Chinese Tv's?

[kvalidir]

Hi my brother's fiance is Chinese and they're going over there shortly to visit her family. He's told me that you can buy 70 inch+ smart TV's for about £800 there the equivalent spec TV here would be £4,000+. My question is if I get him to freight one over for me, will it actually work here, I'm a bit stuck I understand China works on 220v and we on 230-240v and they both work on 50 hrtz, but will the 10 volts difference blow up the TV, ( have heard not but I'm skeptical) and will it actually be equipped to receieve UK digital TV?

Man thanks for any help xxx

[EDDIE51]

Even if it does work the shipping cost and the import duty and VAT will bring the price up to near the same as buying here, plus you will have no guarantee . ( you pay shipping costs, import duty and then VAT on the lot)
The voltage will make no difference by the way.

[EDDIE51]

details here
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/tax-and-duty.htm
looks like you have to pay for an electrical examination as well to ensure it meets EU safety standards , a lot of Chinese stuff for their home market does not meet the standards so it will be sized and destroyed by customs then they will charge you for destroying it plus VAT of course.

[gingejbee]

Apart from the voltage issue....I'd be surprised if the Chinese broadcast system was anything like that in the UK. You'd probably end up with a blank screen.

[gingejbee]

There's a very technical explanation here:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/standards/does-china-have-the-best-digital-television-standard-on-the-planet

[Buenchico]

The UK uses the 'PAL I' broadcasting system. which is only used here and in a few countries that were formerly, or remain, British (such as Hong Kong or the Falkland Islands) or where British TV engineers helped establish TV broadcasting (e.g. Angola). A TV set manufactured for any other system won't work here. (Even a set designed for use in, say, Hong Kong might not work if their transmissions use a different part of the radio spectrum). Mainland China uses the (incompatible) 'PAL D' system.

[EDDIE51]

^^ Well that means there is no point at all in importing a Chinese TV.
It would be a piece of junk here.
Mind you a lot of UK sold TVs are made in China but obviously ones made for the export market.

[royfromaus]

Unless it is 4k it sounds expensive.

[kvalidir]

Thank you so much everyone, that answers that question- which is what we were afraid of.

[Postdog]

What if it goes wong

[kvalidir]

Bit of a moot point now postdog, but send it to a repairers would have been my answer if it had been viable.