tristanspeed Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 Hello everyone, I've just brought a friend's old SkyBox back from the UK without a card. I have a new French TV with integrated TNT. The next step is to get the aerial system working. Ideally what I want is to be able to pick up some free to air UK TV (not picky, just a few of the mainstream chanels and I'm happy) and the main terrestrial French channels - Fr2, Fr3, Tf1, maybe Arte etc.So, do I need two satellite dishes, one for Sky and one for French TNT? Or is there a way of using a dish with two heads and two output cables to receive both signals? Are there devices with remotely moving heads that effectively allow one dish to act as two? And finally where do you buy this stuff in France - Leroy/Casto/Brico, or somewhere more specialised?For info, I currently have a dreadful indoor aerial picking up fuzzy French telly, and I live in the Beaujolais region of Rhone.Thanks for any advice you have! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton Redman Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 For UK TV you need a dish/parabole aligned as below :http://www.totalfrance.com/france/forum/viewtopic.php?t=191For French TV walk round the area and find what French people are using. If you need to use a dish you will need another docoder but you should OK with a normal outdoor AntennaBest of luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 If you spend a few minutes battling here:http://www.matnt.tdf.fr/sources/mapview.php?rnd=5452089you should get an idea of whether TNT reception of French TV is possible with an aerial (on the roof!). If it isn't yet available you have the option of conventional analogue reception but again this will need a roof aerial by the sounds of it.Digital French TV by satellite is available but only with specified box-and-card combinations (TNTSat already up and running, Fransat coming in June (*)). Unlike the BBC etc the main digital transmissions are encrypted.Finally you can get analgoue French TV via sat using one of the very cheap dish/decoder combinations in the DIY sheds (often €35) but it's likely that this will cease in Nov 2011.Whilst it is possible in a few areas to get reception on-the-cheap using an indoor aerial it doesn's sound as though yours is one of them.As Anton says, local practice is usefully observed.....(*) I should explain that both TNTsat and Fransat are satellite versions of "television numerique terrestre". This sounds like a contradiction in terms of course, but the idea is to "fill in" via satellite those areas of France which don't yet have a ground-based transmitted signal yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tristanspeed Posted May 11, 2009 Author Share Posted May 11, 2009 OK, thanks for the links! I've just been down to Casto and they have a 130euro rectangular satellite dish with two LNB outputs. It's supposed to be smaller and lighter, and I should be able to attach two decoders - one being the Skybox. Anyone tried one of these? Any reason why it wouldn't work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton Redman Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 Depends the two LNBs need to be independantly adjustable. In some cases these were fixed set up for the old split of 13 and 19 degrees East which France used when there were compeating Sat providers. Can you post a link to it or the name ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tristanspeed Posted May 11, 2009 Author Share Posted May 11, 2009 This is the puppy I was talking about:http://www.castorama.fr/store/antenne-satellite-plate-2-sorties-PPRDm543815.htmThey've cut the price down to €139 now. It suggests you can get loadsa channels, but even breaking into the packet and reading the instructions didn't reveal a great deal about setting one up. I want to have a go at doing this myself as the quotes I've had from local satellite firms have been breathtaking - nearly €800 for the setup I want. Main ambition is to get this settled before Le Tour starts in July and I spend 3 weeks 'learning French' by watching the cycling for 3 hours a day (BTW, this actually works, your French does improve...)Also, how would having two LNBs work at the business end of my telly? Do I just one lead from each LNB and plug them - via the Skybox in one case - into the AV1 and AV2 scart plugs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicandJo Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 The split lnb's are for 13 and 19, which are hotbird and astra 1.You shuld be able to receive French TV through both these but to receive UK TV you need to point the dish at Astra 2 (28 deg) so unless you go for a motorised dish then yes you'll need two dishes.If I were you I'd line up the Satellite at Astra 2 and stick with terrestrial for French TV.Your French TV with integrated TNT will be Terrestrial anyway - you'll still need a French satellite decoder if you want to get French TV through a satellite. http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000C49HJO/leguidepremiu-21/ref=asc_df_B000C49HJO353560 for a motorised dish - looks OK but no experience of it so I really couldn't comment. But you get the idea what to look for...