Kevin Wayne Williams <nihongo@paxonet.kom> wrote in message news:<V4K4b.14316$vm2.12150@nwrddc03.gnilink.net>...
> Nicolas Santini wrote:
> 
> > "Sachi Noma" <snoma01@bigfoot.com> wrote in message news:<birokt$coo9k$1@ID-149597.news.uni-berlin.de>...
> > 
> >>I am beginining to consider buying a region 1 DVD player in the US and bring
> >>it to Japan. This way it is guranteed that I can view The Sopranos.
> >>
> >>Does anyone know whether a US DVD player would work in Japan provided I
> >>purchase the proper voltage converter. I assume there is no problem with
> >>frequencies difference like that of TV.
> >>
> > 
> > 
> > A DVD player bought in the USA (region 1) will work perfectly well in
> > Japan, as long as you play region 1 discs on it. A power transformer
> > is cheap (around 2500 yens).
> > 
> > Points to consider:
> > - cost to carry back as luggage, or ship as parcel
> > - your US warranty most likely won't be honoured in Japan
> > - parts might be hard to find in Japan, unless the same model exists
> > on sale domestically (as a region 2)
> > 
> > The first day you want to play a region 2 DVD, you'll regret having
> > imported this region 1 deck. 
> I don't quite follow this. I have a region 2 DVD Japanese player and a 
> US region 1 player here in the US. The region 2 player happily runs on 
> US electricity, and I presume my region 1 player would like Japanese 
> electricity just fine. My video switcher has inputs from my US 
> DVD/LD/VCD player, my Japanese DVD/VCD player, the cable box, the VCR 
> connected to the A-cable analog feed and the VCR connected to the 
> B-cable analog feed. Adding the region 2 player to the mix cost me $80 
> bucks. What am I supposed to regret?
> 
> KWW

The 10 to 20V difference between North America and Japan may end up
damaging your equipment if not using the proper power transformer. It
depends on how the internal power supply was designed, specifically
how it can dissipate the extra energy coming from the higher voltage.
Considering how cheap a tranformer is, it is not worth taking the
risk.