want to bring your TVs. Consider getting services like Apple TV as well. We are using a VPN service to keep a US IP address. This means we have apple TV, Netflix, Hulu and Youtube on our TV - wooohooooo! You may also want to grab some converters but we were able to get some here. DSTV is ok if you have the highest tier package - but I'm not blown away by the selection. Especially since I had access to Xfinity in the US. But if you can tack on a bit of american television with your DSTV... you're golden.

I confess I watch more Nigerian movies on DSTV than anything else haha! There's something about them - they are so bad, so cheesy, so hopeless that I just have to keep watching to see what craziness is coming next.

 

[Native Texan]

I would leave my t.v. in the US or sell them. You can get the same brands in South Africa and at competitive prices with the states if you shop around. Sony, Samsung and so on are available in all sizes. We watch a lot more DVD's than television anyway and agree with most of the posts as to the quality of the programing. We try to buy local when we can and it has saved us thousands in $ on shipping and it makes service so much easier.