Thailand Tv-format

[Palbra]

Hello anybody!

I'thinking about bringing a Norway bought TV into Thailand.It fits formats PAL,SECAM,and ANTSC.

The question is,will I receive clear,good pictures with this TV in Thailand?

I'm greatful at any response!

Norway bloke

[Guest Reimar]

Hello anybody!

I'thinking about bringing a Norway bought TV into Thailand.It fits formats PAL,SECAM,and ANTSC.

The question is,will I receive clear,good pictures with this TV in Thailand?

I'm greatful at any response!

Norway bloke

No problem. Just set the TV to PAL-BG and all will be fine.

Cheers.

[LivinLOS]

I found that a lot of my PAL euro equipment wouldnt tune Thai audio channels, the carrier was a different frequency.

Of course I have a UBC set top box connected as an input so dont use the tuners anyway.

[sumrit]

Hello anybody!

I'thinking about bringing a Norway bought TV into Thailand.It fits formats PAL,SECAM,and ANTSC.

The question is,will I receive clear,good pictures with this TV in Thailand?

I'm greatful at any response!

Norway bloke

No problem. Just set the TV to PAL-BG and all will be fine.

Cheers.

Does your tv have both VHF and UHF tuners fitted. Thailand uses both bands so if you don't have both

Tuners you won't be able to tune into all the off air and cable channels here.

[sumrit]

I found that a lot of my PAL euro equipment wouldnt tune Thai audio channels, the carrier was a different frequency.

Of course I have a UBC set top box connected as an input so dont use the tuners anyway.

There's basically two PAL systems, PAL BG and PAL I. The UK for example uses PAL I where the audio is modulated

on a 6meg carrier but Thailand uses PAL BG where the audio is modulated at 5.5 meg so a 'PAL I' set will not play the

sound from a 'PAL BG' signal and visa versa. However most modern sets can be switched between the two systems in

the customer menu and for sets that don't have this facility they can be switched within the TV's software by an

engineer.

[Johnxxx]

Hello anybody!

I'thinking about bringing a Norway bought TV into Thailand.It fits formats PAL,SECAM,and ANTSC.

The question is,will I receive clear,good pictures with this TV in Thailand?

I'm greatful at any response!

Norway bloke

TVs - the old format - are cheap here in Thailand. Your PAL TV will work here for sure - if it is not ANTSC or SECAM only or a strange PAL format . Thailand uses B/PAL like Germany. But is it worth the cost of transportation? Leave it at home and buy a new (flat) screen here - but I am not a fan of flat screens as long as we do not have real HD. Be aware of what you get in respect of clear, good pictures here in Thailand... I use the internet download and the TV - a perfect combination. Cable TV - I know that I have to pay for it every month because of my landlord ;-) But that is the end of the cable TV story for me - even the quality of the picture turns me off.

[astral]

The Thai system is PAL -BG.

Seriously I would not worry too much.

I doubt you will be watching Thai TV unless you have a Thai wife or girlfriend.

Satellite TV will be what you need and the set top box will connect to the Yellow, Red and White

RCA connectors on the back of the TV

[Crossy]

Satellite TV will be what you need and the set top box will connect to the Yellow, Red and White

RCA connectors on the back of the TV

Good point Astral.

If your Euro TV has only got SCART connectors get yourself some SCART to RCA leads (with an in/out switch), the set-top boxes here have RCA connectors and whilst SCART adaptors are not impossible to find it's a hassle you're not going to want when you need your TV running.

[astral]

I found SCART-RCA cables available with in and out leads all set up and labelled.

I do not like the adapters with the IN/OUT switch, as the cable tends to pull them out of the socket.

[LivinLOS]

The Thai system is PAL -BG.

Seriously I would not worry too much.

I doubt you will be watching Thai TV unless you have a Thai wife or girlfriend.

Satellite TV will be what you need and the set top box will connect to the Yellow, Red and White

RCA connectors on the back of the TV

Why would anyone connect with a composite cable.. The signal is bad enough already.

Use S-Vid or upgrade the equipment to some that can handle component.

[astral]

Do True/UBC boxes offer S-vid connections??

HDMI would be even better, if there were any broadcast sources in HD.

[LivinLOS]

True / UBC have many boxes.. I have had 3 different ones and ALL had S-Vid but also seen one that was a single component also.. So like so much of Thailand no one clear answer.

I upgrade the boxes anyway.. Dreamboxes have a scart out and with a scart to component you have that.

[zzSleepyJohn]

Do True/UBC boxes offer S-vid connections??

HDMI would be even better, if there were any broadcast sources in HD.

Last time I looked, there were only a couple of demo channels in HD MPEG4 on C-band free-to-air available in this area, but there are plenty of 720x576 signals in MPEG2 around, and I know of a couple in 16:9 (Deutsche Welle for example).

On MPEG2, wouldn't 720x576 and even 544x576 benefit considerably by using an HDMI instead of RCA? I've heard several complaints in the past that Thai TV looks worse on a big 16:9 screen than it does on an ordinary old TV because of graininess and lack of definition, but I've also heard (but never seen for myself) that even Thai TV looks good if you're hooked up with HDMI.

