Tim

Ok - don't worry[:)] I was pretty sure that was what had happened. I am not going to get into recommending a provider as  it could be considered as advertising - also, if you follow any recomendation of mine, and it goes horribly wrong, I would feel awful and you would not be happy. What I will do is tell you what I'm using, and if others on this forum do the same, it may help you to decide. I started up when first moving in with dial up from Wanadoo (now Orange) - this was because I opened my e-mail account with Wanadoo when I was still living in England. This made it very easy to get started over here. Our village did not have ADSL for the first year after we moved, but when it was installed in the exchange I found we could get 1meg ADSL - this meant that there was no TV option, although this didn't matter to us. So, we went for this option. It costs €24.90 a month, plus the France Telecom line rental. I wanted to keep the 'landline' because I worked in telecoms in England for many years and was too aware of the issues that can arise when you get a line fault. We use Skype to speak to nearly everybody back in the UK - also some of our friends in other parts of the world. If you are familiar with Skype, it's a way of using your ADSL to speak to people via their computers free of charge. So, that's our set up. For our use, it works very well. There are loads of options available and I'm sure others on here will tell you about them. The question then will be 'which one suits you best'. If you have any other questions please come back and we will do our best. Regards - Tim

Well, I think you may have confused your current internet speed a little - 38-40 mb is a speed that most us would dream of. I'm pretty sure that you mean 38-40 kb. If that is the case, then I'm assuming that you are on a dial-up connection and not ADSL (broadband). There are, as you probably know, many companies around who may be able to supply you with a broadband connection, but firstly you need to find out whether you are in an area that's able to get broadband. I've been looking for a link you can go to on the internet to try your line to see if it's at all possible - the only one I've come up with is this one http://www.degrouptest.com/ There are others, I know. Let us know if I am correct in my assumption before I go any further and if I am right try the line test, then we will have more to go on. Tim

I'd agree - never had a Livebox so I can't directly compare, but I've been using a Netgear model for the last 18 months without a single hicough (touching wood now). I read reports from other ADSL users of all sorts of issues, not just with Liveboxes I should add, that I did wonder what I was getting into - people going on about constant re-booting, others saying that you must never turn your modem off etc.etc. With the Netgear I've never experienced any of these issues. It gets turned on and off when I need it and was very easy to set up. When I expannded my network earlier this year with a laptop, the wi-fi set up was simple as well. I suppose I should put in a little word to F.T. for providing a decent line as well[:)] Tim

I don't think I can be too much help for you, I'm afraid. I have been asked two or three times to help hook up digi boxes and DVD recorders. All these DVD recorders were bought in France and were not of a well known make. All of them suffered from the same problem - the two scarts on the rear were marked 'input' and 'output'. This meant that you could take one scart lead from the digi box (perhaps a Sky box) to feed to the input of the DVD recorder, but the path back, through the same lead, to send the signal back through the digi box to the TV is not there. To play back your recordings meant that you have to remove the lead from the recorder's input scart and plug it into the recorder's output scart - highly inconvenient. It seems, perhaps, from looking at the menus on these machines, they are designed primarily to work with external Canal plus decoders. I don't think this is a problem with the more well known makes - I have a couple of Sonys and they also have two scart sockets, but one of them is both an input and output and work very well recording from digi boxes - as someone has mentioned, you have to select the external input, in my case L3. I did eventually find a workround by using the RF output to feed a picture to the TV, and, fortunately, it suited the people I was trying to help and they were happy, but it wouldn't have done for me due to the reduction in picture quality and the lack of stereo sound. So, as I said, I don't think I can be of any help, but perhaps someone else may have found a better way to get round this. By the way, what make is the box you bought? Regards - Tim

Yes, CJLAWS  is correct, unless you've got a machine I've not heard of, adjust the recording length in the menu. My Sony has 6 different options for between 1hour and 6 hours. The pay off is, of course, the more you squeeze on the disc, the lower the picture quality. What machine are you using, if you haven't found the menu to make this adjustment someone on here may be able to point you in the right direction. Tim

Before you go, one thing. This 'other' type of box you say you are using - has it been tuned to the UK channels? May sound a silly question, but I'm not sure exactly what you are using and depending on your answer, it may help with your problem. Tim

