French national channels

Cirzandloz

Hi there
I wonder if someone could clarify a few things for me...

I am trying to organise myself to get a dish installed in my new house... my aim is to get all french and irish national channels without having to be on any contract with SKY... and end up paying for a whole lot of channels we wouldnt even watch anyway...

So I have contacted a french engineer based in Dublin, who actually supplies all equipment and installs it himself... but I think his quote is totally over the top... :eek:
Could someone tell me what equipment will I need to get both irish and french national channels, and the average cost for installation ?

Thanks a million.
Cirzandloz

L1011

Irish national channels - where are you?

You NEED a contract with Sky to get them outside of Ireland. Otherwise - aerial is the only way for free.

French national channels also depends on where you are. In Ireland, you can get France 2, 3, 4, 5 and LCP in digital off Atlantic Bird 5W, and TF1, France 2, France 3, France 5 and M6 in analogue off the same satellite. So you'll need analogue and digital kit to get all of them. In France, a TNT (digital terrestrial) box is the best choice. You can also pay Canal+ or TPS and get them by digital satellite that way

L1011

Wait, you say Dublin so I'll guess you're there...

Aerial - about 35 quid or so, wideband UHF will get you RTÉ1/2, TV3, TG4 from Three Rock Mountain and leave you ready for digital terrestrial.

80CM dish will get you 5W, basic digital FTA box, self install can be done for under €150 if you shop around. Analogue box - you'll need a TV that supports SÉCAM for this to be any use - shouldn't be any more than about €30 second hand these days. You need somewhere to mount the dish thats able to see the sky at 5 degrees west of south.

watty

Yes I get 2, 3, 4, 5 LCP on 5W on a 90 Euro digital receiver.
TF1, 2, 3, 4, 5 part time and M6 on analog SECAM (BW on main TV, but colour on PC card tuner). Using an older Analog receiver from Lidl (typcally 20 Euro S/H). Does French sound properly, some of the old pace/grundig/philips/amstrad etc used for Sky Analog do distorted sound for French analog TV)

Also many french on Hotbird and Astra 19E (Demain, Arte, TFJj, TV5 FBS, TV5 Europe and others..). M6 Suisse on an different satellite.

Under 300 Euro for 80cm dish, receiver, moteck motor, LNB, cable etc. You can DIY install or pay 100 to 300 for install.

The Irish channels via TV aerial.

That's what I have and it works fine. All FTA with no sub.

I'm assuming the ANALOGUE French reception will be better in Dublin than Limerick as the 5W analog channels are a little weak on my 80cm dish.

Cirzandloz

Hi Guys !
THanks a mil for your answers.

I am based in ireland, the house is in Rathnew, co. wicklow... moving out there in a couple of months...

The guy who sent me a quote is quoting me €699... for equipement and installation...
He provides a 60 cm dish + pro motor diseqc 1,2 + patch antenna + DG 4000 FTA demodulator + AN 1000 analog demodulator for TF1 and M6... all the stuff to put all these up and cables etc...

Do I really need all this ??
Will I get the English channels with that as well ?
Is there a cheaper way to do it ? DIY isnt really really an option for me as I have no idea what to do...

Tony

cost sounds about right for what he is giving you. You should be able to receive Uk free channels

watty

I'd go for at least 80cm / 88cm /90cm dish. Not much extra money. Otherwise no picture when it rains.

Yes you get all the FTA BBC/ITV
see
http://bytelive.com/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Free+To+Air+on+Sky

The list has old Sky channel numbers which don't apply anymore and never applied to a FTA receiver.

It is quite a bit of work so not unreasonable if professionally done.

Zaphod

Cirzandloz wrote:

The guy who sent me a quote is quoting me €699... for equipement and installation...
He provides a 60 cm dish + pro motor diseqc 1,2 + patch antenna + DG 4000 FTA demodulator + AN 1000 analog demodulator for TF1 and M6... all the stuff to put all these up and cables etc...

€699 seems to me pretty expensive for the system described. The fact that he's only supplying a 60cm dish would give me the impression that he's a chancer, but perhaps I'm just being cynical.

At the very least you should phone around for different quotes and see how they compare.

If you are willing to invest a little more time then you might consider purchasing the dish, receiver and motor yourself, and then getting a quote for installation. I reckon that would knock a fair bit off of the total price plus there is greater transparency in the cost of each item & installation. There is a list of suppliers in the sticky at the top of this forum.

Finally I would think carefully about buying a new analog receiver for TF1 and M6. All the analog satellite channels throughout Europe are being switched off and there will now be an extra push to get rid of them as HDTV takes hold. A secondhand analog receiver (Buy and Sell?) might be a better approach.

Tony

Zaphod wrote:

€699 seems to me pretty expensive for the system described. The fact that he's only supplying a 60cm dish would give me the impression that he's a chancer, but perhaps I'm just being cynical.

Did not spot the 60cm dish earlier, I agree an 80cm should be supplied as standard where a motor is involved and it would also lessen my confidence in the installer if he did indeed specify a 60cm.

kaisersose77

you would get all that stuff for roughly 1/4 of the price from www.digi-sat-online.de

I posted this before in the eurosat forum:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054881478

To think of all the people who would think 700 euros is a good price for a motorised setup! That guys a chancer.

watty

yes but the price includes install which can take all day for a motorised setup if anythonmg goes pear shaped.