I'd be interested to know if anyone has hooked up their sat decoder to their new 16:9 TV with an HDMI connection and what sort of results they've got.

[Benjie]

720x576 is a 4:3 image

720 (4) : 576 (3) Ratio. This is Pal.

[zzSleepyJohn]

720x576 is a 4:3 image

720 (4) : 576 (3) Ratio. This is Pal.

Obviously I can't argue with your arithmetic there, but if you look on Asiasat 3S http://satcodx4.tele-satellite.com/1055/eng/ under 3.760 GHz H 26000, and compare the entries for TV5 (France) and DW-TV (Germany), you will see they are both 720x576 and MPEG2, but the former is listed as 4:3 while the latter is 16:9. Also my satbox displays them quite differently. DW-TV (and Dutch BVN on Thaicom 5) fill my 4:3 screen height even though the picture content is 16:9 and there's definitely something different with them, compared to the way TV5 and other channels display blank screen top and bottom when they're got 16:9 content.

So I'm still curious to know whether anyone's got a satbox equipped with HDMI and a 16:9 TV with HDMI, and tried connecting them. If so with what quality results?

I've posted a similar but slightly fuller reply to Benjie's same statement in the Chiangrai forum, so suggest we continue with any further comments about an HDMI to satbox connection over there.

[astral]

The BBC News channel uses 720x576 and is definitely a 16:9 ratio

as displayed by my Dreambox info screen.

As long as 16:9 is selected on the setup of the DB the display is correct.

4:3 programmes are simply stretched to fit the screen, so people look fat.

The "always 16:9" setting shows 4:3 programmes in correct ratio with

black bars at either side of the screen

Black bars at top an bottom are actually transmitted as part of the data stream

and are where the programme has been butchered at source. :D

HDMI is probably best, but not really necessary for the present content on the channels.

[zzSleepyJohn]

The BBC News channel uses 720x576 and is definitely a 16:9 ratio

as displayed by my Dreambox info screen......

Well yes, nearly! But not quite! The plot thickens a little here because BBC, unlike most other broadcasters, use 14:9 instead of 16:9 They call it Pillarbox format. If you're interested, this is all nicely explained at http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tvbrand...cturesize.shtml

.....The "always 16:9" setting shows 4:3 programmes in correct ratio with

black bars at either side of the screen

Correct, and you should find there are some thin black bars on either side when you display a BBC 14:9 image

that fills your height.

HDMI is probably best, but not really necessary for the present content on the channels.

This is what others are telling me too, but as I've been mentioning ad nauseam in a similar thread on the Chiangrai forum, it's not the same story as an acqaintance of mine tells me. He tells me that he's seen Thai TV displaying very very much better with an HDMI connection, so I'd really like to hear from someone else who has actually tried it.

Incidentally, a little off-topic, but I'm fascinated to hear you've got a Dreambox. Did you buy it in Thailand? I'm only just starting to discover what they are and what they can do. There's a tempting offer on http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.29102 at US$ 79 including worldwide shipping.

[astral]

The BBC News channel uses 720x576 and is definitely a 16:9 ratio

as displayed by my Dreambox info screen......

Well yes, nearly! But not quite! The plot thickens a little here because BBC, unlike most other broadcasters, use 14:9 instead of 16:9 They call it Pillarbox format. If you're interested, this is all nicely explained at http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tvbrand...cturesize.shtml

That is for entertainment material

The News has no 14:9 black bars on my 40" Samsung.

4:3 BBC Prime does.

BBC butcher the material to fit a 4:3 screen, hence the black bars..........

No black bars left and right with 14:9 on my set, just top and bottom.

Like the image on the right.

HDMI is probably best, but not really necessary for the present content on the channels.

This is what others are telling me too, but as I've been mentioning ad nauseam in a similar thread on the Chiangrai forum, it's not the same story as an acqaintance of mine tells me. He tells me that he's seen Thai TV displaying very very much better with an HDMI connection, so I'd really like to hear from someone else who has actually tried it.

I changed the cable on a friend's TV in the UK from Scart to HDMI with no noticeable difference

except for the TV reporting the 720 definition when the connection is negotiated.

My Dreambox 7020Si came from Germany.

[Benjie]

Component to HDMI on 40+ rigs and never seen much of an improvement in quality from the HDMI even on High Def stuff.

The only way that I can figure a 720x576 signal being in a 16:9 format is if the black bars are part of the image but somehow the decoder or TV sorts it all out (would be hard to do since to get a 16:9 image you would need to lose an odd number of pixels)

[astral]

It must be part of the signal info, as the Dreambox tells me it is 16:9.

People are definitely better proportioned.

Not all the material on the stream is 16:9. Imported video

from other news sources is sometimes shown with black bars at the side.

Then back to normal when the BBC items are showing.

No fiddling of the decoder or TV will produce black bars.

[zzSleepyJohn]

On an old Dynasat box, that AsiaSat Deutsche Welle 16:9 fills the height of my 4:3 TV and the extra transmitted width is squashed into my width so that I see matchstick characters. Same effect with the Dutch BVN channel on Thaicom and with the SD display of Luxe TV on Asiasat 5. NB: Luxe TV is also broadcast in MPEG4 HD which none of my satboxes can display.

