French tv via our uk tele?

[Martin963]

@ Jc

The reason why I won't touch either LCD or plasma (apart from the cost!) is that I've never seen one that I could actually live with in terms of picture quality.   All seem to exagerate any digital artefacts present on the incoming signal (which in the UK is a constant source of irritation,  the BBC should be ashamed of their digital picture quality at times!) and some even manage to make good analogue pics look bad.

Plasma has the added problem that the individual cells have a habit of burning out,  particularly if the set has ever been turned on its front  (how many people carry them home from the shops flat in the back of their cars??).

But each to their own.  LCD pics look very flat and lifeless to me (albeit brightly coloured) and the aspect ratio rarely seems to be set right,  although that's often down to individual finger trouble.

I'll be with CRT's for a while yet,  along with a lot of other people if the technical discussion forums are anything to go by,  but as I say it's all a matter of taste and budget. 

[Gyn_Paul]

Martin - I'm even more of a luddite; I don't even like 100hz CRT's

When I'm watching movies (or dramas shot on film) I like my panning shots to be as smooth as possible. They are never going to be that smooth when the frames are doubled (25 to 50) but I've sort of got used to the effect. 100hz - in my opinion - looks frankly awful when the original material is quadrupled (25 to 100).

However there seems to be a whole generation of people who seem to be quite happy with jerky pictures.

(Told you I was a Luddite!)

paul

[Ejc]

This may be a daft question - but if we have a french TV etc - can we still plug in our sky box etc and receive our english chanels?

Our main TV died a while back to we're currently watching a small portable because we didn't want to buy a TV in the UK before moving in January  - but do hope to continue watching UK TV via satelight once we're in France.

[Martin963]

Paul - thank goodness for an ally in all this.   As you say,  many people have simply got used to the offerings from all these expensive gadgets.  Same applies to the lamentable quality of sound on certain modern gizmos.

I'm about to start a battle royal with the BBC over the modifications they have recently made to the line up of Radio 4 DSat (and DTT and DAB).   They've upp'd the level by about 10 dB and are - it seems - relying on the network protection limiter to hold levels back to 0 dB.   As a result the background FX on the Archers now go up and down like a yo yo,  and many fully peaked programmes have taken on the harshness that drove me away from FM in the first place.

At the moment it's subtle but it's likely to get worse and worse,  as it did 20 years ago on Radios 1 & 2 which from a technical point of view are unlistenable to.   Many of us thought that the message had got through to the BBC that DSat should not be processed but it seems after 7 years of sounding lovely the Philistines have moved in.

So you think YOU'RE a Luddite!!

EJC - You will be fine if you use the SCART connector to link the sky box to the TV.   All French TV's accept PAL or SECAM,  unlike UK TV's which often do not accept SECAM.  You may well be fine using an aerial flylead connector (RF socket on the sky box) but SCART is a safer bet as some French TV's do not like system I (the UK TV standard) which is what is used for that hook up by Sky boxes.

[bixy]

Yes, I too remember Mazan's exit, and what a sad day that was. He helped me personally and I'm sure a great many others. As I seem to remember it he was more or less told to clear off if he didn't like what he was reading. I think his final comment was: "fair enough, you won't hear from me again" and we haven't. What a shame. Mazan if you're out there do give us a sign and COME BACK.

Patrick

[cooperlola]

Nit-pick away, Martin, best if this person gets the right info', my ego is unimportant.  The previous owners of my house left with the analogue aerial so I've just got Canal Plus which of course works fine.  I will edit my post so nobody is even more confused!  Still love the Plasma telly (they've got better) and mine was delivered and installed for 25 euros so it did not give me a transport problem.  Picture quality is absolutely superb and nobody who has ever watched it round here has been anything but impressed. My little LCD telly is another matter - I am so dissapointed with the picture quality but it is 18 months older than the Plasma and the technology moves on by leaps and bounds every minute. Tellies and their corresponding picture quality are so much a matter of taste, anyway.

[Martin963]

Thanks cooperlola.   I'm always aware that disagreements on a forum can quickly escalate into full scale war and I therefore try and be subtle;  after all I've loused up on many occasions!   Thanks for your understanding.

Most of my "criticisms" of plasma/LCD's actually arise from watching them reproducing broadcast signals,  and I would be the first to concede that on really high quality input material (such as the shops tend to display on them!) the results can be much much better.  Most of them are set up/optimised for a higher resolution than what is broadcast and inevitably it's not therefore a happy union when they are used in this way.

So I imagine that on good DVD film material things are not as bad as I am suggesting.

[cooperlola]

There are also adjustments on mine, Martin, to compensate for the various types of input signal.  I do wonder if many people bother to adjust these according to what they are watching, or just leave them on the factory settings and hope for the best.  At any rate, I have to admit that my DVD collection is massive so much of what I watch is reproduced well in the first place, as you suggest.  However, Canalplus, and my Sky freebox provide good images too.  Poor alalogue signals would certainly be magnified into poor picture quality when the screen's 42" let's face it!

[nephilim]

Plasma's, LCD's ........Yeah, anyway, wot about b/w french channel problem???????

[Gyn_Paul]

Oh yes, right....

Well, did you go and sus out the TNT box and see if it has a RGB output then?

paul

[Will]

I think it is true to say, in summary, that if you use a decent Scart cable and the equipment is reasonably new (say less than 3-4 years old) then TVs, DVDs, VCRs, satellite and Freeview/TNT boxes from France and Britain will work satisfactorily in conjunction with each other in either country. The only difficulty is that many British-sourced TV receivers will not work on analogue signals through an aerial in France. But an increasing number, including the Philips range (and a very small cheap Currys LCD TV I bought) are true multi-standard. A lot of older equipment will also work, but due to things like the internal wiring of scart sockets, you may not receive French TV in colour.

As far as personalities are concerned, not everybody can know everything or be right all the time, and unfortunately some take great exception to being disagreed with and/or proved wrong. The resulting throwing the toys out of the pram is probably a bigger loss to them than to the rest of us.

 

[Martin963]

@ Will - Well I think that cooperbola and I (particularly the former) have been shining examples of how forums should work.  We have both modified our posts (borders on the rewriting of history!),  we have avoided a slanging match,  and those who read the thread may have learnt something.

I think some of the contributors to the Post Bag on this forum could learn a lot from the civilised behaviour exhibited in the TV/Sat section!   I hope that doesn't sound complacent but I hardly look at the Post Bag now because so often a sensible topic descends into farce and insult - but you all know that anyway.

Cooperbola - I salute!

[cooperlola]

Oh, I do so agree, Martin.[:D]

[Will]

And me too. It's nice to see differences resolved in a civilised manner - in fact it is good that posts can be edited, many forums will not allow that. I hope you forgive me trying to summarise the main points as these questions are so often asked, and although it's good to see technical discussions it is often all too easy for the basic questions to be lost.

My own view, and this is purely personal and subjective, not wishing to start any sort of further discussion, is that I still like the quality of CRT screens, marginally prefer LCD screens for appearance, and have yet to see a plasma or projector big-screen TV that looks good to me. Others love them though, so I am probably a luddite or philistine here.

[Brilec]

Well the latest thing is Laser TV ehich will make all the other systems obsolete in time. They are very much better according to those who have seen the demos.

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Brilec"]Well the latest thing is Laser TV ehich will make all the other systems obsolete in time. They are very much better according to those who have seen the demos.[/quote]Oh dear.  Where am I going to put it?

 

On Plasmas, don't take my word for it see http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvreviews/pioneer-pdp4270hd-plasma-review.html