32" LG LED HDTV 32LV2500 $299 (Planning to take it india)..will it work??
 

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Purchased this at Frys this weekend. Voltage says 110/220v (50/60 Hz)...But I dont see a mention of PAL on it...wondering if it will work in India...manual says NTSC...however i have seen in some forums where ppl says Vizio/LG works in India...(voltage is usually an indication). Also the model # has a LG-32LV2500.UA (I read somewhere samsung uses a similar convention, UN for NTSC and UA is both NTSC/PAL)

Can someone please shed light? Appreciate the advise...

Perhaps the question is better suited at avforums.com?

i agree....this has nothing to do with airlines of india....

you can buy converters in india but there's no bloody point

its not just voltage - power supplies etc for indian tvs are typically specced to handle dirtier power than in the USA (voltage fluctuations etc).

carry a large, expensive and fragile item in your checked baggage and -

a. The chance of it arriving in little glass splinters after the baggage handlers are finished with it is very high

b. The chance of customs people asking you for some money (duty, bribes, or both) is just about 100%

Far cheaper if you buy the damned thing in India - you also get local support.

Converter for what?
Please don't take it personally, but your post is mostly babble.

By talking about voltages and power supplies you are missing the point. Modern TV's have well regulated switched power supplies. So power supply is hardly an issue.
The issue is the color system and tuner. A TV for the U.S. market will have either ATSC (digital) or both ATSC and NTSC (analogue). Early digital TVs sold in the U.S. had both ATSC and NTSC (analogue) tuners.
Although the TV that the OP purchased supports 50Hz power supply, but that means little as it must be able to support 50Hz video. ATSC uses 720p/1080i at 60Hz while DVB-T uses 720p or 1080i at 50Hz, for high definition digital broadcast. SO, if the TV supports 50Hz video, it could work with digital signal via satellite or cable, but it will ABSOLUTELY not work with analogue over the air broadcast.
Now that analogue broadcast is history, I don't know if any manufacturer puts NTSC tuner on their devices sold in the U.S.
NTSC and PAL have different frame rates (30 fps for NTSC vs 25 fps for PAL). The two systems also have different number of lines, 525 vs 625.
Has India started digital broadcast yet? It will absolutely not work with analogue broadcast. Since you are not likely to find even an NTSC tuner on TV's sold in the U.S. today, chances of finding one with PAL tuner sold in a mainstream store are none to negligible. Only specilty stores big cities like NY, Houston, LA, Chicago, sell such equipment.

The digital standard for television broadcast in India is DVB-T (Digital Television Broadcast-Terrestrial). If you have a digital feed from satellite dish, there is a good possibility that it might work, but I am not sure.

That is a possibility, but people have been bringing TV's to India from Bangkok, Dubai and the U.S. for nearly 30 years. I haven;t heard of any mishap, but then I don;t pay a whole of attention to such endeavours as I have never been interested in taking a TV to India.

Which year are you talking about? Those days are gone. I know someone who took a TV from Bangkok to India and paid about 30% duty.

I doubt that you can get a 32 inch TV in India for $300.

Note to OP: For digital TV NTSC and PAL are irrelevant. Those standards are obsolete. If I made a penny everytime I corrected this notion of NTSC and PAL with digital TV, I would be a rich man.. like Keyser. :D
Note to objectors: Agreed, this has nothing to do with Airlines of India. But it is very pertinent to India. It could be put in India forum.

this is no longer true....if you are ready to pay the correct duty then there is no question of bribes....it's a very easy process now....very transparent....

dont travellers to india have a Rs20,000 duty free allowance? the OP may not have to pay any duty at all

32" LED TV for $300 - u cannot get a branded 32" LCD for the price in India let alone a LED.

digital DTH is available in India - Reliance, Airtel, etc. digital cable is also avilable though not widespread

as Yaatri mentions no need for a voltage converter - OP mentions voltage is 110/220V (50/60 Hz) and can be used in India

I think the duty is on the price as calculated by the customs.
The TV will come with type A plug. He will need an adapter for the plug. I think, the Coax input is different too in India.
I also think DVB-T Tv's don't have HDMI.

customs will calculate duty on the actual price of the product & not the discounted price....so the op will have to pay duty....

As Keyser Said, Customs has a list a TV models and Price in india - Based on which you have to pay tax.

Second hand experience, flying from SIN with a friend/colleague , he brought a 32" LCD (350 SGD) - the Price in india was about 23-24K INR and customs let him go without any tax / duty / bribe. Another guy in same flight, had a 40" LED - though the price was about 450 SGD, he has to pay the tax on indian price which was around 70K INR even though he had the invoice / CC charge slip etc for 450 SGDs.

If you happen to fly from SIN, you would be amused by the number of LCD TVs they load to each flight to india - I had seen 2 Luggage carts full of them (Around 40 LCD/LEDs) around last Diwali.

Also there are enterprising folks in Singapore, who come to SIN airport every day with 5-10 sets and solicit volunteers who can take a TV set to india for some gift in return.

Sorry, but you must be living in some other place called India. In the India where I live, the solicitation of bribes by corrupt public officials is still very much a part of everyday life. Have you not hear of the Jan Lokpal debate?

To the OP...you should be able to bring this in duty-free as part of your Rs 20,000 allowance. Make sure you have the original receipt...even if the Customs people try to bring out an "Indian Price List", that is irrelevant. Firmly but politely insist that the item is valued as per the receipt and that it is part of your duty free allowance. Eventually they will give up and go hassle someone with five TVs.

Correct - the coax cables are different. The power plug can be rewired by any competent electrician for a few hundred rupees.

