woolybanana Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Perhaps members could help continue a discussion between a little Birdie and I; we were wondering who has UK TV only, French TV only and who has both, and in what proportion you might watch each?I have a full range of French TNT programmes via a traditional aerial and nowt else, which I watch regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basquesteve Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 UK tv only we gave up on French tv 15 years back,has it improved Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Both, 25% French and the rest UK. Mainly for news, sport and game shows (question and answer types) to improve our French. The rest is (still) pretty dire but then so was UK TV over Christmas. To be honest I watch more films than anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 UK only. I think my French is passable so don't really want to watch French TV to improve it, however I'd love to have French TV for the news and weather. The problem is that, despite having an aerial on the roof and all the attendant wiring, we've never been able to get a half decent signal in the ten years we've had a TV in France. And yes, I've borrowed the neighbours' TNT box (or whatever it's called) and there's no signal to be had since it all went digital, either. For the little I watch TV, trying to solve the problem is very low on my agenda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 I have the French programmes via the Free triple play package. I watch the news on France 2Arte and C'est dans l'air fiarly regularlyI have a workarond that lets me se iPLayer for some films and the odd factual programme, and the odd Scandanavian Detective.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 We only had french tv for our first 15 years in France and lousy reception at that. Then we got UK tv and tried to get french satellite, but couldn't, so we gave up on it.Now in the UK we watch TV monde regularly, 799 on SKY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave21478 Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Ah, time for a good old fashioned rant about television.....I have both UK and French tv. Both the basic free to view packages and I like neither of them.I find French TV to be pish....very little content that interests me and the news and current affairs programs are so France-centric that they are little use for knowing anything in the wider world.The little tv that I used to watch, I gave up on due to terrible dubbing that is so prevalent. A film on French tv with an actor I know, be it Sean Connery or Will Smith or whoever else just sounds completely wrong in French and that spoils it for me.Not as much as the dubbing on documentaries spoils them though! Nothing worse than someone being interviewed or commenting in their original language...be it English, German (two most common on Arte) or others and they slap the French dub over the top WITHOUT muting the original audio so both voices are talking at once - this really chaffs my chuff.As for UK tv - Celebrity this, Real life that, dreary soaps and the higher channel numbers are just endless, literally back-to-back-non-stop repeats of Grand Designs, Star Trek, NCIS type shows, Judge Judy, Jamie Oliver/Hugh Fearlywhateverhisnameis, and American "comedies" that are so bad they are actually offensive, occasionally interspersed with "lets laugh at mentally ill people" shows featuring hoarders and people with OCD illnesses. I have also noticed an increase in American reality shows where people doing their daily jobs are suddenly tv stars, with "deep voice-over voice man" and endless cut-aways and repeating of scenes trying to generate excitement from their daily grind.UK TV just needs to get on with it and give people what they actually want to see....a good old fashioned Victorian style freak show. "Embarrassing Bodies" and all the other ultra-fat people shows were getting pretty close, alongside all the reality Police shows, showing endless car chases and drunken Friday Night punch-ups.I swear to God - in twenty years time, people will be fighting to the death on live TV for our pleasure.[img]www.shrinkthechurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/gladiator-featured.jpg[/img]"ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED????"Now though - I pick and choose what I want to watch and download it. The TV plugs into my laptop via HDMI so i can watch in comfort and thats pretty much all the telly gets used for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave21478 Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Meh, the picture wont show up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 [IMG]http://www.shrinkthechurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/gladiator-featured.jpg[/IMG] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 At the moment we just have UK TV, as something outside went phut one day when I was ironing and French TV - 'maison à vendre' to be precise - disappeared. And it hasn't returned. When I have the necessary 100€ available to be spent on such an item it will be repaired - OH doesn't do high heights and the aerial is on the roof - so we will have to call in a man-who-does.When we did have French TV I liked Arte and programmes such as 'trouver un appartement' for the insight into the way of thinking of ordinary French people when faced with finding a new home. I could not stand the dubbed programmes if I had already seen the original in another language. I am sad I missed Borgen as that might have been quite interesting dubbed into French.Will have to see about getting the aerial replaced/repaired as this topic has reminded me that some French TV was intriguing.Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 We have French TNT and UK Freesat.We watch the regional news on FR3 and the national news on FR2, and sometimes on BFMTV when I want to follow something in French without the "bonus" of an English translation (Schumacher's skying accident comes to mind).I tried to watch Sherlock in English on French tv a few months ago, but the episodes were shown in the wrong order, so he fell from the rooftop then re-appeared in a swimming complex without a bruise in sight! (I had made the mistake of thinking Sherlock was going to be a Jeremy-Brett-style period remake and had missed the BBC showing... All caught up now, though!)So I'd say around 60% UK, 20% FR and 20% internet for those shows I want to watch NOW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 UK by satellite, French by internet, but watching either is not high on our list of to-do's. Watch UK news, quiz programmes like mastermind and University Challenge, and seem to have got rather drawn into pointless, which we watch with our apero... OH may turn it (UK) on for nature or science programmes, and I will spend time over Christmas watching repeats I've never seen before, such as Poirot, or a good period drama .. occasionally a good historical or such documentary.French, watched it the day we installed it, and when the satellite wouldn't work "cos of rain one day - two of the early evening quizzes .. and rarely had it on since ... like another poster - the dubbing makes most films impossible to watch, and the news programmes are at the wrong time - when we are eating and the TV is not in the same room ...Yes, watching French TV might improve our French, but you can only take so much of the questionable quality