Basic hardware advice sought by newbie

[DaveJ]

I have only just started trawling through the wealth of info on this site (great forum guys !), but would like to ask some advice on possible equipment choices to consider for the following scenario :
Currently have basic Sky (Oops sorry, are we allowed to say that word? ), but have been planning to dump this in favour of Freeview. However I'm now more tempted by the possibilities of FTA satellite, particularly as my French partner will more readily agree to expenditure now I've suggested the possibility of getting French TV ). I'm also a techie at heart and love playing about with kit like this. I have a DVD/HD recorder which I would like to incorporate into the system, and it would be great to be able to record one channel with this while watching another. I'd be very happy to read anyone's ideas about what might be possible and what sort of gear to look into.


Cheers,
Dave

[DaveJ]

If this message would be better posted in a different section of the forum would one of the moderators please advise and/or move it for me ?

Cheers, Dave

[Yorks]

Hello Dave,

Most of the UK's satellite tv is broadcast from Astra 28E. The Freesat system due to be launched in early spring this year will also be from there. Here is the official website - although details are still quite sparse:-

_www.freesat.co.uk

I think that most of the French TV is broadcast on 13E with some on 5W and some on 19E. Therefore in order to watch both languages you would either need a static 90cm dish with multi-lnbs to pick up at least 2 satellites, or your best bet would be a motorised system. If you have a suitable site - preferably south facing, you could pick up all the Anlgo/French tv that you can handle!

As far as watching one channel and recording another is concerned, I am no expert, - but I think you really need a receiver with twin tuners and twin Lnb's, and then obviously if motorised you can only record from the sat that you are pointing at.

The Technomate receivers are very popular (look at the 5000 series). Also take a look at Vantage. These can also be patched to receive some normally non-free stuff, if that is of any interest to you. If you are just looking for an FTA box then there is quite a selection, some incorporate a digital terrestrial tuner too.

Yorks

[Robbo]

Hi Dave,
Here is a list of the French channels and which satellite they are on, all free to air.

FlySat France TV Channels

Note, some on 5W are analogue, also there may be sats there with footprints that you cant pick up with a sensible sized dish (7W for example).

It may be better to go for a multi-lnb setup if wanted to be able to watch and record from two different satellites at once. The Raven Gemini 90cm is reported to be reasonable for this.
You may be able to get 5W to 28E if you are lucky:-

multi lnb surprise 28east to 5 west

Robbo