TV set from france.

sandraroffey

can anyone advise on here please.

i have been given a rather splendid TV set, but it is french (brought over from france and had been made for the french market).

the person who gave it to me said i would only need one of those travel adaptors (the plug on it is different) and it would work fine.

NOW, i am not sure about this as i know that these plugs are only plug adaptors and they dont have anything to do with changing the voltage of anything.

do french TVs have a different voltage?????

mikey72

No, same voltage as ours.
They do have a different transmission standard though, so you may not receive anything. Depends how new the tv is, and whether it's multi standard or not.

Bob_the_Saver

No, but they use a different system but if you've been given it you've lost nothing.
Try selling it to someone moving to France. Evading the French version of the TV licence fee (added to a property tax) is a nation pastime so buying a TV 'off the record' could be an attractive proposition to some people. I don't agree with it myself, we should all pay our taxes

sandraroffey

thanks for the replies. havent tried it yet in case it went BANG. so indeed i may not receive anything on it. will give it a go when i go back home on thursday.xxx

totalsolutions

France use SECAM and the UK has PAL. The two are not compatible. Check the tuner section first and save lugging the thing back and dumping it over here.

mikey72

French tv's are often multi standard. It may not even be marked on it anywhere. Only way is to try it.

DrScotsman

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

Try selling it to someone moving to France.

I swear I saw another thread today about someone asking if their UK TV would work in France, with people suggesting they just get one there. Sell it to them

TimothyEBaldwin

totalsolutions wrote: »

France use SECAM and the UK has PAL. The two are not compatible. Check the tuner section first and save lugging the thing back and dumping it over here.

Those are analogue standards in which broadcasting will cease within the next 2 years. For digital television there is more compatibility, both the UK and France use MPEG2 over DVB-T for free-to-air standard definition.

For standard definition pay TV the UK uses MPEG2 whilst France uses MPEG4, both over DVB-T. For HD, the UK uses DVB-T2, France uses DVB-T, both MPEG4.

Compisite video, such as from a video tape recorder will have problems with the PAL/SECAM difference. Component video, such as from almost anything digital will not be a problem.

Edit: But they do use different audio standards, so that needs checking. The UK uses MPEG Layer 2 (mp2).

knightstyle

Just use a Sky box to get freesat channels without a card or a Freeview box plugged into the scart socket and you will het the normal UK channels.

sandraroffey

thanks again. will try it all on thrusday when i get home but first i have to get the adaptor plug thingy.xxxxx

nomoneytoday

totalsolutions wrote: »

France use SECAM and the UK has PAL. The two are not compatible. Check the tuner section first and save lugging the thing back and dumping it over here.

True, although scart and HDMI feeds work regardless from a digibox, as UK analogue broadcasts are being scaled down anyway