TV via computer?

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carol sheridan
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TV via computer?

Post by carol sheridan »

I am just about ready to give up my quest to get SKY TV here in St. Cyprien Plage - the local TV chap was supposed to come yesterday to test the smaller dish to see if I could get reception. I waited in all day - no engineer, no phone call. I am told that I get some programmes via computer but only if I have Windows. My computer runs on Mozilla Firefox and is not compatible. Do any of you clever technical people know if I could get Windows installed on my present computer, and if so, what would it cost? Alternatively I could buy a laptap in the Uk (so I get a querty keyboard) but I wonder which programmes I could receive? I'm not interested in films or sport, so perhaps it would not be worth my while.
All advice gratefully received.
Carol
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Helen
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Post by Helen »

hi Carol,

more and more tv companies are making video content available over the internet - either streaming (you just watch it) or for download (it sits on your pc) . Some are windows specific but there's a recognition that people who use different operating systems shouldn't be excluded so there are always new developments coming along. In fact next year(2008) will see tv sets and set -top boxes coming to market which will offer broadcast quality programming over a broadband connection - no computer of any kind needed!

France is at the front of tv delivered over broadband (in Europe) but I suspect you really want to get UK programmes. And that's where your problem lies - most UK broadcasters have to geo-block their programmes for rights reasons which means they are available only to people with UK ISP addresses.

But this is a huge field and things are changing really fast. Here in Scotland I'm close to an experimental web tv channel which sets out to make video about scotland available worldwide www.scotlandontv.tv (and provided the user has the latest version of Flash should work on virtually all operating systems)

If you go to http://www.narrowstep.com/channels/inte ... nnels.aspx you'll find a variety of channels all delivered over the open internet - some will be geo-blocked but many not.

And the BBC recently made its news videos available internationally
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6277422.stm

These are just a few things for you to explore in order to see how much you can get to play on your current operating system. None of them will give you the latest episode of Corrie, or a conventional tv-like schedule (yet!)- but it'll give you an idea of where things are going.

Oh yes, one last thing - try researching slingbox. In theory it's meant to provide a way that you can access your (a) UK tv from anywhere in the world though have never tried it and only met one person (An American) who used it.
carol sheridan
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Post by carol sheridan »

Thank you, Helen. I don't have any trouble watching French TV with my normal aerial - I am missing Sky! A local TV engineer is coming on Tuesday with a newer type of smaller, rectangular dish in the hope that it will get some reception, here on the edge of the Astra 2 coverage. The sun shines fully on my balcony in the mornings so I am hopeful. My problem is that I am not allowed to attach an 80 cm. dish to my balcony - it is forbidden by someone or other! I am hoping the agency will accept my plan to have a strong wooden triangular box made, with a locked-on lid. It would be weighted with very heavy stones filled up with gravel. A stout metal pole would go through a hole in the lid and the dish would be bolted to the pole. The whole thing could be dismantled when I buy my own house towards the end of the year. I would be permitted to get a communal dish put on the roof of the block, but it would cost 2,500 euros. Not even University Challenge is worth that.
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groslard
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Re: TV via computer?

Post by groslard »

carol sheridan wrote:I am just about ready to give up my quest to get SKY TV here in St. Cyprien Plage - the local TV chap was supposed to come yesterday to test the smaller dish to see if I could get reception. I waited in all day - no engineer, no phone call. I am told that I get some programmes via computer but only if I have Windows. My computer runs on Mozilla Firefox and is not compatible. Do any of you clever technical people know if I could get Windows installed on my present computer, and if so, what would it cost? Alternatively I could buy a laptap in the Uk (so I get a querty keyboard) but I wonder which programmes I could receive? I'm not interested in films or sport, so perhaps it would not be worth my while.
All advice gratefully received.
Carol
I think you are mixing up the browser (the programme you use to connect to the Internet, which is FireFox) and the Operatiing system of your computer, which is probably either Windows or Mac
I get my TV through my Internet connection with Free..
It works well, but the only Sky Programme on the basic package is Sky News International.
carol sheridan
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Post by carol sheridan »

I must confess I have never understood the different terms used to describe the things I use on my computer. I know I don't have Windows though - I have Suse Linux and when I try to click on to any TV programme there is a check list of things you need and one of them is Windows. I would also need (I think) a Real Player.
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Helen
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Post by Helen »

Carol, not all tv over the net requires windows media player or a real media player.

The one I mentioned earlier uses a Flash player which can be played on Linux systems , as well as Macs, Windows PCs etc and I know of a number of other sites that have switched to using Flash for video.

You can find out more about the Flash player here:

http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/
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Post by carol sheridan »

Thanks, Helen, I will give it a try, but I am pinning my hopes on the little dish working!
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Santiago
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Post by Santiago »

Helen,
You seem up on the subject. Do you know how to use a IP proxy to receive things like ITV over broadband in France?
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blackduff
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Post by blackduff »

Carol
Here's a suitcase dish for the free to air channels. Whether this will work in St. Cyprien, who knows.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?Mod ... 2#overview

If this link doesn't work (from Maplin) look for the "Portable Satellite Camping System"

Check for the FAQ section. It does say something about using this in France.

