Blossom

Sorry to bug you all with this, but OH wants to buy a new 52" HD LCD TV with free sat, ready for our future relocation to NSW.

Can anyone tell me if this will work ok in this area or should we wait until we get to Oz and spend a lot more money on a tv - they are more expensive over there so it would be great to pick up a bargain here and ship it over when the time comes.

medwaymark

Don't know the answer to your question, but don't forget that it will cost you money to ship it, insure it and you may have to pay duty on it when you get here....

Rosscarbery

You have to pay duty on certain categories of new goods, I THINK it's anything under a year old but I'm not positive. Yes, you might get away with it but if you don't it will cost you, as well as the risk of customs then deciding to go through the rest of your shipment with a fine tooth comb. Not sure if it would be worth the saving in the end (also, remember you will be waiting a while for your stuff to arrive).

Blossom

I note your points on the customs duties etc, but if we buy one now it will be a year old before we move over to Australia so that shouldn't be a problem.

Just wanted to know if it would work, and if anyone else had taken a tv over with built in free sat.

Also insurance and shipping costs wouldn't really come into is as we would be shipping a whole house full and one extra tv wouldn't really make that much of a difference.

Thanks for your advice, it is appreciated.

Mikeyc

Yes the TV will work fine.

Mikey

E3only

As long as financially you are better off....

Cost+shipping+taxes if any...

bobbyftm

Free sat means zilch over here as it operates on a different frequency and you'd then have to buy a set top box anyhow

slipshot

but NOT using the inbuilt tuner (whether analogue or free sat) since they are different systems. If the cost in the UK is cheaper, then do buy it here and take it with you...

moneypenny20

An up to date HD TV will work just as well here as it does in the UK. Don't worry about the 'free sat' - that won't work here.

medwaymark

Our old big (ie not LCD) TV worked. Only analogue cos it was so old Set top boxes start really cheap, depends on your requirements really. We only had Virgin TV in England (no aerial), so using a set top box was no different for us. The on-screen programme guides are crap compared to the UK.

I bought a new HD TV here, but only cos I got it cheap from work

Blossom

Thanks everyone, I can now research which model I want to buy and know that I don't need to go and get one with freesat, although I think most of them come with it now anyway.

bigAPE

Yes, that's correct. If the item is less than 12 months old you will need to declare it and you will have to pay duty on it.

Come on guys you know this isn't true. Some of the modern HD LCD's will work "out of the box", but not all.

The decoder firmware has to support the Australian DVB-T broadcasts @ 7Mhz UHF/VHF on 64QAM Constellation at 8K, the UK use DVB-T @ 8Mhz 2K with a combination of 16QAM and 64QAM and with different Guard rates. There is no Standards based requirement for the manufacturers to support 7Mhz on 64QAM, so it's not a certain bet that the TV will support it unless the manufacturer says so.

If the monitor is modern and of a reputable manufacturer it could be as simple as changing a "Country" setting in the "Digital Channel" section of the configuration screen to Australia. In some cases it may require manually changing settings and in a few it may require updated firmware from the manufacturer.

A good test would be to play with the TV in an electronics shop and see if it has the option to change Countries in the DVB (or "Digital") settings.

Al

Burbage

Depends where you point your satellite dish. Frankly, 50 channels entirely in chinese would be better value than the garbage they have on satellite here.