Quickest and easiest set up for the rugby this saturday?

[Mutiara]

I am going to be at a house in France on saturday that has no TV set up at all and I want to watch the rugby ( in French or English it doesn't matter!).

The house is in a bit of a dip and so a TV aerial may be a problem as the neighbours aerial is on a long pole on their chimney. What is the quickest and cheapest set up i can rig up tempoarily to get the matches please. i think they are being shown on TF1 in France and probably ITV in the UK channels.  Any advice warmly welcomed!

 

 

[Suze01]

Go and join your neighbour? Or go to the nearest bar - they'll probably have a TV set up.

[Anton Redman]

Assuming no trees or building at 5 degrees west then cheap analogue sat receiver from one of the sheds, dish and mount probably 70 Euros all in but pain to set up and probably a door stop within 5 years as service may be switched off. Arround us there are several bars with signs saying 'Rugby  Grande Ecran'

[Mutiara]

Thanks for the replies so far - a local bar is out of the question as I have two very young children to look after . Neighbour is a Parisien and the house is a maison secondaire so it is all locked up!

Do you know what channels I would get with a analogue dish and receiver as I have an old one bought from bricomarché about two years ago? ( I assume it is analogue??)  Would this be any good? Just to get TF1 will do but ITV would be slightly better!

 

 

[Martin963]

As Anton says,  or buy a digital box and dish and set it up on Astra 2 at 28 deg east if the matches are on ITV.

You don't say what TV you'll be using but the analogue 5 deg W route may not display in colour on a TV bought in the UK,  although a French TV will be fine.

[Martin963]

Cross posted,  so I'll carry on.  Yes, if you already have the analogue then if you point it at Atlantic bird 3 at 5 deg west then it will get all six main French TV channels in SECAM colour - although Canal + is scrambled a lot of the time.   It's an easy satellite to find as it is just a shade west (only a shade) of due south.  The elevation (angle you tip the dish) is slightly greater than for most other birds as it's higher in the sky due to the way the satellite arc works.

Out of interest,  if you point the dish at Astra 1 at 19 deg E you will get about twenty German analogue stations,  there are a few left on Hotbird at 13 deg E of varying languages,  but you will get no BBC/ITV etc as Astra 2 at 28 deg E is entirely digital.

A digital box will always have the logo DVB-S marked somewhere.   If it's digital and you point it at AB3 at 5 deg W you will NOT get TF1 - the only version of TF1 visible unencrypted anywhere is analogue.   A digital box on AB3 will get France 2/3/5/Arte at the moment,  although even that may not last.

Please ask again if anything not clear or you need freq details.

[Mutiara]

[quote user="Martinwatkins"]As Anton says,  or buy a digital box and dish and set it up on Astra 2 at 28 deg east if the matches are on ITV.

You don't say what TV you'll be using but the analogue 5 deg W route may not display in colour on a TV bought in the UK,  although a French TV will be fine.
[/quote]

 

Thanks Martin, mluch appreciated

Ok I've just checked, and this is what I have; A digital worldsat Imperial 300SLsatellite receiver; A satellite dish on a pole and heavy ground base; a compass; a cheap sat bleeper; a TV bought in the Uk that is Pal /secam compatible.

So if I set this up at Astra2 at 28 deg east, what channels will I receive. Is it easy to confuse this satellite with others in the proximity. Any further advice much appreciated. I have a slight disability so it's not that easy for me either!

[Martin963]

If you find Astra 2 with your digital box then you will get BBC/ITV (all channels) and shopping channels,  Film 4, and a few other odds and ends.

Unless you have a sophisticated sat bleeper then it's easy to get on the wrong satellite.  However,  if all else fails it's normally easy to solve.   Find a satellite signal in the sky at SSE from magnetic north,  optimise it with the bleeper,  then play with the box.   Most boxes have a preprogrammed set of channels in the memory,  normally grouped into bunches representing each actual satellite.   If none of the Astra 2 channels (BBC for example) work then try the Astra 1 German channels.  If none of them work then try the Hotbird channels.  You need to make sure you're trying free to air channels because the scrambled ones won't of course work.  On Astra 2 that's the BBC and ITV,  Astra 1 try ARD/ZDF/Bayern/WDR etc.  The handbook may well have a helpful summary of what's where.   From this you can work out which sat you've found,   you may of course be lucky first time.