of it all ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Nothing but French TV since 2006 and initially like France in general it was new and different but the novelty has really worn off, for the last year or so when I am in the UK like now I have been able to gorge myself on UK TV, before the digital signals came in I had just fuzzy reception of maybe one or two channels on a good day, since then it has been a TV fest each time I returned.I agree entirely with what Dave 21478 says about French TV, exactly my gripes and so well put, I was actually at the point of cracking and getting a SKy system but due to circumstances have spent probably 50% of my time in the UK the last 6 months and have pretty much overloaded on UK TV and hence can identify with what Dave says about that also but I can always find something I want to watch although I find that many I have already seen, Grand designs etc, thats one of my favorite programs and one that the French just couldnt and wouldnt ever make.So for the foreseeable future I will continue with french TV, it was a deliberate decision back then to cut off all contact with the english speaking world (apart from this forum) as apart from the TV I had 100% immersion, I have no regrets as my French has improved immeasurably, I remember saying something on the subject back then and WoolyB was very vocal telling me that I was talking complete rubbish, I didnt hold it against you but am surprised to learn you dont have access to UK TV as you must have had back then.I will just add something to Daves gripes, the bloody awfull dubbing seems to be always done by the same handfull of people and I think its just one woman that does all the female characters, no matter who they are they absolutely must sound terrified and anxious to be acceptable to the French viewer, even if they are playing the part of an empowered serial killer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 It would depend what it was, but the dubbed stuff never bothers me. I have just been watching House of Cards, with Kevin Spacey and dubbed into french and thought it wonderful. No idea if I would even like it in 'english'. And I have to say when I heard RD Anderson in McGyver for the first time in 'english' I thought he was terrible and had a very unattractive voice, his french dubber had a lovely voice!When I have been in France recently I have watched a couple of satirical chat shows which I liked and quite a bit of dubbed stuff and ofcourse Arte, because there is often good stuff on there.I don't watch what I would consider 'soaps', but I have friends who do. Not my business if they like them and are entertained is it ? well I don't think so. And when I say 'friends' I mean friends in both countries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereford Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 TNT par satellite only. So have BBC World for world news which can be watched at any hour and watch some quizzes to improve French, just listening gets one's ear used to the sound of French.Not really tv watchers. Prefer a good book any day, almost never watch after 8pm.Can't bear dubbing. Our son told us years ago that watching Starky and Sutch dubbed was hilarious though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Both... French for the news and Arte ... Freesat for the UK .... We seem to have more French channels than my neighbor who now knows I get the rugby when sometimes he cant .....He brings the booze .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 We have both TNT/freesat services in both countries. That is to say when we're in Devon we can watch French TV via TNTsat/Fransat (well if you're going to give technical advice you need to know about both systems!) and when we're in 24 we have freesat.TV isn't the same as it was in either country. The BBC is a shadow of its former self, both for radio and TV, but personally I still think we're better off with it than without. French TV has its moments but we mainly watch the 13.00 and 20.00 TF1 news (so called) bulletins to keep up with what the French are "being told"; in addition 13.00 is a great travelogue and we've sometimes visited places that have featured. We enjoy withdrawing into that little world of French "patrimoine" and rural pursuits even if it isn't the real world!But I wouldn't dream of relying on French TV for a "rounded" view of the world. Then we catch up on Midsommers we've missed via Inspecteur Barnaby on France 3. And Julie Andrieu on the same channel - the cooking is of secondary interest to the sheer joy of watching such an engaging and attractive person.We enjoy trying to understand Canteloube on TF1 and relish the treatment he metes (is that how it's spelt?) out to Hollande - after all it's only what Sarkozy was subjected to during his term of office by most of the French media. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulT Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 MartinIt would possibly help us language wise to watch some French TV so .......In the UK we have a Sky dish that we inherited and I have installed an Octo LNB. Does French TV use a different satellite so I need to install another dish?In France there is an 80cm dish for Freesat (currently fashioning an old dustbin lid to improve reception after the changeover) attached to an outbuilding and a smaller dish on a chimney stack so presume this was for French TV so will ring it back in to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Hello PaulTUnfortunately yes French TV is (mainly) on Astra 1 (19 deg E) and Atlantic Bird 3 (Eutelsat 5 deg W).But it's not difficult to arrange a second dish, in fact Fransat works here in Devon on the same sort of oval dish used for Sky (45 cms) but of course directed further west.Your second dish in France is likely to be on 19 deg E or 5 deg W as you suggest. If it's pointing only a tiny bit further west than your Sky dish then it's probably on 19 deg E. If however it's pointing due south it's more likely to be on AB3.For the full range of French TV you do need a Fransat or a TNTsat receiver. These are purchased with a card included - the card is not a subscription card as such (although it does need renewing at some point depending on the security of the encryption system). 19 deg E requires a TNTsat receiver, 5 deg W requires a Fransat receiver.However, if you JUST want TF1/2/3/5/M6 you CAN get them free to air but you need TWO dishes. 2/3/5 are free on AB3 and TF1/M6 are free on a satellite at 9 deg E, although for these two channels the sat receiver has to be an HD model. Obviously this is more complicated (to put it mildly!!) but it does obviate the need for a "tied" receiver for Fransat or TNTsat. Sky receivers are unfortunately not suitable for any of these services - for various technical reasons not worth going in to.If you want chapter and verse then contact me off forum; I'm more than happy to go into more detail and certainly it's worth the bother - we've had French TV here in Devon since 1998 when the main problem was converting SECAM colour back to those oh-so-xenophobic PAL-only Anglo Saxon TVs!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinabee Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 We watch some French TV from time to time - mostly news, weather, a few documentary type progs, maybe a house-buying or best Boulanger type show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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