However most other video electronics (satellite/cable TV set-top boxes, DVD players, etc.) have HDMI or component A/V connections as well. My living room satellite system (Tata Sky with DVR), all Indian-bought except for a Vizio Blu-Ray DVD, is fully HDMI connected and works great. My other system uses component (red/white/yellow) cables and works fine too.

OP may wish to consider a voltage stabilizer or a smart UPS. I have the latter on my home system and I have never lost a component due to a voltage spike. It also has the advantage of allowing you to continue watching TV when the power goes out, and avoiding the long boot-up delay on the satellite DVR when the backup generator kicks in.

hserus makes two excellent points. LG and Samsung have made huge inroads into the Indian white goods market by customizing their product for the local conditions, including dirty power. I doubt that you can walk into any middle or upper class home in India without finding at least one major appliance of Korean origin.

Second, while you may not find many electronic components that are cheaper in India, the price difference has narrowed so much in recent years that it is really not worth the hassle to bring stuff in (unless you get a really sweet deal like the OP has). When I go to my neighborhood TV-wallah, from whom I have bought lots of stuff over the years, I get a good price which includes an army of guys who come to my house, do the installation, and make sure that everything is working to my satisfaction. If I ever have a problem (which I haven't), the same army shows up to fix it or take it back for servicing.

The only electronic component that I have bought in the US in the past several years was a Vizio Blu-Ray DVD player. It was the first dual-voltage system I had seen in the US and was on sale for $129 back when Blu-Ray systems were $300 and up in the US (and more in India).

If the TV's have HDMI inputs, it's good to know. I have seen DVB-T televisions without HDMI and something else in its place

Thats a turn of roulette nor worth playing...

did you even bother to read my post before posting your unnessasarily attitude filled response????

i said if you are ready to pay the correct duty amount then the question of bribes are not in question....only if you are trying to escape duty is when bribes come into play....

i live in the very same india you live in....we are as much at fault for giving bribes as the corrupt officials are for taking them....when a traffic cop asks for a bribe then you have a choice of giving it to him or telling him to give you a ticket which you will have to pay legally....if a corrupt customs official asks for a bribe then you have the choice of giving it to him or paying the correct duty amount....

in the future i suggest you read my post properly before you decide to lecture me....

And often times, once you express your willingness to pay the duty and/or do things in an official way, the corrupt customs officers are no longer interested in you. My experiences:

1. I brought more alcohol than allowed (my mistake, I had misread the allowance amount, and was 0.5L over). Customs guy was obviously looking for a bribe to let it go, and I told him I'd be happy to pay the duty, and to please go get me the appropriate paperwork to do so. He disappeared, never to return, and while I was waiting for him, another customs guy just told me I was free to leave.

2. I had some personal electronics (laptop, portable CD player, etc.) that I was told would require a duty payment (and was hinted that a bribe would take care of it). I told them these were items that I would be taking back with me, and to please have my passport noted as such so I could show the items to customs inspectors upon departure. Suddenly they decided it was no longer an issue and let me leave.

my point exactly....once you are ready to do things the right way then the option of bribes doesn't come into question....

Why the invective? My experience has been difference. In more than 30 years of travel, I was once harassed by customs officials, which was resolved quickly. If you are polite, upfront and play by the rules, i.e. willing to pay the duty, they don't harass you.
Aren't you saying essentially what Keyser said--play by the rules?
BTW, Indian price list is not irrelevant. Customs duty is levied on normal market price, which might not be what you paid.

Naa, they got it figured out, The guy in SIN, notes down your passport# / Address from SG ID card / Takes a photo - Hands over the TV. Let his buddy back in India know the details, who is waiting outside airport to collect the TV and hands over the "GIFT"

Given that, the LCD/LED TVs are 60% less in Singapore - I guess it's worth playing for these folks.

I traveled with just a backpack against folks who were maxing out their luggage allowance and was approached by one of these guys - I had a chat with him after he finished his job and got to know the details on the trade -

Right, people who act smart and try to get one over the customs officer are the ones harassed. I have taken video and photography equipment in the days when the duty free allowance was pitifully low and the duty 300%. I stated I would re-export the equipment when I left India and requested that it may be noted in my passport. The customs officer dutifully made the notation, along with serial numbers etc. This was nearly 30 years ago. Treat perople respectfully and honestly and you will be treated well. If you talk to them with an attitude, they will get you.

I believe the point is that its a risky thing to trust a stranger, and to carry goods which may contain unknown items. If an airline employee sees someone doing this, they will ban them from flying.

Exactly my view - If I choose to fly with just a backpack - there is a reason behind it & why would I carry a TV along with it and given how SE Asian Counties about Drugs & Smuggling - why would I take that risk.

Someone in Singapore might smuggle drugs in n LED TV out of Singapore? That's hilarious. :D
What innte world are you talking about? I wouldn't want to be bothered with the undertaking at all even for my family. There is no one I know who wants a TV so badly from Singapore so that they would deal with a Indian scam depriving customs if duty. Then people complain about customs officer harassing passengers. :rolleyes:

My apologies if you were offended by my post, but I did fully read it and your statement that "there is no question of bribes now" could have been misleading to those outside India. Your post above would seem to agree that solicitation of bribes is a part of everyday life, which was my point exactly. I agree that many times we have a choice whether to pay or not, but when a Customs officer is hassling you for duty on an item when none is due or a Police officer is writing you up for a traffic offense that didn't happen...what choice does one have?

It is my sincerest hope that someday your statement becomes true and that we will be free from the stain of corruption in our society...unfortunately we have a long path to travel to get there.

thank you for the apology....its seems as we are all in agreement of the situation....even i sincerely hope one day we are free of the day to day corruption that plagues our country....