Will US HDTV work in India

[Connoisseur]

My family's going to india in a couple of weeks and want an HDTV for their home there. Since they cost A LOT in India, my dad asked me to buy a TV here and ship it to India. I was thinking about buying a 42 - 46" LCD/Plasma tv. My question is: if I buy a US HDTV, assuming I buy a power converter to get the right voltages, can I use it in India? My assumption is that there is no OTA HDTV there. Thus, they'll probably have to subscribe to some sort of cable/satellite service.

On a related note, is anyone aware of any major HDTV service in India (particularly in Chennai)?

 

[RESmonkey]

My friend just went there with a power kit + PS3 + Monitor. I'm pretty sure it'll work, but not sure if you will get any of the channels since stuff is PAL? Or is that just disc content?

 

[Connoisseur]

well that kinda ties in with my other question. Does any service there office cable HDTV (including a cable box that supports component out/hdmi)? If so, can I use a TV bought in the US or do I have to get some sort of converter?

 

[slicksilver]

No. Bad idea. My friend got a 65" Toshiba DLP and all he does is watches DVDs. There is no HDTV service is India and regular sat. TV has problems too.

 

[Connoisseur]

::EDIT::

 

[Connoisseur]

bump for people with experience on this?

 

[kcushing]

I realize I'm a little late, but I was just in India. They are looking at having HDTV service available by 2010 and the Goodwill Games. They are looking to go all digital by 2015.

 

[fabidovalle]

Hi, i know i am kinda of late in the discussion, but hopefully this will add.
My sister went back to Brazil (PAL) in February of 2008 and the took a Sony Bravia there, she paid about $250,00 for a technician to place a chip which decodifies the PAL transmissions. Soon after she got Sky TV and guess what? The Sky TV digital box does all the decodification! Over the air (PAL) transmission needs the chip though!