Bilbo

[quote user="Jazzer"]According to BigDishSatellite,BBC1 goes digital in the Autumn. I would think it best, if your Tv supports it to get a Freesat HD box, which gives you BBC1, BBC HD channel and ItV digital fre of charge.MOre to come.[/quote] This refers to HD via Freeview, i.e. by an aerial, in the UK. BBC HD has been available to satellite viewers for ages.

Apart from the Sky Gnome, any of the little FM transmitting devices intended for use with mp3 players and the like, can be connected to your Sky box. You then choose a suitable frequency, which will not clash with a locally transmitted radio station. and can then listen to the Sky channel on any FM radio. A lot cheaper than an internet radio if you already have a digi box.

Any of the gadgets sold to transmit the signal from an mp3 player or whatever will do this. You will need a lead to connect from the phono plugs on the Sky box to the mini plug on the device. They sell such a thing on BF boats should you happen to be nosing around the shop during a crossing, for example. Otherwise a Sky Gnome is great, although they can be a bit temperamental.

The Nationwide increase did not apply to transactions in France anyway, as anyone who read the details would have seen.

[quote user="melmoth"]OK well it seems that the cards have a limited validity - can anyone tell me whether LeClerc/Orange etc. PAYG phones work for incoming calls if the credit is expired? Brendan [/quote] I am afraid I can't answer the question but, as a LeClerc user I wonder why anyone would want to let the credit lapse as it costs so little to keep it going. The maximum cost, without making any calls is only 18€ for a year, and you can renew the credit via the internet. In case you aren't aware of the LeClerc deal, they charge 1.50€ a month for their service and renewals last for 12 months. You pay whatever you need for calls on top of the 1.50€ a month with top-ups starting at 5€. Orange is a very different matter as you have to keep topping up just to keep the number live. I lost over 40€ with Orange before changing to LeClerc.

The problem is not about being able to control his TV with the Sky remote, but with getting it to control the Sky box. New handsets are not expensive so buying one is the simplest solution, especially if friends are visiting from the UK. They are freely available from the likes of Comet and even Asda.

Do you hear other sounds OK e.g. the little tune when Windows starts up? If so, then you should also be able to hear everything else. If not, check that the soud is not muted. Buy a cheap ( about 7€)  microphone from a supermarket and plug it into a pink socket to test it works. If you haven't downloaded Skype, it might be worth doing so as its setup includes checking your microphone is working OK.

[quote user="Jako"]The answer is simple. You own an 'ordinary' sky box with only  'ordinary' analogue output. ( scart-plug) .   The only way to change this is to buy a decent HD receiver with a digital HDMI output.[/quote] That is not correct. Sky boxes have both Scart and RF outputs. The Scart connector will give digital output while the other goes through  conversion to give analogue output for older TVs without a Scart connector. Digital output and HD output are not the same thing. The poster needs to connect his Sky box via the Scart connector rather than the RF one, as others have said.

I used to have trouble with fading signals on hot days and found that throwing a bucket of water over the LNB helped! Eventually replacing the LNB, which must have been failing for ages, at a fairly low cost solved the problem.

[quote user="Bob T"]Or buy yourself a Humax HDR as mentioned in another thread here. [/quote] You will still need a new LNBand extra cabling to get two connections from the dish if you want to record one channel while you watch another. Either get anohter Sky or freesat box from which to record while you watch the signal from your original one or buy a device with this built in as mentioned above.

Ignore me then!! Glad you have sorted it out.

It sounds as if you have a Sky multiroom subscription at home, in which case the cards are tied to the boxes you have at home and will not work in a different one. With multiroom Sky also check that your box is connected to the phone so it might not be easy to take a box to frnce with you. You need to find one of the old one-off Sky cards that were originally needed for CH4 and 5. I had one somewhere but don't know if I can find it. Try asking Sean at Brittany Satellites - his ad is on this site somewhere.

Have you got your little electronic gizmo that is now needed for such transactions? You put your depit card in it and follow the instructions. This did not used to be needed but is their new security system. I can only report that mine used to work with my connection via a Livebox, which may not help you much.

