briwy Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Sorry if this has been asnwered before but I cant find it using the search facility.We have a small house in the Pyrenees and because of its situation we are unable to get a signal from the Astra 2D satellite to get Sky and hence UK TV.Also our French terrestrial TV signal is not good, again because of our location.My question is, are the normal French TV channels available free on digital satellite. I understand that they are free on analogue satellite but I cant find any reference to digital.If they are, what satellite are they on. I have a PC here in the UK with a DVB satellite card in which seems to have presets for just about every satellite under the sun and can also be tuned into virtually anything.I would like to try this out in the UK with a 800mm dish to see if I can get it all working OK and then take it to France when we go in a few weeks time.I have seen references on here about buying setups in the bricos for around 70-80 Euros but I am assuming that these are analogue.Any help would be much appreciated.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I apologise to the OP for my confusing answer, now deleted to avoid further confusion [:$].To Danny and Ernie: I have copied the following sentence 1000 times: Je dois bien lire la question avant d'y répondre. (I used Word to help [Www]) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Briwy, the analogue kits are even cheaper around 35 euros. The digital (numerique) kits (decoder and dish plus some bits) are to be found at about 80 euros and most French free sat programs are on Atlantic bird 3 - digital and analogue see this page for what is there There are other possibilities but it gets more complicated and depends how much you want to spend and what channels you want to receive.I don't quite understand how you plan to access other satellites if you have difficulty in getting ASTRA 2D. I am not a TV expert though... Come on Martin where are you?Clair, If the OP can't get much in the way of normal terrestrial signal, I don't think the TNT is likely to work. EDIT>>> Clair, BTW, TNT is not equivalent of freesat as it is digital terrestrial not satellite...Danny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Pardon my confusion Clair but if this site is for French Freesat then surely being a satellite service it covers all of France therefore what need is there to check if one's area is covered [8-)]EDIT: Your comment clears up my confusion Danny [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Danny has cleared this up, but for completeness:TNT is digital terrestrial TV, ie via a UHF aerial. Only a few relays are equipped for this, and even some main stations still have not been activated. As Clair says, you can check your coverage but if your analogue terrestrial signal is poor you are very unlikely to get TNT.TNTparSat is for people like you, €139 buys you a box and card which will last at least four years. The signals are from Canalsat's bouquet, and are scrambled - hence the box and card. Astra 1 at 19 deg E for this.For FTA there is AB3 at 5 deg west, the main channels are in SECAM analogue and - at the moment - there are France 2/3/5/Arte/Parl also in digital. However, the digital version on AB3 is in the clear at the moment only due to a techincal quirk and should not be relied on to continue indefinitely. (For these you need AB3 11591 MHz, Vertical, 20000 SR 2/3 FEC - the SR is non standard which might be why your card doesn't see it straight away, you may need to set up the dish and do a manual search on those parameters. I haven't checked myself if they're still there but beleive that to be the case). There is no TF1/M6 in the clear digitally anywhere (although they are on TNTparsat of course, which gives you 18 channels in all).The analogue AB3 will continue until 2010/11 as this is no longer the backup but the main feed for the French terrestrial network.I'm assuming that your SE view of the Clarke belt is obstructed by a mountain....? Does Astra 1 come in OK? Is there nowhere you can shift the dish to - perhaps on a pole - in the garden to circumvent the mountain if this is the case?(Laters - I lie - M6 is in the clear somewhere for its Swiss version, but as it's not exactly to my tastes I'll let someone else look up the details!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briwy Posted June 25, 2008 Author Share Posted June 25, 2008 Thanks for the replies everyone.Martin, yes you are right about the mountain. Our place is on the east side of the valley so we have the mountain directly behind us obstructing the view of Astra 2d. Need a hell of a lot of dynamite to get a clear view.I guess we stand a good chance of getting the AB3 satellite so Ill give it go in a few weeks when we are over. I assume this is the satellite that out French neighbours are using as they seem to be pointing in roughly that direction. I havent asked them as the are both elderly and unlikely to be clued up technically.Other than that, I guess the best bet is buy one of the cheopo analogue jobs and have a play with that.ThanksBrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 re the neighbours - could be AB3; if you DO ask them the question to pose is do they have TPS (Hotbird) or Canalsat (Astra 1); if neither then it's almost certainly AB3. A lot have it for France 5/Arte and M6 where the terrestrial network only provides the main three.....€35 for analogue is worth it even for three years, although if you can live without TF1 and M6 do give the digital AB3's a go - their stay of execution (specifically the activation of the final TNT multiplex) keeps being extended and at this rate they'll last a bit longer. I'm sure you're aware, but you need a French TV (ie SECAM capable) for the analogue AB3 signals but I guess you've got that already if you're watching snowy pictures off the aerial.....Shame about the mountain, you're not the only one on here with that particular local difficulty.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulT Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 [quote user="Martinwatkins"]I'm sure you're aware, but you need a French TV (ie SECAM capable) for the analogue AB3 signals but I guess you've got that already if you're watching snowy pictures off the aerial.....[/quote]MartinA number of modern PAL sets will also tune SECAM, including Philips and Sony.Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Yes I know, but there are still sets around (I have several) that really are PAL only. If you buy in France they WILL forcement be L/SECAM capable, but not necessarily if bought in the UK.Technically a PAL set won't tune SECAM, a set can be capable of receiving both, but I realise that I'm over-indulging my semantics here!For off air reception via an aerial in analogue the set has to be capable of tuning system L with SECAM colour, some sets are SECAM capable but no L capable.It's a minefield for us Brits until Digital switch-over, when a whole load of other problems will no doubt appear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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