I brought back a tv set from England to mainland Europe and even though the pictura works fine the sound doesn't. All I get is white noise. Is the sound system different from country to country? And if that's the case can it be fixed?

David Costa, March 2007

uk uses pal-I but portugal uses pal B/G- sound carier offset is different. You will need the service manual if there is no menu option (on modern sets there often is - see installation or setup menus, select country or standard.

if not then you will have to connect a portuguese vcr or a digital decoder to the scart socket, using its tuner to tune in the channels. that will work well.
good luck.

romko, March 2007

Although Britain & Portugal use basically the same TV system, PAL, the sound spacing is different. Continental Europe uses a spacing of 5.5 MHz, and the UK uses 6MHz. That is why you have the effect you describe.

You may find a TV repair shop can convert it for you, but it will depend on the make, model, parts availability and the depth of your pocket, to say nothing of the willingness of the shop.

I would advise you to look carefully at the economics of this conversion.

Also, check the tuning range on your UK set. If it is marked 21 - 68 you will not be able to receive any Portugese VHF (band 1 & 3) broadcasts. If it has a tuning range of 1 - 68 (or 69), you will be able to.

Lee, March 2007