Another boring sky question

opas · Post by **opas** » Thu 11 Mar 2010 21:11

Since the weekend we have been having problems with our sky box.

We can get normal channels 1 to 5 throught the day and radio and news channels, then around early evening are only able to get radio and Sky news.

When we do a signal test we have a good signal , but a blue screen telling insert viewing card, we have one from around 2004 and says no signal being received though we can get movie channel and shopping channels and the odd god channel, when we go through the BBC regions we get the odd one or two with a broken signal.

We have tried, 2 digiboxes and 2 skyboxes with the same results,

Do we now need as I suspect a freesat box to receive UK channels; BBC ITV etc; we can get all french channels ..................for what they are worth

is there a French equivalent to a freesat box or do we have to order one from UK

Kathy · Post by **Kathy** » Thu 11 Mar 2010 21:27

That sounds an odd thing to happen. We are changing to Freesat as we are fed up of Sky. We have FSat here in the UK and are really pleased with it, particularly as we can record straight to the hard drive.
The box works fine, but when we last used it in February we kept getting a message on Chanel 5 saying the card will soon expire. All well and good but the new card that Sky sent doesn't work.

Kathy · Post by **Kathy** » Sat 13 Mar 2010 14:04

Did you get the Sky problem sorted?

opas · Post by **opas** » Sat 13 Mar 2010 14:06

next...........

seeing as we have tried every digi box and sky box combination we can get our hands on and only get , BBC skynews, shopping channels etc, we now want to buy a FREESAT(my mistake) decoder, any sugestions on a decent one AND do we need to have an abonement or a one off fee to some sevice?

Kathy · Post by **Kathy** » Sat 13 Mar 2010 14:25

We have a Humax (have had it for over twelve months and are delighted with it) but this is for Freesat not Freeview. I thought with freeview you only got terrestial chanels. There are two versions of Humax. One where you can record to the hard drive and the other is just a receiver. For a price comparison this place is the cheapest in the UK to buy them.
http://www.richersounds.com/search/humax%20freesat

collioure_bee · Post by **collioure_bee** » Sat 13 Mar 2010 15:00

I bought a Bush Freesat HD box in Argos for sixty seven quid. Cheapest one I could find. It came with the HD lead too.
I am delighted with it, HD is fantastic and I find myself watching all sorts of rubbish just to glory at the picture.
It was very easy to set up too.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/p ... REESAT.htm

Ignore the half price hd lead cables offer as I say there is one (not a meter long mind you) in the box.

montgolfiere · Post by **montgolfiere** » Sat 13 Mar 2010 17:13

the only easily available HD output on a Freesat HD box is BBC HD channel 108. All the other channels are broadcast in 'Normal' digital. There is some ITV HD output available with the Red Button.
the Skyman

montgolfiere · Post by **montgolfiere** » Sat 13 Mar 2010 17:16

opas wrote:next...........

seeing as we have tried every digi box and sky box combination we can get our hands on and only get , BBC skynews, shopping channels etc, we now want to buy a free to view decoder, any sugestions on a decent one AND do we need to have an abonement or a one off fee to some sevice?

i would suggest that you have a problem with the dish/LNB rather than the receiver.
Buying a Freesat Receiver will probably not solve your problems. Please contact me for advice if you so wish on 0468698376.
The Skyman

montgolfiere · Post by **montgolfiere** » Sat 13 Mar 2010 17:18

Kathy wrote:That sounds an odd thing to happen. We are changing to Freesat as we are fed up of Sky. We have FSat here in the UK and are really pleased with it, particularly as we can record straight to the hard drive.
The box works fine, but when we last used it in February we kept getting a message on Chanel 5 saying the card will soon expire. All well and good but the new card that Sky sent doesn't work.

You may need to ring sky ( from a UK mobile or skype phone ) to activate the card. BTW CHannel 5 can be added/viewed as an 'other Channel' without the need for any card at all.
For your information the freesat channels are not really anything to do with Sky at all!!!
The only drawback to the Freesat HDR Receivers is their Price...at around the £250,00 mark!!!
The Skyman

Jackie E · Post by **Jackie E** » Sat 13 Mar 2010 18:14

In England, we have the Humax Foxsat Freesat HDR, which, as you say Kathy, is pretty expensive - but coupled with an HD TV, the picture is fabulous and the great thing is the flexibility - I set up in advance whatever I want to watch and then watch it when we're ready. You can watch 1 channel and record 2 at the same time, and pause live TV. I don't know whether it would work the same in France [I'm sure Montgolfiere has the answer!] If so, I guess it would be useful for British TV watchers, in that the time difference can be off putting unless you're happy staying up late!

montgolfiere · Post by **montgolfiere** » Sat 13 Mar 2010 18:19

Jackie E wrote:In England, we have the Humax Foxsat Freesat HDR, which, as you say Kathy, is pretty expensive - but coupled with an HD TV, the picture is fabulous and the great thing is the flexibility - I set up in advance whatever I want to watch and then watch it when we're ready. You can watch 1 channel and record 2 at the same time, and pause live TV. I don't know whether it would work the same in France [I'm sure Montgolfiere has the answer!] If so, I guess it would be useful for British TV watchers, in that the time difference can be off putting unless you're happy staying up late!

