French mpeg 4 decoders

mickmc

Will be in France at Christmas

If I purchase one of the French mpeg 4 digital boxes will it work when I bring it back to Ireland

If so anything I should look for ?

Thanks

TheDriver

make sure its mpeg4 because they also use mpeg2 for their free channels

STB

Look for labelings of

"TNT HD Mpeg4"

Yes it is important that you just dont buy something that just says TNT. That is just the name of the DTT service in France. The PSB stations broadcast in Mpeg2 (at the moment), the commercials(pay channels) in MPEG4. That will all change next year.

Netgem (netbox) do a good one for about €150 that has a built in HDD of about 40gigs as far as I remember.

radiospan

I thought that from December in France, all televisions need to be MPEG-4 compatible.

LarWright

.... if it applies to DTT transmissions, but will the fact that France use SECAM and we use PAL not cause issues?

Or is that PAL, Secam, NTSC all changed since digital??

rlogue

PAL and SECAM are irrelevant in this case. Most if not all French FTA TNT receivers wont pick up the Irish DTT transmissions.

STB

First off TNT is the branding name for the French DTT service. Richard, they dont actually distinguish between what is FTA and what is not, by set top box OR by MPEG2/4.

That is why you must look out for those labelled "TNT HD" or "ADAPTATEUR TNT MPEG4" as they are the MPEG4 boxes that will work here. Most of the other just labelled TNT are mpeg2.

Lar, The french government had initially put in a best before date of December 2008 on the sale of MPEG2 boxes and TV's over a certain size. That has been extended by a year. So a mixture of both type boxes will be on offer.

There are plenty still to choose from, but be careful.

Heres an example of where you could get confused. SO BEWARE.

There is plenty of dvd/dtt tuner combos such as "AIRIS Lecteur DVD/divx L104C 5.1 MPEG4 Tuner TNT" which look like a great deal for €70. The MPEG4 is the divx end though and as such it doesnt have an MPEG4 tuner.
Likewise with the Storex mpix 331r which looks brilliant as it is a external multimedia player with a TNT tuner BUT its MPEG2 on the receiver end!


Having said that you can pick up a Yamada - DTV 4000 HD - Décodeur TNT HD for €99 or
METRONIC Adaptateur TNT HD (MPEG 4) - HDMI - ZAPBOX HD-Z2 441610 for about €110.

podgeandrodge

They don't seem great value though given that you can get a HD Satellite receiver with built in Mpeg4 DTT chip combo for approx €157 incl delivery

http://www.wizardsatellite.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=52



So you have BBC HD, ITV HD, all the FTA satellite channels and then RTE1, RTE2, TV3 and TG4 off the DTT in one box.

Mine still working a charm.

GerardKeating

podgeandrodge wrote: »

They don't seem great value though given that you can get a HD Satellite receiver with built in Mpeg4 DTT chip combo for approx €157 incl delivery

http://www.wizardsatellite.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=52



So you have BBC HD, ITV HD, all the FTA satellite channels and then RTE1, RTE2, TV3 and TG4 off the DTT in one box.

Mine still working a charm.

Does it do the 7day epg on both DTT and FreeSat ???

Zonda999

podgeandrodge wrote: »

They don't seem great value though given that you can get a HD Satellite receiver with built in Mpeg4 DTT chip combo for approx €157 incl delivery

http://www.wizardsatellite.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=52



So you have BBC HD, ITV HD, all the FTA satellite channels and then RTE1, RTE2, TV3 and TG4 off the DTT in one box.

Mine still working a charm.

Would you have to be an absolute satellite expert to install one of these and get all the channels(All freesat channels and the 4 irish channels on mpeg4). Basically, is one of these things suitable for your average joe soap.

BTW, can you get a combined freesat/mpeg4 epg on this thing??

Thanks for any help:)

podgeandrodge

GerardKeating wrote: »

Does it do the 7day epg on both DTT and FreeSat ???

No, while it gets all the freesat channels it only has the now and next epg.

Zonda999 wrote: »

Would you have to be an absolute satellite expert to install one of these and get all the channels(All freesat channels and the 4 irish channels on mpeg4). Basically, is one of these things suitable for your average joe soap.

BTW, can you get a combined freesat/mpeg4 epg on this thing??

Thanks for any help:)

Do you mean to install the satellite dish or just to 'install' the box?
If you already have the dish put up the box itself is easy to set up - 5 minutes reading the manual if that and selecting the right satellite in the menu and doing a scan for channels.

If the 7 day epg is important to you, you are better off going with official freesat - but I haven't seen any freesat/irish dtt combo's.
The ordinary epg is joint - i.e. satellite channels and dtt are all in the same list.

For a High Definition satellite receiver with Irish DTT this is a steal I think.

Zonda999

podgeandrodge wrote: »

Do you mean to install the satellite dish or just to 'install' the box?
If you already have the dish put up the box itself is easy to set up - 5 minutes reading the manual if that and selecting the right satellite in the menu and doing a scan for channels.

If the 7 day epg is important to you, you are better off going with official freesat - but I haven't seen any freesat/irish dtt combo's.
The ordinary epg is joint - i.e. satellite channels and dtt are all in the same list.

For a High Definition satellite receiver with Irish DTT this is a steal I think.

I meant installing the box. I already have a sky dish.

Yeah, i know what you mean. It is great value alright but i think i would be better off getting a tv with an mpeg4 tuner built in(One like this), and gettin an official freesat box.

Thanks for the help:)

kuro_man

I have ordered a freesat+ box for uk channels - can I get similar for Irish channels without waiting for offical launch.

Do the french have a HD box with hard disk? Will the EPG and meta-tags (for series link etc.) work?

slegs

Zonda999 wrote: »

I meant installing the box. I already have a sky dish.

Yeah, i know what you mean. It is great value alright but i think i would be better off getting a tv with an mpeg4 tuner built in(One like this), and gettin an official freesat box.

Thanks for the help:)

With the Globalteq and other combos you get all channels (Irish DTT and UK FTA Satellite) on one EPG. You wont have that with Freesat and the inbuilt Sony tuner. Although the full 7 day guide on Freesat is a big plus there

kuro_man

160gb PVR for €305 + 15 delivery on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.fr/DVICO-TViX-PVR-R-2230-160-Go-TNT-HD-Integre_W0QQitemZ320326460952QQcmdZViewItemQQptZFR_LC_TV_Son_Home_Cinema_Aisle_Product_Domain?hash=item320326460952&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1526%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

Any thoughts? Not cheap and it looks tiny!

STB

Strange to package a multimedia player with a dvb-t tuner and an mpeg4 chip!

Very strange concept.

Wouldn’t last long are my immediate thoughts, having to be on all the time! And too expensive anyway.


Have a look here for bargains. Bear in mind that not everything you see with HD is "mpeg4". Sometimes the HD refers to a hard disk rather than an mpeg4 tuner! Sometimes you will "compatible MPEG4" but it is referring to playing divx files! Do full research before buying.

http://shopping.cherchons.com/cgi/cgi.cgi?action=cherchons&language=&pays=&type=DESCRIPTION&start=0&category=&toSearch=D%E9codeur+TNT+HD

By the way if its a simple DTT tuner you are looking for, there’s a sagem ITAD-92HD on sale at the moment for €51!

http://www.achetezfacile.com/sagem-itad-92hd-comparer-les-prix-310944.html