Television Set from Switzerland

freetoair

Hi,
My brother-in-law is returning from Switzerland in the near future and would like to bring his TV home. Does anyone know if it would be compatible with the PAL-I we have here considering the Swiss use a different PAL system.


Thanks in advance

ShaneOC

Not certain about the standards. However if he is using Sky digital, the scart connection will work perfectly on any TV.

Mossy Monk

he may be lucky and have a multi standard television (SECAM etc.) i have one but it doesn't make much of a difference over here unless i go for French telly on analogue satellite, which i wont because it bores me

freetoair

Shane, he doesn't have SKY, lives in a location where all he can obtain 8 channels FTA. but your suggestion is helpful.
I what you've suggested is true for SKY would I be correct in saying that if he used his VCR as the receiver for terrestrial tv then by connecting the VCR to TV via SCART the signal should be displayed correctly?

ShaneOC

Originally posted by freetoair
Shane, he doesn't have SKY, lives in a location where all he can obtain 8 channels FTA. but your suggestion is helpful.
I what you've suggested is true for SKY would I be correct in saying that if he used his VCR as the receiver for terrestrial tv then by connecting the VCR to TV via SCART the signal should be displayed correctly?

Indeed that is the case. Note however that he will not be able to record one thing and watch another.

Also note that if he has a stereo TV then he will need to get a stereo video .

raphaelS

I have a "French" Sony TV and it is not PAL-I. The TV is PAL but the tuner is not PAL-I. :rolleyes:
That means I can see all the channels available with NTL (non digital so I guess this is the same with the FTA) but I don't have the sound.

So I've bought a cheap VCR here just for the tuner and connected the boxes with a scart...

Raphael

Mike 1972

Switzerland uses PAL-B (also known as Pal-G) so unless your set can handle PAL I youll have a nice picture but no sound.

Solutions
If its an expensive set it might be worth having it modified for PAL-I (usually just a matter of changing a ceramic filter) although some repair places may not have much experience of doing this

Failing that you can get a scart lead and use it with a digibox or Video

watty

Some Asian sets have both filters, the 6.0 and 6.5 so work in UK/ROI or rest of Europe.

Mike 1972 is right, it is only a single inexpensive component easily changed by any TV repair place.

And SCART will work.

I even have an old Philips monotor off an Amiga I use as a TV using the SCART and an old VHS as tuner.


The actual "PAL" colour is actually 100% compatible. It is only the sound channel is different between "PAL B/G" and "PAL I"

I think South Africa and maybe Cyprus are the other PAL I places.

lawhec

Most of Western Europe, with the exception of the Uk, Ireland and France, uses the PAL B/G standard. The difference between B and G standards is the channel spacing - on "B" it is 7 MHz while on "G" it is 8MHz. B is used on VHF Frequencies and G on UHF. Both standards have the FM sound carrier 5.5MHz above the vision carrier.

France uses its own bastardised form of TV going against nearly every standard of its neighbours, with SECAM colour, AM sound, +ve going sync pulses and +ve peak output vision power.

Here the PAL version is similar to that used in Western Europe, except for some minor changes, the most noticeable being the sound being 6 MHz about the vision carrier, and is labelled "I". There is also a version called "I1" used in the UK, the only difference between it and "I" is the size of the vestigal sideband, 1.25Mhz for "I" and 0.75 for "I1". I1 was introduced to some transmitters to help prevent interference to DTT transmissions. I1 will almost certainly be the last analogue TV standard to be developed.

PAL I is used in Ireland, UK, South Africa, Hong Kong, Falkland Islands and some African countries, both on VHF and UHF.

Switzerland uses Pal B/G, therefore to use it in Ireland either the sound filter needs to be changed by an engineer or the use of a VCR bought in Ireland etc. would need to be connected up using a SCART lead. It should also be noted that Switzerland uses "Zweiton" for it's stereo sound and not the Nicam system. Therefore picking up Nicam broadcasts will not be possible using the TV alone.

byte

Wow, good work with the well detailed post, Northern Correspondent!

I didnt realise that Swiss used Zweiton. I had thought all of Europe would have used Nicam standard. You learn something new every day!

freetoair

I probably shouldn't be posting thank you's on the boards, but the response I've received to this query is really fantastic and your advise has helped him make up his mind to have the TV brought home rather than sell it before leaving Switzerland.

Many thanks to you all!

Mike 1972

Something Ive always wondered (BTW South Africa, Hong Kong The Falklands Ireland and the UK all Use PAL I)

Why was the PAL I system originally developed.

I mean PAL D (The Eastern European system) has the same channel width (8 MHz) as PAL I put can potentally deliver better pictures because of its wider Video bandwidth (6.0 MHz or at a streach 6.2)

The benefit of PAL B or even PAL N are narrower channel witdth (7 and 6 MHz respectively) although this comes at the expense of picture qualty

The French SECAM L system is a bit of a mystery. Originally French TV used 819 lines but channel bandwidth was horrendusly wide (with the result that there was only room for one network) By the late sixties they decided 625 Lines was the way to go but rather than go for system D they chose System L seemingly on the grounds that their existig system had AM sound and Positive modulation (But then again so did the British but they had the sense to change)