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Getting a TV to India - Customs Question

Getting a TV to India - Customs Question

Old Feb 16, 2010, 3:33 pm
  #16  
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Originally Posted by doubled79
Really?
Why would you try to bribe a customs officer? Have you tried bribing a U.S. customs officer?
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Old Feb 16, 2010, 3:42 pm
  #17  
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Originally Posted by yrs
In addition to the following:

- customs duty on value of goods exceeding your allowance
- NTSC tuner on a USA TV vs PAL transmission in India
- voltage and frequency differences

it may be better to buy something local. Everything is available in India these days, and buying locally gives you the much-needed after-sales service when needed.

Unless, of course you are able to buy one for Indian specs in the middle east or Singapore/KL.
NTSC/PAL will not be relevant once India has switches over to digital broadcast. I am not sure when that's going to happen.
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Old Feb 16, 2010, 3:44 pm
  #18  
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Originally Posted by yosithezet
I understand that the quality of the TVs is not the same. A former employee had two identical TVs with the only difference being that one came form Singapore and one was bought locally. The quality of the picture on the one from SG was far superior.
There maybe a difference in TVs sent to the Indian market versus those sold in Singapore, but one data point is not conclusive evidence.
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Old Feb 16, 2010, 3:47 pm
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Originally Posted by Mr. Bean
Are TVs cheaper in SG/KL than in the US? Comparable quality?
Nope....A 42" 720p Plasma/LCD goes for about $550-600 nowadays. 1080p would be around $800. A PAL-NTSC converter goes for about $200.
You can get a 2000W 220/100 converter for about Rs. 5K.

The OP can actually buy a TV that supports NTSC and PAL; Looks like these are a bit more expensive though. for e.g.

http://www.jr.com/sanyo/pe/SAN_42E30FE/

Last edited by kiran_kom; Feb 16, 2010 at 3:54 pm
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Old Feb 16, 2010, 3:52 pm
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Speaking of Indian Customs at BOM, I just come back from BKK about 2 weeks ago carrying plenty of gifts and goodys and certainly exceeding the allowances. The bags were x rayed but no one batted an eyelid and i was through, I was half expecting the customs officer to stop us.

Out of all my trips in the last few years, only once have customs been less than ok with me and that was when i arrived in 2009 on at 8am and every ethnic indian (regardless of flight) was asked to have his/her bags x rayed while whites were pulled out and waved through. I honeslty feel that Customs are improving and for once, it is for the good!

Immigration have been super professional, cant say a bad word against them. Ive even had conversations with them. One of them even showed me how his system works. Did you guys know that Indian Immigration takes pictures of every passenger entering and exiting the country?
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Old Feb 16, 2010, 5:42 pm
  #21  
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Originally Posted by d3vski
Speaking of Indian Customs at BOM, I just come back from BKK about 2 weeks ago carrying plenty of gifts and goodys and certainly exceeding the allowances. The bags were x rayed but no one batted an eyelid and i was through, I was half expecting the customs officer to stop us.

Out of all my trips in the last few years, only once have customs been less than ok with me and that was when i arrived in 2009 on at 8am and every ethnic indian (regardless of flight) was asked to have his/her bags x rayed while whites were pulled out and waved through. I honeslty feel that Customs are improving and for once, it is for the good!

Immigration have been super professional, cant say a bad word against them. Ive even had conversations with them. One of them even showed me how his system works. Did you guys know that Indian Immigration takes pictures of every passenger entering and exiting the country?
Sneaky rascals! I have had only one issue with Indian customs, in 1994 when my baggage arrived late. They thought they had had me as you are assumed to have exhausted your free baggage allowance once you leave the airport, unless you have a document from the airline that your baggage did not arrive with you. They thought, they could legtimately levy duty on everything int he suitcase, even on diapers. After they had talleyed dutia amount pon every item in our luggage, I told them I w asn;t going to pay any, as I had come to pick up my unaccompanied baggage, which the airline had left in London. They were quite pi$$ed that they wasted their time on a person from whom they could not extract any money.
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Old Feb 16, 2010, 5:50 pm
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Originally Posted by kiran_kom
Nope....A 42" 720p Plasma/LCD goes for about $550-600 nowadays. 1080p would be around $800. A PAL-NTSC converter goes for about $200.
You can get a 2000W 220/100 converter for about Rs. 5K.

The OP can actually buy a TV that supports NTSC and PAL; Looks like these are a bit more expensive though. for e.g.

http://www.jr.com/sanyo/pe/SAN_42E30FE/
You don;t need a digital TV if you all you can get is analogue signal. NTSC and PAL are NOT digital standards.

