FRANSAT decoder - UK tv question

[Danny]

Hope someone with a Fransat decoder can advise... Martin, are you there?

Question 1

If I buy a Fransat decoder, will it work OK with our old Sony UK TV. At present, we have an analog sat box for French telly from AB3 satellite and we only get B&W picture on the Sony TV if we connect it to that.

The Sony TV manual says

Television system - I
Colour system PAL, NTSC 3.58/4.43 ( video input)

Does it matter which decoder I buy? Will I have to look in the manual for the Fransat decoder to check its output?

Here is the manual for the Metronic Fransat box but the tech stuff is another language to me.
here is the manual for the Aston Simba box Again, it is gobbledygook to me - No specific mention of PAL-I....

Is it really the case that these digital channels are all the same now and PAL and Secam don't matter- assuming the box is connected by Scart cable?
I know one day the telly will go kaput but while it still works fine we will keep it.

Question 2

Has anyone heard of any more FRANSAT decoders coming out sometime soon ?

I don't really want to buy something only to find it doesn't work with the old TV

all help appreciated

Danny

[Anton Redman]

Short answer take your TV to Pro & Cie or a decent eletrical retailer who has a receiver set up and see if it works. Longer answer :

The first has RGB output - PAL G verus PAL I is only an issue on transmission so it should work.

The second has Never The Same Color Twice AKA North American System Colour as an output option so ditto

Personally I would wait - either Fransat will become much higher profile or they will need huge numbers of dish aligners when analogue is switch off

[microwave mike]

[quote user="Anton Redman"]

Short answer take your TV to Pro & Cie or a decent eletrical retailer who has a receiver set up and see if it works. Longer answer :

The first has RGB output - PAL G verus PAL I is only an issue on transmission so it should work.

The second has Never The Same Color Twice AKA North American System Colour as an output option so ditto

Personally I would wait - either Fransat will become much higher profile or they will need huge numbers of dish aligners when analogue is switch off

[/quote]

Just ignore this reply. A Fransat receiver will work absolutely fine with your old Sony tv and your existing dish. The pictures will be in colour and the France 3 regions are now available. Fransat is committed to AB3 so no need to wait.

[microwave mike]

I don't know what happened in my reply above.

A Fransat receiver will work absolutely fine with your old Sony tv and your existing dish. The pictures will be in colour and the France 3 regions are now available. Fransat is committed to AB3 so no need to wait.

[Martin963]

Just to confirm:

On the RF (aerial) output of the Fransat Metronic boxes you can choose PAL I  or PAL G or PAL K  (!)  or NTSC M.    So if necessary you can feed a British TV via its aerial input (which I find very useful)     And of course you have composite PAL on the SCART as well as RGB.  So everything is catered for,  except ironically SECAM;   cf the TNTsat boxes that you can switch from PAL to SECAM if you have an antique French colour TV that can't work out what to do with PAL!

I haven't the energy to wade through the Simba manual tonight,  I'll try and look tomorrow.  However,   I think you really are safe, as catering for SECAM only sets (which haven't legally been sold for many years) only seems a "Luxury";  all the boxes I've come across recently in France have been set to PAL,  that is if they can be set at all.

Which is pretty much what has already been said....

Laters:   so in fact the Simba doesn't have an RF out,   so you would HAVE to use SCART connections.   But that isn't a problem,  because PAL is mentioned under Peritel output in the spec,   and of course the "system" designation is irrelevant here as the sound is being carried on separate pins of the Scart,  so I/G/K don't matter.

Please ask again if that isn't clear.

Only drawback of the Metronic,  it's slow to "zap".   They all are apparently,   it's fine for normal folk but if you're a inveterate channel hopper it might get frustrating.

[Danny]

Thank you all for your answers.

Now I just have to decide whether to buy a basic Metronic box or wait for some different models to arrive on the scene!

Danny

[Martin963]

One other thought Danny.

Most of the main channels on TNT (by whatever means one receives it) have gone "true" widescreen,  ie 16:9 aspect ratio.

Now for some years the BBC and ITV have compromised (fudged might be a better word) by transmitting most of their programmes in 14:9.   This means that a properly adjusted "old" TV designed for 4:3 displays most of the picture but with narrow black bands top and bottom,  and a new 16:9 widescreen displays ALL the picture but with black bands left and right.

