French tv...free.fr

Problems/advice relating to your PC/Mac/Phone/Television/ Satellite TV/DVD/Blu ray......

Moderator: Moderators

Phipplebert

French tv...free.fr

Post by Phipplebert »

We currently only have uk sky, which is pretty sad seeing as we live in France and want to learn the language more.
I have noticed on our freebox (which we currently just use as a DVD/bluray player), that there is canal sat, which I presume is a French version of sky or cable tv as it appears to be subscriptions around €20/30 a month but there is also 'freebox tv' and when I click on it, it talks of €1.99 a month...does that get us the normal basic terrestrial channel through our freebox or is it something else? We don't want to pay for French cable/sky just get a couple of basic channels.
Allan
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 1384
Joined: Tue 01 Sep 2009 21:21
Contact:

Re: French tv...free.fr

Post by Allan »

Phipplebert wrote:We currently only have uk sky, which is pretty sad seeing as we live in France and want to learn the language more.
I have noticed on our freebox (which we currently just use as a DVD/bluray player), that there is canal sat, which I presume is a French version of sky or cable tv as it appears to be subscriptions around €20/30 a month but there is also 'freebox tv' and when I click on it, it talks of €1.99 a month...does that get us the normal basic terrestrial channel through our freebox or is it something else? We don't want to pay for French cable/sky just get a couple of basic channels.
The €1.99 subscription seems to give access to loads of channels
http://www.free.fr/adsl/television.html

I believe also that the Freebox allows you to surf the internet on your TV, if that's the case, you could try Filmon which now hosts the main French Channels as well as UK TV.
User avatar
Santiago
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 1290
Joined: Tue 27 Dec 2005 12:19
Contact:

Post by Santiago »

The simplest and cheapest way to access French TV is TNT, it's free and the equivalent of Freeview in the UK (although French TV is vastly inferior to British IMO). That requires either a TNT TV or a little box. I have one you can have for 10€ as I don't need it anymore. You'll need a digital ariel as well but they are cheap.
Domaine Treloar - Vineyard and Winery - www.domainetreloar.com - 04 68 95 02 29
Phipplebert

Post by Phipplebert »

Allan - I saw that page and presumed it was all the canal sat channels as there were so many.

Santiago - can we not get TNT through a sky dish? With the box, rather than needing a new aerial?

Does anyone know if the free.fr €1.99/month gets you more channels than a TNT box?
Phipplebert

Post by Phipplebert »

The filmon option - does that require a paid subscription? Can you get it in France? We can surf the net from the box.
Allan
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 1384
Joined: Tue 01 Sep 2009 21:21
Contact:

Post by Allan »

Phipplebert wrote:Allan - I saw that page and presumed it was all the canal sat channels as there were so many.

Santiago - can we not get TNT through a sky dish? With the box, rather than needing a new aerial?

Does anyone know if the free.fr €1.99/month gets you more channels than a TNT box?
You would have to turn your satellite dish to point at a different satellite to receive TNT and would lose Sky reception.

There are more channels on the Freebox than there are via an aerial

With a satellite dish pointed at the French satellite you would get more or less the same channels as the Freebox.

Filmon is free in standard definition and is available in France for TV from France, the UK and several other countries.

Free's website says you should be able to browse the web using your TV, you would have to try Filmon to see if it works.

If it were me, I would pay the €1.99 a month and see if you find it worth watching. If you don't like it you can always cancel
martyn94
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 2086
Joined: Sun 14 Apr 2013 14:37

Post by martyn94 »

If you have an iOS device (iphone etc), you can use the filmon and other apps on that, and push it to your tv (via the "freebox player" box) using Airplay.
montgolfiere
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 889
Joined: Tue 22 Sep 2009 16:48
Contact:

Post by montgolfiere »

Filmon doesn't carry TF1 but does carry the other main french channels.
User avatar
Santiago
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 1290
Joined: Tue 27 Dec 2005 12:19
Contact:

Post by Santiago »

Rather than lose your Sky connection, going the TNT route is a cheap and easy way to access French TV, also quite a few of the programs are broadcast in dual languages. I recently found that Breaking Bad is on ARTE in English for example.

