PHP, PDO, UTF8 and MySQL not playing ball

I'm really struggling trying to get PHP to play ball with MySQL through PDO with regards to UTF-8 characters. I get the following using php --version: ``` PHP 5.3.6 (cli) (built: Apr 19 2011 13:21:12) Copyright (c) 1997-2011 The PHP Group Zend Engine v2.3.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2011 Zend Technologies ``` And this is the welcome message from mysql cli: ``` Server version: 5.1.57 Source distribution ``` I have this as my database connection code: ``` try { $dbh = new PDO('mysql:host='.$server.';dbname='.$database.';charset=UTF8', $user, $password, array(PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_INIT_COMMAND => "SET NAMES 'UTF8'")); } catch (PDOException $e) { print "Error!: " . $e->getMessage() . "<br/>"; die(); } ``` And my php code to insert into MySQL: ``` $dbh->query("SET NAMES 'UTF8'"); $values = array(':idCode' => $idCode, ':name' => $name, ':address' => $address, ':postcode' => $postcode, ':tel' => $tel, ':website' => $website, ':disabled' => $disabled, ':disabledWC' => $disabledWC, ':description' => $description, ':location' => $location, ':type' => $type, ':status' => $status, ':image1name' => $image1name, ':image2name' => $image2name, ':image3name' => $image3name, ':image4name' => $image4name, ':image5name' => $image5name); $preparedStatement = $dbh->prepare('UPDATE venues SET name = :name, address = :address, postcode = :postcode, tel = :tel, website = :website, disabled = :disabled, disabledWC = :disabledWC, description = :description, location = :location, type = :type, status = :status, date_modified = NOW(), image1name = :image1name, image2name = :image2name, image3name = :image3name, image4name = :image4name, image5name = :image5name WHERE idCode = :idCode'); $preparedStatement->execute($values); ``` The problem I'm getting is that even though I've verified that $description does indeed contain UTF8 encoded bytes (Using bin2hex and a hex2UTF8 tool on the web) the data does not get submitted through the connection as UTF-8 and I end up with "Générik" instead of "Générik" in the database. I have tried putting in a call to "SET NAMES UTF8" prior to executing, I've put in: ``` [client] default-character-set=utf8 [mysqld] default-character-set=utf8 ``` in my my.cnf but can't seem to get any joy. Any hints or tips on how to get this to work? I should add - if I enter the text manually in the command line MySQL client it works fine, the column is set to take UTF8 encoding. As requested - Create Table Script: ``` | venues | CREATE TABLE `venues` ( `idCode` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, `name` varchar(512) DEFAULT NULL, `address` varchar(1024) DEFAULT NULL, `postcode` varchar(32) DEFAULT NULL, `tel` varchar(32) DEFAULT NULL, `website` varchar(1024) DEFAULT NULL, `disabled` tinyint(4) DEFAULT NULL, `disabledWC` tinyint(4) DEFAULT NULL, `description` varchar(4096) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL, `status` tinyint(4) DEFAULT NULL, `location` varchar(32) DEFAULT NULL, `type` varchar(32) DEFAULT NULL, `date_modified` timestamp NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, `image1name` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL, `image2name` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL, `image3name` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL, `image4name` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL, `image5name` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (`idCode`) ) ENGINE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=129 DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 ``` And hte result of SELECT @@character_set_database: ``` SELECT @@character_set_database -> ; +--------------------------+ | @@character_set_database | +--------------------------+ | utf8 | +--------------------------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec) ``` And the results of dumpParams: ``` SQL: [410] UPDATE venues SET name = :name, address = :address, postcode = :postcode, tel = :tel, website = :website, disabled = :disabled, disabledWC = :disabledWC, description = :description, location = :location, type = :type, status = :status, date_modified = NOW(), image1name = :image1name, image2name = :image2name, image3name = :image3name, image4name = :image4name, image5name = :image5name WHERE idCode = :idCode Params: 17 Key: Name: [7] :idCode paramno=-1 name=[7] ":idCode" is_param=1 param_type=2 Key: Name: [5] :name paramno=-1 name=[5] ":name" is_param=1 param_type=2 Key: Name: [8] :address paramno=-1 name=[8] ":address" is_param=1 param_type=2 Key: Name: [9] :postcode paramno=-1 name=[9] ":postcode" is_param=1 param_type=2 Key: Name: [4] :tel paramno=-1 name=[4] ":tel" is_param=1 param_type=2 Key: Name: [8] :website paramno=-1 name=[8] ":website" is_param=1 param_type=2 Key: Name: [9] :disabled paramno=-1 name=[9] ":disabled" is_param=1 param_type=2 Key: Name: [11] :disabledWC paramno=-1 name=[11] ":disabledWC" is_param=1 param_type=2 Key: Name: [12] :description paramno=-1 name=[12] ":description" is_param=1 param_type=2 Key: Name: [9] :location paramno=-1 name=[9] ":location" is_param=1 param_type=2 Key: Name: [5] :type paramno=-1 name=[5] ":type" is_param=1 param_type=2 Key: Name: [7] :status paramno=-1 name=[7] ":status" is_param=1 param_type=2 Key: Name: [11] :image1name paramno=-1 name=[11] ":image1name" is_param=1 param_type=2 Key: Name: [11] :image2name paramno=-1 name=[11] ":image2name" is_param=1 param_type=2 Key: Name: [11] :image3name paramno=-1 name=[11] ":image3name" is_param=1 param_type=2 Key: Name: [11] :image4name paramno=-1 name=[11] ":image4name" is_param=1 param_type=2 Key: Name: [11] :image5name paramno=-1 name=[11] ":image5name" is_param=1 param_type=2 ``` Logged hex bytes (and expected string value) of $description: ``` Desctription: 526f756e64696e67206f6666205361747572646179206e6967687420696e20756e666f726765747461626c65207374796c652c204672656e636820636f6d70616e792047c3a96ec3a972696b20566170657572206272696e67207468656972206e65772073686f772057617465726c69747a20746f207468652048617420466169722e204174204b696e672047656f726765205620506c6179696e67204669656c64732c2042617220456e642e: Rounding off Saturday night in unforgettable style, French company Générik Vapeur bring their new show Waterlitz to the Hat Fair. At King George V Playing Fields, Bar End. ```