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Saorview TVs from Littlewoods

EuskalHerria

I thought I would post this for anyone that is looking to place an order for a television with Littlewoods.

In the most recent Autumn/Winter catalogue a lot of the descriptions of the televisions are showing no information on Saorview compatibility. This has been updated online to say that a lot of the televisions are not Saorview compatible.

If your ordering make sure that you have checked the compatibility. The reasons being if the item is removed from the packaging and plugged in, then the TV is then non-returnable under Littlewoods home approval guarantee.

Could be useless but hope it may be useful and save someone a lot of grief.

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NIMAN

They're looking at a huge number of returned TVs if true, which is not good for them as they have to sell them at reduced prices as 'Returned' items, so can't believe they would be so stupid.

EuskalHerria

NIMAN wrote: »

They're looking at a huge number of returned TVs if true, which is not good for them as they have to sell them at reduced prices as 'Returned' items, so can't believe they would be so stupid.

Its certainly something that people need to be aware of. If anyone is looking to order a TV, then look online rather than a catalogue to absolutely confirm all the information before placing the order.

It would be something to be aware of rather than a deterrent from a good bargain on a TV.

NIMAN

I suppose a lot of retail outlets in Ireland will be carrying a lot of TVs now that aren't Saorview approved or compatible.

M three

Do Littlewoods have stores here?
If not arent they selling freeview tv's and will these work just as easily as saorview tv's?

NIMAN

DO NOT buy a Freeview TV thinking it will work with Saorview.

IT WON'T.

dudara

Moved to the Terrestrial forum

dudara

watty

Note that unless someone has their own lab and prepared to stand over results, they can't market gear as "Saorview Compatible" unless it's Certified.

Or else how do they know?

Sponge Bob

Argos and Littlewoods are notorious for stocking non compatible rubbish. Currys are much better and have cleansed their range of this crap ( we put some pressure on them in 2010 and 2011 and in fairness they stepped up to the plate).

winston_1

EuskalHerria wrote: »

I thought I would post this for anyone that is looking to place an order for a television with Littlewoods.

In the most recent Autumn/Winter catalogue a lot of the descriptions of the televisions are showing no information on Saorview compatibility. This has been updated online to say that a lot of the televisions are not Saorview compatible.

If your ordering make sure that you have checked the compatibility. The reasons being if the item is removed from the packaging and plugged in, then the TV is then non-returnable under Littlewoods home approval guarantee.

So what!! It's returnable under your legal rights if you were not explicitly told it is not Soarview compatible. You don't even need to have retained the packaging.

EuskalHerria

winston_1 wrote: »

So what!! It's returnable under your legal rights if you were not explicitly told it is not Soarview compatible. You don't even need to have retained the packaging.

Could I ask what this is based on? I ask because statutory rights are not affected once the item has been connected. If a customer buys a product and has not read the description of the item to check compatibility, then the retailer (Littlewoods in this case, but I'm sure there are many others similar to them) are not going to have the TV back due to a lack of research on the customers part.

I put this up to make people aware of the fact that if they do not read the full description of the item and then connect it, then the approval guarantee is invalidated and also statutory rights are not affected.

watty

If they are advertising it to Irish Customers the onus is on THEM to tell you it doesn't work!

JonathonS

The Small Claims Court would give Littlewoods short shrift if a case came up. If they have any sense they will block Irish orders for any non-Freeview HD models.

Mitch epitag

This doesn't really matter, I would say 99.9 percent of littlewoods ireland customers have sky or upc.

Johnboy1951

Mitch epitag wrote: »

This doesn't really matter, I would say 99.9 percent of littlewoods ireland customers have sky or upc.

Yeah?

Where did you get that figure?

FREETV

They and Pixmania should only be stocking Freeview HD televisions and set top boxes and stock Saorview approved ones also. I was on to Pixmania nearly two years ago coming up to next December about it. :rolleyes:

Hotblack Desiato

EuskalHerria wrote: »

Could I ask what this is based on?

On the basis that a TV which cannot receive TV is not fit for purpose :rolleyes: they have some cheek trying to dump this junk on the Irish market, nobody in the UK wants non-FreeviewHD TVs any more so they try to dump the crap over here.

EuskalHerria

ninja900 wrote: »

On the basis that a TV which cannot receive TV is not fit for purpose :rolleyes: they have some cheek trying to dump this junk on the Irish market, nobody in the UK wants non-FreeviewHD TVs any more so they try to dump the crap over here.

I disagree with you saying that it is "dumping" them here. Its more an issue of a large company bulk buying items and in doing so, with the very recent switchover to Saorview, people who had no reason to before needing to be more vigilant in their orders now. The TV will work, however it will not receive Saorview automatically or at least without an external box to pick the channels up.