You have a child right? Assuming you are here for the long-term, one of the problems they will encounter is that without French being spoken in the house, their vocabulary and phraseology lets them down. Watching French TV helps a bit in that direction. We have Gulli on most days.
Domaine Treloar - Vineyard and Winery - www.domainetreloar.com - 04 68 95 02 29
User avatar
Sue
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 1768
Joined: Tue 02 Dec 2008 15:08
Contact:

Post by Sue »

I am commenting on this as a totally knowledgeless woman. We are with Orange and have a livebox supplying wifi and a separate Orange tv box. No aerial or sat dish is required the tv comes via the internet. The only thing we had to buy was 2 live plugs to transmit the wifi between livebox and tv box. We get all TNT channels plus roughly 50 other channels free. We pay 4.99€ for a BBC Entertainment channel. We also have a Humax Box for all the UK freesat channels for which we do have a satellite dish.

Filmon is free in SD if you want HD or to record you have to pay.
Dylan
User avatar
russell
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 1038
Joined: Fri 21 May 2010 16:03
Contact:

Post by russell »

Santiago wrote:You'll need a digital ariel as well but they are cheap.
This is marketing hype from the aerial installation industry. There is no such thing as a digital aerial. Any reasonable terrestrial aerial should do provided there is coverage in your area. In strong signal areas it will work off an indoor aerial.

Any TV bought within the last five or six years will be equipped to receive DVB-T signals which is the format that French terrestrial television is broadcast in. If your TV is older use a TNT adaptor.

Russell.
User avatar
Kate
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 1903
Joined: Fri 23 Sep 2005 19:48
Contact:

Post by Kate »

I am commenting on this as a totally knowledgeless woman.
Oxymoron, mon amie!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
User avatar
Sue
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 1768
Joined: Tue 02 Dec 2008 15:08
Contact:

Post by Sue »

Who are you calling a moronic ox!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Dylan
Phipplebert

Post by Phipplebert »

Thank you for all your input...is too am knowledge less and when I have read some of the other tv threads have got quite confused and not understood most of it!
Santiago, thank you for the offer of the box, I think I may go down the €1.99 route with freebox, get a few extra channels and see if we like it, rather than installing an aerial etc to start with.I do 100% agree with you with regards to no French being spoken in the house and tv being a learning aid, so far we have been relying on films which I have got, I'm often on amazon looking at second hand pixar dvd's in French. I think this will help all of us which is why I'm a bit embarrassed it's taken us so long to do it, although we do own this house now so that makes it easier. We are in for the long term ;) :)
I had a quick look at filmon on my iPad and it works. Does that mean if sky goes one can get a couple of basic channels here that way?
Thanks again everyone it's making a little more sense :)
Allan
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 1384
Joined: Tue 01 Sep 2009 21:21
Contact:

Post by Allan »

Phipplebert wrote:Thank you for all your input...is too am knowledge less and when I have read some of the other tv threads have got quite confused and not understood most of it!
Santiago, thank you for the offer of the box, I think I may go down the €1.99 route with freebox, get a few extra channels and see if we like it, rather than installing an aerial etc to start with.I do 100% agree with you with regards to no French being spoken in the house and tv being a learning aid, so far we have been relying on films which I have got, I'm often on amazon looking at second hand pixar dvd's in French. I think this will help all of us which is why I'm a bit embarrassed it's taken us so long to do it, although we do own this house now so that makes it easier. We are in for the long term ;) :)
I had a quick look at filmon on my iPad and it works. Does that mean if sky goes one can get a couple of basic channels here that way?
Thanks again everyone it's making a little more sense :)
Sky's own channels are unlikely to go but BBC, ITV etc will require bigger dishes in the near future.

Filmon shows these channels and you can probably show them on your TV using the Airplay feature on the Freebox that Martyn94 mentioned.

