paul_d

I am about to purchase a new TV here in the UK, but I wanted to make sure that it is possible (and not too expensive) to convert it for use when I get to OZ next year.
I believe it is possible to use a local tuner (e.g. video bought in OZ) and pass the signal to the TV over scart, but what if i want the built-in tuner converted?
Does anyone have any experience of this?

Knocker43

Hi Paul,

We brought several TV's of various sizes & qualities with us - I wish I hadn't bothered. Basically the NTSC/PAL format issue doesn't seem to affect the picture - it will display fine, but there is no sound - just a hiss.
Buying a video over here and inputing directly from that to the TV does work - i.e. using the video rather than TV tuner; but is only possible via composite AV inputs (the yellow (video), red & white (sound) sockets). SCART is virtually unheard of over here, it's a Euro thing methinks - none of the videos / DVD players I've seen seem to have SCART (though you can find the cables in some shops).

You can have your TV converted, but this will cost you 3/4 the price of a colour portable anyway and is only really worth it if you have already bought a top-notch big screen job and would lose too much flogging it.

If you must buy one now, make sure it has composite AV inputs; otherwise just rough it with whatever you have or can pick up second hand till you get here. If you can bear to wait, you'll get more for your money over here and avoid having to ship it. We had to wait 8 weeks for our shipment to arrive and had to buy a telly anyway. My big UK telly is now a Playstation monitor!

Hope this helps

sackofspuds

There are TVs available in the UK that are multi-region so they should work in Oz. I needed a TV recently and considered buying one. A 21" one (I'm not interested in some wide screen thing) was available at a cost of around £110. Took me an age to find it on the Internet.

I can look up the details if you're interested.

In the end I found a reconditioned standard TV for £60 on Curry's web site so I thought I'd save myself the shipping costs and bought that one to use before we leave.

paul_d

Thanks, that has cleared it up for me.
I think I'll just spray paint the old one silver for now.

paul_d

I didn't know you could get multi-region TVs.
I'll take a look on the internet to see if I can find a suitable one.

Thanks
Paul.

Big Galah

You probably don't know but this one comes up a lot - twice today already.

Basically the no sound and general incompatibility problem is to do with PAL, the system used to transmit the pictures and sound.

UK uses PAL I

Australia uses PAL B/G

If you buy a TV that can easily switch between the two you should have no problems - it should be on your on-screen menu for newer sets or in the technical specifications part of your manual under TV SYSTEM - for example, mine has :
This means I can change between any of the 4 systems depending on where in the world I am.

In fact, for some Sony sets (can't vouch for other models), even if it has PAL I only, it's still possible to change to B/G without having to open up the set- but that's another story.

Cheers,

Big.

paul_d

Thanks Big. It was a Sony I was thinking of. I'll ask the shop assistant about this feature....

GLR

Must be Groundhog-thread day

sackofspuds

As someone else said, it's PAL-B/G that is the standard in Oz whereas it's PAL-I here.

As I mentioned earlier, these "multisystem" ones needn't cost a fortune. I came up with these recently:

Samsung CI21N112TZ about £140
Samsung CW21M063NS £150 at Argos
Panasonic TX21CK1 £185 inclusive with stand at www.appliance-direct.co.uk
Sharp LC15B4E 15" lcd tv £300