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12/05/2008, 13:08 Laurier Joined on 13/09/2007 Posts 25 Portable UK TV to use in France on holiday? Does anyone know if it is possible for me to take  a very small portable UK TV  with me on holiday to France with portable aerial, plug it in to the mains and receive French TV? I have no idea if this is possible/legal but  when I travel I often stay at places with no TV and would like to be able to switch something on  for company during the evening. If a UK TV won't receive French programmes, I wonder if I can buy a small French TV but then what do I do about a French licence as I'm a UK resident at the moment? Would appreciate any solution or advice. Laurier    Report

12/05/2008, 13:23 Anton Redman Joined on 23/08/2004 Gironde Posts 2,146 Re: Portable UK TV to use in France on holiday? Many cheap and chearful sets now support SECAM - the French system because it is now cheaper to have a standard production line. If the menus support French langauge and the documentation says  SECAM  then it should work in France. The last Proline LCD TV I bought is dual standard as was a very cheap French supermaket special we bought 10 years ago. The bad news is loads of French towns and the countryside you need an outside antenna to pull in a decent picture. When we bought VCRs and TVs in France but were not resident they notmall took the uk address but used 99999 in the post code.    Report

12/05/2008, 14:07 Laurier Joined on 13/09/2007 Posts 25 Re: Portable UK TV to use in France on holiday? Tks Anton. That has answered all the questions. Rgds Laurier    Report

13/05/2008, 8:23 Martinwatkins Joined on 23/08/2004 W Devon/NE Perigord Posts 1,018 Re: Portable UK TV to use in France on holiday? I say this again and again but you need to check that the spec of any purchase says L/SECAM or SECAM L,  or system L. SECAM is merely the colour system which is bolted on to the transmission standard.   Transmission standards were dreamt up BEFORE colour TV came on the scene,  and are fundamental to the set's ability to work - if it can't "get at" the black and white information it won't decode colour even if it has the facility.    There are SECAM sets around (purchased outside France) that work fine on SECAM when you plug an outside SECAM source into their SCART socket,  but won't tune in to system L signals via their aerial sockets.    SECAM is not the same "thing" as system L,  you can use SECAM with other transmission standards,  the East bloc used D & K with SECAM,   and such a set would NOT work in France. It's a distinction that becomes less common as the years go by - as Anton says a number of sets sold in the UK are now suitable - but for absolute certainty I would take a magnifying glass to the instruction book of anything you intend to buy.    Normally I'd say buy it in France as then it's guaranteed to be system L compatible,  but with the € so high against the £ that route could be expensive.  As Anton also says,   signals in many remote areas can be weak,  many French UHF tx sites had their powers roughly halved in the 1990's as set design came on and could cope with lower field strengths,  but it makes portable reception in areas far away from a main station a bit hit and miss,  at least compared to th UK where power levels were maintained at their authorised maxima.   There are many many relays however which fill in many of the gaps. As Anton says,  give a UK address.   Although we have a licence in France (and have done for ages,   long before the "amnesty" that was granted some years ago),  I've always registered our sets as UK based    Report

13/05/2008, 9:35 Tim Joined on 19/03/2007 76 Haute Normandie Posts 445 Re: Portable UK TV to use in France on holiday? Well put Martin. Many years ago, when I obviously must have had a lot more time on my hands, I was interested in long distance TV reception. To do this I ended up with two portable black and white sets - the first one was Pal and you could select system I or B/G - so this was able to receive UK and most of the rest of Europe except France. So, when over here I got another portable - this one received Pal system B/G and Secam L, so this one got most of Europe and France, but not the UK! My wife at the time thought I was crazy - she may have had a point. Tim    Report

13/05/2008, 11:16 Gyn_Paul Joined on 23/08/2004 La Creuse - God's own Dept. Posts 1,209 Re: Portable UK TV to use in France on holiday? Ah those where the days, when a sunny early afternoon 'hop' would bring a snowy NED 1 from Lopik, or MTV (that would be Magar, not Music) from Eastern Europe. Rummaging up and down Band I and III was far more fun than swinging a satellite dish round!, Eh Timco ? paul "Don't think of them as problems, think of them as opportunities." "OK, I think I've hit an insurmountable opportunity!"    Report

13/05/2008, 11:40 Keith CHANNING Joined on 22/11/2007 northern Puy-de-Dôme Posts 52 Re: Portable UK TV to use in France on holiday? Nostalgia isn't what it used to be, though, is it? If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. - Carl Sagan http://www.beaugut.com    Report

13/05/2008, 11:53 Martinwatkins Joined on 23/08/2004 W Devon/NE Perigord Posts 1,018 Re: Portable UK TV to use in France on holiday? As indeed was long distance Band II.   Now all but impossible now that Chav FM etc clutter up the band.    Report

13/05/2008, 11:56 Laurier Joined on 13/09/2007 Posts 25 Re: Portable UK TV to use in France on holiday? MW Thanks - now have SECAM/L imprinted on the grey matter and I will certainly scrutinise the manuals as you suggest. Sorry if you have repeated all this before - I did look in the 'search' facility but couldn't find anything. I had thought of purchasing in France but I am a TV/Video, etc. technophobe with capabilities limited to the on/off button and, although I speak reasonable French, thought I would be more comfortable buying something in UK where I would have a fighting chance of understanding the manual. Many thanks Lau.    Report

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