title: json_encode produce JSON_ERROR_UTF8 from MSSQL-SELECT
body: <p>I have an annoying problem with a database query to mssql. If the result contains special characters like the german 'ä', I cannot use <em>json_encode</em> to get the result as json correctly.</p>
  
  <p><em>json_last_error</em> return <em>5</em> which is equal to <em>JSON_ERROR_UTF8</em>. I guess the database does not return the values as <em>UTF-8</em> encoded. The database collection is *Latin1_General_CI_AS* and the affected columns are <em>varchars</em>.</p>
  
  <p>The php <em>mssql.charset</em> configuration has no effect.</p>
  
  <p>I read that mysql users could use <code>mysql_query('SET CHARACTER SET utf8');</code> to encode the return values correctly. What can I do, to get the values correctly for mssql?</p>
  
  <p><em>Hint -  I cannot change the anything at the database.</em></p>