Can I bring my brand new LCD 37" TV with me to London? Do I need an adapter or something, import duties? Or do I simply have to bite the bullet and buy a TV in England?
You’ll probably have to get a new one in the UK.
The UK does not use the ATSC digital TV standard; I don’t think the broadcast on the same frequencies; and I have no freakin’ idea what they use for cable.
Unless you get a UK cable/satellite/tuner box that puts out a signal that your TV can handle, you may be out of luck.
And then there’s the different power-supply voltage and different electrical plugs. Even if your TV did work, you’d have to run it off a plug adaptor connected to a step-down transformer of sufficient continuous wattage to handle the TV’s load.
I’m not saying that it’s absolutely-impossible to power and connect a US television receiver in the UK for less money than getting a UK set, but it would take a lot of research and hassle.
And then there’s then whole ‘television licence’ thing. At least formerly, Brits paid a tax each year on each television receiver, which funded the BBC. (Do they still do that?)
It would need to be able to operate on ~230V 50Hz electricity. If you will be using a satellite, cable or digital terrestrial box, the TV will need to be able to display at a 50Hz refresh rate, and have component or PAL S-Video or PAL composite input, depending on what types of signal the box provides. If you are hoping to just plug an aerial into it and watch analogue TV, it will need a PAL tuner too.
[ETA]Yeah, digital TV here is DVB, not ATSC, and so far it’s standard definition only, although it is widescreen. HD is only available on satellite, maybe cable. The TV licence is per household, and yes it is still collected.
Yes, except you don’t pay per TV, you pay per household (basically). You can have one TV or five - the fee will still be the same.