You are about right on the prices, although, with diligence, you can do better. We got a 42 inch 108p for just under $600 ($598) before Christmas.
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Old Feb 16, 2010, 5:51 pm
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Originally Posted by aniruddh77
Rs 25k is the limit. As long as that is not breached (and that includes booze, cigs, everything), you can get it into India without paying duty. Anything above Rs 25k, you need to pay duty.
That's quite generous.
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Old Feb 16, 2010, 5:55 pm
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My brother took his 50 inch HDTV with him when he moved to Bangalore. He took it primarily to watch the DVD's he had in Canada and the U.S. In his case, his company paid for the move and the setup. IMHO. It's insane to take a TV from the U.S. to India. In the 80's also I saw people taking big TV's from the U.S. to India. These days,you may also have to pay extra baggage charges.
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Old Feb 17, 2010, 6:49 am
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Agree 100%

Originally Posted by Yaatri
My brother took his 50 inch HDTV with him when he moved to Bangalore. He took it primarily to watch the DVD's he had in Canada and the U.S. In his case, his company paid for the move and the setup. IMHO. It's insane to take a TV from the U.S. to India. In the 80's also I saw people taking big TV's from the U.S. to India. These days,you may also have to pay extra baggage charges.
I did the mistake of taking a Sony TV from UK and was assured that the voltage, AC cycles (50HZ) and PAL standards match. When I tried to use it in India the voice did not synchronize and most of the channels were not visible. The official Sony center said that none of the foreign purchased TVs work properly in India. It may become different with the new generation TVs.
The price difference is an illusion
After sales service is vital in India as the power is very unstable, frequent voltage fluctuations occur and sudden loss of power is common both due to substandard internal wiring and general state power supply. If you get a problem you will find it very difficult to get spare parts and expert technical help.
I have the choice of taking a UK TV and even that did not work.
Large size Samsung TVs (LCD and LED) are still not made in India and are imporetd and picture qualty will be similar to Far east based TV. Do not forget the LCD TVs have a number of variables-50 or 100 or 200 Hz, definition (720, 1080p or 1080i)pixel size and quality and you cannot compare the quality unless proper tests are done. All LCD TVs require proper calibration using a calibration disk to change the factory settings. It is not only the voltage but a number of other variables which make it unwise to take a TV from USA even if it is PAL and NTSC.
Thee ffort and other cost add ons make it really not worth it.
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Old Feb 17, 2010, 2:20 pm
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I too believe that now that major appliances are available in India, it is not worth it to import a new one yourself (something you have owned for years is different). In case something goes wrong, it is much better dealing with a local business than some shop in Dubai/S'pore. Even if nothing is really wrong, people can easily miscalculate voltage/frequency/pal/ntsc issues as well as compatibility with any existing equipment.
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Old Feb 19, 2010, 11:43 am
  #27  
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Originally Posted by drbala
I did the mistake of taking a Sony TV from UK and was assured that the voltage, AC cycles (50HZ) and PAL standards match. When I tried to use it in India the voice did not synchronize and most of the channels were not visible. The official Sony center said that none of the foreign purchased TVs work properly in India. It may become different with the new generation TVs.
The price difference is an illusion
After sales service is vital in India as the power is very unstable, frequent voltage fluctuations occur and sudden loss of power is common both due to substandard internal wiring and general state power supply. If you get a problem you will find it very difficult to get spare parts and expert technical help.
I have the choice of taking a UK TV and even that did not work.
Large size Samsung TVs (LCD and LED) are still not made in India and are imporetd and picture qualty will be similar to Far east based TV. Do not forget the LCD TVs have a number of variables-50 or 100 or 200 Hz, definition (720, 1080p or 1080i)pixel size and quality and you cannot compare the quality unless proper tests are done. All LCD TVs require proper calibration using a calibration disk to change the factory settings. It is not only the voltage but a number of other variables which make it unwise to take a TV from USA even if it is PAL and NTSC.
Thee ffort and other cost add ons make it really not worth it.
Not all PAL are the same. India uses PAL B. Most of European PAL systems are B/G. but the U.K. PAL is PAL/I. They use different bandwidths for channels, video and audio carrier. PAL B and G are largely compatible.
but PAL I and PAL B are not. The answer you got from SONY was a bad answer.
I will reiterate, PAL and NTSC are analogue standards. Use of terms PAL and NTSC in the context of digital standards is absurd.
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Old Feb 20, 2010, 12:06 am
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Originally Posted by Yaatri
Not all PAL are the same. India uses PAL B. Most of European PAL systems are B/G. but the U.K. PAL is PAL/I. They use different bandwidths for channels, video and audio carrier. PAL B and G are largely compatible.
but PAL I and PAL B are not. The answer you got from SONY was a bad answer.
I will reiterate, PAL and NTSC are analogue standards. Use of terms PAL and NTSC in the context of digital standards is absurd.
So, does Europe have a digital standard then??
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Old Feb 20, 2010, 4:23 am
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Originally Posted by Yaatri
I will reiterate, PAL and NTSC are analogue standards. Use of terms PAL and NTSC in the context of digital standards is absurd.
What does it mean in practice: If importing a dvd player and digital tv, can a person just ignore pal/ntsc issue and, if he assures correct voltage, the combo will work anywhere?
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Old Feb 20, 2010, 3:53 pm
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Originally Posted by aktchi
What does it mean in practice: If importing a dvd player and digital tv, can a person just ignore pal/ntsc issue and, if he assures correct voltage, the combo will work anywhere?
Yes
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