An awful lot of people -  having purchased a 16:9 TV - fiddle in an ill-informed way with the settings to make these 14:9 pics fill the whole screen,  with the result that people look even fatter than they really are on an Anglo-Saxon diet!

In the last year -  as I say - most of the main French channels carried on digital have gone the whole hog and swapped to 16:9,  and when displayed on a 4:3 the results are disastrous in that to show the whole picture one gets wide bands top and bottom,  and effectively less than two/thirds of the screen is actually used.   So detail is lost,  and one has to sit close to the TV to see what is there properly.    I've tried adjusting the aspect ratio settings on both a TNTsat box and a Fransat box and you can elect to use 4:3 with pan and scan (or centre cut-out) but they've set them to zoom in too close, so one gets the detail back but lose substantial amounts of top and bottom and sides,  it's in fact even worse than letterbox.

I say all this because for my office set in Devon I've been forced to go against my ingrained dislike of LCD and buy a 19 inch widescreen TV.  On some material it's acceptable,  on some material (BBC Freeview) it's dreadful  (not it's fault,  the BBC picture quality has been further downgraded this summer on DTT and is no longer fit for purpose in my view),  but at least French TV is now bigger than the postage stamp displayed on my 14 inch cathode ray tube.

It's worth noting that the Atlantic Bird 3 analogue SECAM's are still in 14:9,  presumably as the authorities feel they still have to cater for *some* people who still have older sets,  and these folk are less likely to have taken the digital plunge.   As AB3 SECAM analogue feeds the terestrial UHF analogue transmitter network direct,  the same applies as to what one gets on UHF analogue,  ie 14:9.

One good thing has come of my purchase though.  We've had a "freesat" HD receiver for the last year with nothing to display it on,   and finally I can watch BBC HD in all its glory,  and I have to say that most of it is quite superb and breathtaking.     It's a bit like the sort of vivid dream one sometimes has after eating dodgy cheese or mushrooms.    Everything is pin sharp,  there's very little background "chatter" on scenery,   the colours are vivid and properly defined,  all in all it's made me watch some programmes I wouldn't ordinarily have bothered with (but not Mr Ross or his over-paid ilk!)    

So for watching French TV in the kitchen on our 4:3 we often revert back to AB3 analogue SECAM,  which is transcoded back to PAL using a Philips DVD recorder,  which whilst - as I've often said - is a heap of junk in terms of a DVD machine,  it transcodes quite beautifully.    Curiously enough SECAM looks far better on the the new TV using this method than it does when I feed composite SECAM direct to the TV and let it do the colour work.

So I wondered if you haven't got something already that would allow you to go on using analogue AB3 and transcoding it for your old set Danny....?

[Danny]

Thanks for the extra info Martin.

The old TV is 16/9 anyway so no problem really.

I have looked into the transcoding route in the past without success but if it won't be an issue with a Fransat box then that is fine.

Danny

[Martin963]

Not *that* old then eh Danny..?!

[Danny]

12 years old and still going as new!

Danny

[Martin963]

Ah well my definition of old is

1981  Sony Trinitron 14 inch -  sound a bit intermittent but pictures as fabulous as ever

1984  Grundig 22 inch -  tuning buttons a bit worn but still going fine,  although lacking a Scart connector it's currently not in use after DSO.

1992  Hitatchi -  in perfect working order, composite only on Scart but fine using STB after DSO.   Won't decode SECAM though.

1992  Matsui 14 inch -  apparently completely indestructable.

Need I go on.  Methusalah,  Methusalah,  wherefore are thou...  etc etc  (not sure I've spelt him right)

(and a portable Tokiwa purchased in Sep 2007 packs up in April 2009,  and is "uneconomic" to repair)

[Danny]

[:D] Martin's museum...

Danny

[Martin963]

I'm the main exhibit!

[Danny]

just a quick update on this thread to let you all know that the Fransat Box is now up and running with the old (ish) TV.

I bought the Aston Simba Fransat decoder and apart from some initial  installation issues it is working very well with an excellent picture.

Many thanks for everyone's help

Danny

[Martin963]

Excellent.

Although it is just rumour and speculation,   there are various "hopes" that more channels will join Fransat,  including French Radio, which would be a very welcome addition.