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Astra 2F Discussion Here Please!


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A tip from a Captain I was flying with recently - works for me! It's probably been covered before but worth a reminder.....

If you do have a problem receiving any of your favourite ITV & BBC Channels you can quite easily and cheaply set up your Foxsat/Humax Freesat box to use BBC iplayer and ITV Player - without the need for a complicated VPN service !

Overplay.net provide a Smart DNS service for about £3 a month. Just pop their DNS server address into your Freesat box (under the network settings menu) and you get instant access to both players. Really, really simple way of masking your physical location. I believe it also works with Sky boxes but no idea about the newtork settings. There are some free DNS server providers but apparently they don't tend to provide any streaming TV access.

Obviously your Freesat box needs to be connected to broadband internet via either an ethernet cable directly into your router (in my case an SFR Neufbox) or by using a CPL adapter - I've plugged my SFR Neufbox CPL adapter into the back of my Freesat box (no need for SFR TV in my house!).

Happy viewing / Chiefluvvie
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Hi krusty - not with my Foxsat/Humax HD - no. Maybe someone with an HDR model could confirm?

But - you can also use the Smart DNS for your laptop along with the BBC iPlayer Desktop application - for single programme and Series Record etc.

I also use the filmon.com player on my pc to record UK TV (and other) channels - works like a dream and no need for any VPN's / DNS's ! I take the programmes with me or watch them live wherever i fly.

Chiefluvvie
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It is not possible to record iPlayer with the Humax. It only records from the satellite signal. The iPlayer and others are internet applications so the Humax is just streaming content delivered via the internet.

Even on a computer, downloaded programmes from the on demand services - BBC iPlayer, 4oD etc - are designed not to remain watchable after a certain time.

If you really want to save things permanetnly as files, you can buy software which will do this. It is designed to capture or record any video playing like this, for example, here http://wmrecorder.com/home

If you do, you will probably need a new or larger hard drive to store the very large video files.

Danny

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[quote user="dave21478"]Uh oh.

Disappeared today....

Channel 5 (105)

Fourseven (140)

5 USA (174)

5* (176)

And their respective +1 channels.

There is nothing unusual tonight weather wise, and all other channels are completely unaffected.[/quote]

I can still watch these on the Humax...

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[quote user="dave21478"]Uh oh.

Disappeared today....

Channel 5 (105)

Fourseven (140)

5 USA (174)

5* (176)

And their respective +1 channels.

There is nothing unusual tonight weather wise, and all other channels are completely unaffected.[/quote] sounds to me like an issue with your dish alignment prayer. [;-)] You are a little bit further South than both Clair and I in the Lot so I am not surprised to hear of some difference. However, a more accurate dish alignment would probably help.

Danny

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Another tip for non-satellite reception of BBC and ITV players....

If you have a Samsung Smart TV linked to your home internet - just change your TV country settings by first selecting your Smart Hub and then pressing 'Fastforward, 289, Rewind' and selecting the UK.

Switch the TV off and then on again, Select Smart Hub and it will automatically unload all your French apps etc and load up all the standard UK ones under each Smart Hub menu. BBC iPlayer comes as standard and you can load ITV Player from the on screen app store.

You'll need to change the DNS address under Network Settings from the main TV menu. I use the Overplay one as described earlier in the post.

No need for any satellite stuff at all!

Chiefluvvie

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[quote user="Chiefluvvie"]Another tip for non-satellite reception of BBC and ITV players....

If you have a Samsung Smart TV linked to your home internet - just change your TV country settings by first selecting your Smart Hub and then pressing 'Fastforward, 289, Rewind' and selecting the UK.

Switch the TV off and then on again, Select Smart Hub and it will automatically unload all your French apps etc and load up all the standard UK ones under each Smart Hub menu. BBC iPlayer comes as standard and you can load ITV Player from the on screen app store.

You'll need to change the DNS address under Network Settings from the main TV menu. I use the Overplay one as described earlier in the post.

No need for any satellite stuff at all!

Chiefluvvie[/quote]

And when Sammy Smart TV is needed for 121212 http://www.121212concert.org/broadcast  it goes into maintenance mode for six hours during the early hours of thursday morning.[8-)]

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  • 3 weeks later...
Well personally I am waiting to climb up and install my new bigger dish. Not exactly a rush job at the moment especially as the TV has been total cr*p over Christmas and New Year. I suspect others have found the same thing and have looked elsewhere for alternative entertainment.
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It would appear that there has been a delay in another satellite launch (Astra 2E), which will take the remaining channels. This is now expected to happen in the summer.

BBC and ITV channels will then move to 2E, which it is understood will have the same 'footprint' as the new 2F which currently carries among others all the Channel 5 channels and Channel 4 HD. So it would seem, if you can get C4 HD now, then when the moves are completed in the summer you should still be OK.

If you cannot get C4 HD now you will most likely need a larger dish.

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We live in North Deux-Sevres and until now we have had no reception problems.

However, today when turning on the sky box, it seems to have been reprogrammed overnight and we no longer have BBC1, ITV1, Ch4, Ch5 or CH4 plus 1.

Is this just us?

We have a pace sky box about 9 years old but working well.  All other channels coming in very well.

Worried.

David

Edit Note - It seems that it was just us.  We rebooted the box by disconnecting the electric supply from the wall for two minutes, then restarting, and we now have all channels back.  Very relieved, but do not understand why this should happen - this is the first time in nine years.

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  • 2 months later...
Having just arrived back in France,  I thought I'd test out the 2F signal as soon as all those other little jobs that need doing after a winter away were taken care of....

Despite warnings from various doomsters on here that even in Perigord we might need a 1 m dish to carry on watching - and in fact I did provide for just such an eventuality although it's an old one from Devon and it's still sitting in the barn - the 2F signals are romping in on a 60 cms dish (I normally use an 80 cm on Astra 28 deg E).    In fact some of the transponders on 2F are actually slightly stronger than the 1N ones,  although that might just be the way I've set up the 60 cm dish...

In any case,  I seem to remember offering to eat my hat many pages back on here if there were serious problems in this part of France,  so mon chapeau reste intacte.....

This is not to belittle the people with problems in the SE corner of l'Hexagone or in the Pyrenees - I know that the signal is dropping off massively a little further south of my location.

Obviously with the majority of BBC programmes still on 1N we won't know the real picture until 2E is up and running,  but it's looking good.

So what to do with that 1 m dish.....?

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It's likely to be because (or to do with at any rate) the fact that the two transponers involved have different polarisations - ie ch 4 HD (and 4Seven) are vertical and the ch 5 stable is horizontal. 

Maybe a skew tweek *might* optimise things,  or possibly a tweek to the whole dish.... 

But if reception is already on the edge it depends how much you actually want ch 4 HD.   Maybe wait until you see how 2E fares on your dish before fiddling....

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