Sony KDL 4500 range & MPEG 4

logger

Hi John

Do the Sony KDL 4500 range of TV's support Mpeg 4 when bought from UK retailers, yourselves in particular. My understanding is that the Irish digital signal will be MPEG 4 while the UK one is currently MPEG2, and there are hints in some other forums that the MPEG 4 decoding may not be available on units purchased in the UK.

I know it is hard to get stock of them, however I was thinking of taking a trip up to Belfast to buy the 40W4500, however while your prices represent a good saving, it would be reassuring to know that they could also receive and decode the new RTE digital service too when it comes on stream without the need for running an additional box.

Thanks in advance

logger

Sorry for doubling up on the query, someone else also mentioned it here.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055407518
However I can't seem to find a definitive answer on it so maybe it is just as well to start a new thread for this specific issue.

rrpc

I'm beginning to doubt as to whether the UK/NI models will come with MPEG-4.

The Sony site says MPEG-2, but if you go on the PowerCity site, it specifies MPEG-4.

Looks like if you want MPEG-4 on this model you'll have to buy south of the border.

byte

I'm pretty sure, though not 100% certain, that both UK and Ireland use same TV. Some changes are made upon initial startup, where you're asked to select your country (UK, Ireland, Germany, etc, etc).

Selecting Ireland will enable VHF analogue tuner for example, and presumably MPEG4 (though I'd say selecting UK would still give MPEG4 as its backwards compatible and unlikely to have 2 decoding chips).