Free to Air box srt 4012 Strong question ........

[miaviv]

I was thinking of buying the above referenced box in carrefour for 49

euros.  I already have a satellite system set up to receive BBC,

ITV etc and sky news and was wondering if this box will let me watch

these as I need a similar box for my Dad and thought the price was

good. Thanks

[Fridgeman]

Hi miaviv

I do not know this model, as long as it is digital (numeric) it will get all the channels

[Ron Avery]

 as long as it is digital (numeric) it will get all the channels

That is not strictly true, the French digi boces will not pick up all the UK channels, you'll get the main BBC and ITV ones but there are many on the Sky menu that I do not see on my French box including the Sky 3 , the Wrestling  Channel, the horror channel and ITV 2.  Conversely there are loads of odd channels on the French set up like Ford TV,  HSBC TV  that Sky does not list on its menu Oh and expect to get about 40 CBBC and BBC 3 channels!!

[Will]

Is it a digital or analogue receiver? As mentioned above, you won't get te British channels if it's analogue. I don't think you will get Channel 4 or five on a non-Sky digital satellite receiver either (unless the situation has changed very recently).

[Anton Redman]

[quote user="Ron Avery"]

 as long as it is digital (numeric) it will get all the channels

That is not strictly true, the French digi boces will not pick up all the UK channels, you'll get the main BBC and ITV ones but there are many on the Sky menu that I do not see on my French box including the Sky 3 , the Wrestling  Channel, the horror channel and ITV 2.  Conversely there are loads of odd channels on the French set up like Ford TV,  HSBC TV  that Sky does not list on its menu Oh and expect to get about 40 CBBC and BBC 3 channels!!

[/quote]

I do not understand why 'The Horror Channel' for instance is not available with a French digital receiver. I can understand why it is not preprogrammed into the channel list on the receiver but not why you cannot trecieve it at all

[Fridgeman]

Hi all

This box will get ALL the FTA channels, you can only get the S*Y encrypted channels with a S*Y box so you will get all BBC, ITV1, 2, 3, 4, but NOT channel's 4 or 5 so you are not missing (IMO) much, me I would not use a S*Y box if it was given to me and the thought of giving Murdoch money.....AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

But hey that's my opinion, you do what you want to do.

With the right box and a bit of knowledge you can get some of the encrypted channels including TPS (English footy and films)and Multi-vision, For Free, I would recommend a motorised system as there is plenty of other satellite's that broadcast in English and they are  FTA.

 

Bonne Chance

[Fridgeman]

You can get the horror channel FTA you just need to do a scan.

[Liz]

I think you have the answer to your question but, as I had never heard of Strong, I thought I'd look them up.  The result is at http://www.strong.sat.hu/product.php?selview=185  A language I don't even recognise and I am fascinated by the price - 14900 HUF apparently reduced to 14900 HUF! 

If you go ahead with the purchase I hope the instructions will be in a language you can read.  For what it's worth we have had a number of FTA sat receivers and the instructions are always in English (well sort of).  The other thing that occured to me is whether you and your Dad want to connect to the same dish - if you do I think that might be the subject of another question.

Liz

[andyh4]

Scan frequently but never found horror channel yet using a german digital box.  I thought I had read somewhere that although it is free to air it is one of the channels that uses the box/card link.  Which means you have to have a specific card (free to air or sky) linked to your specific box to get it.  And since my machine has no card that is why I don't find it.  Of course maybe I am wrong - I only get about 25 BBC3 and CBBC channels, so maybe my box isn't finding everything[:)]

 

[andyh4]

Lanuage = Hungarian

252,5 Hungarian Florints to the Euro

 

I'm a mine of useless information

 

[Fridgeman]

OK found it, the strong box is digital, so all my previous posts should be correct, not a top of the range model but will get lots of  FTA channel's and I think you will find it is made in the far east China/Korea/Thailand so not exactly French

 

Bonne Chance

[paw862]

This might seem a silly question, but will you be able to use the same dish for the two boxes or are they on differant satelites. I have a sky box but would like to receive French channels as well.

PAW

[Martin963]

@  Fridgeman.  Re your remarks about TPS -  you naughty chappie you for suggesting anything like that.

Seriously though,  the French authorities are thought to take a much stricter line on that sort of thing than the UK.

And for the rest of you who don't know what's being suggested here,  tant mieux!

[Martin963]

@ paw.  The UK stuff (BBC etc) is on Astra 2 - 28.2 deg east.   The French stuff is all over the place,  13 deg E,  19 deg E,  5 deg W.   You can get dishes (specialist) that cover about 25 deg arc,  but they are quite expensive and fiddly to set up.   You can get 2 satellites on 1 dish if they are only about 10 deg apart and you use an 80 cm dish with an extra LNB support,  but 28 deg E is so far over that really it's simpler to rig two dishes.

[Fridgeman]

Any thing is only as difficult as you allow it to be, ask a pilot how hard he/she finds it to fly a plane, if you can fit up a stationary sat dish there is NO reason why you can not fit a motorised dish which will give you a 180 deg swing and as long as you have clear sight due south (no trees buildings etc) there should be no problem, I would also suggest a 85/90cm dish and I would  go for a decent motor NOT the cheapest, if you want any help just ask, my best advice is TAKE YOUR TIME DO NOT RUSH if it takes another day to get it right at least it will be RIGHT, one other thing to take into consideration is the Sat's are due south but high in the sky not low on the horizon if you look at the lnb you will notice it is offset take an imaginary line from the end of the lnb to the dish and then using the same angle skyward, it takes you high into the sky.

By the way I knew NOTHING before I fitted up my system my only help was the beautiful Clare (and what an assistant she is ) and a sat signal strength meter (very useful) and thankfully after setting it all up it only needed a slight tweak here and there for perfection, lots of Sat's and loads of channels, some good some not so good and some absolute C**P

Not as expensive or difficult as some would like us to believe

I hope this helps, any other questions please ask.

NOTE...... The info I have given is what I have taught myself, I am NOT a professional tv/sat engineer and I have given this info to assist anyone who is setting up a digital tv system,  if anyone finds any faults please advice me so I may correct it, just be responsible especially when up a ladder, a 80cm dish acts like a sail when the wind is gusting so be careful.

 

Bonne Chance

 

[Liz]

Fridgeman, I agree it is not all that difficult to set up a sat dish and motor.  The only thing I would quey is - what are you doing up a ladder?  I appreciate there are circumstances where it is necessary to put the dish up high - to get a clear view or to avoid it being nicked but in the main a dish at ground level or low down on a house wall will work just as well.  I'm sorry is this is a bit off the original topic but I am frequently amazed by the dishes that are attached to a house chimney.

Liz

[Fridgeman]

Hi Liz

Could not agree with you more, but unfortunatley not everybody can get a clear sight of the south sky, why some people put them on chimleys I don't know, I do not think they know how high in the sky the sat's are.