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dog Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 If you have a dish just buy a double picker upper thing - much cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicandJo Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 WTF is a double picker up thing???????!!!!!!!! [8-)][8-)][:D]Tristan if you do want (or need) to receive both through satellite then you need either a motorised dish or two dishes.If you go with two dishes then line one up at 19 deg and one at 28. Plug the output from the one at 19 deg into a French satellite decoder and connect from Scart output of that into AV1 on the TV. Connect the LNB from Sat 2 (28 deg) to the UK skybox and plug this box into scart AV2.Not 100% sure about connecting up a motorised dish but I expect you would need a dual output LNB on the dish and connect one output to French decoder and the other output to UK decoder and plug both decoders into the TV via Av1 and AV2. I'm sure others can be of more help - that's just my 2p worth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tristanspeed Posted May 11, 2009 Author Share Posted May 11, 2009 I suppose a cheapo dish aimed at Astra 2 and an old fashioned aerial for TNT would be relatively cheap, but it would look really nasty on the front side of the house, where it has to go to face sud...Blimey this is complicated! Thanks to everyone for their comments, it does all seem a little clearer now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicandJo Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 The motorised set up in the link I posted looks ok and no reason why you can't put the rectangular 'dish' on the motor, then you have your two outputs and it doesn't look like an ugly satellite dish........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 Do also bear in mind that to get any worthwhile French TV channels on Astra 1 19 deg E you need either the TNTsat box (€139) or a Canalsat sub (€30 + per month). Very little French TV is free to air on digital satellite.Although a TNT UHF aerial probably does need (in your case) to be high up and visible, sat dishes can be mounted on the ground on a pole (or wooden stake come to that) as long as they can see the sky at SSE - S unobstructed. Why spoil your house when a bit of care in the planning of the installation might allow you to put up dishes that are hidden from the main view of the house.We have four dishes low on the wall of our barn, you only see them if you go round the side past the septic tank! It's quite a tour actually - I charge people a fee....Incidentally, motorised is fine for some people but you'd be amazed how often it turns out you want to watch (or record) from both sats at the same time. And of course with motorised you have to make a choice!If you are DIY competent I'd actually go and buy two dishes - one of them as part of the €33 Bricoshed ANALOGUE decoder offer. Align that (on a ground or low wall pole) on 5 deg West (Atlantic Bird 3) which will get you the Tour de France and will go on working - free - until Nov 2011. No SECAM compatibility probs as you've bought a French TV - you plug the AB3 sat box into one of the SCART inputs.Then put the second dish on a ground mount of some sort and point it at 28 deg E for the British stuff.Make a decision as to what to do about French TV in the long term nearer 2011. Saves going up on the roof and possibly finding that you still have probs with conventional TNT - reception can often be a bit hit and miss until the powers are whacked up between now and 2011. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton Redman Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 As Martin's comments plus motorised set ups and Sky are bad news because the update info is sent overnught. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 Good additional point Anton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tristanspeed Posted May 12, 2009 Author Share Posted May 12, 2009 Thanks guys - this is all very useful info! My mind is whizzing with possibilities. I will have a trip to Leroy in my lunchbreak and have a look at what they have to offer too.BTW Martin - Devon and Dordogne - nice combination, you're a lucky man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 I think occasionally it's good to be reminded that we are indeed lucky. Nowhere is perfect but both places have many advantages, and mostly lack the *disadvantages* that nowadays plague so many areas of both countries. So - whatever the current crisis - you have called to mind the fact that many folk are FAR worse off...... thank you for reminding me to look on the bright side!Do come back if any of us can help further.If it's just the Tour de France (and if you can manage without TF1 and M6) then you could find the extra €35 or so to buy a French sat and dish kit with a digital free to air receiver rather than the analogue - as AB3 at 5 deg west does transmit France 2/3/5/Arte/Parl free to air digitally. But TF1 and M6 on that satellite are available only in analogue or via a card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tristanspeed Posted May 12, 2009 Author Share Posted May 12, 2009 I've just bought a Leroy special offer TNT SAT small flat aerial and decoder combo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tristanspeed Posted May 12, 2009 Author Share Posted May 12, 2009 I've just bought a Leroy special offer TNT SAT small flat aerial and decoder combo - the 'quiz the locals' approach recommended here coupled with various websites showed terrestrial TNT doesn't hit our end of the Beaujolais very clearly, so I'm going down the digi road for French telly. The aerial's so small and discrete that I won't have to worry about where it goes. And I'm not really bothered if I don't get TF1 or M6 - I normally only watch FR2 and 3 anyway.And then once that's setup I'm going to get a 30euro parabole to plug into the SkyBox so that I can watch Later with Jools, Top Gear, Have I Got News for You, nice Beeb doccos and Timmy Time.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 Excellent - and you WILL in fact get TF1 and M6 along with the 18 channels of TNT using your TNTSat system on Astra 1- it's only on AB3 that there's an FTA issue - on Astra 1 (the only sat on which the box will work) the TNTSat box gives access (via its card) to the full TNT works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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