UK TV in Australia

Unless your television is a multisystem model that supports Australia's "PAL B" and "PAL G" standards, taking your TV from the UK to Australia might not have been worth the trouble.

This applies to video recorders too.

Australia uses the PAL B/G format while the UK uses PAL I. The main difference is how the sound is transmitted. This means that if you turn on a PAL I television set in Australia, you will get pictures but no sound.

Also, another problem is that Australia uses the three VHF bands as well as UHF for TV channels, PAL B on VHF Bands I, II and III, and PAL G on UHF Band IV.

Channel details here

http://www.telemaster.com.au/Reference/austv.htm

In the UK, Bands I and III were used for 405 line black and white BBC 1 and ITV, these were switched off in the 1970s with Band II still being used for FM radio.

However, some newer televisions & VCRs are "multisystem" which means that they support multiple standards (PAL I, PAL B/G, VHF/UHF etc.). Check your TV's owner's manual or on-screen settings menu to see if your television supports these diferent systems.

One way around all this would be to link a UK TV set to a locally bought video recorder via a SCART cable, using the remote for the VCR to switch channels. But you couldn't watch one channel and record another.

I don't know if they have UK style free-to-air digiboxes in Australia that work off an aerial.

Apparently it is possible to convert some UK TVs and VCRs to work in Australia for about 100 Australian dollars each. But check the manual as you may just need to alter the setup.

When I lived close to the barracks (and when we still had those), I used to watch the British army's tv (SNCV) - which (by legal reasons) wasn't allowed to be in our cable.

I had, however, to get a converter because the Hertz were different if I remember correctly. (That was aerial transmission.)