Hi Sunny I am hooked on your videos. Are you aware that Best Buy did venture into the UK market but it failed after only 2 years, partly as they were unable to compete with Currys/PC World? I have never been into a Home Depot but on Google it looks a lot like B&Q. If Americans moving to the UK don’t want the washing machine in the kitchen they need to look for the term ‘utility room’ in the property description. From what I have read, Americans should not ship TVs to the UK unless they are very sure it will work, newer smart TVs are more likely to work then older ones but not guaranteed.
Sammy Girl thank you for the compliment and tips! I don't think Best Buy could fit here! The stores in America are so big compared to the ones here. Can't say I've seen any here that are the size of what we have in the US. Great tip about the utility room. One of our flats had one. Dryer still didn't actually work right though!
Best Buy was over here a few years ago and went into a price wars with Currys. There was some great bargains for few years but Best Buys gave up and shut down here.
Hi Sunny, this was great information. I am thinking about moving to London. I'm a technologist so this was very helpful to me. Did you have to sell your furniture or did you keep it?
Deonna Johnson hi there! Thank you for watching. I gave away or sold all furniture except two medium size cabinets and a wicker chest. My furniture from NY never would have fit here. I would advise only bringing small furniture, if any. Also, chances are you will move a few times so You don't want really expensive furniture either. Even bed sizes are different here. For example an American queen size bed is nearly the same size as a king here. I have several videos coming up that should help too- cultural differences, etc. Hope this helps!
nlaul hello and thank you for watching. I did not ship a tv and wouldn't recommend it. I actually don't think it would work here because of the different systems. You can maybe check the manual or call the company. It might depend of the year and model. You will likely need to buy a converter too.
Many flat screen TVs are designed to be sold worldwide with the only difference being the tuner unit and perhaps inputs. You will probably find one will work with a simple plug adapter for the power as they have built in converters to take the power down to the lower voltage DC used by the electronics. The UK uses 230volts 50Hz supplies (the EU harmonized this from the different 220/240 volt standards but both are within the 10% tolerance allowed). Your TV must have an HDMI input capable of accepting and displaying 1080p 50Hz signals (check the handbook). Again, most recent TVs will do this whatever country you buy it in. You will need this as you will have to get a "set top box" to bypass the ATSC tuner in your US set. The British are much more used to using set top boxes and have used a digital TV system since 1998. The standards are called DVB which comes in different "flavours" indicated by the ending: DVB-C for cable, -S for satellite and -T for terrestrial. The UK uses the original DVB-T for standard definition and the backward compatible and later DVB-T2 for HD. (DVB-T is not "forward compatible to DVB-T2) Unlike the USA, each frequency or "multiplex" carries a large number of different channels - typically 20 SD and 5HD with T2. Digital terrestrial services are marketed as "Freeview" and "Freeview HD". To get an idea of the range of channels free, go to freeview.co.uk and the "TV guide" page. Note that some areas outside of the cities may not have the full range of channels. (Some US companies use DVB-C and DVB-S2 instead of their ATSC equivalents) There are a few DVB-T2 tuner only boxes still on the market but you can get recorders very easily. These hook up to the aerial (antenna) and connect to the HDMI input on the TV. The cable company (Virgin) and subscription satellite Sky service supply their own set top boxes however you can buy "freesat" recorders which receive and record free to air programming. That is a good choice if you want plenty of channels and have a Sky dish already installed in the property. ALL use HDMI DVB-T and T2 is very much easier to use with an ordinary "bunny ears" antenna in good signal areas however a communal or rooftop aerial is preferable. It is more tolerant of "multipath" signals which with analog caused "ghosting" and with ATSC confuses the timing signal reception and drops reception. (The good news is that ATSC 3.0, which is in development, will be heavily dependent on DVB which should cure the current reception problems in US citises; the bad news is that existing sets will have to be replaced or have a set top box). Some broadband providers (BT, TalkTalk and EE) also have combined DVB-T2 and broadband TV recorders which they provide to their broadband subscribers in the hope they will buy into their subscription service. A lot of subscribers only want broadband and sell off the free boxes on eBay quite cheaply. They work as ordinary Freeview HD recorders, often referred to as "YouView" boxes after the organization that devised a standardised electronic programme guide (EPG) for all makers to use. A similar EPG built into TVs is now called "Freeview Play" as it includes a catch-up facility. Virtually every box and smart TV will access the main catch-up services from at least the four main broadcasters. This is a big difference between the US and UK. The BBC iPlayer TV service alone has about 3 billion requests for shows each year. One channel, BBC Three is now only on the iPlayer, the first linear broadcast station to make the move. With these you can scroll back in the electronic programme guide for a week and connect via a broadband connection to play. IMPORTANT To receive any TV on any kind of device, you will need to have a TV licence. This relates to your main household and covers you for mobile reception. They cost around £150 a year but you can pay monthly. If you flat share, check the property is covered.
The 240 to 110 volt transformer is just a good way of using up electricity, the output of which continues to allow you use the much less safe US style plugs! It is quite likely that the only protection for your blender will be the 13amp fuse in the transformer plug, so any fault will see the device well cooked before that blows. US style plugs also mean that there is a 50% chance of polarity not being conserved, so that you will be switching on the neutral leaving all the windings in your blender alive! Surely the only devices worth bringing from the US will be those that will work off both 230 & 110 volts, eg phone chargers. @@peterwells3268
Hafiaki Qomra hello and thank you for watching! My Instagram is sunny_in_london. My shirt is through withluvdesign.com and a promo code for orders over £25 is in the description! Thank you for watching.
So would you leave a TV behind?
