Mazan

>Is it possible to buy a >cheap French VCR to receive >the French TV Signal and >then play it through a >UK TV? This depends on whether your TV supports Secam. At worst you will only get a black and white image.

>Is it not possible to dial >this number from outside France, Yes, it isn't possible. If you just want to access your Wanadoo email from the UK then either use a UK ISP to connect and then run Outlook Express in the normal way, or use the Wanadoo webmail service from any computer connected to the internet.

All cards will work in any box except for the premium channels such as Sky Movies and Sky Sports. Most basic pay channels are not affected. This said, you should try and use the right pay card in the right box and always have them "re-married" by Sky if you change boxes permanently.

The new channels you mention are not on satellite. Your card and box give you everything that you can get. All new channels are included automatically no matter where you are.

>Can receive >Channel 4 and Channel 5 >OK plus lots of other >free channels - Discovery, UK >Gold etc. Those last two are not free. You must be using a subscription card. > The >message "No satellite signal being >received" comes up when trying >to select these channels. That message indicates that there is a signal problem. If you didn't use a meter to align the dish then you should do so. Then you will need to adjust the LNB skew. If none of that makes any difference then you have a band switching problem that may be caused by a faulty LNB, or a faulty or incorrectly adjusted digibox or some other reason. Try your box on a dish that is known to be correctly aligned to test it all.

It all depends on where you see it. It sounds suspiciously like one of these scams that installs "spyware" or tries to get you to enter your credit card or login and password details. Where did you see it? As a general rule: if in doubt, don't click.

This all depends on where you live. Our bills come twice a year from a private water company. Either way I find that the best option for all our utility bills (water, electricity, phone) and both local taxes is to set up direct debits. Then you can forget about them.

This site contains links to phone service comparison websites: http://www.frenchentree.com/fe-techcorner/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=435

The Pace 2600 is a perfectly good box and the card that comes with it will probably be an expired subscription card. In theory these belong to Sky and should be returned to them. In practice expired series 2 subscription cards will probably continue to decode the FTV channels until the next card issue.

>This morning I was told, by >one of the local satellite >receiver sellers (who kindly phoned >me back after I sent >an email), that this >card system had stopped at >the end of Dec 2003? FTV card replacement and new card issue is extended to the end of Jan 2004, at least. The cards of course will work for several years after that time. They are guaranteed to work for two years. >However, I also understand the sky >digibox is a good way >of finding out whats onthrough >the programme guide It is indeed. >So as I said, it would >have been easier to go >straight to the sky digibox >in the first place Yes. For UK channels you just can't beat a Sky digibox. > If >anyone can answer if the >cards are still valid All series 2 cards should continue to decode the FTV channels until the next card change. This would normally be many years away. The first issue of cards lasted 5 years.

>>Does anyone know if there would >be any problem with me >taking my UK Digibox over >with me, getting a dish >installed for it and then >just taking the Digibox back >and forward every time I >go over for a visit. > By doing this, would >I be able to get >the full range of channels >that my current card allows? This will work perfectly and you will get all channels. If you get a spare remote, a scart lead and a French power lead then all you will need to move about is the box itself.

Delete all entries for your daughter in the OE address book. There may be several. Restart OE. Select one message sent to you by your daughter, right-click on it and select "add sender to address book". Check the new entry. If the last "o" is missing then your daughter has mis-configured her reply-to address.

Given that you can get 60Gb of reliable webhosting for just 15 per year I can't see the point of running a server oneself with all the risks it entails. I suppose that you are hoping to use an ADSL connection for this? For starters domestic ADSL isn't very reliable and the cost for a fixed IP address may be high. However, if you want to do this then most registrars will suit. Joker and Gandi certainly will. Or try Tera-byte who have an associated redirection service at Redirection.net

Your box was probably running an old version of the software. New cards aren't recognised by software versions under V3. Remove the card. Reboot the box. Check the software version (services menu). It probably wouldn't hurt to reload the software and you will find descriptions of how to do this in the archives. If you are sure that you have V3 then you can insert the card. From what you describe I suspect that your box updated itself when you made the various resets and a reload will ensure that the software is properly loaded. Unfortunately new software sometimes upsets digiboxes and can lead to the problems you describe. What you don't say is whether your card is a new one or a replacement one. New ones need activating.

