Devices Compatibility

If you are planning to purchase Electronics/ Electrical/ Cellular phone systems to be used in India you must consider the following points.
There is a difference in electricity and video technology in both the countries. The following table summarizes the differences.

System

USA

India

Electricity

110-120 volt, 60 HZ

220-240 volt 50 Hz

Video Standard

NTSC

PAL-B

Wireless (mobile)

PCS (Analog/ Digital)

GSM

DVD

Region Code 1

Region code 5

On account of the differences above, some of the devices may not work in India:

  • All electrical systems like mixers, hair dryers, vacuum cleaner etc.
  • Video system TV, camcorder, video games, video cassettes etc.
  • Cellular phones.
  • CDs, DVDs, and DVD players.

There are many devices that work in U.S. as well as India. These systems have an inbuilt converter and are known as ‘Multi System’ devices. You have to specifically ask for such systems at the store. Alternatively, you can buy convertors that are available in almost all the Electronics stores. The converters convert one type of video signals (NTSC) to the other signal (PAL) for TV/ VCRs/ Camcorders.

Devices like telephone instruments and musical keyboards can work with a simple change of adaptor that works in a particular country. For example, a cordless telephone system that uses x DC output in U.S. can work well in India with a 220 volt and x DC output adapter.

Not all mobile phones can be used in other countries. If you want to buy a cell phone to be used in India, consider buying a GSM phone

Tips

The following technical questions are useful before making a purchase decision.

What is the difference in NTSC and PAL system?

NTSC stands for National Television System Committee. NTSC runs on 525 lines/frame.
PAL (Phase Alternating Line), runs on 625 lines/ frame. PAL is most popular in European countries, except France. The PAL standard utilizes a wider channel bandwidth than NTSC, which allows better picture quality.

Why can't a DVD or CD bought in US work on an Indian DVD Player?

To protect DVD copyrighting, a special encoding has been introduced on DVD players.
The world DVD market is divided into 6 regions. In any single region, you can only use machines and discs made for that region. If you try to use a disc from one region with a DVD drive or player from another, you'll get an error. Here is the breakdown:


Region 1: USA, Canada

Region 4: Australia, Middle & South America

Region 2: Europe, Near East, South Africa, Japan

Region 5: Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe Region

Region 3: South East Asia

Region 6: People's Republic of China

** Buy the multi system code free DVDs that are not region-locked and work in different countries.

What is a DVD? Why is the output of a DVD better than a CD?

DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) output allows you to take the advantage of picture quality to the fullest extent of your television or monitor. Most full-length movies will fit on one side of a DVD with up to 500 lines of resolution (compared to 250 lines of VHS) and multi channel audio.

Why are some DVD players expensive than others?

The higher end DVD players offer faster processing that gives you smooth fast-forward and reverse search as well as faster menu response. Some even have separate optical pickups for playing DVDs and CDs that are supposed to give you better sound.

What are the other technical factors which are useful in understanding DVD players?

According to the DVD specs, all NTSC DVD players have an internal Dolby Digital decoder but in most cases this decoder only outputs stereo (two-channel) audio. If you want multi channel sound, you can plug a digital connector into an external decoder to get more channels.

Some of the more expensive players have a full internal 5.1-channel Dolby Digital decoder as well. If you have one of these players, you don't need to invest in a Dolby Digital processor. You will, however, need a processor that will accept multi channel inputs. However, keep in mind that you don't want your DVD players’ internal decoder to be the only Dolby Digital in your system. Somewhere down the line you'll want a Dolby Digital receiver to take care of processing for other digital sources, such as HDTV. PAL/ NTSC 525/60 (NTSC) or 625/50 (PAL/ SECAM).

Some players will only play NTSC discs, some will only play PAL discs, and some will play both. To play PAL DVD's you need a multi-system code free DVD.