Which Sat?

[BLTflyer]

Any advice as to the best sat to buy?

 

I only want to get free chanels (the normal recption is poor).

 

No subscrition just the free chanels, is it easy to fit yourself or anyone recomend a company in the Perpignan area?

[Frederick]

Hi  

I am not as far south as you .but I get perfect free view reception in La Rochelle area . I got a  SKY box off Ebay for £19  a sat finder also there for about a fiver. .....the instructions how to find the satalite off the web ... and a white  8cm dish from by local  "recycle  it all  " tip for a fiver complete with wall bracket ....The cable I bought in Mr Bricolage  as the stuff used in France is differemt from the brown stuff in the UK I had with SKY .  took about an hour to get OH watching Eastenders ...so you can do it yourself.....it wont be long before you get detailed instructions posted  ...its fun to do it yourself .....and if you can for next to nothing then even better !!

[Frederick]

 My above post should read ....   "80cm  "dish ....  you may need a bigger one .

[Anton Redman]

If you want French FTA TV then you need an analogue receiver aimed at the notional position 5 degrees. This will get you everything you can receive through a French aerial with a SECAM TV unless you buy TNT ( Terrestrial Numeric TV) . The DIY Sheds like Leroy Merlin and Castorama sell receivers and dishes for under Euros 40. Unless you have tall trees or buildings ot the south of you install the dish about 8 feet - AKA 2.5 metres off the ground so it is easy to align but reception is not upset by people walking in front of it. You will probably need Euros 25 of cable and bracket

If you want UK FTA BBC 1 to 4 and C4 and C5 buy a digibox with an elapsed card in the UK. Even if you do not want C4 and C5 a Sky Digibox has more info on the EPG ( Electronic Program Guide) and is easier to set up than a French Numerique Receiver. 80 cm is more than enough anywhere in France and the bigger you have the harder it is to align

 

[BLTflyer]

Thanks its the french stuff im after, if I get an annalog will I need to swop to digital soon or is france staying non digi?

[Anton Redman]

[quote user="BLTflyer"]Thanks its the french stuff im after, if I get an annalog will I need to swop to digital soon or is france staying non digi?[/quote]

I suspect France will carry on broadcasting on 5 degrees west in analogue for the next twenty years. If you look at the land area of France you will see why Satellite is so attractive.Hpwever I suspect that as 4 out of 6 channels are available on 5 degrees west whe they close down analogue they will add digital

[Martin963]

The latest seems to be that the ANALOGUE Secam versions of French TV will be on Atlantic Bird 3 at 5 deg west until at least 2010.  However,  as their MAIN function is to provide a broadcast quality feed via satellite to the terrestrial transmitter network in the event of failure of the main microwave distribution,  it is likely that they will only be there on AB3 for as long as the analogue UHF (and VHF for Canal +) terrestrial network is in place,  ie they will go by 2012.

In the meantime a system is being set up - rather like for ch 4 and ch 5 in the UK - where French residents will be able to apply for a card and box to allow the channels currently available on TNT (fairly similar to Freeview in the UK) to be watched via satellite in areas of France not served by the fledgling TNT UHF transmitter network.   You will need a French address to apply for the card and box,  and the transmissions will be encrypted for those oh-so-important rights people. (cf the BBC,  German & Italian public TV etc)

At present France 2/3/4/5/Arte/Parliament are available free to air on AB3 in digital,  however this should be viewed as only temporary because when the sixth TNT multiplex is opened in France these free channels may become invisible to conventional digital satellites, as they will probably use a compression system which is not commercially available (Newtech I think it is) to economise on bandwidth.

I'm looking forward to the card and box solution in order to be able to watch French TV digitally in the UK....