I have just signed up to a Sky digibox. The Sky engineer advised our picture would suffer because we have a?

Question

French TV (Sagem)? And it runs off a different format? He had a list of 300 tv's but ours was not one of them? I purchased the TV at Comet. The picture is watchable but not perfect. Any body else had a similar problem?

Thanks Tom

Answer 1

Your French Sagem television set is designed for use with the SECAM colour system. This colour system is not compatible with the UK PAL system.

You will see perfect monchrome pictures.

If you bought it at Comet then you should be able (BY Law) to have a television set that receives local broadcasts. Therefore, either there will be a setting somewhere on the set-up menu to allow the tv to decode PAL, OR they have sold you a "grey import" which has not been properly adapted.

You must take it back under the Sale of Goods Act as not being "Fit for Purpose". In this case Fit for Purpose means being able to watch a picture with undistorted colours.

The shop may try and confuse you with "it's not faulty". That may be true (it might be perfect with a SECAM input), but it's not relevent in this case.

You must press on the Fit for Purpose clause and demand a new telly or your money back. You may quote the Sky man.

Have a look at the Government web site (follow the link below) for more information. I recommend that you print a copy and take it with you to the shop. Pay particular attention to bullet points 3 and 6.

Also, under bullet 1 they should have advised you that the Sagem was not fully compatible with the UK PAL system - or at least they should have told you what to do to make it fully compatible.

This should stop them playing the "well you should have complained earlier" stunt.

Comet can be particularly recalcitrant when it comes to returned goods that don't actually fall apart in the shop. It's probably something to do with the way the manager's bonuses are calculated. You must stick to your guns and be prepared to report them to the Trading Standards Office.

It really does work if you know your rights (really know them, not just bluster and shout) and are prepared to stand your ground. A tv is a costly item and it should work properly.

Good luck and enjoy the fight.

Answer 2

to get the digital picture quality you need to use a scart lead!If your telly doesn't have one,then take it back and ask them why they didn't advise you to get a digital ready telly

Answer 3

SECAM is the format used in France and, I believe, Monaco, Andorra & Luxembourg. The rest of Europe including the UK use the PAL format.  

I'm not a TV engineer but I thought that since 1980 most European domestic video equipment uses SCART connectors, allowing the transmission of RGB signals between devices to eliminate the problem of PAL, SECAM, and NTSC color sub carrier standards. Perhaps your engineer hasn't used a SCART lead.

May be wrong, though, I'll keep watching . . .