Blackduff
carol sheridan
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Post by carol sheridan »

Thank you, Blackduff, but I have been told quite categorically that the portable dishes are not strong enough to receive Astra 2 here south of Perpignan - we are right on the edge of the 'footprint'. I already have a Sky card and I cannot cancel my subscription for another nine months, so either I get a working dish here or I take the digibox and card back to the Uk and let one of my daughters use it.
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Helen
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Post by Helen »

Santiago, I know the principle of IP proxy but it's more than my job's worth to go into print on the 'how to'!! (I work alongside people whose job it is to make sure that geo-blocking actually works - primarily for rights reasons)

The one thing I thought of exploring for my shoebox in Amelie was a slingbox which would allow me to access the channels on my UK tv whilst in France, but haven't done much about it. Some Americans I met recently swore by it as they happily accessed US domestic channels on their laptops whilst travelling in Europe.
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Roger O
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Post by Roger O »

Just happened to see this:
Free satellite TV service begins
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7384928.stm
A free satellite television and radio service from the BBC and ITV
is being launched across the UK.

Freesat is available to 98% of homes, including those that are unable to
receive Freeview through a TV aerial.

It will carry 80 digital TV and radio channels, including free high definition
programmes, with that number due to rise to 200 by the end of 2008.
Is this a kind of British TNT which can be received only in the UK?
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Post by PaddyFrog »

I Get BBC Prime and MTV on my ISP (Free) Prime is great for the old classics which are not on terrestrial BBC.

Carol what about Cable????
Michael
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Santiago
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Post by Santiago »

TNT is digital terrestrial TV, It's broadcast just like the old analog transmissions from a land-based transmitter to an arial. That already exists in the UK. What's now being launched in the UK is a satellite transmitting free channels. People will need a dish and a digi-box of some sort. It would be nice if the UK satellite beams to southern France but somehow I think the broadcast police will stop that.
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Roger O
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Post by Roger O »

I was just checking through the list
http://www.tvguide.co.uk/
and realised with a bit of a shock
how "foreign and totally remote"
95% of all that is to my world!
The only "familiars" were 95% US
series shown also in France.

Truly I am an Ex-pat(riot), I think!
Well, 40 years away is a long time
with 3 or 4 visits during that period.

Still, I've asked for a quote from
Steve (DigiTV) to install our new
numeric receiver with HD quality
COAX so we can finally receive TNT!
No way I'm going to pay monthly
subscriptions for Canalsat and its
relations!!!

May install a satellite receiver later
for Astra or whatever to try and
get the Swiss and German channels.
and maybe BBC 1 and 2 if available
"gratis"... but this is definitely not a
top priority...
I deal in Logic!
"Magic" is applied science far in advance of our current technology.
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Post by rbg »

nice poem
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Sav
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Post by Sav »

Hi all :)

Anyone out that way, or it may interest you Roger. ;)
http://www.tvcarcassonne.com/

Last series of Lost tonight

Cheers Sav :)
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Post by montgolfiere »

You require a minimum 80 cm. local dish or eventually a Sky Zone 2 dish to receive the FTA UK Channels down here. The Flatplate 'dishes' are not powerful enough. The small camping dishes definitely wont work
If you require any assistance please send me a PM and we can take it from there. I have installed more than 1000 systems down here over the past few years>!!! My website is www.british-tv-in-france.co.uk. there is also a link on it to access a certain number of UK TV via streaming over the internet.
i have installed some systems in situations like yours with the dish 'out of site' on the balcony. there are aslo some transparent dishes to consider...
the skyman
Last edited by montgolfiere on Tue 02 Feb 2010 19:30, edited 1 time in total.
montgolfiere
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Post by montgolfiere »

Roger O wrote:Just happened to see this:
Free satellite TV service begins
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7384928.stm
A free satellite television and radio service from the BBC and ITV
is being launched across the UK.

Freesat is available to 98% of homes, including those that are unable to
receive Freeview through a TV aerial.

It will carry 80 digital TV and radio channels, including free high definition
programmes, with that number due to rise to 200 by the end of 2008.
Is this a kind of British TNT which can be received only in the UK?
No it is through a satellite dish and is exactly the same signal as the sky FTA channesls ie BBC. ITV ETC ETC ETC.
the skyman
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Post by montgolfiere »

Santiago wrote:Helen,
You seem up on the subject. Do you know how to use a IP proxy to receive things like ITV over broadband in France?
try : www.streamick.com
the Skyman
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Sav
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Post by Sav »

Last series of Lost is not available in the UK yet.
It will be online soon no doubt :D
I'm in the UK Skyman, but i'm sure some people will be gratefull for your advice. ;)

Cheers Sav :)
montgolfiere
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Post by montgolfiere »

Santiago wrote:TNT is digital terrestrial TV, It's broadcast just like the old analog transmissions from a land-based transmitter to an arial. That already exists in the UK. What's now being launched in the UK is a satellite transmitting free channels. People will need a dish and a digi-box of some sort. It would be nice if the UK satellite beams to southern France but somehow I think the broadcast police will stop that.
no problem receiving freesat here!!!
the Skyman
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