If you can find out which satellite you're actually on then you know which direction to hunt.   Hotbird is west of Astra 1 which is west of Astra 2.  As you head east you need to very slightly tip the dish down - no more than 3 cms as measured at the LNB as you move from Hotbird to Aatra 2.   The swing as measured from the LNB is no more than 40 cms from Astra 2 through AStra 1 to Hotbird,  all roughly SSE in direction.

That's in a nutshell,  when you've found  Astra 2 you may need to do a rescan to update the ITV and BBC channels and we can try and help with that too.   As the weather is so naff I'll be in and out so I'll try and follow your progress. 

[Mutiara]

Thanks again, sorry about the confusion between what boxes I had. So it looks  like I'll try for ITV,digital on astra 2 then, as TF1 is unavailable on digital. Unfortunately I have no internet at the house where I will be setting it up so I will return here and post my progress. The sat receiver instructions look a bit scary as there is loads of technical stuff in there that seems daunting. I hope that once I have found the satelllite, the box will tune/search automatically?

 

[Martin963]

Most of the tech stuff is probably for things like Diseq switching,  so a lot can be skipped.

We'll keep an eye on you - bon courage!

[Fridgeman]

Martin ............what a nice man you are.

 

 

 

 

[Martin963]

...  nice of you to say so,  but until we hear whether the OP has succeeded I shan't be ready to "stand down".

Problem is I actually find all this stuff fascinating -  saddo or what?

[Fridgeman]

Me too Martin, gives me a nice feeling if I can help someone out, being nice as the say "costs nowt"

 

Hey Martin if he wants the Rugby FTA he could try Astra 1  19.2E     11597 v 22000    or     Hotbird 6  13E    11137 h 27500

 

It's all there you just need to know where to look.

 

All the best

 

Stephen

 

 

[Simon_Catlin]

It's a shame he does not have an internet connection as he could have used a Slingbox on a PC.

The current Slingbox comes with a DVB (Digital Freeview Tuner) in built. 

[Martin963]

What's the pic quality like Simon?

From what I've heard,  you need a VERY good internet connection because with ADSL the upstream is relatively slow,  and that's what the Slingbox is using to send the data of course.

Having said that it's a brilliant idea if all else fails,  but this Luddite (with a 0.4 MB connection in France and a 1.1 MB connection in the UK,  and little hope of anything better) has yet to be really convinced about the merits of TV by internet when satellite works so much better!  (assuming you're within the footprint,  if you're not that's where Slingbox really scores).

[Simon_Catlin]

Okay, I have 2.2 Mb down and 0.4 Mb up in London.  I have 11Mb down and 1 Mb up (ADSL2+) in Antibes.  I do have French TV in Antibes (nice new Sony flat panel with a "community" cable subscription that gives me all the 6 FR channels, plus others, such as Eurosport).  One reason for the Sony is that it does have a PC input on the back, so I can plug my PC in if I want to.

The picture quality is not brilliant  if you have full screen.  The smaller the window the better.  Sound qulity is very good.  It is designed to be used where you should not or could not get a proper solution.  Lets say I watched the Italian Grand Prix in France on my spanking new 32" TV and listened (admittely with a 10 second delay) to Martin Brundle's very fascinating insights.  I have to say the picture is watchable, but blocky and it also depends on the type of screen you are watching it on as well.  Sometimes it does jitter as well.

I have been discussing with my ISP about getting a faster upload speed in the UK. But it all boils down to cost.

The Slingbox is very clever. I have only hooked up an aerial (for Freeview) and my SKY+ box, but I could hook up another unit as well if I wanted to.    While in a hotel a few weeks ago, on a wireless network, I watched the World Cup Cricket on Sky Sports.  The other really weird (and clever) bit, is that you are controlling the whole SKY + box. This means you could watch something you have recorded, or setup a recording remotely, using a virtual SKY + remote on your PC.

Recently they have launched new Players, which not only works on the PC, but also a Pocket PC e.g. Ipaq and now they have announced a Symbain S60r3 player as well.  I have tested this on my Nokia N80 (which is allegedly not supported) and it does work on my internal wireless connection. 

If anyone wants to know anything else, please let me know.

[Martin963]

Interesting to hear first hand of your experiences.  It's certainly a brilliant idea if there's no alternative..   Thanks!

[Mutiara]

Success !!  Many Thanks for all replies and especially to MartinWatkins. I eventually got it set up on Astra 2 at ground level in the back garden after having some problems with obstructions (barns, trees etc). I hope now it hasn't blown over or altered when I return on Saturday! I have managed to get all different ITV1 regions. Can anyone confirm definetely that the rugby is going to be shown on ITV1 this saturday??

