The infrared on my old, but much loved plasma tv, is giving up the ghost. When I asked a local tv repairman if it could be fixed, he was aghast at the suggestion “I haven’t had parts for them for 10 years love”.
This now leaves me in a quandary. Subject to the approval of my visa, I should be moving out there in the next few weeks.
So…should I buy a TV in the UK before I leave, or should I wait until I get to France?
I dont have loads of money to spend and I’m not looking for all the latest bells and whistles. I’ve arranged for a Firestick with a Sky Glass subscription, which should give me all the UK channels I need and the box sets, so I just want a decent picture, decent sound and something I can run my dvd player and my Firestick from. Idiot proof would be good too.
Any suggestions? Please don’t blind me with science, it will go right over my head.
well, the good news is that a TV bought in the UK will work in France.
The real question is whether you want to lug one across the channel with the risk that it will unsettle it and then not work when you get here.
ISTR that there were at some stage replacement remotes available which could be set to work with any TV device. I think we had one at some stage to replace a malfunctioning one.
There’s a list of available ones here from Amazon uk as a selection to consider. I guess a similar range will exist from Amazon France too if that helps…
As @graham suggests, it may be the remote that is faulty and not the TV. You may be able to get a new remote, or an ‘all in one’ style remote that can be programmed for your TV. Of course, figuring out whether it’s the TV or the remote that is faulty could be a problem.
When you say it doesn’t work, what do you mean ? Does it just not work at all, or is it intermittently working ?
Another vote for getting a cheap compatible remote from Amazon just in case it’s the remote’s buttons giving out.
If the remote is intermittent, or some keys work and others don’t, cleaning the innards usually works. I’ve had to clean several, and you’d be surprised what crap gets inside, mainly dead skin and oil from skin. Getting them apart without breaking can be tricky though.
And if that fails you can get a basic flat screen TV via Darty for €150, which will have French guarantee.
At least with a plasma you can turn your heating down as they produce a lot more heat than the LED tv’s on the other hand youll not over heat the room in summer, save the cost of the new set via lower electricity usage, get a better picture but worse sound so couple up to a decent sound bar or your stereo.
Plasma will fail anyway after a number of years so make the switch to LED?
You can buy a TV télécommande universelle from many supermarkets in France E.Leclerc have many from 10 Euros
Will a Sky Glass subscription work in France? I assumed it would have fairly advanced ip/location blocking so it would only work in the UK…
Probably won’t work in France without a VPN.
The main problem is that they often have carbon bonded to the one piece silicone membrane used for the buttons which contact exposed copper sections on the main PCB.
The carbon either wears away or crud builds up on the copper sections.
To be brutally honest, unless you can source a new membrane and are reasonably competent with taking small electronic things apart without breaking them/losing bits, I’d pick up a cheap replacement remote.
for notalot
I had the same thought. Also, presumably it requires a minimum internet speed so hoping the OP has checked that it is sufficient in their new house. I know from experience how woeful speeds are depending on where you live.
Izzy x
I have a Firestick with a Sky Glass and with no subscription or VPN. Works perfectly well on a moderate internet speed and gives all channels plus the usual other offenders, Netflix, Disney+, etc at 4K.
It won’t be a smart TV though. Won’t @Oldbird need a smart TV with his firestick? We got a smart TV for about €350 from Leclerc. Needed a soundbar though - OH’s fussy about sound quality. That was about €50-60 in Boulanger.
In the day, internet speed (or lack of) was a significant issue but in more recent times, this is less of a concern.
With our Orange account, (before we moved to Bouygues 4G) we got at best 4Mb down and often less (particularly when the wet string got saturated with heavy rain ) but we were still able to use the internet well whilst watching TV using the Orange TV box connected to the Livebox along with 2 PCs, two mobile phones and two iPads on WiFi
This is a very good point. The speakers on everything but very high end flat panel TVs are rubbish.
I see what you did there.
Cant be that fussy 
I listened to a fair number and the sound was not good. They have improved a lot as they become popular but not much under €250 is/was good enough for films.
Still rubbish you just cannot fit a speaker (s) of quality into that tiny flat space.
Couple up to a stereo via a bluetooth ARC link or cables. Or a good soundbar.