Buying an Xbox Stateside

Badgermonkey

Hi All,

I'm wondering would a US Xbox have any compatibility issues bringing it back to Ireland. Will it work with PAL TV's?

As games themselves are probably geo-restricted, I won't be able to buy them here or the UK but could use US sites which ship here.

As it's for a younger kid, it won't be used for Xbox live or downloading but if I did connect to the net using a US Xbox from an Irish IP address, would that cause any problems?

wotzgoingon

Badgermonkey wrote: »

Hi All,

I'm wondering would a US Xbox have any compatibility issues bringing it back to Ireland. Will it work with PAL TV's?

As games themselves are probably geo-restricted, I won't be able to buy them here or the UK but could use US sites which ship here.

As it's for a younger kid, it won't be used for Xbox live or downloading but if I did connect to the net using a US Xbox from an Irish IP address, would that cause any problems?

It would work as most if not all new TV's can play HTSC & PAL signals. But the main question would be what is the point of doing that. There is not a huge difference in price between US and Europe xbox. Buy second hand if price is an issue. Also you will get caught for import tax every time you buy a HTSC and get it shipped here.

Badgermonkey

Thanks for that.

Once I know NTSC / PAL won't cause any issues, it's viable.

The reason it's attractive is primarily the price of games. When I was purchasing DS Lites, the hardware was also significantly cheaper - though as you say, that saving seems fairly negligible with premium consoles.

If the games are better value there, it may be worth it as I'm in the US once a month, which would circumvent customs & postage costs. The thought of schlepping round a mall is none too appealing but needs must.

TheMooseInNam

You may have issues downloading stuff to a US console on an Irish IP address. My advice would be to buy one here to avoid any issues now or in the future.

gizmo

I suspect the download limitation won't be the console, it'll be a combination of the gamertag and your IP.

For instance, I currently use an Irish gamertag in the UK. This results in me only being able to see Irish content but also stops me downloading a lot of 18-rated content because I am deemed "out of region" due to my UK IP. I'm not really sure how it would apply to you given that your US account would allow you to access more content than an Irish one but at the very least I'd say you'll run into similar problems to me with regard to accessing content you can see on the service.

Badgermonkey

Sounding increasingly like I should buy Irish......from eh Amazon.co.uk.