Dare I ask what a slingbox is?  MOH says it is a type of shoe she used to wear when she was younger!

[Martin963]

Glad you're sorted.  At least having done it once you'll know roughly where to look and point in future if disaster befalls the dish.   It would indeed be ironic if the rugby wasn't on ITV - I'm afraid I don't know as I have no interest whatsoever in that or any other sport!!

A slingbox is a device that's on the market that you plug in and set up at your "home".   It can normally pick up DTT (freeview in the UK) and can be linked to other devices such as a Sky box.   It takes the picture and sound that it picks up or is fed (eg BBC1,  Sky Sports,  whatever) and codes them onto your home ADSL connection and out into the www.   From there,  from anywhere in the world where there's an internet connection,  you (and I assume only you) can watch the pics direct.   There are facilities for changing channels,  so say you're in a hotel room with your laptop and an internet connection then voila Robert votre oncle vieux et heureux.

For those of us who haven't set foot any further away from home than France in over ten years it's not much of an advantage as we can use satellite,  but imagine being able to watch BBC 2 in Australia and then say switch to ITV 3..   Now that is jolly clever and it's also one in the eye for all those ghastly rights people,  who now I gather want to tax even more balnk media products such as external hard discs and USB keys,  on the basis that you're bound to be storing "their" naterial on any media you own.  What a load of *******.

[Martin963]

As part of the service and at no cost whatsoever,  I have just checked the Sky EPG and there appears to be a Rugby match between Australia and England at 13.10 BST (14.10 CET) on Saturday  -  is that what all this fuss is about??!!

[Simon_Catlin]

Martinwtkins comments on Slingbox are very correct.  Just to clarify the one question he asked himself: You can only watch it on one PC at a time.  The box is also password protected with two passwords. A guest one and an Adminstrtor, which can cut off the guest at any time.

As to France and Sats, well I cannot have that option as I live in a block of flats were we are not allowed to have Sats on the outside fo the building.  You can place it on the Balcony, but "she who must be obeyed" does not want this as it will take available space away.

The other option is to learn French and watch the programmes "au natural".

[Matt]

Sorry to back track completely but I shall be in France for the final and was wondering how difficult it would be to use the analogue ones in the sheds.I have a uk tv ,so will I still get a picture?

[Simon_Catlin]

Matt,

Unless the TV is SECAM, then no.  I have seen 14" Colour non HD ones in Carrefour for under €100.00 recently.

I understand all the matches have been on Terrrestial TV.

I will also be in France this weekend and being a Welsh man living in London, married to an Anglo-Irish woman makes for an interesting choice of Rugby shirt for the match.  I will probably try and find a Northern hemisphere one!

[Martin963]

Well if you hook up with SCART from an analogue sat receiver to your British TV you will get a picture but it may well be in black and white.

Using SCART avoids the problems presented by a system L TV signal fed to the aerial socket of your TV,  but does not prevent the colour problem;  almost all analogue sat boxes output whatever colour system they're receiving from the satellite,  so if you point the dish at Atlantic Bird 3 for the main French channels then the box will output SECAM.

Which may be fine on some British TV's but they're in the minority,  unless it's fairly modern,  and/or made by Philips (speaking generally).  But you WILL get black and white.

As Simon says,  it's cheap enough to buy a CRT (cathode ray tube) set at a grande surface (bought in France it's guaranteed to cope with SECAM),  and the picture quality will - believe it or not - be better than on a plasma or LCD.

[Gyn_Paul]

[quote user="Martinwatkins"]Well if you hook up with SCART from an

analogue sat receiver to your British TV you will get a picture but it

may well be in black and white.

Using SCART avoids the problems

presented by a system L TV signal fed to the aerial socket of your

TV,  but does not prevent the colour problem;  almost all

analogue sat boxes output whatever colour system they're receiving from

the satellite,  so if you point the dish at Atlantic Bird 3 for

the main French channels then the box will output SECAM.

Which

may be fine on some British TV's but they're in the minority, 

unless it's fairly modern,  and/or made by Philips (speaking

generally).  But you WILL get black and white.

As Simon

says,  it's cheap enough to buy a CRT (cathode ray tube) set at a

grande surface (bought in France it's guaranteed to cope with

SECAM),  and the picture quality will - believe it or not - be better than on a plasma or LCD.

[/quote]

Pass Martin the big wooden spoon (dig, dig, stir, stir !) [:D]

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