Sony Is Record format 60i ok for UK televisions?

chilliman

Regular
Location
Bonnie Scotland
Name
chilliman
Visiting a relative today I had not seen in a while and he told me he bought a RX100 Mk1 from Amazon UK 2 or 3 months ago for use in the UK. He was asking me about some settings on it, while showing him I noticed in the video settings it was showing 60i while my own RX100 UK version is 50i. there was no option to change this to 50i.
Now I'm not 100% sure but I think I recall seeing a thread about 50i and 60i video settings and the latter being for the ntsc type televisions. Does this mean he is going to possibly have problems playing back video on UK pal tv's? He has not used the camera to full extent yet but having a young family he will be soon. I'd hate to see him disappointed when to good weather comes in.

He bought this in the UK from Amazon UK, problem is it was 2 or three months ago when he bought it, he's not a technophobe sort of guy so wouldn't know the difference between video formats. Should he be considering getting intouch with Amazon for a replacement ?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks
 
It's not ideal to record video at a different frame rate to the local television standard. You can run into difficulties with flickering lights and TV screens that way. You can also have problems if you need to show the 60i material on an old TV with analogue inputs - some old TVs will only work with PAL material. Some old video recorders will only work with PAL signals, and so on.

Taking a charitable view, you could say that Sony tries to protect the innocent by selling consumer cameras with their recording frame rates locked correctly for the region - which is variations on 30/60 fps in the US and 25/50 fps in Europe. A less charitable view would be that Sony has greater control over its global sales channels by making separate PAL and NTSC models.

It sounds like your relative's RX100 is a grey import if it's not set correctly for the local TV standard, but that may not necessarily be a problem for everyday use.

-R
 
It's not ideal to record video at a different frame rate to the local television standard. You can run into difficulties with flickering lights and TV screens that way. You can also have problems if you need to show the 60i material on an old TV with analogue inputs - some old TVs will only work with PAL material. Some old video recorders will only work with PAL signals, and so on.

Taking a charitable view, you could say that Sony tries to protect the innocent by selling consumer cameras with their recording frame rates locked correctly for the region - which is variations on 30/60 fps in the US and 25/50 fps in Europe. A less charitable view would be that Sony has greater control over its global sales channels by making separate PAL and NTSC models.

It sounds like your relative's RX100 is a grey import if it's not set correctly for the local TV standard, but that may not necessarily be a problem for everyday use.

-R

Thanks for that, I've given him some info on grey imports, I don't think Amazon UK should be sending out equipment not designed for the UK market to a UK address unless specifically requested to. I also wonder since it is a grey import what the situation would be if it needed a repair under warranty. He has a very young family and will soon be using video to record them as they grow. I think he is going to email Amazon, it will be interesting to see what they have to say on the matter.

Thanks
 
On the serial number plate on the bottom of the RX100 it should tell you which TV standard it uses, in small characters just to the right of the Sony (R) logo. Mine says 50i because I bought it from Amazon UK. If your relative bought an RX100 via the same route and it says 60i on the bottom plate, I think a (polite) email to Amazon is appropriate.

-R
 
On the serial number plate on the bottom of the RX100 it should tell you which TV standard it uses, in small characters just to the right of the Sony (R) logo. Mine says 50i because I bought it from Amazon UK. If your relative bought an RX100 via the same route and it says 60i on the bottom plate, I think a (polite) email to Amazon is appropriate.

-R
I bought mine in a John Lewis Store and it shows 50i.
I wonder if your relative bought through an Amazon Reseller where Amazon "guarantees" apply.

I bought a Japanese case for my X100s through the Amazon UK website and ended up paying Customs Duty.
 
Back
Top