The answer is the same.... the only HD output is (generally) the BBC HD Channel... all the other channels are broadcast in SD!!
The Skyman

Jackie E · Post by **Jackie E** » Sat 13 Mar 2010 18:23

but HD aside, I thought the question was about using Freeview / Freesat in France. The Humax box offers lots of flexibility, though obviously HD is limited. Can Freesat be set up by retuning the Sky dish?

collioure_bee · Post by **collioure_bee** » Sat 13 Mar 2010 18:42

I didn't need to retune Jackie, just plugged teh same lead in and it worked.

Serge · Post by **Serge** » Sat 13 Mar 2010 18:47

montgolfiere wrote: The answer is the same.... the only HD output is (generally) the BBC HD Channel... all the other channels are broadcast in SD!!
The Skyman

ITV HD works as well ..........

montgolfiere · Post by **montgolfiere** » Sat 13 Mar 2010 18:55

Serge wrote:
montgolfiere wrote: The answer is the same.... the only HD output is (generally) the BBC HD Channel... all the other channels are broadcast in SD!!
The Skyman
ITV HD works as well ..........

It sure does but not just as 'easy' as the BBC HD channel at 108, to go thru the 'red button' is a bit of a drag...and there isn;' that much output just now.

However ITV HD should become much more accessible shortly.
WHAT I WAS POINTING OUT WAS THAT THE MAJORITY OF THE FREESAT IS IN SD!!

the SKYMAN

Sue · Post by **Sue** » Sat 13 Mar 2010 19:07

We were having the same problems with our sky . So far as I am aware the old blue/yellow house cards for free sat became obsolete in February. You have to obtain a new white one from sky. Once received you then have to ring sky and activate the card giving various details off the digi box.The problem then arises that if you live permanently in France you cannot do this unless you are very canny!! When we first came over we bought a freeview box from the Sat man in Argeles which works with a dish and is just as good programme and picture wise as a digi box. The only reason we went back to a digi box and sky was when using the digi box there is a menu for the day/week so you can see the programmes you want to watch ahead of time whereas with the freeview box there is no menu and you can only see 1 programme ahead (the same as French TNT). Sorry this is so long winded and hope it is of some help.

montgolfiere · Post by **montgolfiere** » Sun 14 Mar 2010 08:13

Jackie E wrote:but HD aside, I thought the question was about using Freeview / Freesat in France. The Humax box offers lots of flexibility, though obviously HD is limited. Can Freesat be set up by retuning the Sky dish?

Freesat uses the same output from the same Satellite(s) as Sky...the Astra 2 Cluster.
The Freesat ' Brand' is just the Freesat EPG along with a dedicated Digibox.. ALL other FTA Channels available from Astra2 and NOT on the Freesat EPG can be manually tuned in and viewed. Therefore they can be plugged straight in to a working satellite dish previously used for 'Sky' or 'Freesat from Sky'
I totally agree that the Freesat HDR Receivers are very useful pieces of Kit!!! They do of course require a double feed from a multiple LNB to work correctly.
The Skyman

collioure_bee · Post by **collioure_bee** » Sun 14 Mar 2010 15:21

I have a French hard drive type recorder, from Free, but I haven't a clue how to set it. Am going to need to so I can record Arsenal's games in the Champions League and the world cup games I'll miss while at work.

Anyone got an idiot guide to it?

opas · Post by **opas** » Sun 14 Mar 2010 15:39

I thought you had a library full of 'em!

Back to my orriginal problem.

We have disconnected the Sybox and tried é other french decoders. Today Outie decided he had seen enough of Le parents plus strict du monde , deco or sky news

So has been messing around with all the settings, I warned him that if he fiddled too much he may end up with the TV as a microwave!

Anyway he has taken the system back to factory settings and got rid of default mode...........voila; Columbo anyone? or politics show?

A big thank you to Montgolfiere, who was very helpful over the phone;

Serge · Post by **Serge** » Sun 14 Mar 2010 16:04

collioure_bee wrote:Am going to need to so I can record Arsenal's games in the Champions League and the world cup games I'll miss while at work.

There's probably one or two on here that were hoping to record Liverpool's Champion League efforts, bet they wished they hadn't bothered now ................

.. didn't know you were a 'closet' Gooner CB

............ expect you'll be going round to Sav's for tea and cakes next...........

Sav · Post by **Sav** » Sun 14 Mar 2010 17:50

Serge wrote: .. didn't know you were a 'closet' Gooner CB ............ expect you'll be going round to Sav's for tea and cakes next...........