>We can get ITV2 >with terrestrial Freeview in the >UK so I would not >have expected it to be >a subs channel on the >card. When ITV 1&2 started on Sky Digital they came to an arrangement with Sky whereby ITV2 would be part of the pay package. I wouldn't be surprised if ITV2 went FTV at the end of that initial agreement. ITV2 is indeed free on Freeview.

There is no particular problem with Outlook (which just uses the Outlook Express motor for email anyway) and Wanadoo. However, the Wanadoo POP email server is not very reliable and is often down. Also whatever you do, don't install the Wanadoo dialler which is one of the worst bits of software I have ever seen: just set up the connection and email account manually. It's easy. This link explains how: http://www.frenchentree.com/fe-lavie/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=130

These sat based internet services are not as good as they seem. The cheap ones are only one way and still require the phone connection for the outgoing data, so no real advantage there. The expensive ones that also transmit via satellite are really very expensive indeed. And all these services seem to cap the amount and speed of data transfer. For just 13 extra per month to FT and 25 or less to an ISP just about anyone in France can get a reliable and cheap ISDN line if they can't get ADSL.

This is only half the story, isn't it? You say that they have a subscription: in that case they would never have had to buy an FTV card (only these cost 23.50). So are they subscription or free to view? The only time that I have ever heard of Sky writing to people about use at the registered address is in relation to so-called "mirror" subscriptions whereby for an extra 10 you get a second card with an identical sub, both cards to be used solely at the same address and both boxes connected to the same phone line on a permanent basis. Besides which Sky should never write to people in connection with FTV cards as they are not issued by Sky and in theory Sky do not have access to the FTV card database anyway. Rest assured that without the phone connection it is totally impossible for Sky to know where cards and boxes are being used. And by totally impossible I really mean totally impossible.

Is the drive recognised by the BIOS as the PC starts up (first screen where it does the memory test)? If not it is probably dead.

It probably means what it says: the data on the CD is corrupt. I doubt that there is anything you can do to fix this apart from perhaps trying to read the CD on another CD drive (CD burners are particularly good at reading old/damaged disks, I find). What programme are you using to transfer the data? I've never seen that message.

To record one sat channel whilst watching another requires two tuners though they will run off one dish, with modifications. You can get two tuners either by having two digiboxes or by using a Sky+, which has two tuners built-in. The Sky+ also has a hard drive and it will record two things at the same time and play them back later. If you already have a Sky subscription of 30 or more then using the Sky+ is free of extra charge, otherwise it is 10 per month. You do need to buy it though (200) and the dish will need a 50 modification and a second cable run. If you have a Sky digibox and a valid card then chs 998 and 999 explain more about the Sky+.

>I am looking to buy a >DVD player for our apartment >in France. We have a >basic french TV which is >secam only. Will a basic >unit from the UK work >or do I have to >buy in France? If your TV is really only Secam (and they haven't made Secam only TVs for more than ten years) then it may not play back from a PAL source in colour even if you use a scart lead. It may be possible to set the DVD player and the TV to use an RGB scart connection though. It is more likely that your TV is really PAL/Secam and if it isn't then it's time you bought a new one anyway!

It's true that some boxes aren't as good for some channels in the far reaches of Spain however you should still be able to get some channels with any box. If no channels work then your box may be faulty and with some Grundigs the power supply can be a problem, as mentioned. Can you test it on another local dish? For anyone worried: all models and brands of Sky box are fine for use anywhere in France.

You do get through to a person on that number if you push the right keys.

Surely some sort of scam or virus.