For DIY you could do it all for about €400 .. €450.

Personally i would like to charge over 200 for install of TV aerial, motorised dish and two recievers, with demo and intial main channels on 1/2 dozen main satellites.

The 60cm dish is odd though. Especially for 5W analog.

Cirzandloz

Hi there

Thanks for all your advises...
Could you tell me just one more thing... what channels will I get with all that then ? I know he supplies a patch antenna as well...

For the 60 cm dish... the house is up on a hill... we are actually very high up... so thats probably why theres no need for a bigger one... cos if the reception was bad because of weather conditions... I imagine a 80cm dish wouldnt make such a massive difference would it ? Some of my friends have an 80 cm dish and still have a snowy picture when the weather is bad... ??
So Im not too concerned about the size really... unless im missing something ?

watty

80cm is huge advatage over 60cm. Signal is proportional to SQUARE of the diameter.

They may be on Analogue. For Good analogue from 5W I would even go for 88cm or 110cm. My Analogue French TV is slightly snowy all the time (80cm). My Digital French TV is perfect.

The satellites are over 45,000 km away. Unless you have a 10,000km high hill, it won't help.

The TV aerial gives RTE1, 2 TV3 and TG4.

See here for channels
http://www.lyngsat.com/ab3.html

You get channels above 10.950 GHz
Creamy yellow cololur on Digital
White background "SECAM" on Analogue.

Cirzandloz

I see... thanks for the link !
I didnt think we could get canal + as well..
Im delighted !!

i understand about the dish size now... thanjs for your comments.

Also you mentionned something about secam... how will I know my TV is secam or not ?

L1011

Canal+ encrypts part-time, so you won't get it without acquiring the decoding equipment.

erm... borrow a (non-sky) satellite box off someone and turn it to SÉCAM output on its modulator maybe? My older CRT TV does NTSC and PAL but not SÉCAM for some strange reason, so you may have problems. That said, some analogue boxes convert themselves - and theres no such issue with digital.

watty

The Digital is not SECAM. Only the analogue. Unless it is a Thomson TV or from France, it is unlikely to do SECAM (Though I have a 6" Portable CRT A/V monitor that does SECAM via RCA composite or Aerial, also European PAL sound PAL B/G and PAL D/K as well as UK/IRL PAL I). All PC card TV tuners I have seen do SECAM.

If the TV does not do SECAM, then you get a Black & White (monochrome) Picture. This is the case with my big TV which does PAL and NTSC. I can go SECAM in and PAL out on PC though.

Switching a modulator to "SECAM" only changes the modulation/ Sound properties. If the tape or received transmission is PAL or Digital, the actual video on the RF of the "SECAM" modulator setting is still PAL.

The only two ways to get SECAM signal here in Ireland are SECAM tape in a real SECAM VHS player (some play SECAM tapes back in PAL!) or Analog French TV from 5W.

On my Analog Receiver's RF modulator it doesn't work with a SECAM TV (Sound is wrong). But the composite video on the SCART is SECAM. Almost no ANALOGUE recievers give RGB on the SCART.

Only one Analog receiver I ever heard of could convert or do RGB, a Technomate maybe?

Canal+ seems mostly encrypted on analog. It would be more worth while Digital Pay TV ta worrying about Canal+ analog descrambling. Enjoy the bits that are FTA.

Zaphod

watty wrote:

Only one Analog receiver I ever heard of could convert or do RGB, a Technomate maybe?

Echostar combined analog + digital units (AD3000, AD3600, DVR 7000) have RGB out and display SECAM pictures in colour. Unfortunately no Diseqc 1.2, only 36V positioner, so not of any use to OP unless he/she goes down linear actuator route for motorisation.
www.echostar.nl

Technomate TM5000DAPCI has both analog + digital, 36V and Diseqc 1.2 so worth investigating. Don't know about RGB out on analog or how it copes with SECAM. It appears to have been modelled closely on the Echostars so you'd imagine it should.
http://www.stuff4tv.co.uk/Techomate%20Receivers.htm

None of the above units is being manufactured anymore but may still be available as old stock or often secondhand on ebay.

watty

I think the OP is going for a Fixed dish so an Echostar AD3000 or whatever would be good.

Zaphod

I checked an old review in What Satellite and the Technomate has RGB out.

However, if the OP doesn't require a motor, then I have an Echostar AD3000IP Viaccess combined analog/digital receiver which is currently surplus to requirements that I would be willing to sell for a reasonable price.
http://www.satmania.com/eng/catalog/receivers/ad/echostar_ad3000ip_v.html

Bogger77

Cirzandloz wrote:

The guy who sent me a quote is quoting me €699... for equipement and installation...
He provides a 60 cm dish + pro motor diseqc 1,2 + patch antenna + DG 4000 FTA demodulator + AN 1000 analog demodulator for TF1 and M6... all the stuff to put all these up and cables etc...

Looks like OP is going to be using a motor