IAN_S Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 Can someone please clear this up for me. Is it possible to have analogue satellite signals on a Pal/Ntsc tv via an analogue box bought in France? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 If you point the dish at Astra 1 or Hotbird there are a number of analogue channels from various countries that broadcast colour in PAL. These will be fine on a PAL TV set connected up with a Scart lead. But if you point your dish at Atlantic Bird 3 (from where the six French national channels are broadcast) you will only get a black and white picture because the colour coding on these channels is SECAM.It doesn't make any difference where you buy the analogue satellite receiver, it's where you point the dish that makes the difference!An analogue satellite receiver does NOT output RGB (the separate colour signals). So one is relying on composite video, and if the TV can't recognise SECAM then you will get a picture, but only in black and white. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IAN_S Posted February 5, 2005 Author Share Posted February 5, 2005 Thanks for the info Martin, it is the French national channels I want of course!I know there PAL/SECAM convertors about, would one fit into this scenario? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 I have used a SECAM/PAL converter (it was about £90 from Letropaks) and frankly it wasn't that wonderful. Rather garish colours, and a lot of added noise. It also stopped teletext working. But I concede it was better than black and white. Some of our UK sets refused to work with it though.....For the same money you can get a cheap TV in a French supermarket (bought in France it is guaranteed to be SECAM capable); some sets sold in the UK do now do SECAM but trying to find out whether they do or not in the average UK electronics retailer is likely to involve you having to explain to them the whole theory of colour TV - or am I being a bit cynical here....Just a straw in the wind - it is reported in a French satellite magazine that there is a chance (only a chance) that Atlantic Bird 3 may carry the six French national channels in digital in the near future (in order to feed signals to the fledgling Digital Terrestrial network); no-one knows whether this service will be scrambled or not, or whether it will conform to the DVB standard. Probably not worth relying on but it's a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IAN_S Posted February 6, 2005 Author Share Posted February 6, 2005 MartinI have just found the very detailed replies you gave in another thread in January so sorry to have started it again!In one reply you wrote:"But here is a problem: TV sets carted over to France from the UK are very often not SECAM compatible, so won’t work in colour with a French VCR, or a French analogue satellite receiver used for French analogue satellite transmissions, even when connected via SCART."I have a French VCR and anything recorded or live from Astra2b does work perfectly on my UK tv. Looking at the VCR manual it says in the spec that the "systeme" is PAL. However, there is also a menu choice that says "Pour positionner le systeme de couleur" and the choices are:Auto: selection automatique de la couleurPAL: enregistrements PALSECAM: enregistrements SECAM-LMESECAM: enregistrements SECAM B/GDo you think this may make a difference?(Really clutching at straws now!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyn_Paul Posted February 6, 2005 Share Posted February 6, 2005 [quote]I have used a SECAM/PAL converter (it was about £90 from Letropaks) and frankly it wasn't that wonderful. Rather garish colours, and a lot of added noise. It also stopped teletext working. But ...[/quote]"...but trying to find out whether they do or not in the average UK electronics retailer is likely to involve you having to explain to them the whole theory of colour TV - or am I being a bit cynical here...."No - just realistic: I was reliably informed by not one but two assistants that a Goodman's set was multistandard inc SECAM. Needless to say when I got it here it wasn't . When I shlepped it back to Birmingham (where, I must say, they did change it with no problem) it transpired that both the assistants thought SECAM was another name for NTSC!paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 @ Ian S I'm doing this in a hurry, so risk the odd betise here. However, if you are recording/viewing Astra 2 you won't have a problem, because all the transmissions are in digital format and the SECAM problem doesn't arise. If you are using a fully wired SCART and have made the appropriate menu selections, your TV will be getting RGB (ie separate red green and blue) when connected to your TV direct. If you go via the VCR the signals from the DIGITAL sat receiver will be PAL composite and therefore comparible with your TV. The problems arise with ANALOGUE sat receivers when pointed at Atlantic Bird 3 and o/p'ing a SECAM signal. You could try adjusting the menu on the VCR while using an analogue sat signal from AB3. I suspect that the changes merely optimise the recording parameters on the VCR for the different colour signals but stand to be corrected. I think someone else on the forum had got a VCR to do the conversion - let us know if you have any luck.If I've missed your point please post again - but having wasted an hour and a half at the vet trying to get the paperwork right to import a French cat to the UK for the first time (the vet forgot to sign one vital box and then went out on his rounds) I'm probably not at my brightest as I'm now checking the pets section for things we might not have thought of (we've moved English cats back and forth but not a French one......) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IAN_S Posted February 10, 2005 Author Share Posted February 10, 2005 You have got the point of my post and having done some trials today I can tell you the the VCR made no difference, just superb B & W!Last question on this, all this is to improve our French, so I may buy a small French TV for my wifes studio so that she can watch French channels whilst working. Would a room to room device work from this French tv to our main UK PAL only tv? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 I doubt it. Same problem, in that the room-to-room link would send composite video rather than RGB, and there would be no reason for it therefore to include a SECAM to PAL conversion. I am guessing here, but I doubt it.I'm not surprised the VCR made no difference; without in any way doubting the veracity of what was written about French VCR's managing to convert SECAM to PAL, I just wonder whether another effect was coming in to play. It would be interesting to know more about how it was hooked up and what channels were used etc....And the little French cat is now safely back in Devon - though what he makes of l'humidité anglais is anybody's guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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