Looking at Free's website, your Freebox receiver has an aerial tuner and TNT decoder built in so if you do have an aerial or get one fitted then you should be able to just plug it in.
User avatar
Sue
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 1768
Joined: Tue 02 Dec 2008 15:08
Contact:

Post by Sue »

I dont have an ipad but I do have a laptop and a net book. I am assuming an ipad has USB ports. This being the case if the English channels go then buy a lead, from any of the large supermarkets, that has a USB connection on one end which connects into your ipad and a scart fitting on the other end which connects into your tv. Filmon can then be viewed through your tv. We have purchased a small wifi remote control (very reasonable) from ebay uk which means you can change channels via the i pad without having to get up and do it manually.

Like you most of the posts on here go right over my head.
Dylan
Phipplebert

Post by Phipplebert »

Sorry Allan, I'm confused by the last but...do I need an aerial for the freebox French channels, or are you saying it's built into the box? :)
Allan
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 1384
Joined: Tue 01 Sep 2009 21:21
Contact:

Post by Allan »

Phipplebert wrote:Sorry Allan, I'm confused by the last but...do I need an aerial for the freebox French channels, or are you saying it's built into the box? :)
If you pay the 1.99€ a month you need nothing else.

If however you happen to have a TV aerial already then you only need to plug it in to the Freebox receiver and don't pay the 1.99 a month.

Bearing in mind the extra channels, the 1.99€ a month seems by far the best option
Allan
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 1384
Joined: Tue 01 Sep 2009 21:21
Contact:

Post by Allan »

Sue wrote:I dont have an ipad but I do have a laptop and a net book. I am assuming an ipad has USB ports. This being the case if the English channels go then buy a lead, from any of the large supermarkets, that has a USB connection on one end which connects into your ipad and a scart fitting on the other end which connects into your tv. Filmon can then be viewed through your tv. We have purchased a small wifi remote control (very reasonable) from ebay uk which means you can change channels via the i pad without having to get up and do it manually.

Like you most of the posts on here go right over my head.
The iPad doesn't have USB ports, it uses a system called Airplay to wirelessly mirror the iPad screen to a television.

This requires a wireless receiver connected to the TV. The Freebox receiver has Airplay capability built in so an additional receiver is not needed. An alternative receiver is the Apple TV box.

You can use Airplay from a PC using software called AirParrot.

Not many people want to have cables running from their PCs/tablets to their TV and SCART is a pretty antiquated solution that tends to give poor quality pictures.

Google recently released a product called Chromecast that plugs into an HDMI port on a TV and lets you wirelessly send a page from their Chrome web browser running on a PC directly to your TV. It does many more things but most don't yet work in France or the UK.

Wireless TV solutions have existed for a while but the Chromecast is cheap and easy to use.
User avatar
Sue
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 1768
Joined: Tue 02 Dec 2008 15:08
Contact:

Post by Sue »

Thanks Allan thats really interesting and understandable.
Dylan
Smiley G
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 399
Joined: Tue 02 Oct 2012 23:58
Contact:

iPad+AppleTV

Post by Smiley G »

In preparation for the big Astra 2E change I have found the following produce excellent results;
Stream Filmon etc. from iPad to television via an AppleTV box.
Stream BBC iPlayer, ITV iPlayer & Channel 4 OD from MacBook Air using Firefox as the browser to television via an Apple TV box.
Obviously this is great if you're a Mac person although the iPad seems to stream more efficiently than the MacBook Air.
That being said, I still prefer to switch on the telly picking up Astra via my trusty generic PMB set-top box :D
One more point, if you use the media add-on for Firefox (Media Hint 0.1.13.1) you MAY find that ITV iPlayer claims you have Ad Blocking Software installed. This is because (I think) that ITV has detected Media Hint. If this happens, install AnonymoX 2.1.1 in Firefox, select U.K. and you're up an running.
Still have to put up with adverts!!!! :(
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Phipplebert

Post by Phipplebert »

I understand the streaming from an iPad to the tv I think, or we do have Internet on the freebox which is good :)
I'm afraid you lost me smileyg! I think I might just stick with the freebox for now ;) :lol:
I am a bit stuck on the freebox though, I turned on the €1,99 a month tv on our online account but the tv wants a code....where do I find a code to try it out?
Allan
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 1384
Joined: Tue 01 Sep 2009 21:21
Contact:

