Radio and TV from Japan

[sammus]

I searched, but not as much as i wanted to because the 30second thing was pissing me off, so i'm just posting my problem... sorry if it's been covered already.

Okay, my car is a fresh import from Japan.

Problem a)

I am told that in Japan the radio stations only go up to 90.0. My radio will not tune to anything above 90.0. Is there an easy fix to this (ie. by pressing buttons on my head unit) or do i have to change something behind it?

Problem B)

The car has come with a TV. Again, I am told, that Japan is on NTSC, and Australia is on PAL. Is there any way to change this myself, or is it another thing i need to pay somebody to change over?

Just wanted to check with you guys before I fork over money for solutions.

Any help greatly appreciated, and i'm sorry about being vague in descriptions - i am not the best with this stuff.

~sam

[oRiCLe]

radio, you can buy frequency shifters that go inline with the aerial socket, from like jaycar, also that shift all the stations +10MHz so u will tune everything 10 MHz down on the radio, like nova would be 86.9 etc...

as for tv, japan has NTSC, not sure what you would do there with that one...

[oRiCLe]

maybe its 20MHz, cant remember :S

[Ant]

Problem a)

I am told that in Japan the radio stations only go up to 90.0. My radio will not tune to anything above 90.0. Is there an easy fix to this (ie. by pressing buttons on my head unit) or do i have to change something behind it?

As oRiCLe says you need a band expander, they usually come in shifts of 10, 14 and 20mhz.

Problem B)

The car has come with a TV. Again, I am told, that Japan is on NTSC, and Australia is on PAL. Is there any way to change this myself, or is it another thing i need to pay somebody to change over?

Unfortunately this is not as easy as sorting out the radio. You are facing 2 problems - Japanese TV stations are all on UHF, and I believe Aussie (like NZ) has a mix of VHF and UHF TV stations meaning you wouldn't be able to tune in some of them.

And then you hit the more fundamental problem of NTSC vs PAL, different encoding in the TV signal. I've heard that some TV units can be converted internally (as they have chipsets that work with either and are preselected for one or the other), and some are impossible to convert as they are fixed to NTSC.

Easiest solution is to see if the TV unit has a video in connector, and then buy an external PAL TV tuner which has an NTSC output. Unfortunately this means you can't control the TV tuner from the headunit, usually the external tuners have a remote of some type to do this.

[LiQuid IcE]

the band expanders ive experienced are a waste of money. They do their meant to do but its not clear all the time. you get a lot of static etc on the radio....

If you really want to listen to radio then its easier to buy a new head unit. And then you'll have to get an adapter for the antenna becase thats different too.

[Beer Baron]

there is a place in sydney that converts Jap in car TVs. from what I understand there are two main things they do.

1. modify the tuner so it can receive Aus stations

2. install a Pal to NTSC converter so it can be displayed properly on the screen.

The place to go to is called Nams Electrical here in Sydney, from what I hear Nam is the master of this stuff. they specialise in it.

I will be taking my UZZ32 soarer there soon for the conversion.

[Ant]

there is a place in sydney that converts Jap in car TVs. from what I understand there are two main things they do.  

1. modify the tuner so it can receive Aus stations

2. install a Pal to NTSC converter so it can be displayed properly on the screen.

The place to go to is called Nams Electrical here in Sydney, from what I hear Nam is the master of this stuff. they specialise in it.

I will be taking my UZZ32 soarer there soon for the conversion.

Do you know if they modify the tuner, or install a seperate tuner? Step 2) would suggest a seperate tuner is installed? Do their mods allow the TV to be controlled from the factory head unit, or is a seperate remote required?

[Beer Baron]

I can only speak with any surety (spelling?) on soarer systems. with the soarer they install a chip that modifies the factory tuner, so yes, the factory tuner is retained and is still controlled by the factory head unit (in the soarers case - touch screen).

I'm not sure if the conversion would still be the same for aftermarket systems, at a guess I'd say no. But the best bet is to call or email Nam.

http://www.nam.net.au/

[paulr33]

rrrage what tv model is it?

[sammus]

rrrage what tv model is it?

doesn't have much written on it, so i don't know

[Chris Rogers]

thats a clarion unit.

[sammus]

also... the head unit has TV control written on it in the bottom right, above 8 and 9. so i have a feeling in working order sound goes through that and out the speakers, but at the moment i have no sound - not even static.

[Chris Rogers]

whta model is the sony unit?

[allblitz]

All this is good guys, but missed one important point - $$$$$. How much will it set u back to get the TV converted.

[Lozza150]

Try over $2000... that is what i got quoted nearly 12 months ago. It may have gone down since that time.

Yes that was from Nams Electrical

L

[race_snooze]

I have one of those band shifters for my Jap stereo and it works great no static at all. Not sure where to get them from but mine was on the car

[Chris Rogers]

Click http://www.soundoff.net.au/shop/item_show....hp?code_no=abx1 :D/http://www.soundoff.net.au/shop/ite...de_no=abx1