Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!linac!att!pacbell.com!lll-winken!telecom-request From: wrs@mcshh.hanse.de (Wolfgang R. Schulz) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Conversion of TV Transmission Standards Message-ID: Date: 28 Mar 91 14:42:27 GMT Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 42 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 251, Message 3 of 11 steff@cernvax.cern.ch (morten steffensen) writes: > My friend has brought a television and a video with her from England > into Geneva, Switzerland. These are only capable of receiving the > British transmission standard: GB-I (PAL). Now in Geneva she would > like to be able to receive the Swiss and the French television (or at > least one of them). In Switzerland the standard is CCIR (PAL-SECAM) > and in France it is FR-L (SECAM). > My question: Does there exists a commercial "plug-in-and-play" > converter box between these different signals. What would be the best > for her to do? Re-export the TV and the video? Although I think that this matter is permanently discussed in rec.video, I wish to point out, that really the British gear is rather useless in the Swiss/French continental corner. Two major handicaps are the reason: a. The PAL standard and the FRENCH version of SECAM will only work in one set (VCR or TV) when they are specially designed for it, mostly because SECAM video is beeing broadcast NEGATIVE, while PAL is POSITIVE (compare with a slide, you get almost the same negative results when looking at them). b. The audio/ video separation in a TV channel is different. So a tuner made for the UK can only "listen" to British audio. CCIR has a different separation and French TV another even. c. UK equipment usually only has a tuner for UHF frequencies, while on the continent you get the most channels on VHF. Really, re-export it, and get something locally that is designed for reception in that area. All dealers there will have sets which do well on both systems. Happy holidays! Wolfgang R. Schulz, Hamburg, Germany ***BTX (and phone): 0405521878 Bang: ...unido!mcshh!wrs *** UUCP: wrs@mcshh.UUCP Internet: wrs@mcshh.hanse.de *** MCI: 241-2526