Post by Allan »

Phipplebert wrote:I understand the streaming from an iPad to the tv I think, or we do have Internet on the freebox which is good :)
I'm afraid you lost me smileyg! I think I might just stick with the freebox for now ;) :lol:
I am a bit stuck on the freebox though, I turned on the €1,99 a month tv on our online account but the tv wants a code....where do I find a code to try it out?
You set the code up on your television

Read this:-
http://www.free.fr/assistance/5036.html

Smileyg uses a MacBook Air to access UK catchup TV such as BBC iPlayer and ITV player.

Those services require you to have an internet address in the UK, he gets around this by using a free program called Media Hint that only runs on a web browser called FireFox on PCs or Macbooks

If you want to use your iPad to access iPlayer etc. then you need to subscribe to a service that makes it look like you are in the UK, typically these cost around 4.00€ a month.
Phipplebert

Post by Phipplebert »

Sorry I'm useless! I have set up a code as described on that web page within the tv...but when I then put it into the tv when I choose freebox tv it doesn't then do anything when I hit confirm! Any ideas? Sorry!
Allan
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 1384
Joined: Tue 01 Sep 2009 21:21
Contact:

Post by Allan »

Phipplebert wrote:Sorry I'm useless! I have set up a code as described on that web page within the tv...but when I then put it into the tv when I choose freebox tv it doesn't then do anything when I hit confirm! Any ideas? Sorry!
Have you tried powering both Freebox units off and back on again?
Phipplebert

Post by Phipplebert »

I think I needed to wait for the change to register...it now works but whilst the picture is fine the sound has a lot of interference I.e. It's fuzzy and at times barely audible (not great for learning French ;) ). Does that mean we have bad signal here and need an aerial or is it not tuned correctly? Would an aerial help? Thanks
Allan
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 1384
Joined: Tue 01 Sep 2009 21:21
Contact:

Post by Allan »

Phipplebert wrote:I think I needed to wait for the change to register...it now works but whilst the picture is fine the sound has a lot of interference I.e. It's fuzzy and at times barely audible (not great for learning French ;) ). Does that mean we have bad signal here and need an aerial or is it not tuned correctly? Would an aerial help? Thanks
Again, power everything off and back on. If the problem persists you could try changing the Ping Setting on your router. You do this on-line (I still have the details you sent me so let me know if you want me to do it for you).

Is your Freebox receiver connected to the router by wifi, Ethernet cable or homeplugs? Either of the last 2 will probably give you a better signal.

An aerial will make absolutely no difference to your on-line reception.
It is an alternative method of obtaining TV and you would normally expect to get decent sound.

Finally check your download speed on your PC whilst NOT watching TV.

Free suggest http://www.free.fr/assistance/en/256-fr ... tater.html

But also try http://www.speedtest.net

Let me know the results
Phipplebert

Post by Phipplebert »

I turned it all off and then on again and it's now good :)
Hurrah! Sorry for being hard work!
By the way it's via wifi, due to distance and location in the room box to box a cable wouldn't be practical. I don't know what the plug is. But it works well now :)
THANK YOU
Allan
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 1384
Joined: Tue 01 Sep 2009 21:21
Contact:

Post by Allan »

Phipplebert wrote:I turned it all off and then on again and it's now good :)
Hurrah! Sorry for being hard work!
By the way it's via wifi, due to distance and location in the room box to box a cable wouldn't be practical. I don't know what the plug is. But it works well now :)
THANK YOU
Good to hear it.

Homeplugs are little devices that plug into your mains electricity sockets and carry network traffic over your mains cables. All is explained here http://www.free.fr/assistance/en/search.html?search=cpl

You can buy them in Carrefour or order them from Free but if it is all working OK then you don't need them.
Phipplebert

Post by Phipplebert »

Stuck again. I have purchased a channel which I don't want (you can buy individual channels at an extra price). How do I delete it for next month so that I don't have to pay for it every month?
Post Reply