Advice needed for new UK & French Freesat at home

[Jumble]

Hello All

I currently have Sky+ in one room, and I plan to discontinue and replace with French Freesat & UK Freesat HD in 2 rooms (Lounge & Bedroom).

But I'm not sure of the best configuration or receivers to use. This is my wish list:

- Preferably all on one dish if possible - if so, what size dish and LNBs needed
- For the lounge I would like to run an HD PVR - do I need separate boxes for French and English systems?
- For the bedroom a non PVR receiver is fine, but can I use a single box for both English and French?

Guidance welcome!

I live within the M25

Many Thanks

J

[Robbo]

Hi,

What receivers you can and can't use, and what satellite configuration you can have depends entirely on what you mean by "French Freesat".

There are FTA French channels, for which any receiver can be used.

FlySat France TV Channels

13E or 19E can share an 80cm or so dish with 28E, but 5W would require a separate dish.

There is also TNTsat on 19E, which requires a dedicated receiver and can be bought from the French Hypermarkets etc together with a card that lasts 4 years I belive.


So really, the first step is to decide, exactly which French channels you want, which satellite they come from, and whether they are part of an encrypted package.

Then advice could be given on a suitable dish and receiver arrangement.

[Jumble]

Thanks for your quick reply, the minimum requirement is to have TF1, France 2,3,4,5 plus a childrens channel or 2.

So that seems to suggest I need 5W or TNTSAT on 19E?

The TNTSAT list is ample, can I buy the TNTSAT receiver and card, but then use the same dish as SKY? And can I PVR it?

J

[Jumble]

Robbo, tried to PM you to ask if your co. are interested to quote for what I need (once we've worked that out), but havent a high enough post count yet. Anyway let me know. Im based nr Sevenoaks in Kent.

[Rick]

I'll drop Robbo a PM and make sure he see's this

[Robbo]

Originally Posted by Jumble

Robbo, tried to PM you to ask if your co. are interested to quote for what I need (once we've worked that out), but havent a high enough post count yet. Anyway let me know. Im based nr Sevenoaks in Kent.

Hi, you should be able to send PM's now.

Yes, that would be no problem,

Sevenoaks is very close to me.

I send you an email to your registered email address.

Cheers

Mark.

EDIT,

Yes for TNT sat and sky, a single dish could be used. A 70cm would be fine for those two, using two LNBs in offset positions,

PVRing the 28E is not a problem,receivers are available to do that. But as TNT sat uses dedicated boxes, you would be able to use whatever is available for use with TNT sat. Check out the French satellite sites.

The TNTsat receiver can't be used for more than one satellite at a time, so you would need two receivers, one for TNT sat and another for 28E.

For 5W and 28E, for just FTA channels, either two dishes would be needed, or a motorised. Technomate do a twin tuner PVR ready receiver that would be suitable( the TM7100 HD), or speak to Ian at southernsatellite, he may be able to advise an alternative model.

[SAT-WORLD]

TNTSat only has the Aston Simba HD,which is pvr ready(USB).
Meaning you would need an external USB hard drive.
If you have an existing DVD/HDD recorder,that would be a cheaper option.

[Jumble]

Thanks Robbo. I think its becoming clear what I want to acheive.

Ill drop you a PM soon.

Regarding the Aston Simba HD and viewing card; is there a way I can source this in the UK, or will I need to go to France?

Will any DVD/HDD unit work? Do I need to worry about SECAM compatibility, or HD? If not I will just google for a new one.

Thanks J

[Jumble]

Ok so this is my shopping list, please let me know if I have mis-matched anything:

Lounge (to replace SKY+ and complement Pioneer 42" Plasma)

- 1 x Humax FoxSAT HDR 500mb - circa £299
- 1 x TNTSAT Card & Aston Simba HD STB circa £250?

Bedroom

- 1 x LG 32LF7700 32" 1080P Freesat TV circa £350
- 1 x Pivot Arm Wall Bracket for TV circa £60
- 1 x TNTSAT Card & Aston Simba HD STB circa £250?

Dish

- 1 x 70cm Dish & Quad LNB £???
- 1 x Coax Cable £cheap as chips

- 1 x Professional Installation

Im hoping the Humax PVR will take a SCART feed from the Aston to record French TV on its PVR at SD quality. Would be interested if anyone knows whether this will work

[Robbo]

Yes, that is more or less it. The dish components are a fraction of the cost of the receivers etc. Can't remember the price of the 70cm of the top of my head, probably about £60 for a dish with the multiLNB holder and maybe about £20 each for the quads.


I'm pretty sure that you can't record from external sources with the HDR, but I can't confirm as I don't own one.

Have a word with Ian at Southernsatellite, he may be able to get hold of the TNTsat receivers you require, I know he was doing the SD boxes.