Not sure what another poster's comments about the EPG meant as my cardless boxes contain full details of the programmes available. Incidentally I got very cross in a UK TV shop which was busy telling customers that their Sky box would not work without a card. They were defiant that this was true despite my telling them they were speaking through the wrong orifice!! What some people will do to make money out of unsuspecting customers.....

Where does your mother live? There may be a helpful soul nearby, known to someone on this forum, who could sort it out for her. 'Tis a small world!!

The small transmitters that are sold to work with iPods and other mp3 players work with my Sky box . I assume that the Freesat boxes might also have audio connectors so that you can connect to hifi systems or whatever. If so you can use one of these transmitters and then receive the output on any FM radio. You need to tune the output so that it doesn't clash with a locally broadcast frequency but should meet your needs OK.

I am sure all you technical folk are correct in your details. However I have set up several systems for friends without doing anything very complicated and always find that if the signal is not quite as good as it could be, ClassicFM is the channel which breaks up first. My sat finder is a simple thing that whistles louder as the signal improves and it has done the job very well several times in conjunction with the signal test bars on the Sky box. I have also come across some friends whose satellite was set up by a French company and linked to the internal aerial wiring in the house. Their signal breaks up very readily and I am inclined to think that the satellite feed has been connected to ordinary aerial cable instead of the higher quality cable that should be used for satellite connections. Just a thought ...

I would think that you dish just needs a tweak. I find that Classic FM is the first channel to go if the dish is not quite on line or if there is heavy rain, for example. It might pay you to get a satfinder which responds better than relying on the signal check via the receiver. I would be very reluctant to start fiddling about with the box settings.

Tiscali seems to be in a bit of a pickle at present. My Mother's Tiscali was playing up last week in the UK. We were rarely able to get on line and then it kept dropping. Rumour has it that they are in financial trouble?

Having just bought one myself and another for a friend I can recommend the Samsung LE 457 range which I have seen in both 32" and 26" versions. The most recent 26" one cost £309 via the internet in the UK. When setting it up it will ask you for language and country details and will then scan  for all available analogue channels and then the digital ones, assuming you have a decent aerial. Eventually, as in the UK, the analogue broadcasts will be switched off. Your Sky or Freesat digibox can be connected via a Scart connection. You will no longer find this model in France as the similar ones are not just HD ready but will already receive the HD channels now being broadcast via TNT (the French version of Freeview in the UK) Hence they are a bit more expensive. Hope that helps....

Check the signal strength and quality.. Services,4,6.. Your dish may have moved a bit. Some channels seem to need more signal than others with ClassicFM on 0106 being the one I test with. If that is OK everything else works, but if I get the no satellite signal on ClassicFm then a tweak is need or it is raining very heavily !

[quote user="seashells"]Could someone please enlighten me to how I can cancel our telephone service with France Telecom?  We no longer need the phone in our house in France as we have decided to just use mobiles which work perfectly well in our part of the Lot!  As we only spend 12 weeks a year in France I feel as the credit crunch is biting we should cancel our line & return our phone if only I knew how!!  Thanks for any help! Seashells [/quote] I have just finished speaking to a very helpful english speaking chap on 0800 364 775. He has arranged to cancel the line on the date I specified. He also explained exactly what I need to do to cancel the internet service.

[quote user="brit"]If I take an english analogue tele to france can I connect it up to a french bought satellite box  to continue to receive english tele on it. [/quote] Yes, but you may find it is cheaper and more convenient to take or buy a s/h Sky box (such as one from someone who has now changed to Sky plus, for example). The channels are all set on these along with the programme guide and you only need to line up the dish to get it all going..

Just to clarify further.. UK satellite channels are on Astra at S28degE whereas the French ones are at S19degE (where the old Sky analogue ones were some years ago). Thus you will either need a motorised dish or two separate ones in order to receive both. If you have decent freeview reception in the UK via your normal aerial and don't have nor want Sky subscription channels, you will only need a dish for the French programmes.

[quote user="Bilbo"]If you wish to travel on Brittany Ferries you may not be aware that you can claim 15% off by using an existing property owner's club details. If interested please email me for further details [/quote] I added email me for details because, like many others I suspect, I did not want to post the relevant details on the forum. As others have explained, this is just a change in the arrangements for the Property Owners' Club, but could be useful to many others.