American TV Sets in Japan

Would I have any trouble using my American TV in Japan? I am now using a "rabbit ear" antenna for digital broadcast. Not sure if the connections are compatible if we decide to use Japanese cable. I can ship my 42" a lot cheaper than I can buy a new one there. Thanks.

On the supposition that an antenna is ready, you do not always need to buy a new TV set; you can do with a new digital television tuner and a new monitor if you don't stick to high specs or a large size of the display, which can result in a lower cost.

If your current TV monitor has an input device, maybe you can use the monitor in Japan, maybe not; even when you can, it requires a transformer because of the difference in voltages of electric power.

You may have an option to see contents of some digital broadcastings through analog television waves if you can join a cable television network offering a service of digital-to-analog conversion called deji-ana henkan.
However in that case, the quality of vision highly depends on the specs of the display, and this interim measure is expected to end by March 2015.

By the way, do you plan to live in a detached house in Japan?
I suppose apartments in Japan, in most cases, have a common antenna (shared by one or a few buildings) for terrestrial television broadcastings.
And, not all apartments in Japan have a space enough to watch a large TV display of nominal sizes of 37 inches or more.
If the width-height ratio of your current TV monitor's 42-inch display is 4:3, note that nominal sizes of 16:9 displays with about the same height are around 51 inches; I suppose monitors with such a large display tend to be fewer in the number and higher in the price in Japan.

It's highly likely that your current TV tuner cannot be used in Japan, where each of digital television tuners needs to be used with an IC card for B-CAS.
B-CAS is a copy-controlling system, which was installed into both terrestrial and satellite digital television broadcastings in Japan because digitization makes it possible to send visual contents (e.g. movies, dramas) with high quality of vision.

Prices of tuners depend on bands and functions.
I guess a digital television tuner of the simplest type is available at less than 10,000 yen, which is designed only for terrestrial broadcastings and not for additional functions [e.g. data broadcasting function] peculiar to digital broadcastings.

To simplify: the built-in tuner probably won't work, but you can purchase a cheap external tuner. Here's the selection on amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.jp/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?__mk_ja_JP=%83J%83%5E%83J%8...

Thanks. Vizio the maker of the tv said it should work fine. Guess I will have to wait and see.

So basically TV sets sold in USA by Vizion have slots for BS Cards and Digital Terrestrial? I am surprised. I am even more surprised because I know USA and Japan have 2 completely different standards for Digital terrestrial television, USA have ATSC and Japan uses ISDB-T.

No offence, but bringing a Vizion TV set from USA in Japan is meaningless. Not only it costs money for shipping but it will be only used as a monitor. Japanese brands are way better.

In addition to all of the other points above, typical six-mat Japanese rooms are smaller than typical living rooms in the U.S., so you may find that 42-inches is actually too big for the distance from which you end up watching your TV. Also, no matter how well you pack it, there is the possibility of damage during trasit.

Sell your 42-incher, save the shipping fees and the cost of an external tuner, and buy a right-sized Japanese TV that will not require any unusual equipment and will be covered by a new warranty.

My Vizio TV that I brought from the States works fine. No power conversion or transformer is necessary. The connections are the same (co-axial, HDMI, or RCA cables).
I don't know about receiving broadcast TV, but my TV is completely compatible with my standard Japanese cable company, using the cable box they provided.
The comments about space for your TV should also be taken into consideration. I think most landlords for rentals would not allow wall-mounting a TV.

any TV will work just find if connect directly to cable box (cable TV), but you can't receive over the air digital broadcast(i.e. using antenna).This because as someone mention earlier US and Japan have different standards for Digital terrestrial television, USA have ATSC and Japan uses ISDB-T.
Yes, if you want to use ur US TV for cable TV(connect direct to cable box) but not over the air broadcast.

Question for the person with the Vizio in Japan. Can you receive over the air signals with a "rabbit ear" antenna or just with a cable setup?

This is a very delayed reply, but: Yes, I did notice recently that I can get a few broadcast channels without even using an additional antenna. Hope this still helps.