The cakes are good & so is the PG

Cheers Sav

collioure_bee · Post by **collioure_bee** » Sun 14 Mar 2010 20:12

Serge wrote:
collioure_bee wrote:Am going to need to so I can record Arsenal's games in the Champions League and the world cup games I'll miss while at work.
There's probably one or two on here that were hoping to record Liverpool's Champion League efforts, bet they wished they hadn't bothered now ................

.. didn't know you were a 'closet' Gooner CB ............ expect you'll be going round to Sav's for tea and cakes next...........

They are the only football team in the Premiershit that I bother to watch serge. Only as they play such lovely football, not cause I'm a closet anything.

john · Post by **john** » Tue 16 Mar 2010 12:31

collioure_bee wrote:I have a French hard drive type recorder, from Free, but I haven't a clue how to set it. Am going to need to so I can record Arsenal's games in the Champions League and the world cup games I'll miss while at work.

Anyone got an idiot guide to it?

If you find this info out,Bee please let me know. Are these devices widely available here?

Last week while in the UK,someone told me of the existence of a combined digi decoder/hard drive recorder,that he just plugged in and can record programmes digitally to watch later. Very simple and it cost him 75 quid from Maplin.

I toddled off down to Maplin in Norwich,only to be told that Sky had recently complained about these products,as they were cutting into their lucrative Sky+ market. In the supine way that we've come to expect from the Brown government,the Sky complaint has been upheld,and Maplin etc are no longer allowed to sell them. If caught doing so,they can expect a visit from the Old Bill sharpish.

Another case of dictatorial government telling me what I can do with my money......

montgolfiere · Post by **montgolfiere** » Wed 17 Mar 2010 16:55

john wrote:
collioure_bee wrote:I have a French hard drive type recorder, from Free, but I haven't a clue how to set it. Am going to need to so I can record Arsenal's games in the Champions League and the world cup games I'll miss while at work.

Anyone got an idiot guide to it?
If you find this info out,Bee please let me know. Are these devices widely available here?

Last week while in the UK,someone told me of the existence of a combined digi decoder/hard drive recorder,that he just plugged in and can record programmes digitally to watch later. Very simple and it cost him 75 quid from Maplin.

I toddled off down to Maplin in Norwich,only to be told that Sky had recently complained about these products,as they were cutting into their lucrative Sky+ market. In the supine way that we've come to expect from the Brown government,the Sky complaint has been upheld,and Maplin etc are no longer allowed to sell them. If caught doing so,they can expect a visit from the Old Bill sharpish.

Another case of dictatorial government telling me what I can do with my money......

i have never heard of such a thing. could you supply the make and model number please.
The Skyman

collioure_bee · Post by **collioure_bee** » Wed 17 Mar 2010 17:06

john wrote:
collioure_bee wrote:I have a French hard drive type recorder, from Free, but I haven't a clue how to set it. Am going to need to so I can record Arsenal's games in the Champions League and the world cup games I'll miss while at work.

Anyone got an idiot guide to it?
If you find this info out,Bee please let me know. Are these devices widely available here?

Last week while in the UK,someone told me of the existence of a combined digi decoder/hard drive recorder,that he just plugged in and can record programmes digitally to watch later. Very simple and it cost him 75 quid from Maplin.

I toddled off down to Maplin in Norwich,only to be told that Sky had recently complained about these products,as they were cutting into their lucrative Sky+ market. In the supine way that we've come to expect from the Brown government,the Sky complaint has been upheld,and Maplin etc are no longer allowed to sell them. If caught doing so,they can expect a visit from the Old Bill sharpish.

Another case of dictatorial government telling me what I can do with my money......

Probably more to do with courts than government john. And who can afford the best solicitor. ie Sky.

john · Post by **john** » Wed 17 Mar 2010 17:06

montgolfiere wrote:i have never heard of such a thing. could you supply the make and model number please.
The Skyman

I only wish I could skyman,but,as I say,Maplin have been forced to remove them from their catalogue/site.

I most cases,I think Maplin sell their "own brand" stuff don't they?

Guess it's something like this but with the Hard drive incorporated inside.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?Mod ... bID=1&QV=Y

Serge · Post by **Serge** » Wed 17 Mar 2010 17:56

Are you sure it was for satelites John?

Freeview boxes with an internal hard drive are available in the UK now - they are around the £100-110 mark.

Robert Ferrieux · Post by **Robert Ferrieux** » Tue 23 Mar 2010 17:28

This is a plaudit to Dave - Skyman - Montgolfiere ! He came to fix our tv this morning and I do want to recommend him most warmly to anyone who has problems with their digibox, skybox, etc. He's very efficient, his fees extremely reasonable and on top of that he's a very nice person.
I phoned him at 04 68 69 83 76 and he came round within a few days.
Thanks, Dave, and thanks to Anglophone for making him known to us.

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