My point was that I believe Littlewoods have updated their website to show that certain makes and models may not be compatible. However the catalogues themselves can't obviously be updated and it would be something the person ordering needs to ask about rather than the onus telling everyone for every order that it isn't Saorview compatible. Its just not feasible.

Hotblack Desiato

EuskalHerria wrote: »

The TV will work, however it will not receive Saorview

A TV that cannot receive broadcast TV is not fit for purpose.

Sponge Bob

French Tnt tvs as stocked by Pixmania work here ...bar ye olde teletext problem

winston_1

Sponge Bob wrote: »

French Tnt tvs as stocked by Pixmania work here ...bar ye olde teletext problem

In which case they don't work properly and can be rejected under SOGA.

ardmacha

They should simply have passed a regulation clearly prohibiting anything being described as a television if it could not pick up Saorview. Big fines here might help fund the deficit.

Hotblack Desiato

winston_1 wrote: »

In which case they don't work properly and can be rejected under SOGA.

I don't see the problem provided they don't make any false claims.
If you can watch TV on it then it's a TV. Teletext was never a compulsory feature and line-encoded TTX TVs were still a novelty here in the early 1990s.

winston_1

ninja900 wrote: »

I don't see the problem provided they don't make any false claims.
If you can watch TV on it then it's a TV. Teletext was never a compulsory feature and line-encoded TTX TVs were still a novelty here in the early 1990s.

The way I understand it is that any TV sold in Ireland has to be fully Saorview compatible including MHEG-5 unless specifically stated otherwise.

watty

Teletext was never part of any Irish Mandatory specification [for Analogue TV, it is part of Saorview].

MHEG5 text [and EBU Teletext] is a Mandatory part of Saorview certification, the only way to know a box or TV works [today is Certification]. TV in the Digital age is FAR more complex compatibility minefield compared to Analogue, also with increased Globalisation.

We only occasionally got UHF only PAL sets before Argos. We never got NTSC only Secam only or PAL B/G or PAL D/K sets getting sold. Argos was for a while careful to not sell any UHF only PAL-I TV here. They have not been careful about Digital, nor has ANY other major Retailer.

If importing you only had to check for PAL-I and VHF as well as UHF. Today without certification it's impossible to know if a box or set works properly. Even "ticking the boxes" of MHEG5, DVB-T, HE-AAC, MPEG4 L3 and L4, SCART and HDMI isn't enough and that is a lot to check for the ordinary consumer.

See www.saortv.info

Solair

A television that doesn't tune into broadcast television signals is no longer a television, it's a monitor!

Littlewoods Ireland is a localised Irish retailer. They shouldn't be selling incompatible televisions. It's no different from a company selling American 120volt appliances in the UK.

Hotblack Desiato

winston_1 wrote: »

The way I understand it is that any TV sold in Ireland has to be fully Saorview compatible including MHEG-5 unless specifically stated otherwise.

There is no requirement for this (there should be!)
The basic requirement for a TV to be a TV is to receive a broadcast, display a picture and play back the sound.
But they should not mention the word Saorview at all if they are not approved. Saorview is a trademark and RTENL can restrict its use.
E.g. Power City ads/website has some TVs as 'Irish Digital TV Ready' - you can watch and listen to Saorview broadcasts but it may or may not have any features above picture and sound

The word Saorview is mentioned if the product is approved.

NIMAN

Please note that afaik some Freeview HD may not receive Saorview properly.

I had a Freeview HD receiver and it only picked up half the Irish channels properly, with some it was sound but no picture.

So Freeview HD is not necessarily a guarantee of compatibility.

watty

'Irish Digital TV Ready' is meaningless really. All it means is that someone maybe tried it and got a picture and sound. It's chancing their arm.

Only buy a Certified TV or Box unless you have reliable N.I./Welsh Aerial reception and know exactly what you are doing.

Keep receipts/proof of purchase at least two years.

The Cush

watty wrote: »

Teletext was never part of any Irish Mandatory specification.

EBU Teletext was part of the Saorview min receiver spec from the start

Note that the IRD shall still support decoding and displaying of EBU Teletext normal pages and subtitling as specified in NorDig Unified specification section 7

Source: Minimum Receiver Requirements for Free-to-Air Digital Terrestrial Television for Radio Telefis Éireann (Version 1.0, Issue 1, Date: 2008-12-19)

watty

Yes, for Saorview,
but I was referring to ANALOGUE TV in Ireland!

Sorry for not making that clear.

Yes Saorview requires MHEG5 and EBU Teletext both unlike UK D-Book which has no Teletext and only MHEG5.

I have corrected the obvious and stupid ambiguity in my post