Almost all of these 'niggling' things are down to something very simple - the problem is finding out what it is. In your circumstances I would try the following:- Simple thing first - I'm fortunated enough to have another non Sky box - so I would swap that over first and see what happens.This will help to find out whether it's your box, or something else. Secondly, a very close inspection of all the connections, paying extra close attention to the those outside. Water is very sneaky and gets in all sorts of places. Finally, I've had a couple of friends over the last year, or two, who've experienced a similar problem. I asked them to note exactly what channels were affected. They both reported some of the (for me anyway) less watched channels - I think it was True Movies, or something like that. I took my non-Sky box down and hooked it up to their dish. As I've said in previous posts, Sky boxes are really terrible at reliably reporting signal strengths and quality. My box reported back that the signal quality on the affected channels, was lower than that on most of the others. A little check on the LNB alignment revealed that an adjustment to the skew of the LNB sorted out the problem very simply - just one screw loosened, a quick 'tweak', and do up the screw. This thing about LNB skew is a little odd. I've read explanations about it which I've understood, but it's not necessary to know exactly what's going on, just that it can make a big difference. I know there are people on here who go through all the details, if you wish. I've 'rabbited' on enough on here and I'll leave that bit to them. If you want any more, please come back. Regards - Tim

I'm sure you will get lots of ideas popping up here, but for what it's worth, here's my 'pennysworth'.  Bear with me.[:)] You mentioned problems with Sky in your first post, does this mean you are using a Sky box? You say you've tried using new and old, does this mean you've connected different boxes to try to get a picture? If so, what? This may sound silly, but it's possible the readings you are getting are false - if you are using a Sky box, they are notorious for giving incorrect readings. It's also quite possible that the readings you are getting are from the wrong satellite. Sky boxes are useless at pointing at a different satellite. As I said in my first reply, a bit more info would be helpful to try to help you. Regards - Tim

No, although, as you know Channel 4 and Channel 4+1 and the bouquet of 5 channels are FTV (Free to view) not FTA.   The other channels  More 4, E4 etc. remain part of a Sky viewing pachage. Rumours abound that Channel 4 may go FTA later this year, although when is not known for sure at the moment - there is speculation that it may be when what's known as BBC Freesat launches sometime in the next few months, but I've not heard whether More 4 etc will be included in this change. Tim

Well it's almost certainly an antenna problem. You don't say in your post, nor on your login, where you are so I can't look up the TNT coverage in your area, but if you were getting some channels I'm guessing that there is some sort of TNT coverage for your area. One thing though, before you clamber up to the aerial, have you 're-scanned' the channels since installing the replacement aerial? If the old aerial wasn't able to get all the available channels but your new one is, you need to make sure the digi box has the chance to tune them in. Try this first, if you haven't done so already. Tim

This is almost certainly going to be an antenna problem - I've had a quick look at the TNT website http://www.csa.fr/pdf/Niort.pdf and it shows that there is a TNT transmitter covering Niort. Not living in your area makes it a bit difficult to be more specific but do you know if any of your neighbours get TNT? Asking them and seeing what sort of antenna they are using may help point you in the right direction. Also, there may be somebody on this forum reading this in your area who may be able to help more.   Tim

Anton is correct - one thing I should add - you say it's a Freeview TV - I have a couple of these with the digital tuner built in. I have mine working on the French version of Freview called TNT for the French channels. If you are in an area covered by these transmissions you could get French TV in this way as well. There are about 18 channels on TNT. Unless it's a very early specification Freeview set, it should work ok. Tim

I've not experienced any problems either. Perhaps if you could be a little more specific someone may be able to help, although, with what you have said would make me think that it's likely to be a dish problem. Tim

How can I break this to you gently at this Christmas time - it sounds to me as if you've bought a system for Hotbird 13east and Astra 19east - the French bricos are full of them. If you want the UK channels you need Astra 28east. You have BBC World etc - these are not on 28east so I'm pretty sure I'm right about this. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news - Tim p.s. I should also add that Sky boxes are very bad at sharing dishes with other boxes - they are designed to work with a dish set permanentely at 28.2 and do not take kindly to looking at anything else.

Yes, I've noticed that as well, Martin, although some transponders seem to be more sensitive to the skew than others. Tim

Unless I've lost the plot (in which case I'm sure someone will tell me) the op is not talking about Wi-Fi is he? In which case his laptop may already be equipped and he could make use of Wi-Fi Hotspots. Not much good for home use admittedly, unless you happen to live door to a Macdonalds or Starbucks. I think these may work as a sort of 'Pay as you go' but the prices vary depending on where you are and which café you are sitting in. The open network you describe, by the way, is similar to what B.T. are pushing out in some areas of the UK. Tim

[quote user="Vindolanda"] . I wonder if getting a Neuf Box might help? at least that way I could keep my existing  e mail address?   [/quote] In most cases, in my experience, you can normally keep e-mail addresses - I've still got my BTinternet address that I used in the UK. May be worth checking this out as it may help with your decision. Tim

