Televisions
 

We do not have a multi system TV/home entertainment system, could someone please let us know what system Australia works on, i.e. is it PAL the same as in America? If it is, does that mean we have to sell our TV etc?

Re: Televisions
 

PAL, though moving quickly to digital DTV, though the frequencies are different, so you may not be able to either see a picture, or have sound without twiking it www.jaycar.com.au/images_uploaded/austtv.pdf. I am a little confused as to the system that your tv format is, so I assume by your post that you have NTSC system www.high-techproductions.com/ntsc.htm, which is used in the USA not Europe? Do a search on the subject as there are numerous threads and posts over the years. Tv's are not that expensive here.

Re: Televisions
 

Our TV is UK/Europe and I know we cannot play PAL DVD's (American) because we have tried, so I presume you are on the same/similar region as the US?

Re: Televisions
 

Amercian DVD's are region encoded (region 1) and output an NTSC image. this is why your UK TV will not display it.
But saying that, for it not to display NTSC it must be pretty old. Most TV's will show both formats.

Re: Televisions
 

Your TV will be PAL, which is the same as Australia, but the audio is different in Oz. If your TV is relatively new and you have the option of changing the country in the set up menu of your TV, you can change it to Spain or Holland (I think) and your TV sound will work in OZ. If not you will get a picture but no sound.

We brought our Sony 40" LCD with us but it is a UK version with no option to change country settings, but we just bought an HD set top box in OZ and plugged it in and it work's perfectly through the HDMI cable.

Bobby

Re: Televisions
 

Pal

everything i bought from the uk works fine (tv, dvd, car 2din gps dvd tv. sd digital box Sky sat box(if you remove the hard drive and put it in a Foxtel box some of the recorded programs will work).

can also use my 3 phone for free in oz to call the uk £60 for a year on contract with 500 minutes free calls 100 texts.

James

Re: Televisions
 

James
Tell us more about the mobile thing!!!

Re: Televisions
 

My Missus is on a 3 UK mobile contract.
15 pound a month and she gets 600 texts and 70 mins talk time

Even though we are in Aus, if she texts or calls a uk landline / Mobile it comes off her monthly balance = Free.

If she calls an Aus number then she pays International call rate

Stu

Re: Televisions
 

its all on their web site www.three.co.uk

as long as you make calls in oz or europe etc in a three area it comes off your free minutes etc.

if you both have aq 3 phone here its free minute calls to each other

as long as you see 3 or 3g on the mobile its free minute calls

i got a sim only deal which was £60 for 12 months eg 10months free and pay for the last 2

i bought a uk three-skype phone for £50 on pay as you go and use that here, it has MSN Skype (free calls to other skype users) BBC news the Sun news paper website, it has loads of free content and UK tv package for £5 a month
its good for watching on the train etc but crap if you were at home.

James

Re: Televisions
 

I have been told by Samsung that my LCD sound will not work and would probably cost around £600 to replace various parts inside the TV, motherboards etc.
Anyone got any more positive info??!! I was hoping to take it as it's fairly new but will still lose a lot by selling it and buying again in oz.....
Thanks
Helen

Re: Televisions
 

Like I said in my previous post, just plug a Freeview Set Top Box in to the TV and it will work fine.

Re: Televisions
 

Ok, thought i'd check as the samsung man was very adamant nothing else could be done! Forgive me but what is the HDMI cable, do I need to change settings on TV?
Thanks, Helen

Re: Televisions
 

OZ works on the German system.A modern TV should have different country settings,check your handbook.

The S/sung guy is talking crap.The tuner section of the TV is different.Connect an OZ set top box,that has an OZ tuner built in (obviously) through the RCA (yellow/white /red) cables,or the super video cable,or the HDMI input (high definition multiple interface if I remember corectly).

The tuner section of the set top box(or DVD recorder or VCR) will then pick up all channels the same as a DVD recorder etc in the UK.To see them select whatever you connect it up to.RCA cables will be A/V 1,2 or 3.SVHS will be super 1 or 2 in, and HDMI will be HDMI input 1,2 or3 .The TV could also have PBY inputs but they seem dead and gone now,HDMI being the standard until they come up with something else.

Audio out to home theatre will be RCA or S/PDIF to a digital amp.SCART is not common here.

If it looks complicated it isn't.Whatever you have in the UK (VCR,DVD recorder etc ) replace it with an OZ one and everything will work the same.

Set top box $40 to $200.

DVD recorder $100 to $250

VCR $90.

First two you can also buy with HDD recording for slightly more $$

Blu ray DVD recorder with HDD around $800 to 1K

Re: Televisions
 

OZ works on the german system.PAL,(phase alternated linear)

USA works on NTSC (never twice the same colour),shit system.Actually it's National television standards compliance (corporation?,I forget)

Decent 42 inch plasma in OZ $1000-1500.

Universal (non regional) DVD player (a cheap K-mart special) $40-50.

Things were so much easier when I was a kid and fixed TV's as a hobby.Turned on the 17 inch murphy,waited 2 years for the valves and everything to get hot enough to cook pizza,then up came a small 405 line definition black and white grainy picture.That lasted all of 5 mins before the TV conked out .Wait two years for it to cool down so I could fix it ,and repeat

Ah the good old days.

Re: Televisions
 

I know you need a bloody degree in electronics to even switch anything on these days. Why make everything so complicated! Just because the techology is available it doesn't need to be included in everything.

It's like washing machines - you have 16 programs but only use 3 so what is the point, just more to go wrong and more expensive to fix.

Cars - you used to be able to change bulbs now you have to replace whole light units.

The world has gone mad, mad, mad!

Re: Televisions
 

As people have said, taking the TV and buying a digital set top box when you get here looks like the best option. If Samsung say you can't change the country then ignore points 1 and 2 (but check your manual to be sure).

Your LCD has an analogue tuner (the "normal" tv signals we grew up with now gradually being replaced with digital). The transmission standard used in most of the world is the German-developed (but not owned) PAL standard. (US and France use NTSC, possibly a few others).

Your problem is with different flavours of PAL. Thare are ways around this:

1. UK uses PAL-I, Australia uses PAL-B/G. If you can find a manual for your TV, see if you can use your on-screen menu to change to PAL B/G. If you can, you will have no problem whatsoever (until digital replaces analogue - I think in 2012). I would expect this to be possible with newer sets, but unfortunately a lot of TVs are UK models with PAL I capability only, and I don't know if this continued with the analogue LCDs and Plasmas.

2. If you can't change the type of PAL directly, it's sometimes possible to change the set's country to Spain or Belgium or any other country that uses PAL B/G. The difference is in the way sound is transmitted - with a PAL I set in Australia you can pick up the picture for most challels but no sound. But, some channels are still transmitted on VHF, so that's why there's B and G (for VHF and UHF). PAL I is UHF only (i.e. the UK) - okay far too much information.

3. Failing not being able to switch with your menu, there's the option of getting a digital set top box when you get here. This means the digital tuner inside the box does all the work and passes the signal to you tv in a form that it can display the pictures and sound without having to use its own built-in tuner.

4. The last and most expensive option is to get a TV technician to open up your tv and fit a tuner that works with PAL B/G. This probably means it would no longer work in the UK - so it would have to be done just prior to packing. Also, you wouldn't be able to test the job had been done properly until it got here - a few months down the line. By which time the technician would be down the pub with his mates... maybe not, but telling you you have no other option sounds dodgy to me.

Hope this helps,

Big.