french and uk satellite package for a complete newbie!

[mcroj]

Hi all,

hope you can help me before my brain melts...

I have just ditched virgin media and am looking at getting sky, but as my wife is french I was wondering about getting the french channels on hotbird along with the standard uk channels..

is this possible? is sky the best to go with or is it buy the separates and have it installed?

really I am after the free to air french channels plus ideally the basic freeview uk channels..

I have seen some packages advertised but they seem quite expensive and buying the items separately can be better..

thanks in advance

John

[robbo71]

Hi mcroj



Welcome to the forum.

If you wanted SKY the best best to get that for a new customer is to subscribe as you get the free installation, including sky minidish and sky digibox. So there would be nothing to pay out apart from your subs.

The Sky box is not much cop for anything but the channels that are on the satellite that sky uses (28.2E/28.5E. Astra2/Eurobird1).

To keep things simple, it is probably easier to get a completely separate system for the French FTA channels on Hotbird (13E). There are also some French FTA channels on 5W also, in digital.

Take a look at this to see what channels you can get on the two satellites
FlySat France TV Channels

A 60cm dish and cheap FTA digital satellite receiver can be got for about £70. total. plus fitting ( but very easy to install yourself)

Also you may also want to have a read of this thread:-

French analogue satellite tv

P.S The site sponsor
http://www.southernsatelite.co.uk I think does a system for about that amount.

regards

Robbo

[mcroj]

hi robbie

many thanks for the info..

I was wondering, is it possible to have a setup that gives say, the french channels and the standard freeview channels also (does not need to be the full list)?

I am not so bothered about SKy but with a baby on the way things like cbeebies etc may be useful!

I spoke to a shop advertising on the internet that said this was possible but was wondering about cost etc and if one system can do the lot...

thanks

John

[nanochickin]

Just go for a twin lnb system.

I have put a system in before that did 13e, 19.2e & 28.2e on an 85 CM dish

Combine it with something like a Technomate 1000 series receiver and you have a lot open including all the Free To Air SKy stuff

With the receiver the whole lot was under £150 if i remember rightly

Have a look below

85cm Install in Paignton




Nano

[robbo71]

Yeah, if its just the FTA channels off 28.2/28.5E you want, then a TM1000 series or a TM5200D will do you fine. You'd get Tiny POP as well as Cbeebies.

The multi LNB setup is also a good idea. Have a look on satellitesuperstore, just to get ideas, they do a couple of Triax dishes with an LNB multibracket that is designed to go with them. You need a slightly bigger dish with a multi LNB setup, becuase not all LNBs are at the focus. Up to 4 LNBs can be put on with a spacing of upto to 20 degrees.

If you could get hold of ,a RAVEN gemini 90cm might be a good choice as I thought I read in another post that 5W to 28E would be possible.

I'll try and find the thread.

Edit, it was 1W to 28E on the Raven 90cm, but you might get lucky.

multi lnb surprise 28east to 5 west

Robbo

[pathfinder53]

Originally Posted by mcroj

Hi all,

hope you can help me before my brain melts...

I have just ditched virgin media and am looking at getting sky, but as my wife is french I was wondering about getting the french channels on hotbird along with the standard uk channels..

is this possible? is sky the best to go with or is it buy the separates and have it installed?

really I am after the free to air french channels plus ideally the basic freeview uk channels..

I have seen some packages advertised but they seem quite expensive and buying the items separately can be better..

thanks in advance

John

Hi John,
You may be aware that French satellite TV is undergoing a complete revamp at the moment. In a few months FTA transmissions will disappear from Hotbird and Atlantic to be replaced by the now active TNTSat service TNTSAT, la Télévison Numérique Terrestre (TNT) gratuite par satellite on Astra 1 at 19.2. The French government assured us that we would be able to buy the smartcard only for around €20 but this has been stopped by CANALSAT who run the service. You now have to buy one of their 'franchised' receivers. (France learned nothing from the similar BBC/Sky fiasco.) The more recent Sagem boxes will allow you to add the UK FTA channels if you have the relevant feed.

[nanochickin]

If thats the case it probably won't belong before a hack for Seca2 will become public

Heres hoping



Nano

[pathfinder53]

Originally Posted by nanochickin

If thats the case it probably won't belong before a hack for Seca2 will become public

Heres hoping



Nano

TNTSat is using Viaccess 3.

Cheers.