On my slightly more modern box, instead of squashed width and matchstick characters, I'm given two choices, both of which preserve a correct aspect ratio. One choice is "PanScan" where the height matches my screen height, and I lose part of picture off the left and right edges of my screen. The other choice is "letterbox" where the full width of the transmitted picture fits my screen width and I get blank at the top and bottom of my screen.

Only these three specific channels that I mention display like this. All the hundreds of others in the Asian skies display as standard 4:3 or as letterbox or pillarbox, depending on the source material.

The way 16:9 material can be carried on 720 x 576 pixels is all very nicely explained at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning

/tvbranding/picturesize.shtml

(Sorry this URL got mangled in my previous post so I'm trying splitting it into two halves which will need to be joined up again)

and I'm fairly confident that if Astral tried any one of those three 16:9 channels that I mention on his 40" Samsung, they would each exactly match his screen size and display with better resolution than BBC or any other channel putting letterbox out on 720 x 576.

But from what you're saying, it doesn't look as if just changing to an HDMI connection on its own is going to magically improve quality much.

On a visit to friends in Norway last summer, I was blown away by the high quality of BBC World News seen there. Admittedly it was being viewed on a paid encrypted Norwegian high definition bouquet of channels, but I would have thought it originated from the same source that we see BBC on here in Thailand, in other words 720 x 576 pixels. I can't imagine BBC having a special HD feed of World News specially for Europe, so ever since that visit, I've been trying to puzzle out how I could get the same result here in Thailand.

[astral]

I agree with you. BBC News and Luxe are 16:9 and display well on my Samsung 40".

It is all the others that do not.

[Benjie]

Why wouldn't Europe warrant a HD BBC News service?

[astral]

The number of HD services seems to be pretty limited

amongst the +2000 I can access from satellite.

16:9 is simply widescreen, not HD................

[LivinLOS]

720x576 is a 4:3 image

720 (4) : 576 (3) Ratio. This is Pal.

And that can be anamophically encoded if the 'widescreen bit' is handled by the broadcaster.

NTSC DVD is 720x480 but it doesnt output either the 4:3 of 16:9 natively. Both are stretched for 856x480 or 640x480 output.

[zzSleepyJohn]

Hi again, I'd like to take a step back from previous posts on here if I may, and ask opinions about whether buying a new 16:9 LCD TV here in Thailand can be justified for better picture quality if the only source is going to be satellite, not DVD or BluRay.

Out in the Asian skies, there do now seem to be a variety of higher quality picture sources available, and I'm attaching a table that I've compiled. As you may see, some are true MPEG4 HD that would require a special new MPEG4 satbox to view, and there are a variety of other formats like MPEG2/HD (not really sure what kind of satbox that would need) and some that fill all their 720 x 576 pixels when they send 16 X 9 instead of transmitting black pixels at the top and bottom of 4:3 format like most others do.

Choice of content on that table isn't brilliant, I know, but considering recent listings are showing quite a few as FTA, I still find them quite interesting. Particularly those on Vinasat, I thought, whose footprint spills over to nearly all of Thailand with only a small dish.

I'm presently watching on a 7-year-old 21" 4:3 TV via RCA AV leads from my old satboxes, and some channels do show up quite sharp and clear. I just don't know how much better they would look on a new 16:9 TV and new satbox with a HDMi connection. I don't want to end up simply enlarging grain and fuzziness, or just with stretched fat faces because of wrong aspect ratio. We see plenty of examples of that around

Lots of people seem to be going in for new 16:9 LCD and LED backlight TVs these days, and I'd like to join the club if one would give me real quality gain on satellite. Ideally, I reckon I need a demo to see what one of these can do with the satellite sources on my list, but the stores only seem to have DVD and BluRay sources to show, and they look completely dumb when I ask about satellite!

Anyone got any further thoughts or suggestions to offer?

HiDef.doc

[LivinLOS]

Anyone got any further thoughts or suggestions to offer?

Stop thinking old style media distribution and get either a HTPC or a media box wired up to the TV, then stump up the 1000 baht for a maxnet premier and get in the habit of DL'ing your viewing.

I have gigs and gigs of unwatched movies and high def TV shows, often DL'ed the day after they are broadcast in the US and long long before they will be given airtime on any Thai services.

Truevisions basically just is for CNBC and bloomberg now, and the odd sporting event.

[ThaoCo]

Hi everybody. I'm from Vietnamese, i enjoy watching Thailand movies especially a movie i watched when i was a child about ten years ago. I will tell you movie's content and I hope someone please help me find it again. That is the story of a riverside village, in this movie the hero's name is Balac and he is a police, the heroin in this film is Bi and she is a student oversea. She usually called him to complain about our countryside problems, and after that she goes back home. They meet together and love together. Ah one special thing he is a police but he is very rich b/c he inherited property from a his relative. I can be only remember that. Please help me.

[astral]

Why wouldn't Europe warrant a HD BBC News service?

UK SKY news is available in HD in some parts of the world