Fedex will cost you around $1000...

Airline freight is an option, but with something like this you'll need a specialized firm and special packing materials (wood crate).

hmm lots of work to get this plasma
any recommendations?

I have exactly this model of Plasma which I bought in the USA and imported to eastern europe.

It is labelled as 120v only but works fine at 220v without any transformer. I discovered this by accident when it arrived because somebody plugged it in without looking at the label. I am not surprised because they manufacture these for the world market and really do not want to worry about different manufacturing runs and inventories for 110v and 220v. But of course I cannot give any guarantee.

Well, a $1000 plasma from Tiger is gonna cost you:

Plasma $1000
Sales tax: $120
Shipping: ??
Import tax: $450

If I were you I'd get one across the border. A similar Panasonic for the European market is this one:

http://www.produkte.panasonic.de/product/product.asp?sStr=5@-@1@13@40@41@@@@@TH-42PX60EH@Viera|Plasma-Bildschirme@&altMod=N&upper=&prop=

and it DOES do pal and NTSC.

PAL B/G
Ja
PAL D/K
Ja
NTSC über AV
Ja
M-NTSC über AV
Ja
PAL-60 über AV
Ja


Or this one:

http://www.produkte.panasonic.de/product/product.asp?sStr=5@-@1@13@40@41@@@@@TH-42PV45EHK@Viera|Plasma-Bildschirme@&altMod=N&upper=&prop=

Which does even more formats. MSRP's are around EUR2100 so street prices should be around EUR1500?

Check Neckermann.de for some example prices:

http://www.neckermann.de/index.mb1?m..._v301_ch=e1892

(if that link doesn't work go to www.neckermann.de and search for plasma, then click panasonic in the left).

how did you send it out to europe?

This has happened to my wife on small electronics like kitchen appliances that use motors, eg mixers, blenders etc.

However, I have an American bought AV reciever that I have been using for five years so far in Europe with a step-down transformer and it is doing just fine. Ditto for my CD player.

I suspect the issue is that some small electronics with motors struggle with the 50hz/60hz issues, where are the solid-state items like TV's do not. So your Plasma screen might be fine, but the fan inside might not be in the long run. Just a theory.

As for the warranty, you can forget about it. I am in the UK and moving to Scandinavia soon and Panasonic UK says they will NOT cover the item there. If they wont cover it a product bought in the EU, no way in hell they will cover it abroad. This may be true for German or Dutch bought goods in Poland

For this reason, I would say that buying a flatscreen and exporting it may only make sense if you buy a cheaper used item which you dont mind taking risk on.

That said, you could aslo make the argument that skilled labour is cheap in Poland and you can find someone on your own to fix the thing if it breaks, thus making your purchase savings pay off. But if you dont have the stomach for that, bite the bullet and pay it.

As far as importing things to Europe goes, the key loophole is that most countries do not tax personal household effects/furniture etc imported by people migrating there. If you are legally migrating to Poland, this should be doable or of you know someone in the polish community in the US moving home. For example at the Swedish church in NYC, you will find ads posted for people looking to share the cost of a container or half-container of goods shipped him. It is cheaper to ship heavy goods that way - if if someone is moving home or migrating legally, no tax/dutie will apply for this type of item. You could pursue that route.

Having moved countries and continents several times I can assure you that shipping a brand new plasma TV won't fool anyone, even if it is in a shared container. The times I've shipped household items, I had to provide a list of all the items and their age/cost.

I'll say what I've said before; all this just isn't worth the hassle when you can buy a perfectly identical and cheap TV just 400 miles up the highway.

Ill hold off and see what i can find in germany and around the area.

The best prices that I have found for technical items, through a lot of searching,
are from a German company called Hardwareversand. They do many plasma and lcd t.v.'s and monitors, maybe you will find what you are looking for there.

If they operate on harwareversand.de then it seems like they only do LCD, and don't seem to have any plasma's on the site..

For online stores, this is a good place to look:

http://www.ciao.de/Plasmafernseher_608592_3

hmm ebay...
I wonder then if I can just buy it in germany ebay and have em ship it to poland? that might work...

Apologies, thought I'd seen plasmas there as well.

Skip the plasma. Buy a projector. THAT you can conceal more easily.