TVs and inbuilt tuners

[stones10]

Hi,
We are moving to HK later this year from Australia. From what I see from these forums it seems to be the norm of taking all your electronic appliance with you (we have a shipping allowance so we are happy to bring as much as we can) and either running them off HK / AU adapters or cutting the plug off and install a HK plug. (If I am wrong on this can someone let me know??!).
However I am a little unclear with regards the TV situation. We have a Samsung LED Series 6 with inbuilt tuner. Does anyone know if this will this work in HK?
Thanks.

[Skyhook]

Hi,
We are moving to HK later this year from Australia. From what I see from these forums it seems to be the norm of taking all your electronic appliance with you (we have a shipping allowance so we are happy to bring as much as we can) and either running them off HK / AU adapters or cutting the plug off and install a HK plug. (If I am wrong on this can someone let me know??!).
However I am a little unclear with regards the TV situation. We have a Samsung LED Series 6 with inbuilt tuner. Does anyone know if this will this work in HK?
Thanks.

We have a couple of Aus appliances which I just cut off the Aus plugs and installed HK/UK variants, which is easy enough to do. If you have a lot of AV / Computer gear that use Aus power packs/plugs, you could bring Australian power boards ( 6 or 8 configuration) with you, snip off the Aussie plug, attach a HK/UK one to that, and just plug your Aussie electrical devices into that as one whole bank, saving a lot of time of time.

As to your TV tuner, no, as Australia and HK have nil compatible digital tv signals, but if you subscribe to the NOW TV HD service ( cable tv ), Linked here >>> HDTV you get an all in one HD Cable/Free to air digital decoder included in your subscription, which you can use to watch the free to air HD channels with.

Also bring an old analogue VHS video recorder so you can receive the two English Speaking free to air analogue channels , that aren't really supported on the FTA HD networks. That's providing your TV cant receive analogue channels to begin with, if it can don't bother.

[imparanoic]

considering that australia uses the same analog system as HK - Pal, analog FTA should be possible without any other equipment as the OP has a very recent led tv with built in tuner, the digital system (DVB-T same as europe) will not be compatible.

If the OP is only here for a year or so, better if they find an au plug to uk standard plug adaptor ( cost HK$10-15)

a cheaper option for FTA hd channels is buy a DMBT (hk and china digital tv system) settop box cost from HK$700 to HK$1000, while sticking to now tv non hd service which cost around HK$220 upwards than going for a hd package (for extra 7 hd channels) which will cost from HK$400 upwards.

[Raccon]

considering that australia uses the same analog system as HK - Pal, analog FTA should be possible without any other equipment as the OP has a very recent led tv with built in tuner, the digital system (DVB-T same as europe) will not be compatible.

PAL is not the same as PAL:
HK - PAL I
AUS - PAL B/G

Unless the TV supports both it won't work.

[imparanoic]

according to current samsung 8 series (australia) manual, it does support both pal and b/g as long you select the country on the menu.

[Rob2020]

When it says it supports different formats, you need to look into a bit more detail, i.e. does it "support":
- reception of signal by antenna
- decoding of signal through local input (e.g. you connect a PAL I dvd player)

[bdw]

Also bring an old analogue VHS video recorder so you can receive the two English Speaking free to air analogue channels , that aren't really supported on the FTA HD networks.

Actually, the two english speaking free to air channels ARE available on the FTA HD network. They are Pearl (channel 084) and World (Channel 016). The shows they broadcast are of mixed quality (some SD in 4:3 aspect and some HD in 16:9 aspect), but it is digital and can be picked up with NowTV digital tuner.

[Raccon]

When it says it supports different formats, you need to look into a bit more detail, i.e. does it "support":
- reception of signal by antenna
- decoding of signal through local input (e.g. you connect a PAL I dvd player)

There is no PAL I for DVD players as PAL "X" applies to TV broadcast, not the AV connections. Unless you have one of those rare DVD players with RF output of course, but that connection ranks even below the composite (yellow RCA connector) in terms of picture quality.

Also note that PAL/NTSC does not matter if you use DVI or HDMI connections.

[stones10]

Thanks for this reply. So basically I can bring the TV and use a digital decoder with it - great! Have tried wading through that Now TV site but haven't found a price model. You don't happen to know (or have a link) to any information that may enlighten me on the cost of subscribing to this service? Also, are their competitor services I should check out? Thanks.

[MovingIn07]

Thanks for this reply. So basically I can bring the TV and use a digital decoder with it - great! Have tried wading through that Now TV site but haven't found a price model. You don't happen to know (or have a link) to any information that may enlighten me on the cost of subscribing to this service? Also, are their competitor services I should check out? Thanks.

The price is whatever you can negotiate on the day. You have to get PCCW broadband first - the TV is a cheap add-on to the internet service.

the only competitor is i-cable.

Both, however, are crap and absolutely not worth getting. Believe me - moving here from NZ we signed up for 2 years and I terminated our Now TV first chance I got. Stick to the other methods of obtaining TV shows......