TV, TiVO, Slingbox in Japan?

Hello,

This could be a first of many questions over the next few months. Family and I will be moving to Japan in January for a period of about 5 years. I've lived in Japan on and off for four years or so. But haven't been as established as I am now.

Anyway, just wondering about television. Have any of you brought over your TVs from the US and other places? And do they work? Have flat panel TVs come down in price like they have in the US? Also, are services like TiVO offered? Finally, anyone use Slingbox with their cable back home in the States? And how is that working?

Sorry for all the questions, but these little details could make a world of difference.

Regards,

Tony

Anyway, just wondering about television. Have any of you brought over your TVs from the US and other places? And do they work? Have flat panel TVs

They've only got ch. 1-13 broadcasts or something like that, so forget about USA TVs!! They might pick up a few of the channels, but not all of them due to the overlap (eg. a Japanese analog TV will pickup USA channels, but not all of them, too.). If you don't care, you can go ahead and bring a TV.

Best bet? Buy/beg/get a cheap TV in Japan (those Sayonara sales advertised in many free English publications there are the best source).

Otherwise, buy a 1-Seg TV tuner cell phone and/or a 1-Seq USB TV tuner for your laptop/computer. You'll be able to get digital broadcasts then.

No, LCDs are not as cheap. eg. 32'' in USA on sale for under $400, but over there over $700+.

services like TiVO offered? Finally, anyone use Slingbox

Simply buy a digital hard drive recorder deck there and dump hundreds, if not thousands of hours, of videos to HDD. That's basically how it works there. 1-SEG phones or PC tuners can record directly to flash card/HDD.

Slingbox - you're in one of the world's fastest, if not the fastest, Internet connected countries. You should have no problems at all.

Don't expect digital USA TV tuners to work in Japan at all, or vice versa due to significant differences! (ie. no point keeping that Japanese TV when you come home)

Of course, some USA TV channels are already online live at tvunetworks and other live streaming sites.