buying a tv

[webbo3]

I'm wondering if anyone can point me or rather my parents in the right direction, they live in France and a good hours drive from the nearest large supermarket (leClerc) and (Giant Casino) in Angouleme and are looking to by a new TV on line iv'e looked at ebay but none of them ship worldwide or to France, does anyone know of a website that will do this.


Dave.

[Buenchico]

TV standards differ around the world. (For example, different countries use different frequencies for transmitting the signals). A UK TV set won't work in continental Europe.

Amazon France sells TV sets:
http://www.amazon.fr
as do the online divisions of the major supermarkets, such as Carrefour:
http://online.carrefo...te-en-ligne_frfr.html

For more sources, go to Google France:
http://www.google.fr
Enter 'TV' as your search term (or your more precise requirements).
Then click on the 'Shopping' link on the next page.
Clicking on a particular model will show the websites offering it.

Chris

[FredPuli43]

I just typed "TV en ligne achats livraison' [TV on line purchases delivery] into a search engine and produced lots of French sites offering the usual discounted prices and free delivery or delivery for a fee. The expression for free delivery is "livraison gratuit".

[FredPuli43]

^^ typo: livraison gratuite, not 'gratuit'. ^^

[webbo3]

cheers everyone, i know you are normally very good chris but are you sure about it not working in france as they bought a set here had it for over a year and it worked fine and now its developed a fault and has been with the repairers for about a month as with most of spain and france everything is always..mañana.

and Ty Fred ill pass these on to my parents so they can have a look to see if they can find something.

once again ty both.



Dave.

[FredPuli43]

Buy one in France or you may regret it.The TV not working is like dvds not working on some dvd players. Some TVs and dvd players are multi or dual standard and therefore do work in France, but I think the TVs are not easy to find here in the UK. Curiously, in France, I found that almost all TVs were multi standard for some reason, but that may have been peculiar to the area; I was near a border in the South of France.

[Buenchico]

Apologies for the delay in replying. My previous post was typed in a hurry as I was dashing to catch a train to a newly-opened pub! I've only just returned (Hic!)

The UK uses the 'PAL I' colour system. While PAL is the most-commonly used system in the world, the 'I' variant of it (which defines the frequency separation between the audio and video carriers) is hardly used anywhere else.

France uses the SECAM colour system, which is only used in France, some former French colonies and a few east European states.
http://countrycode.org/tv-standards

While I'm happy to accept that some dual-standard/multi-standard sets exist, it would be very unwise to assume that all UK TVs will work abroad. Most almost certainly won't.

Stick with buying from French retailers, or from eBay in France:
http://www.ebay.fr/

[Hopkirk]

This confirms that, as usual, Chris knows his stuff:

http://www.justlanded...s/Property/Television

[zebo]

There were dual standard TVs ages ago when we were in Germany, we brought one back to the UK after living there. I'd assume they still exist.

[ABerrant]

PAL, SECAM (& NTSC) are analogue broadcast systems.

For digital transmissions the DVB standards (DVB-T, DVB-S and DVB-C) come into play.

http://en.wikipedia.o...al_Video_Broadcasting

[Buenchico]

I thought that the colour system was still different, even on digital, ABerrant.

Anyway, I still doubt that Freeview and TNT use exactly the same systems systems:
http://en.wikipedia.o...errestrial_television

[SpikeyBush]

I live more or less right on the border between Northern Ireland and Eire. Freeview SD from the North is MPEG2 encrypted, Saorview from the Republic is MPEG4 encrypted. An MPEG2 receiver will get sound but no video for MPEG4 channels.

However, Freeview HD when it is launched in Northern Ireland come October is MPEG4 encrypted, so by purchasing a Freeview HD box I can get digital channels from both sides of the border.

You need to do a bit of research to find out what system the French use and what receivers are compatible. Hopefully some of the previous answers here will help point you in the right direction.

[webbo3]

tnx for all you answers, ill have a proper look tonight when i get home from work, once again thankyou all.


Dave.

[webbo3]

So Chris, would it tell me on the specs of a tv I was looking at whether or not it was pal/ secam or both, i knew about NTCS (American if im correct) and PAL, but I thought PAL was all of Europe, most of my PS3 games are PAL and can be played in all of Europe so Im still a bit confused.


Dave.

[Buenchico]

Irrespective of the colour system used, there are almost certainly other differences between UK TV sets and French ones. For example, the technical standards used for digital broadcasts in France seem to be different to those used in the UK. France might also use different frequencies, outside of the tuning range of a set designed for a UK. All that you can normally find out about a TV set (from the manufacturer's website or manual) is that it's built to 'UK specification'. The finer detail of what that actually means aren't usually given.

Buying in the UK means (at the very least) having to pay international shipping costs and changing the plug. At the worst it could mean buying a set which simply won't work in France (and I believe the possibility of that to be HIGH!).

Historically, France has always been different to most of the rest of the world with regard to TV standards (opting to use SECAM on 819 lines, for example, when almost everyone else was using PAL or NTSC on 625 lines).

Buy from a French site and you'll know that you're buying the correct product (as well as only having to pay domestic shipping rates).

[webbo3]

right, ill let my parents know and they can get one from amazon france or ebay france, once again, cheers Chris.


Dave.

[webbo3]

Oh and everyone else.


Dave.