A quick glance at the promotion posters in Leclerc states that you are required to pay €1.50 a month subscription - perhaps this variation means that it may continue longer than the NRJ debacle. As usual, it's swings and roundabouts - it's probably a good deal if that suits you. Me? I'm still thinking about it. Tim

[quote user="Meg "]Seems you pay  €1.50 a month?? [/quote]   You're right Meg - the main thing though is that it appears that the credit doesn't keep running out - could be good for infrequent users. Tim

Not much response yet Pierre. Like you, I have seen this offer and have looked at it on the Leclerc website - but I'm afraid, that's as far as I've got, so like you I would be interested to know of other's experiences. Tim

Just to throw my hat in the ring - for what it's worth - I am using Orange 1meg - it's all we can get here as we are not near the exchange. Using the link to Speedtest shows my download as 1049 kbs and upload at 136kbs. I have had this service for well over a year now, with no interruption to service. I am using up to four computers on this system - three hard wired and one Wi-Fi laptop - admittedly not too much heavy downloading going on though. We are also using VOIP via the Skype service. At no time has the ADSL caused any problem with using the old 'analogue' phone. Our VOIP works very well and does not seem to be affected by our lowly bandwidth. Tim

Hi Fridgeman Yes, I have read your post - it's another function of my 'sad person-ness' that I am reading all the posts on here at the moment! And, as you probably realise, I agree with just about everything you say. Not sure about getting rid of the Humax though - over the years I've found it's been a very useful piece of kit when setting up a dish. I've read lots of messages about how good the Technomates are and it will probably appear on my wish list - when finances allow. The dates for Channel 4 going FTA seem to vary depending on where you get your info from - lots seem to think it won't be until next autumn, but, as they say, time will tell. I know they've given a strong indication that they want to be part of the Freesat system which is scheduled to kick off in the next few months. I do find it rewarding to help with the questions on here as they pop up, although my wife thinks I should start charging a fee for all the time I spend formulating what I hope is a helpful reply. I might be tempted to get a Freesat box as I do have an HD capable TV - but it's not a priority. Finally, I've not yet gone to your EPG list - but will give it a try. By the way - are you TNT ready? TF1 showed a Tarantino film last night with French and English soundtracks. I think they've done this a few times recently, but it's the first time I've caught one. Regards - Tim

I'd agree with Anton. Our house is in an exposed postion and we're not far from the coast and strong winds are frequent, but only occasionally does the wind gust strongly enough to interefere with the dish, and interruptions to the picture because of this are rare. It just causes the picture to break momentarily. This is not the same effect as Anton describes well as 'stair rod rain' and heavy cloud which can cause the picture to break up and sometimes disappear for a couple of minutes. If you are certain that it's the wind rather than heavy rain that's causing the problem then I would think, perhaps, that your dish alignment is 'on the edge' i.e. it's getting a good signal until a prolonged strong wind knocks it off it's optimal position. I've stood outside and watched both the dishes I have mounted on the side of the house in these conditions and they generally 'spring back' when hit by a strong gust. This may explain why generally you are receiving a good signal. I'm afraid I'm not helpful here as I know I certainly would not want to go outside tweaking a satellite dish in these weather conditions for this evenings TV viewing and I am also unable to suggest a place you can go on the net to watch tonights BBC programmes here in France. Sorry. Tim

I've found that watching quizzes is quite helpful . If I'm in, I normally try to catch 'Questions pour un Champion' on FR3 with the sub-titles on. Gives you a bit of encouragement as well when you can answer a question that the contestant has got wrong. If you can't get FR3, I think it's also repeated on TV5. Tim

It is a bit of swings and roundabouts - I've got a Sky box because I bought it over with me and there are certainly advantages with them - mainly, I suppose,ease of use and the EPG - it can also be quite good for recording from. On the other hand I also have an old Humax digital receiver which I used to use when I was living in Enland and I had this set up with a motorised system I installed myself,and this was great fun. I also object to forking out to increase Mr. Murdoch's bank balance - so I don't. The original poster asked about getting UK & French TV and bearing in mind the fact he didn't give us any info about what equipment he may already have, I responded in a general way. If he already has a Sky box in the UK, then it would make perfect sense to bring it with him (although I would advise against trying to set up a dish with it). If not, I agree, a cheap digi box from the Brico is the way to go - unless you're an avid fan of Channel 4 & 5 - although that situation may change, I know. I also saw the boxing this morning - although not a fan - without paying Mr.Murdoch a penny, and it also gives me a small sense of satifaction - yes, they do say I'm a bit sad[geek]   Tim