Hi Sunny
I am hooked on your videos. Are you aware that Best Buy did venture into the UK market but it failed after only 2 years, partly as they were unable to compete with Currys/PC World? I have never been into a Home Depot but on Google it looks a lot like B&Q. If Americans moving to the UK don’t want the washing machine in the kitchen they need to look for the term ‘utility room’ in the property description. From what I have read, Americans should not ship TVs to the UK unless they are very sure it will work, newer smart TVs are more likely to work then older ones but not guaranteed.
Sammy Girl thank you for the compliment and tips! I don't think Best Buy could fit here! The stores in America are so big compared to the ones here. Can't say I've seen any here that are the size of what we have in the US. Great tip about the utility room. One of our flats had one. Dryer still didn't actually work right though!
Best Buy was over here a few years ago and went into a price wars with Currys. There was some great bargains for few years but Best Buys gave up and shut down here.
Hi Sunny, this was great information. I am thinking about moving to London. I'm a technologist so this was very helpful to me. Did you have to sell your furniture or did you keep it?
Deonna Johnson hi there! Thank you for watching. I gave away or sold all furniture except two medium size cabinets and a wicker chest. My furniture from NY never would have fit here. I would advise only bringing small furniture, if any. Also, chances are you will move a few times so You don't want really expensive furniture either. Even bed sizes are different here. For example an American queen size bed is nearly the same size as a king here. I have several videos coming up that should help too- cultural differences, etc. Hope this helps!
Sunny London thank you! yes it does help. I am taking notes while I'm watching your vlogs!
Hi Sunny Did you bring any of your TVs over to the UK? Thanks Nick
nlaul hello and thank you for watching. I did not ship a tv and wouldn't recommend it. I actually don't think it would work here because of the different systems. You can maybe check the manual or call the company. It might depend of the year and model. You will likely need to buy a converter too.
Many flat screen TVs are designed to be sold worldwide with the only difference being the tuner unit and perhaps inputs. You will probably find one will work with a simple plug adapter for the power as they have built in converters to take the power down to the lower voltage DC used by the electronics. The UK uses 230volts 50Hz supplies (the EU harmonized this from the different 220/240 volt standards but both are within the 10% tolerance allowed).
Your TV must have an HDMI input capable of accepting and displaying 1080p 50Hz signals (check the handbook). Again, most recent TVs will do this whatever country you buy it in. You will need this as you will have to get a "set top box" to bypass the ATSC tuner in your US set.
The British are much more used to using set top boxes and have used a digital TV system since 1998. The standards are called DVB which comes in different "flavours" indicated by the ending: DVB-C for cable, -S for satellite and -T for terrestrial. The UK uses the original DVB-T for standard definition and the backward compatible and later DVB-T2 for HD. (DVB-T is not "forward compatible to DVB-T2) Unlike the USA, each frequency or "multiplex" carries a large number of different channels - typically 20 SD and 5HD with T2. Digital terrestrial services are marketed as "Freeview" and "Freeview HD". To get an idea of the range of channels free, go to freeview.co.uk and the "TV guide" page. Note that some areas outside of the cities may not have the full range of channels. (Some US companies use DVB-C and DVB-S2 instead of their ATSC equivalents)
There are a few DVB-T2 tuner only boxes still on the market but you can get recorders very easily. These hook up to the aerial (antenna) and connect to the HDMI input on the TV. The cable company (Virgin) and subscription satellite Sky service supply their own set top boxes however you can buy "freesat" recorders which receive and record free to air programming. That is a good choice if you want plenty of channels and have a Sky dish already installed in the property. ALL use HDMI
DVB-T and T2 is very much easier to use with an ordinary "bunny ears" antenna in good signal areas however a communal or rooftop aerial is preferable. It is more tolerant of "multipath" signals which with analog caused "ghosting" and with ATSC confuses the timing signal reception and drops reception. (The good news is that ATSC 3.0, which is in development, will be heavily dependent on DVB which should cure the current reception problems in US citises; the bad news is that existing sets will have to be replaced or have a set top box).
Some broadband providers (BT, TalkTalk and EE) also have combined DVB-T2 and broadband TV recorders which they provide to their broadband subscribers in the hope they will buy into their subscription service. A lot of subscribers only want broadband and sell off the free boxes on eBay quite cheaply. They work as ordinary Freeview HD recorders, often referred to as "YouView" boxes after the organization that devised a standardised electronic programme guide (EPG) for all makers to use. A similar EPG built into TVs is now called "Freeview Play" as it includes a catch-up facility.
Virtually every box and smart TV will access the main catch-up services from at least the four main broadcasters. This is a big difference between the US and UK. The BBC iPlayer TV service alone has about 3 billion requests for shows each year. One channel, BBC Three is now only on the iPlayer, the first linear broadcast station to make the move. With these you can scroll back in the electronic programme guide for a week and connect via a broadband connection to play.
IMPORTANT
To receive any TV on any kind of device, you will need to have a TV licence. This relates to your main household and covers you for mobile reception. They cost around £150 a year but you can pay monthly. If you flat share, check the property is covered.
The 240 to 110 volt transformer is just a good way of using up electricity, the output of which continues to allow you use the much less safe US style plugs! It is quite likely that the only protection for your blender will be the 13amp fuse in the transformer plug, so any fault will see the device well cooked before that blows. US style plugs also mean that there is a 50% chance of polarity not being conserved, so that you will be switching on the neutral leaving all the windings in your blender alive!
Surely the only devices worth bringing from the US will be those that will work off both 230 & 110 volts, eg phone chargers. @@peterwells3268
Hello mrs sunny .do you hav an instagram???.where u get ur t-shirt from plz .and where do u live in london???
Hafiaki Qomra hello and thank you for watching! My Instagram is sunny_in_london. My shirt is through withluvdesign.com and a promo code for orders over £25 is in the description! Thank you for watching.