Hi,

I'd like to take advantage of the cheaper electronics prices here on the continent before I return to the UK. However, I have heard that the UK uses NICAM and Germany uses FM-FM which are incompatible systems and hence would render my new TV useless in the UK.

Does anyone know any details about this, possible conversions to NICAM or whether there are any 'dual TV's' etc.

All help gratefully received,

Triponi

[LV426]

A TV bought in Germany may/will not work fully in the UK solely because of incompatibilities in the tuner.

You mention NICAM - that is one issue. The non-NICAM analogue sound is also transmitted in the UK on a different offset frequency to that used in Germany. So, you get a picture but no or poor sound.

Without modification (unless of course the TV is already equipped with a UK-compatible tuner - some are) it won't work well or at all on any RF (read, Aerial cable) input.

It will work OK on any AV input, Composite, RGB, SVideo etc. If the savings are large enough, you could consider buying a really cheap NICAM VCR to use as an external analogue/NICAM tuner. Or a Sky or Terrestrial digital Set Top Box. ie use the TV as a monitor only.

Make sure that you buy a multistandard tv. Many are multistandard. They will automatically decide between PAL and SECAM, AND between PAL B/G, PAL I/I' and PAL D/K. They will also automatically switch between NICAM and A2 stereo. What they do not do is automatically load BBC1 into button 1 etc - it has to be done manually, and you get to choose station name etc. My own experience is with a Tosh 3798 DB which is now no longer made - 37" TV, Dolby Digital, 100W RMS, 100Hz, digital chassis with noise reduction, freezeframe etc, megatext. Cheaper++ and better than the UK version, the 3787. So go ahead, just make sure its multistandard - so it won't just work only on any AV input, Composite, RGB, SVideo etc!!!!!

Thanks for those replies,

Have you got any ideas/recommendatons about which TV's are multistandard? I'm interested in 28" - 32" Widescreen TV's?

Thanks,

Triponi.

Try this website http://www.hificomponents.de/Versand...sliste_eng.htm
I bought my tv from there and it went OK.